Nia Long and Idina Menzel Weigh In on Remaking the 1988 Classic Beaches

The 1988 Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey tearjerker Beaches is getting a fresh update to 2017 with Idina Menzel and Nia Long playing the role of the two best friends – CC Bloom and Hillary Whitney respectively.

Moving from the East Coast to California for the remake, Beaches follows the unlikely friendship of two young girls who meet on the Venice Boardwalk — and even though they their lives couldn’t be more disparate — they become lifelong friends with lots of bumps along the way.

“I am a huge fan,” Long says of the original movie. “I think if you look at any of my earlier interviews, you will see that in my top five, Beaches was always included. It’s a film that touches women on such a deep level, touches men on such a deep level. This is really a film about friendship, about sisterhood, and about girl power. Growing up in South Central Los Angeles, and then moving to a big city, and living in New York, and living bicoastal, your friendships are the things that keep you grounded. For me, Beaches is always a reminder of that.”

Menzel adds, “I saw the movie back in high school with two of my best friends. We cried our eyes out in the movie theater, so it’s quite a nostalgic memory for me. But, if I’m being completely honest, I was terrified to do it at first, because I love the movie. And both those women, especially Bette Midler, for me, was an idol, my whole life.”

But sometimes you need to challenge yourself, so Menzel agreed to play CC, even re-recording the movie’s signature songs “Wind Beneath My Wings” and “The Glory of Love,” as well as recording a new song, called “Last Time,” which is featured in the movie.

All three songs , as well as “I Can Hear the Music” and “I’ll Stand By You” were released on an EP by Warner Bros. Records.

“I have been singing ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ my whole life,” Menzel says. “Ever since I was a wedding singer, and Bar Mitzvah singer, every single 13‑year‑old boy danced with his mother to ‘Wind Beneath My Wings,’ so I’ve been singing it. I am well rehearsed. I was trying to find my own spin on it, and that was because of my amazing producer who found a new underpinning for it, to kind of bring out new modern sounds, and it was actually enjoyable for me.”