Michelle Pfeiffer Interview, HairSpray

MoviesOnline sat down with Michelle Pfeiffer at the Los Angeles press day for "Hairspray” to talk about her new film. Pfeiffer, who was the filmmakers’ first choice for the role of the scheming Velma Von Tussle, is joined by a stellar cast that includes John Travolta, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, James Marsden, Amanda Bynes, Elijah Kelley, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Paul Dooley, and Nikki Blonsky. "I think people are really going to be taken by how funny Michelle is in this movie,” says director/co-choreographer Adam Shankman. "If they’ve forgotten that she can sing and dance, too, they’re in for quite a ride.”

Music and change are clearly not what drive the conniving character of television station manager and not-so-merry widow Velma Von Tussle, as played by Michelle Pfeiffer, who received one of her three Academy Award nominations for her last singing role, Suzie Diamond, in "The Fabulous Baker Boys.” "Velma is a woman on the edge,” says Shankman. "For the ex-beauty queen, life is still all about winning and winning at all cost. That’s how she runs the TV station, and that’s how she runs her life and her daughter Amber’s life. This is a woman who is so very beautiful on the outside and so hideously ugly on the inside.”

"As a huge fan of Michelle’s, and especially her work in ‘Batman Returns’ and ‘The Fabulous Baker Boys,’ I knew she could handle the physical, comedic and singing elements of Velma,” says Shankman. "There was no question, though, that she had a very daunting task in playing the villain, who is essentially just a big racist. Michelle, however, took over the role with an unmatched style, energy and commitment. She never tried to run away from how horrible Velma is. She bit into it, locked her jaw and held on tight.”

"I think calling her the villain would be a very fair assessment, if not a glaring understatement,” says Pfeiffer, laughing. "I was a bit reluctant at first to play her. I didn’t really know how to approach such a hateful character. Every scene I tried to humanize her and sometimes it just wasn’t possible. So, I must give thanks to Adam. He was very collaborative and yet always gave me a sense that he was in control and keeping the bigger picture in mind. He was always very generous with rehearsal time and making sure I was comfortable with the staging, but whenever I would get too ‘actor-y’ and question ‘my motivation,’ Adam would just say ‘Honey! It’s Vaudeville!’ That would always put me back in the place I needed to be to be Velma.”

Pfeiffer admits the singing and dancing (and baton twirling!) was much more demanding than any of her work in "Grease 2” or "The Fabulous Baker Boys.” "The songs themselves are very challenging,” she says. "It was difficult for me to find any room for interpretation because the melodies are so fast you can barely catch your breath. Once I got through that ‘Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into’ phase, it really was so much fun to be singing again. And the ‘Miss Baltimore Crabs’ number really pushed my limits as to how many different things I had to concentrate on at one time. But Brittany (Brittany Snow, who plays Velma’s daughter, Amber) and all the wonderful young dancers really helped to keep my spirits up. Their enthusiasm and tireless energy was infectious and I loved working with every single one of them.”

Here’s more of what Michelle Pfeiffer had to tell us about her new movie and her experiences working with such a talented director and ensemble cast:

Q: You haven't seen each other since the filming?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: We saw each other on the "Oprah" show. But you know we didn't really have time to hug and kiss and do all that.

Q: You seemed to have a whole lot of fun with this. It’s obviously a musical but did the comedy side of this movie appeal to you too?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I sure had fun. You know, Adam Shankman, there is nobody more perfect to be doing this kind of movie with. He was there to help me push the envelope when I was afraid, and there to tell me, "Okay, let’s dial it back a little.” I had a blast doing this.

Q: What were you afraid of?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I was afraid of falling into the pitfalls of doing a character like this which is chewing up the scenery which I think I probably failed at avoiding that one. [laughter] He’d say "Is that a piece of the chair leg in between your teeth?” He is funny [laughs]. It’s just finding that balance because it’s not reality but you also have to stay rooted in some kind of reality so I was constantly walking that tightrope. I don’t think I’m necessarily really comfortable in this area. It’s not my strength. It’s not something that comes maybe as naturally to me as drama.

