Michelle's Biography
Part 4: Hollywood Knights
At the age of 24, Michelle was in a career rut. She bided her time by pottering around her home with Peter Horton, and taking acting classes with Peggy Feury. Still, the typecasting after Grease 2 and the lack of work hurt. It's impact was clear when she admitted many years later, 'I can remember when I wasn't on such a roll. I remember my then-husband was having dinner with an agent and I remember the agent saying, "Well, Michelle's not as hot as she used to be."'
Out of the blue came the opportunity to work alongside Al Pacino in Brian de Palma's remake of the gangster-tale Scarface, scripted by the now legendary Oliver Stone. But it wasn't going to be that easy. De Palma had seen Grease 2 and hated it, and he made it clear that he did not want to work with Michelle. Michelle in turn, as with Grease 2, did not build her hopes up about the part. She read for the role and was sent away, being told that the filmmakers were looking elsewhere. However, casting director Alixe Gordon and the film's producer Martin Bergman were behind Michelle, and several weeks later she was called back and given the role. It had been a months long fight, but it was worth it. Bergman said, 'I forced [the casting of Michelle] to happen against strenuous objections from almost everyone. But when Michelle read the part on stage with Al it was magic. There was such an intensity.'
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| Above: As Elvira, in Scarface |
Michelle, despite landing the plum role of Elvira, was 'terrified, so terrified.' She said of reading with Pacino initially, 'I couldn't say 2 words to him. We were both really shy. We'd sit in a room and it was like pulling teeth to try and find any words at all. And the subject matter was so dark. There was a coldness in the film relationship.' She added, 'I was very excited to work with Al, but I was also intimidated by him. I had to play a cold and aloof woman, very different from my personality and a difficult character for me to hold onto.' Still, Michelle was perfect as Elvira, an ice queen who switches her affections (well, as much as she is capable of affection) from powerful druglord to powerful druglord in order to support her cocaine habit. Michelle's performance was even more amazing because it showed what was to be the beginning of her chameleon screen legacy, switching with ease from highschool bimbo to an emaciated bitch, who throughout the film remains aloof from everyone, including the audience.
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Still, Elvira and the other few female characters in the film were mere window-dressing. It's Al Pacino's film. Playing Tony Montana, a Cuban immigrant, he fights his way from the bottom of the Miami drugscene to its pinnacle before excess is his downfall. He was to work with Michelle again 10 years later on Frankie & Johnny and said then of Scarface and the young Michelle, 'Maybe I was a jerk, and I didn't know it. It always happens that way. I don't know. I feel the same. |
On Scarface I didn't speak with Michelle much. I think it had something to do with her being early on in her career. She seemed much less involved. I saw the early seeds of somebody she's become, but she wasn't as prominent in rehearsals as she is now. Now she's full of ieas and contributions.'
Scarface was a controversial film from the outset. Cuban immigrants were upset about their depiction in the film, forcing some filming to move from Miami. When the film arrived in cinemas in 1983 it was immediately criticised for being excessively violent, with chainsaw torture, missile launchers and hangings from helicopters included. It also set a record for the use of the 'f' word (206 times in 170 minutes of film) that wasn't to be broken until 1992's Goodfellas. De Palma felt it was all justified in putting across the film's anti-drug message. Interestingly enough the actress who he hadn't even wanted to cast, shared his view. Michelle said, 'I know it's not an easy film to watch, but since it's an antidrug film I think it had to get violent to get the message across. Four-letter words? I'm so used to hearing that word that it doesn't really offend me. I use it myself, after all. And after 15 minutes I don't think you're aware of it anymore in the movie. At least I wasn't, although some people found it offensive.' Whether it was offensive or not, Scarface has since reached cult-status Macho film magazines still feature articles and pull-out posters dedicated to the film, seen my many to be a modern gangster classic. Michelle has even admitted it's one of her films of which she is most proud.
In the post Scarface months Michelle was once again the victim of the same problem she had come across after making Grease 2. Typecasting. This time the only scripts she was offered had her playing Elvira-clones, but once again her stubbornness prevented her from submitting to the pressure. She simply waited. Along came Ladyhawke, a medieval fantasy that stood in direct contrast with Scarface. Michelle initially had a number of reservations about the project which was being jointly produced by Warner Brothers and Twentieth Century Fox: the special effects and their handling, the location filming in Italy that would separate her from Peter for months, and most importantly for the actress, her character which she saw initially as being nothing more than 'a little princess running around in the woods.'
Director Richard Donner, responsible for Superman and the Lethal Weapon series, convinced her otherwise. Michelle said, 'I spoke with Dick Donner, and he said that wasn't how he saw my character. He wanted to cut my hair off real short like Joan of Arc, and I thought that was an interesting idea.' She added, 'And I just loved the script so much. It was one of the most charming, sweet scripts I'd ever read. But I wasn't sure I wanted to do it until I talked to Dick. His background in special effects convinced me it would be done well.'
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So it was that Michelle assumed the role of Isabeau D' Anjou, one half of a pair of star-crossed lovers cursed by an evil bishop into being 'Always together, eternally apart.' In other words Isabeau is the ladyhawke of the title during the day when her lover, brooding knight Navarre (Rugter Hauer), is human, and she is human at night when he is a wolf. Aiding the lovers in their quest to end the curse and destroy the bishop is a thief, Phillipe, played by Matthew Broderick. |
Filming around the ancient castles and bridges of Italy, it was coincidentally the first time Michelle left the USA. She fell in love with Europe, and location filming would draw her back frequently in the years to come, but as much as she loved the Continent, she missed her husband. The result: the phone bills were massive. 'Absence does NOT make the heart grow fonder. I don't know who said that but it's a lie,' Michelle complained. Still, her time was occupied by her work. Apart from simply acting she had to deal with a number of other things. 'I had to fall off towers and work with wolves. That was kind of fun, actually, but once the wolves know you they can be so glad to see you that they might jump up and hurt you accidentally.' She returned home feeling refreshed and rejuvinated; very much a 'new woman.'
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When Ladyhawke was released in cinemas in 1985 it surprisingly wasn't the hit it, as an enjoyable fantasy romp, should have been. Michelle wasn't worried though. She had decided it was time to offer her husband support in his ventures... |
