Emmanuel Itier: How do you play nasty so well?

Michelle Pfeiffer: That’s so flattering. I don’t know. I didn’t plan it and I didn’t really want it. But the projects were so exciting and… both of the parts scared me a little bit because they were a little bit dangerous, a little bit risky, and I didn’t quite know what to do with them, and that’s always a good thing, I find, whenever I take that leap and take a risk. And with both projects, I really went into them primarily because I trusted both of those directors so much and their vision of it, because it wasn’t necessarily all–they really wanted to add a lot of layers.

EI: Have you seen Matthew’s previous films?

MP: Yes.

EI: This is a whole 180-degree turn.

MP: Oh, yeah. Yeah.

EI: You still were pretty confident in him?

MP: I was, because I really loved his previous work, and I sat down and met with him, and he had the whole thing visually mapped out. He came with this huge notebook. So he’d already done all of this work and he had it all–so usually you’d sit down with a director, and they have it all in their head and you listen to them, but he literally had something to show me. So he had a very good idea on how the movie was going to look, and then we talked a lot about the character and he had assembled a really fabulous group of people to support him, and the cast was stellar, and so for me to go to London and leave my kids, it was big deal, but I really, really wanted to do it.

EI: Was that hard?

MP: Well, it worked out so that they were actually able to come for a big chunk of it because I started it at the end of their school year. I won’t bore you with the details, but it worked out so that they spent the last few summers in London.

EI: The witch is such a great character.

MP: She’s a great character? Yeah, I think she’s a great character.

EI: Always.

MP: Oh always, yeah. I know Snow White and I know. It’s true, yeah.

EI: Now you’re part of that.

MP: Yeah.

EI: How long did it take to get you to look like that, because, I mean, look at you.

MP: I’m a big fan of books on tape. Remember, I had rubber everywhere. I couldn’t read. I couldn’t put an earphone in my ear, I couldn’t talk on the phone. So we listened to books on tape in the makeup trailer, but it was four to five hours every day.

EI: How do you sit there?

MP: I have this ability to sort of just check out, luckily.

EI: Any good books you listened to?

MP: I listened to The Alchemist, Jeremy Irons. Oh my god, Jeremy Irons reading this book–have you heard it? Oh I was so sad when that ended. It was extraordinary reading. But then I got spoiled and I couldn’t listen to it, and then I put in all of these new books on tape and they were just horrible. I just wanted him to read everything.

EI: Did they have a hard time, though, because you’re so gorgeous?

MP: I had rubber glue every inch. The thing is the tip of my nose and the inside of my lips. I was completely encased, well, at my most hideous.

EI: Any thoughts about being in two summer movies?

MP: No, not really. See, I don’t think in those terms.

EI: You didn’t know when they were coming out?

MP: Well, no. It’s been such a whirlwind, in a way. I sort of went and did Stardust, and that was pretty consuming, and then barely got home and started Hairspray and barely finished that, and then started doing press. And then everything just has been on the heels of something else. And so it’s great. I mean, I’m not complaining. What I love most, though, is that both movies are really good and really unusual in totally different ways and the kinds of movies that I like to see, and that it’s unusual to have two movies in a row that you actually are happy with and that, actually, I think people are responding to in such a positive way. And that feels really good.

EI: Are you happy about the Hairspray first weekend?

MP: Yeah, and it’s still really going on. This weekend it’s going to do better. Really.

EI: You took time off from movies. Are you glad you’re back?

MP: It’s funny because Claire and I are sort of similar. We don’t see each other or talk to each other. I didn’t see Claire since when I worked with her. So when I watch her career and the choices that she makes, we’re very similar in our tastes and the choices that we make. I mean, I really admire her a lot. I have a lot of respect for her as a person, the way she conducts her life and the choices that she makes, and obviously, as an actress, she’s extraordinary.

EI: Are you glad you took the time off? And what was the biggest thing you learned about yourself, and are you glad you’re back?

MP: I’m really glad I took the time off.

EI: Are you working on something now?

MP: No.

EI: Anything coming up or anything you’re thinking about?

MP: I’m thinking about a few things.

EI: I’ve read you passed on a few things during your hiatus. Any regrets about missing any of those movies?

MP: Yeah, it’s probably just rumors. No, no regrets.

EI: They probably kept coming to you with offers, or did they finally get the message?

MP: No, things just kind of kept coming in the same sort of way. I don´t know. Nothing seemed to prompt me to want to come back to work until a few years ago. But the Amy Heckerling script, I had read that a good two years before we made that. I Could Never Be A Woman–that’s coming out in November, with Paul Rudd, and I’m very excited. It’s a really, really charming movie. I had read that, and I really, really wanted to make that movie for a long time, and then everything for me just sort of paled in comparison to that, and so I just kind of kept waiting for that to get going.

EI: She’s so talented.

MP: She is. She’s so smart.

EI: What was the hold up?

MP: It was something to do with the distribution, which I didn’t really understand, and I sort of, “just tell me when the junket is.”

EI: The audition process–you’re at the point in your career where you don’t have to do that, but looking back on your career, is that something that you feel comfortable with? Felt comfortable with? Are you able to derive any enjoyment?

MP: I always really liked auditioning. In fact, I think some of my best work has been, unfortunately, in the audition room. I just, for whatever reason, I’m really a good at it, my personality is really good, I think, under pressure like that. And I think, in some ways, the less time I have to think about it, because I’m a little bit, you know, anal compulsive or OCD or whatever, and I get very perfectionistic, and I think sometimes that can undermine me and I think sometimes, if I just have to do it off the cuff and not have a lot of time to prepare, I work more instinctually, which I think is always better for an actor. But I loved meeting, coming in… I mean, I’d get nervous. I certainly would get anxious before an interview, but I sort of fed off of that a little bit.

EI: Did you have a sense of weird deja vu, reliving the scenes from an audition, a part that you booked?

MP: I’m not sure I understand.

EI: An audition scene for a movie that you got and then it comes time to make the movie, is there a sense of deja vu during that scene?

MP: Well, it’s always a little disconcerting knowing that I did better on the audition than I’m doing on the set today, but then I think, well, they’ve forgotten about that. I know the audience is not going to know how well you did on your audition.

EI: Do you remember your first kiss when you were a teenager? Was it a big deal or something silly?

MP: My first kiss was this boy named Mike. I don’t remember his last name. And it was after school at the bike rack. And I think I was in sixth grade. And then I don’t think I kissed anyone for while.

EI: What was it like?

MP: All those kids were like, “We’re going to go kiss at the bike rack.” “Oh, okay.”

EI: He couldn’t find anybody else?

MP: It’s kind of like, that’s it? What’s the big deal? I was not impressed. I don’t think he probably was either.

EI: Now he is. What do you hope audiences take away from this movie?

MP: Exactly the feelings you had, yeah.

EI: Love and the glories of love, and fighting for love?

MP: Yeah.

EI: Have you ever had to fight for love?

MP: No, it’s interesting because–what is Charlie’s character’s name? Tristan. You know, Tristan is… I was actually just telling a story about a friend of mine who said to another friend of mine years ago when her heart was broken. She said, “You know, it’s not the boy you’re going to meet. It’s the boy you meet along the way.” And that’s very much Tristan’s journey, isn’t it? And it’s really… somebody’s asking me about love and asking me about do you believe in destiny, and I think that you have to listen to your destiny, and I think that’s what Tristan ultimately had to come to. You get your mind so focused in this myopic kind of view of where your life is supposed to be going, and you forget to listen to what life is telling you. And it’s like, “No, it’s over here.”

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