Q: What about the musical part? Would you be open to doing another musical after this?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: Yeah! I love it. I loved it. I love being in the recording studio. I am not sure I’d want to do a Broadway musical. I don't think first of all my instrument is strong enough and I’m not sure I want to put the work into getting it strong enough because there is a lot of work keeping your voice trained, getting it trained, keeping it there. But I loved it. Also, you know, I was working with the best people. They couldn't have made it any easier. They let me, as many times as I wanted to go back in and -because I’m kind of tireless and exhausting. Adam said I’m like the Ever-Ready Bunny. "You’re exhausting us!” But, as many times as I would say, "I want to go in. I think I can do that one lyric better,” he’d go, "Fine anytime,” up until the end, up until they locked, then "We're shooting. You can't make anymore changes."

Q: How much fun was it trying to seduce Chris Walken?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: It was so much fun.

Q: A lot of laughter going on?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: Yeah, a lot of laughter and also because we were so tired. It was the middle of the night, probably 4 in the morning, and we were just punchy already and he’s just being so ridiculous. All I had to do was respond to him. It was kind of that "Where am I? Where have I landed?”

Q: You’re obviously a veteran around this younger cast, did anyone come to you for advice or did you offer them advice?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: God, I would never, ever do that. That would be so irritating. "Honey. Listen.” Can you imagine? No. Also, these are not really kids. Compared to me, they are sort of kids, but they’re all so together and so grounded. Honestly, who knows what went on when I wasn't around. But they were so professional. They were never late. They had the greatest spirit and joy about the work. That's really what you were hit with by them. Not like they were big pains in the asses. None of that was going on. There was just this infectious enthusiasm that was so refreshing to be around, and there’s so many of them that it just hits you and it energizes you.

Q: Less than a month after this film comes out, you have another film coming out called "Stardust." Can you talk about your character in that? And also are you going to be part of the big promotion at Comic Con in July if they do something?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: First, I don't know what that is, but that doesn't mean I'm not going. I did just film some sort of introduction and it might have been for that but I don’t know.

Q: Did you say "Welcome visitors" or something like that?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: Ladies and gentlemen? No. Anyway I don't know, but I will be involved in promoting the movie. It’s fantastic. It’s totally different from this. It is one of those movies you can't really define in a sentence which makes it really hard to do press junkets for. [laughs] It is so good and that is the beauty of it. It is not your kind of formulaic, oh it’s this genre or that genre film. It is kind of really special. It’s this special little jewel – a little of this, a little of that -- and some how it all works together. It’s this kind of action adventure, magical romance, mythological epic.

Q: Could you tell me about your character?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: My character? Evil. I am about 5,000 years old. I go from my age to 5,000 years old, back to my age, back to 5,000 years old. It’s a prosthetic nightmare. I am after eternal youth and I will do anything to get it. She’s pretty dark. I’m the villain. I’m the bad guy. One of them. There are a number of them, actually there are a lot of them. There are two good guys and everyone else is bad [laughs] now that I think about it. Claire and Charlie are the only good people in the movie.

Q: Did you have any scenes with Robert De Niro?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I didn't. No. I didn't even see him. Have you seen it? Some people at the junket have seen it or they’ve read the book. There are different worlds going on and he is in a different world.

Q: Regarding the prosthetics, you shot "Stardust" before you did "Hairspray"?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I was not allowed to talk to John about the prosthetics.

