Brandon Judell
An Olympian Event--Ms. Dukakis Lets Loose on "Moonstruck" and More
by Brandon Judell
Olympia Dukakis, as you've never imagined her, was chatting away with fans in Manhattan's Broadway Screening Room the other day: her straight blonde tresses hitting her shoulders, her dress slinky black, and her shoes opened-toed. The Oscar-winning actress was the very definition of svelte.
So how come the first image of Olympia to always appear in our heads is as Rose Castorini, Cher's mom in "Moostruck" (1987)? And why isn't she getting those slightly older siren parts? When I got her alone, I asked her that point blank.
"First of all," Olympia purred forcefully, "everyone thinks
I am older than I am because of what I look like mostly on the screen, and
those are the parts
I get. So people ask, 'Why do you take those parts?' Why do I take those parts?
They're good parts. They pay me."
As for that Oscar?
"To have your work acknowledged is always nice," Olympia admits."Interestingly
enough, I didn't feel that it was a reward for all my work. I actually . ..
It was hard initially to understand its place in my life, and then it finally
occurred to me that maybe good things happen for the same reason bad things
do. When something bad happens to you, you try to say what can I learn from
this? What is this showing me about myself, my life, etc. ? I decided that
I was
going to look at it that way and not think of it as a reward when there are
a lot of actors who've done marvelous work for many years who haven't got
one.
I was lucky. A confluence of things happened, and I'm not taking away from
the work that I did when the opportunity came. I did good work, but still
there's
a lot to be said for luck."
And that good work in fine parts have often included pro-gay stances. She
was the mother of a pre-op transsexual in Jeffrey (1995), and she herself
became
everyone's favorite post-op transsexual, Anna Madrigal, in the TV adaptations
of "Tales of the City" (1993); "More Tales of the City"
(1998); "Further Tales of the City" (2001); and next year she's
resuscitates the character yet again for "Babycakes".
Olympia also raises money to combat AIDS with such organizations as Broadway Bares, and she's always willing to speak out for gay rights.
"And I will continue to," she avows. "Why? First of all I
have a lot of friends that I've loved deeply and had wonderful times with,
and a number of them
are gone. But I don't know if that's why . . ." she hesitates for a second.
Regaining her momentum, she continues with: "I really care about people,
supporting people who are getting a lot of flack about being different. That
really bothers me. I really feel that our intolerance of differences is a
cancer here
in this country. Whether we can't tolerate somebody's skin, someone's sexuality,
someone's religion, someone's political point of view, that really troubles
me. So when I get an opportunity to do something about it, to lend my name
to it or whatever, I do it.
"Listen! she adds. "I can't say that it's something I get up every
day and think about. I don't. Mostly I think about my work and my family.
But I find
that on a very personal level, and on a political level, and a national or
social or whatever-you-will level, this is one of the hardest things for us
as a
country to dialogue about. The intolerance is staggering. Sometimes it's really
painful to observe and to hear about."
Now in Thom Fitzgerald's "The Event", Olympia has given yet another pro-gay performance, one which is already eliciting an Oscar buzz according to the New York Times. As Lila, she plays a supportive New York mom whose gay son Matt (Don McKellar) has been living contentedly more or less with AIDS for over seven years. But when his drug cocktails stop working and his condition worsens, he decides to throw a suicide party for himself--and what a party it is!
Lila's final bedroom scene with Matt is a five-hanky moment: honest, devastating
and simultaneously uplifting. But this was a scene that was not unheard of
to Olympia before she read the screenplay.
"Oh, I knew people did that before the film," Olympia admits. "In
this particular part, it was really clear to me that this woman did not live
with
contradictions about [helping him commit suicide]. It was real clear to her.
She loved her son, and if this is what he wanted, that's what he would do.
She didn't feel the need to demonstrate emotion; she just felt the need to
do for her son. That's what it seemed to me.
"You know the shoot was a difficult one," Olympia continues. "This
was the first film to shoot in lower Manhattan after 9/11. So people were
fabulous.
People were very glad to see us."
But what about the drag queens on the set? After playing Anna Madrigal for so long, did she offer them any hints?
"Oh, no! Are you kidding?" Olympia laughs. "Don't you dare
give them any advice. They know more about makeup and hair and creating beauty
then I'll ever
know. They're amazing."
As is Olympia, whose new book is entitled "Ask Me Again Tomorrow: A Life in Progress". And since she was in such a good mood, she shared some items with us that were not in the text. For instance, "Moonstruck" is being made into a musical, and "by the way, Nicolas Cage didn't have a happy time doing that film."
But what about when she was in Lilith (1964), did she get it on with the
lead? "No, I never had an affair with Warren Beatty," she laughs.
"My book is not
so much as a kiss and tell. It's an effort to define myself."
What about Richard Chamberlain when she guested on Dr. Kildare in 1962? "He
didn't make a pass at me, and I had no idea he was gay. It was my first
television show, and I was involved in doing it and trying to deal with that
very mean man, Raymond Massey."
As for fond memories of San Francisco? "Are you kidding?" she gushes. "I'm going back. I'm going back this spring to be in a play at ACT called The Mother. Gorki. It's a remake of a play he wrote. I'm really excited." So are we.
[Judell]
Copyright © Brandon Judell 2003
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