| Michelle, Cher and Susan Sarandon in a scene edited from the film. Trivia: As filming was drawing to an end, the 3 actresses went on one long food binge, stuffing themselves as they went from trailer to trailer. |
Michelle's Biography
Part 6: The Deep End of the Ocean
Michelle's marriage was splintering. She diverted her attentions with work, becoming the first 'witch' to be cast in director George Miller's The Witches of Eastwick, which was to be loosely based on John Updike's novel of the same name.
Partly responsible for Michelle landing the role, was her friendship with then casting-director at Warner Brothers Studios, Wally Nicita. Michelle was to play small-town journalist Sukie Ridgemont, an abandoned mother of 6 looking for something more in her life. Michelle said, 'It was a terrific part. I was very fertile- one set of triplets, one set of twins and one single child. I read the script in 1985. I'd been complaining to my friend Wally Nicita that there weren't any good parts for women and she said I ought to read The Witches of Eastwick. Then when George Miller came on the picture she must have mentioned me because I got the role.'
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Michelle then found herself working alongside the other 'witches', Cher, Susan Sarandon, and of course Jack Nicholson, playing the mysterious Daryl Van Horne. Among them, Michelle was the only new face to cinema-goers. One has to wonder what the stars thought on first meeting Michelle, and Cher, who would go on to become one of her closest friends said, 'When I first met her I thought she was very sweet and maybe too sweet, too nice. But it's all part of someone who has a definite purpose, who's a lot stronger than even she knows sometimes. It's not possible to mess with her and come out on top.' |
Michelle found herself among a dream cast, but making The Witches of Eastwick was far from a dream experience. The continued interferance of the studio executives into George Miller's vision often made the set a miserbale place. They wanted special effecst of blockbuster proportions. Miller wanted to keep things subtle. The studio won, and the result was several levatation scenes and an overblown finale. Michelle, never afraid to voice her opinion, complained, 'It was stupid. It takes the movie off in a a direction that is confusing. I don't know why it's there for other than production value. I don't think any of our hearts were in it. George didn't want to do it. We did it thinking they wouldn't use it. But the studio came down and said, "Use it."'
| Despite this, and the fact that Susan Sarandon and Cher's roles were switched mere weeks before filming, the cast banded together in support for each other. Jack Nicholson was by the accounts of the 3 female leads, a complete angel. He looked after and stood up for his leading ladies and apparently freed up his time so that they could rehearse among themselves at their hotel. Michelle said, 'Jack's one of the most graceful human beings I've ever met. I think he has a really clear and smart perspective on things. If it were anybody else other than Jack in that part in Witches there would have been mutiny. He kept it together. He's a calming influence.' | 
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When The Witches of Eastwick was released in cinemas in 1987, it was Michelle's first box-office hit. She said ironically at the time, 'The first time I saw it, I hated it. It was so different than the way I had envisioned it. The original script was more of a dark comedy, as opposed to... there were no special effects; there wasn't all that flying in the air.' She did however later admit that the film's success gave her new freedoms as she learnt the value of the dollar in the industry.
It was of course by this time, as Michelle's career was shifting into the next level, that she and Peter Horton split. Michelle said, 'I had a wonderful marriage with a wonderful man. Why end it? It's very confusing. We married really young. I think we grew up, and our views changed. It's a pity getting married that young because you end up abusing each other.' She added, 'Generally speaking, I don't think people have any business getting married before they're thirty. There's a lot of damage relationships shouldn't have to go through but that one needs to go through just to become an adult. We are better friends now. But we were really killing each other.'
She and Peter were to remain friends. 'We'd always been close, even up to separation, which was very difficult on both of us because we have never stopped caring for each other. We didn't have an angry break-up- he even helped me pack my car. It wasn't bitter, and we talked every day on the phone. It was, in that sense, really difficult because we didn't have the anger to hide behind, the anger that covers up all the pain.'
Michelle took a course with friend Kate at UCLA focused on medieval philosophy, and delved into work, using it as a drug to dull the pain. She took the title role in Nautica Jackson, an upmarket film for television that was part of an Anglo-American venture called 'Tales from The Hollywood Hills,' Based on a story by John O' Hara, Nautica Jackson (later reworked and avaliable on video as Power, Passion & Murder, but apparently not as good as the original) dealt with a wildly successful but lonely actress in 1930s Hollywood who falls for a married chemist, played by Brian Kerwin, and this ultimately leads to scandal and tragedy. Michelle's understanding of the needs of her character contributed to her receiving excellent reviews.
Next she focused her attentions on film again, fufilling a wish that she had made after The Witches Of Eastwick. 'I want to play a brunette dingbat, have a dingy role and dye my hair brown.' The film: the comedy Married to the Mob. When Michelle's first attempts failed to convince director Jonathan Demme that she was perfect for the role of Angela De Marco she headed to Italy for a vacation. She stayed at a place without a phone but was soon contacted to be told that she was wanted to read for Married To the Mob. Michelle said, 'When I got back to Los Angeles, Jonathan came out, took me to have sushi and to see Suzanne Vega and within ten minutes we were talking about how my character would have her hair done.'
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The film was a comedic take on the mafia film, focusing on the excess and craziness of the world in which the mobsters live. It's from this world that Angela De Marco wishes to escape with her son, but even after the death of her hitman husband Frank 'Cucumber' De Marco (Alec Baldwin), she finds herself still 'married to the mob,' with the FBI also in pursuit of her. |
Michelle loved the character of Angela. Although she has never stated an exact favourite film and character, Angela is often mentioned as one she has enjoyed playing the most. She donned a wig, perfected her accent by spending time in Long Island listening to the locals, and by the time filming started, Michelle Pfeiffer, and everything associated with her image, had disappeared. It was Angela on the set and in front of the camera. Michelle said, 'I like the dress-up and pretend part of acting. Wearing the physical appearance of the character helps me a lot. I'll take that as far as the director allows me to take it, and Jonathan allowed me to take it as far as I wanted.' As for the character of Angela, she said, 'I like the challenge of playing somebody in one way so removed from me and in another way really close to me. Angela is strong and tough and fiesty but she is more vulnerable and soft and naive too. She's a human being. We all need to find a balance. That's the hardest thing in life for me. Period. I tend to swing one way or the other.'
Dean Stockwell, who played one of Angela's pursuers, crimeboss Tony 'the Tiger' Russo, said of his leading lady. 'She's a smashing actress, a knockdown beauty and a great kid. I enjoyed every kissing scene we had.' Mike Medavoy who was in charge of Orion Pictures at the time said, 'She stomps all over the place. She's a very, very clever actress. I knew she'd be good, but I didn't realize just how very, very good she'd be. And having worked with her on that part, having seen what's avaliable, it doesn't even scratch the surface of what she can do. She's as good as it gets.'
It was Michelle's first time top-billing a film, and while Married To The Mob did reasonably well on release, it highlighted her talent and more offers began coming her way. But she decided to remain careful, picking roles that emphasised character and downplayed her beauty.
Dick Pfeiffer seemed to be right. 'After she left [Peter], her career took off.'