Q: That was my question.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: ... because it is Hell. I don't like to be a whiner, but - and I could go on about it and I won't, but…

Q: Who said you weren't allowed?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: The producers. [laughter] They didn't want me to scare him. They didn't want me stirring up trouble. As it turns out, John was very smart and he had done his research, his homework, which I did not. And he spoke with other actors who had worn prosthetics - I did not. And when they were working out the schedule, he made it so that it was as comfortable as possible for himself. [whispers] I did not. [laughter]

Q: Michelle, how soon after you see a script do you know you are going to do it?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: It is different. Sometimes I’ll read something and half way through it my heart just starts going (makes a patting motion on her chest) and I’m on the phone. That is quite rare. I am on the phone and sign me up. I don't care how badly this ends, I know I want to do the first half of the script. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer. Mostly that's the case. Mostly I do take a little time, I read it a couple of times. In the case of "Stardust," I really wasn't sure and I didn't quite know. I loved the script a lot. I thought, "Oh this is going to be really interesting.” But I wasn't really sure what to do with the part. And if I don't know what to do with the part, then I don't know what to do with the part. But I met with Matthew Vaughn. And it was kind of the same thing a little bit with "Hairspray." I did not know what to do with Velma and it scared me on the page. I just thought, "Oh God, she’s just so awful all the time and that's all she is.” But I met with Adam, hearing his vision and hearing how he wanted to modulate it and where he wanted to go. Yes, she's evil and she's bad to the bone and she has to be and that's my job. But we want to find the humanity there. I was very excited to sing again. I thought, "Well that will be fun.” I hadn't done that in awhile. So in answer to you question, usually it takes me a lot of mulling over.

Q: In terms of "Hairspray," did you end up going to see the Broadway show or were you familiar with it before selecting this role?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I had seen it. I had actually seen it a long time ago and liked it very much.

Q: The Broadway musical or the movie?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: The Broadway musical. In fact I haven’t seen the John Waters movie which I am dying to see. It’s one of those movies that I just didn’t get around to seeing when it came out. Then when I signed on to this, I really didn't want to see it. I didn’t really want to be influenced by it. Now I am dying to go back and see it. Probably there will be so many great things that Debbie Harry did and I could’ve copied. [laughs]

Q: I thought sure you had seen it because of some of the body language. It is just because it is a beautiful woman who’s being mean and there’s just certain landmarks to it.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: It’s interesting, you know. When I was younger, in my early 20s, people used to come up to me and think I was her. That was when Blondie was really, really big. I guess it makes sense that he would have thought of me for it.

Q: I found out after the Michael Bay roundtables for Transformers that any woman between the age of 35 and 40 is an old lady.

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: (Jokingly) Can't wait to meet him. Where is he? Go get him!

Q: Speaking as an old lady myself, how is it in this industry? Is it a bit of a challenge?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: Well, first of all, I have to laugh because yesterday I was doing the Hollywood Foreign Press. One of the women said to me "So, now that you have this old and decrepit body" or something like that. [laughter] She had a heavy accent so I thought she really didn't say that. I said "Excuse me. Did you just say I had an old and decrepit body?" And I think it was sort of in her language. The worst thing is that people say those kind of horrible things to you and they don't actually mean it. Maybe he really doesn't mean that we are old and decrepit.

Q: What was it like working with Nikki Blonsky?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: What can you say? She's a marvel. She was born to play this part. You would never know that she had never been on a movie set. It was really like she had grown up on a soundstage. So comfortable. So gracious. She just has such a grace and maturity about her. And looking into that face. That was the hard part. I had to be really mean a lot. The beginning scene when she comes in to audition and I turn her away, we actually shot that toward the end. So we had done all this sort of mean, mean, mean, mean stuff. And then I come to do this scene when I am in her face and it killed me.

Q: What about Brittany Snow as your daughter? Was it a fun relationship?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I just fell in love with Brittany. I just wanted to put her in my suitcase and take her home. She is a remarkable young woman. Again, for somebody of her age, actually she did kind of grow up. She started very young. She is an incredible person and I adore her. She is going to do very well.

Q: Are you about to start a new project?

MICHELLE PFEIFFER: I’m not about to start a new project. It looks like I will be going back to work. And I won't wait four years. Let's just put it that way. It looks like sometime in the winter.

"Hairspray” opens in theaters on July 20^th.