| Above: Michelle and Peter out and about in the town |
Michelle's Biography
Part III: Sweet Liberty
As much as Michelle wanted to, she still could not work up the strength to divorce herself from the Vegetarian cult into which she had fallen. However, it was at this point that then-acting student, Peter Horton, walked into her life and despite the fact that Michelle often said, 'I don't believe in women being saved by men,' he did just that.
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The two met at acting class, and it became immediately clear to Peter, who would later go on to play the role of English teacher Gary in the angsty TV series, Thirtysomething, that Michelle was 'a much bigger person than she was raised to believe.' Immediately he began working the self-conscious young woman away from the cult. He said later of the group, 'They were very didactic, trying to control their pupils' lives, what they are, who they were with. I think it scared her a bit.' But still that fear was not enough. The support of Peter helped Michelle begin the first steps in breaking away but the real breakthrough came when she accompanied him to San Francisco. Peter was researching cults for his role in Split Image, a film about the Moonie cult, and this brought Michelle into contact with a group of deprogrammers who strengthened her resolve. 'I realised that what the deprogrammers described was exactly the experience I was in. I stopped seeing (the cult leaders) then. I'd wanted to stop months before but found it difficult. They get you to believe you won't survive without them. Not until I was with Peter did I realise just what I'd got myself into.' |
| Once Michelle had been freed from the control of the cult, the natural progression of her relationship with Peter was towards marriage. And the two, Michelle, 22, and Peter 26, did marry in 1981 at the Santa Monica city courthouse. Michelle laughed later, 'I broke one of my own Ten Commandments never to date an actor, especially one you study with. Then I married one!' She added, 'Peter drew me back into the world. I was terrified my feelings for him would leave because they were so wonderful.' In later years she would also remark that Peter was, as a result of her father's strictness during her teenage years 'practically my first proper boyfriend. I had to learn about men and relationships in the most public of ways, which was far from ideal.' This would contribute, with other factors, to their future break up, but more about that later. | |
1981 was a good year for Michelle, both personally and career-wise. While enjoying a quite married life with Peter, and paying her dues in an increasing number of TV-films, and even a small role in a production of Playground in the Fall, the news came in that her new agent had landed her the female lead in the sequel to the incredibly popular musical, Grease. This was something that Michelle had not even built her hopes up, about. At the time, the hunt for the female lead of Grease 2 had been compared to that for the actress to play Scarlett O' Hara in Gone With the Wind. Of course Grease 2 was no Gone With the Wind, but expectations surrounding the film were high as to whether first-time director Pat Birch (who choreographed the first film and the the stage play) could deliver the goods. Birch had the following to say about casting Michelle: 'She sort of wandered in late in the day, and she was just kind of delectable. I liked her right away. I remember there was this huge audition a few days later, and she was hanging around in the background, very shy, and the only way I was able to pick her out was because she was wearing these purple boots.' She added, 'She didn't think she could dance, but she moved beautifully. And she could act. I liked something about her right away. She has a quirky quality you don't expect.'
| Michelle was cast as Pink Lady leader, Stephanie Zinone, a gum-chewing, not-too-bright young woman, who nethertheless, is looking for something more from life than attention from immature T-Birds. In fact she's looking for a 'Coo-oo-l Rider.' For Stephanie, although she does not realise it that comes in the form of Michael Carrington, a hunky but way too refined exchange student from Britain. He was played by young British actor, Maxwell Caulfield. Birch said of Maxwell and Michelle, 'I just knew the chemistry would be good between Maxwell and Michelle.' Well, this was not necessarily the case. Some of the stories go that Michelle and Caulfield actually ended up despising each other on set. It was chiefly as a result of their differing approaches to work: Caulfield was full of the confidence (and arrogance) of youth and Michelle ever the perfectionist, desired only the best from herself. This would bring the two of them into direct opposition when shooting and reshooting scenes. |
But even this did not bother Michelle as much as the advertising campaigns that began when the film was released in the summer of 1982. Michelle's image appeared on huge billboards alongside Maxwell Caulfield, with the tagline 'TOO HOT!' Michelle mentioned later, 'I wanted to die. It was so embarrassing.' As it turned out the advertising was no good anyway. Grease 2 bombed at the box office of the time, although, ironically, in many circles the film has since reached cult status, alongside the original and The Rocky Horror Picture Show in terms of its brainless fun. It is well worth checking out if only to see Michelle singing 'Co-oo-ool Rider.'
Still, what rules Hollywood is money, and because the film died a very quick death, the buzz around Michelle died just as quickly. And the type-casting began. All film producers were prepared to offer Michelle were roles that had her playing Stephanie-Zinone-clones. Of course, Michelle refused to bow to the pressure, and as a result she did not work for a year.
Fortunately, however, another film that was going to reach cult-status was just around the corner...
