RANT # 1

Whatever Happened to Michelle Pfeiffer's Career?

By Edward Margulies from Mr Showbiz

Remember Michelle Pfeiffer? Lanky blond goddess, equally capable of nailing roles virginal (Dangerous Liaisons), wifely (Married to the Mob), and seductive (The Fabulous Baker Boys)? Her long rise to the top, which began with a forgotten TV series in the late '70s (Delta House), reached its peak in 1992 with her world-class performance as a frustrated frump whose alter ego is the comic, dangerous, and sensual Catwoman in Batman Returns. It's hard to believe that Pfeiffer wasn't first choice for that part, so perfectly did she bring it roaring to life. It makes me wonder: if initial selection Annette Bening had portrayed Catwoman as orginally planned, would Pfeiffer today be starring in edgy work like American Beauty?

In any event, since Batman Returns, Pfeiffer's been making terrible career choices. OK, I can see how The Age of Innocence might have looked good on paper — and after all, actors jump through hoops to work with Martin Scorsese — but Pfeiffer lost round one to her scene-stealing coiffure, and never recovered. What was she thinking when reading awful-scripts-destined-to-be-awful-movies like Wolf, Dangerous Minds, Up Close and Personal, or To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday? Sure, some box-office loot came in, but every one of these flicks offered her a less likely role than the previous one had. She tried harder in One Fine Day, but the movie only served to show that she and George Clooney were no Doris Day and Rock Hudson or, for that matter, Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

Then came A Thousand Acres, a fetid farmland retelling of King Lear, which was at best unintentionally uproarious, as when Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange, two of the screen's great, complicated beauties, made like heartland hicks, dishing heavy exposition while folding sheets — no doubt they were Method folding, having long observed their housekeepers doing same. Of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the less said the better, and the same goes for Pfeiffer's recent foray into such blubbering, sudsy sagas as The Deep End of the Ocean and The Story of Us. The latter underwhelms those I've spoken to. "I can't blame them for wanting to make a Two for the Road movie about the difficulty of staying married," says one veteran producer. "But Rob Reiner, Bruce Willis, and Michelle Pfeiffer aren't exactly Stanley Donen, Albert Finney, and Audrey Hepburn. Reiner's recent movies, like those of Ron Howard and Penny Marshall, suffer from sitcom mentality — to distract from plots that don't hold together, there's always a cutesy humorous touch waiting around every corner."

One entertainment analyst offers, "The Story of Us makes it obvious that Michelle Pfeiffer is in desperate need of better scripts. What good is it being married to David Kelley if you can't get your pick of his scripts?" However, since To Gillian was a Kelley project, perhaps he's not the solution to Pfeiffer's career problems. There are other solutions, as one longtime casting director indicates when she says, "It's difficult to see Pfeiffer on Kelley's arm at every major TV awards show without thinking that perhaps she's ready to pull a Jane Fonda and just retire from acting altogether." After all, what's ahead? Co-starring with Harrison Ford in the upcoming Amityville Horror-esque thriller What Lies Beneath, I'm afraid. Sadly, the time is long past for Pfeiffer to cash in her Catwoman chip and grab movie audiences back with her most alluring creation (just as Sharon Stone has similarly waited too long with Basic Instinct 2). There's still TV to consider but the trick, Michelle, is in knowing when to get off. Say what you will about Candice Bergen and Cybill Shepherd, but both knew to when to quit movies — and both reinvented themselves on hit TV comedies.

Noelle's Reply:

Well, well, well...
Once again support comes out flying for Michelle and her latest work.

What is going on? What did she do to turn the filmgoing public against her to the point where hardly anyone watches her films? The truth: It's a combination of factors: her beauty, the roles she plays, and of course, the 'slippery people' who watch films.

