Michelle Pfeiffer
👤 PersonPodcast Appearances
I think one of my favorite parts of the film is a girl for all seasons because it's so ridiculous.
Sean, how many times have you reenacted Cool Rider on a ladder?
You know, there's somebody online who did that, actually, and I reposted it.
And I guess probably, well, and then you've got all the people quoting Scarface, which is crazy.
But mostly they're quoting Tony Montana, not really me.
Don't you find it, I find it, first of all, no.
I'm always surprised actually to hear people say that.
But I also find today it's really hard to feel relevant in any way because it does feel like, you know.
Everybody's sort of getting their 15 minutes and you kind of,
In fact, I probably enjoy it more now than I ever have because... Really?
Yeah, I'm sort of more relaxed with it.
when I had all of this work, plus I have a fragrance company that I founded like seven years ago.
And so it's, you know, at a time when I wasn't working all this much.
So I don't really have time to be thinking about anything but the task at hand.
But when I had all these acting jobs coming up, I thought, okay, well,
okay, how are you going to manage this and have a life?
Because that hasn't always been easy for me.
And when I approach things, and I always like taking on challenges, and then I get into it and it's sort of sink or swim.
And for whatever reason, I kind of feed on that.
But so my approach has been, this gets back to why am I enjoying it more now than ever, is I don't have time to...
nor the desire to go that deep for that long and not be present.
I realize I have a finite amount of time left and I might announce on this show that I became a grandmother last year.
I've been very quiet about it, and it is...
And if I had known that I was going to be a grandmother, I wouldn't have taken on so much work.
But I've enjoyed everything, and I'm really grateful.
giving up that angst about the process has freed me up and I feel in some ways has made me better.
Oh, I have to know this and I have to- Right, and no longer.
You know, and I have to personalize this and I have to, you know, and yes, yes, there's a certain amount of that you have to do and that's important.
And then you start though, but there's something amazing for me about showing up and it's about discovery.
It's hard for me to like my work and watch it.
And that's the other thing is I used to see every day's daily, the work before.
I had to see what I was doing, had to see where I was at, had to know, do I need to make a shift?
Actually, that was a while ago because I was just torturing myself.
Because I know no matter what I see, I'm going to... Find the negative.
I'm going to find the negative and I'm going to show up the next day and do it the best way I know how.
Yeah, and the other thing about it too is that then you become –
rather than something happening spontaneously because you're just going with your instincts and you're in the moment, you start copying yourself.
And then you're not in the moment anymore, which is what made it so good.
And also what could have made it so bad.
But you know that thing about like a painter, like when you paint, sometimes you go, okay, but those moments where you missed...
And it's like a painter, it's the same thing, because I paint and you have your painting and you have an idea and you start painting and then you make a mistake
And then you have to go about, how am I going to fix this?
Well, you don't have a plan how to fix it because you didn't plan on making a mistake.
So now you have to just figure that out.
And it ultimately, typically will end up being the favorite part of your painting.
And so I think when you're creating, I think that's all part of the process.
Wait, Michelle, you work with- Oh, by the way, I have a fragrance called Dave.
Wait, Sean, can't you get in serious trouble?
Like if you're on the stage and you break and you like start talking to the audience, isn't that sort of like a- During the curtain call, you're fine.
Oh, it wasn't in the middle of your performance.
And then once you start getting work and then it's like obviously just choosing the best of what is put in front of you and hopefully you're able to get, you know, pickier and pickier as you go along.
And then, yeah, when you're in a position of where you have that kind of choice, it's a tough one.
I mean, I've seen really talented directors make, maybe masterpieces, but great films out of not so great scripts.
And then I've seen maybe in the wrong hands a really great script.
In some ways, I think if I had to choose, I would say director.
you know, does it kind of just speak to you?
You know, I recently have, especially like, you know, working on a Marvel movie or something, and you have a tent on the stage, and you're in a costume, you can't pee, you know, you can't go to the bathroom in unless you... And it's...
You know, I've had to beg for a honey wagon size room.
I'm like, I just need a place to go sit and work on my stuff that has a little tiny toilet, you know?
That was so delicately walked through and so impressive.
I'm like he is so teetering on the edge.
How does it feel being an aging actress in Hollywood?
Yeah, we just got out of the deep end, Sean.
And mainly that's due to television and streamers.
The bad news is there's a ridiculous amount of content out there.
But that's always been the case, right, in our industry.
And I just feel like so much of the good work
like the majority of the good work is being done by women.
I mean, extraordinary work by women and on television.
And then I also feel like in terms of performers and entertainment,
There has never been a bigger appreciation for women of my age.
And so, yeah, I've seen... But that's what I kind of mean.
God forbid you should sponsor a product or something.
You will never work again in the movies.
I was talking about, I don't know, I got offered some TV show.
And I went, well, you know, I don't know, it's kind of interesting.
And they're like, no, you know, if you do TV.
It's got to be something really special.
And, you know, now, but it obviously wasn't when I committed to do all this work.
I didn't know I was going to be a grandmother then.
And, you know, I thought, wow, it's my time now.
