Movies featuring real-life mother-daughter duos

Carrie Fisher’s mother was the famed actress Debbie Reynolds. As she chronicled time and time again, it wasn’t the healthiest of relationships. It seems like Fisher and her own daughter, Billie Lourd, had a better relationship before Fisher’s untimely death. The duo were in all three of the recent “Star Wars” trilogy films, though the last one was a posthumous appearance by Fisher.

“The Wife” is only remembered as the generic film that seemed like it might finally win Glenn Close an Oscar. Instead, Close fell short yet again, tying her with Peter O’Toole for the most nominations without a win. Playing the younger version of Close’s character in “The Wife” we find Annie Starke, who owes half her filmography to playing younger versions of her mother’s character.

In an era before he was an action star, and specifically James Bond, Daniel Craig played Ted Hughes in “Sylvia,” opposite Gwyneth Paltrow as Sylvia Plath. Playing Sylvia’s mother Aurelia is none other than Blythe Danner, Paltrow’s mom in real life. Both mother and daughter have been quite successful. Gwyneth has an Oscar, but Danner has two Emmys and a Tony.

Meryl Streep has three acting daughters, all of whom have quite the legacy to live up to. Streep, after all, is the most acclaimed actress of her generation. Mamie Gummer has had a solid career, including starring in her own CW show “Emily Owens, M.D.” Daughter and mother appeared together in “Ricki and the Flash,” which also served as the final film of director Jonathan Demme.

Some of these films are, admittedly, somewhat obscure. It’s fine if you don’t remember “Crazy in Alabama.” The most notable thing about it is that Antonio Banderas directed it. Melanie Griffith is the star, and in a small role we got the debut of Dakota Johnson, daughter of Griffith and “Miami Vice” star Don Johnson.

Alas, Demi Moore made a “provocative” move by deciding to play a stripper in 1996’s “Strīptease"... and then “Showgirls” came around to steal all its thunder with its watchable trainwreck aura. Moore’s film is more just a mediocrity. Her character is not just a stripper, but also a mom, with her actual daughter Rumer Willis in the role.

Eva Amurri has a career characterized by roles of the “We need somebody who looks like a young Susan Sarandon” vein. To be fair, Amurri really looks like her mom. We could have picked a couple of options here, but for some reason we went with the woeful Adam Sandler comedy “That’s My Boy.”

Judd Apatow likes to make movies that are both too long, and also family affairs. The dude love to cast his wife and kids, which means Leslie Mann has had a few opportunities to act alongside Maude and Iris. As long as studios keep giving Apatow money to make films, Mann and the Apatow girls will always have jobs.

This forgotten time-jumping drama is another Meryl and Mamie joint, but that’s not why “Evening” made the list. No, it’s here because the late Natasha Richardson plays the daughter of her real-life mom, the venerable Vanessa Redgrave, who fell a Grammy short of an EGOT. Notably, there is a younger version of Redgrave’s character, but she’s played by Claire Danes.

Laura Dern shares a last name with her famed father Bruce, but her mother Diane Ladd has had a great career of her own. The two worked together extensively on “Enlightened,” the HBO show starring Dern, but that was far from their first foray. David Lynch, long a fan of Dern as an actress, cast the two together in “Wild at Heart.”

We mostly eschewed animation here, though there aren’t exactly a ton of those examples either. “Madagascar 2” has made the cut, though. Remember that period of time when Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith seemed determined to, through sheer force of will, make Jaden and Willow into stars? It didn’t take, but we did get Willow voicing the younger version of Jada’s character, Gloria the hippo, in “Escape 2 Africa.” A movie, by the way, headlined by Chris Rock.

We mentioned Melanie Griffith earlier, and she too had a famous mother, Tippi Hedren. Hedren is best remembered for starring in “The Birds,” but apparently she didn’t learn anything about the danger of animals from that. “Roar” is…wild. It came oh-so-close to becoming a snuff film. “Roar” has to be seen to be believed, but also maybe shouldn’t be seen? Griffith makes an appearance, though.

Maureen O’Sullivan is a star of a bygone era. She played Jane in all those “Tarzan” movies. In 1936, she married the director John Farrow, and had seven kids. Yes, one of them is Mia Farrow. Both Mia and Maureen appear in “Hannah and Her Sisters,” an acclaimed, Oscar-winning film whose director we won’t mention.

We can envision Kevin Bacon talking to the producers who put up the money for “Loverboy.” “Hey, can I direct a movie? I’ll be in it and get my famous friends to show up?” “Sure thing, Kevin.” “And can I cast my wife Kyra Sedgwick?” “Of course.” “Oh, and my son Travis and my daughter Sosie?” “Absolutely.” Thus, we got “Loverboy,” a movie that truly did not make a modicum of an impact. Sosie has since put together a solid career of her own, so the acting acumen did make it to the next generation.

“The Kill Room,” a new dark comedy-thriller, has a fitting cast for something with a “fun schlock” vibe to the whole proceedings. It stars Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson, for starters. Also appearing in the film, though, is Maya Hawke, daughter of Thurman and Ethan Hawke. She’ll bring in some viewers herself, though. Hawke plays Robin in “Stranger Things,” giving her a fan base that has probably never seen “Kill Bill.”