Let's start with the latter: The average ignoramous feels threatened and plain alienated when confronted with those ethereal looks of hers, as well as with her cinematic image- so often the Ice Queen. Never mind that actually underneath she is hiding a deep melancholy and has a desperate need to be loved. No. The general public is too thick and too lazy to delve beneath the surface of her acting brilliance. The truth is that there are a lot of beautiful actresses and there are a lot of incredibly talented ones, as well as those blessed individuals who combine both (eg. Meryl Streep). But Michelle is the only one (repeat: the only one!) who combines stunning, classically beautiful looks with a talent that is rarely equalled. But this of course is scary...

That's why the general public prefers someone like Meg Ryan or good ol' Julia Roberts, both of whom are unthreatening, fluff actresses of note. Let's do a little revision shall we...

Here's a very important thought though for all those critics. Sure, all of Michelle's films mentioned above were faulted but they exhibited a return to something darker and riskier that we hadn't seen of her since her Pre- and immediate Post- Batman Returns phase (I never would have watched Up Close & Personal if she hadn't been in it, although I thoroughly enjoyed Wolf, One Fine Day and To Gillian on her 37th Birthday). And it's a common known fact that Michelle has always wanted to be an actress, not a star. These choices above indicate a desire to extend herself and work with different people, not to make money. However, Hollywood has 1 single religious icon- the dollar. If Michelle's films fail to make money, the question suddenly appears, 'What has happened to her career?' Oh yes, it's in a terrible state. She's getting older, she makes crappy choices, and she just can't act. Julia Roberts is so brilliant. Just look at the money her films bring in. She must be good............ Whatever.

Let's quickly discuss acting and awards shows:
I find the American Fall movie season most amusing. Annually, at this same time the average Joe on the street who has been professing his support of The Mummy all summer, transforms into an Academy member, selecting nominees for the next year's show. It's not every day you come across a group of 14 year old girls discussing whether Annette Benning's work in American Beauty is superior to Nicole Kidman's in Eyes Wide Shut.
I think it's pretty clear that because of the way the Academy works, will not win an oscar any time soon. You see she's too beautiful to be taken seriously. And she doesn't fit into the special Academy Best Actress Nominee Demographics:

-Good couple of foreigners
-Some yank golden girl
-Meryl Streep
-Bunch of old ladies (Preferable British)

Michelle won't even win a lifetime achievement award because, hey, multiple winners Jodie Foster and Meryl Streep will be ahead of her in that regard, and let's not forget the males like Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, etc. who also have to get their grubby paws on yet another award. Anyway if Michelle ever did win this award it would probably be as an old lady (unless she maintains her beuaty like Sophia Loren) and her final public image would be as to how she has deteriorated over the years, just as the case was with 6 time nominee and never winner, Deborah Kerr.

Yes, yes, I hear you say, but Michelle doesn't care about this sort of thing. I know she doesn't, but I do. I want to see her publicly honoured. She should have received the oscar back in 1990 with The Fabulous Baker Boys when she was in the 'Yank Golden Girl' demographic but she didn't. Jessica Tandy got it. Since then however, the rules have changed: Previous winners in this category now include Helen (How can I win every bloody award in the world?) Hunt and Gwyneth (I have 2 facial expressions) Paltrow.

Perhaps Michelle's semi-retirement is a good thing. Perhaps when she surfaces again, a'la Kim Basinger, she'll win that award and great praise for perhaps not so great a performance once again a'la Kim Basinger. But I suppose, that's the way Hollywood works...

Oh, and suggesting Michelle turn to TV is one of the biggest rubbish statement I have heard this year. Cybill Shepard and Candice Bergan were never stars to the extent Michelle is. To even suggest she move to a base medium like sitcom TV is an incredible insult.

I suggest we just wait and see what happens as far as Michelle so-called 'deteriorating' career is concerned. For the meanwhile Michelle will be the good luck actress to her family. Has anyone else noticed that David E Kelley's biggest successes have been since she was on his arm? Michelle will be back in a couple of years when the children are older, and she'll once again achieve what she deserves. And by then Julia would have disappeared after her second burnout...