And I said to him when, again, all this work was coming up, I'm like going to Montana and Texas for four months out of the year.
I am not doing this unless you're with me.
And don't say you're going to be with me and then come for a couple weeks and then go away.
And I couldn't have, because he can write anywhere.
I just worked for him with him for the first time, really, on Margo's Got Money Troubles.
And I was very, I've never been really eager to work with him because I so cherish my marriage and sometimes that's the kiss of death to work together and don't be on the cover of People Magazine together because you'll be divorced next year.
So, I mean, how many times have we seen that?
Well, he sort of set a boundary early on when I was asking maybe too many questions.
And he's like, you know, I think that's a good question for the director.
After he did that a couple times, I'm like, okay, I get it.
But the truth is, this character is so well written.
It's like, I was born to play this part.
She is like a real housewife of Fullerton wannabe.
Her name is Cheyenne, and she works at Bloomingdale's in the cosmetics department.
Anywho, so it was also, gosh, how often do you get to work in Los Angeles and stay home?
I mean, I have a few that are of my favorites.
But then it's bad if I don't mention some, and then the director's going to be like, oh, you didn't mention mine.
You know, there's the film that I actually love the most, and then there's the performance that maybe I don't hate.
Then there's the experience that I had the best time on.
Experience would be, I think, a toss-up of Married to the Mob and, honestly, Margo's Got Money Troubles.
That might be my favorite performance as well.
Don't you think that would make a great sequel?
Look, it's John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John.
And it was amazing and such a cult following and so successful.
And then you got me and this kid, Mack.
I loved all that because I, I do love to dance and I love to sing, but I didn't consider.
It was... I still have my bowling ball.
I have some of the costumes from Married to Mom.
I don't always keep them because... What about a script?
And Jason, by the way, I was meaning to say I'm sorry.
Maybe are you going to a doctor to address your gastrointestinal issues?
Was it a television show or was it a new movie?
I forget, but that was a couple years ago.
I didn't have any idea it would become sort of a cultural phenomenon and in the way that it did too.
It became this sort of cult kind of following and
So, and that was, boy, that was really intense for me.
I think, I want to say the shooting went on for six months.
It went over like a couple of months and I was playing a coke addict.
And I kept getting skinnier and skinnier.
The crew were bringing me bagels and kind of... We're going to have to reshoot about 20 pages.
Well, and then the scene at the end, you know, where she's in the restaurant and like kind of strung out and at her worst, kept getting pushed and pushed and pushed.
And that was the scene where I really wanted to look my worst.
And it was also very, other than Mary Elizabeth, Master Antonio, like, we were the only women.
And it was these, you know, it was like, it was like guys, you know.
And they were all kind of, you know, a little bit in character all the time.
I think the last credit I had was Grease 2.
And I just didn't have a lot of experience under my belt.
on stage, and we did some Florida location stuff, yeah.
I didn't have any experience behind me.
And I auditioned, I think, for a couple of months for it.
And I knew he didn't want me going into it.
And one of my favorite stories is when I actually made him bleed during my screen test.
I think, don't you want to just end there?
First of all, I come in, I do a great reading for Brian De Palma and the casting director.
And I was like, it just was a good, it just happened to be good.
Then they want to bring me back to meet Al.
And anyway, over the course of two months, I just get worse and worse and worse because I'm just afraid.
And Brian finally comes to me and says, you know, doll, it's just...
Yeah, as disappointed, well, you know that fear is the worst, is an actor's enemy.
So as much as disappointed as I was, I was so happy to be done with it.
They want to bring me in to screen test.
So I show up, and I don't even give a shit because I know I'm not getting this part.
And it's that restaurant scene where I explode at the end and I swipe the table of the dishes and glasses break, the dishes break.
And they all run over to me to see where I've cut myself.
Anyway, actually, I think that was the day he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think I cut him in the finger or something.
So before you show up, you know, to do your performance, just that's your mantra.
And he was very, yeah, he was an amazing scene.
No, no, love, love, love, love the director, love the show, love the actors.
It was just, our scenes were kind of grueling and we did a lot of takes.
I had one line on Fantasy Island, and I remember the line.
And the episode was the Island of Lost Women.
I was one of the lost women, and we were all running around in togas.
It was, it was, it was, who is he, Naomi?
I mean, the premise is there were no men on the island.
And so we were all lusting over this one man.
I'm guessing it was universal, but it could have been Warner Brothers.
I showed up for work and there was a honey wagon.
But I was very excited because I looked up and there was my name and a star.
I had taken theater in high school to avoid having to take an English class.
I think it was grammar that I was avoiding.
And so I sort of fell into it, and I thought all the theater people were just kind of geeky.
And I just sort of fell in love with it.
In fact, my dad was not thrilled at the notion of me doing that.
In Orange County, not that far away from L.A.
Anyway, so I was working at Bond's Supermarket.
Yeah, and it wasn't a very good checker.
Those were the days, right, way back then.
Because you have to sort of learn a whole new language.
And then you have to type it out like this.
But what would happen was after about a year of studying that, every time I would talk to people...
And I'm transcribing every single thing.
No, it's a totally different, you have to learn a completely different language.