 Sex,
violence and horror filled much of De
Palma's thoughts. And the thinking
of other film makers of the early 1980s,
that pushed Pfeiffer
towards her next film adventure. It was
a romantic project professionally but
would mean a long separation from her
husband Peter Horton.
She dithered about it, but her instinct
took over. Much of the decision involved
the fact that the film was to be made
in Europe. It would be her first trip
outside the United States. It was as much
a decision about her own independence
as a person outside her marriage as a
career decision.
Peter Horton
in 1982 had won a role in the television
series Seven
Brides for Seven Brothers, playing
brother Crane McFadden.
The experience frustrated him so much
that he decided to concentrate on directing
(he only took the role of never going
to grow up Gary
on ‘thirtysomething’
on the understanding he would be allowed
to direct some episodes). This involved
him in enormous research and development
of projects. Meanwhile, Pfeiffer
was still getting cocaine fiend evil beauty
style scripts. It was hard not to just
accept something. On 9 December 1983,
Vincent Canby,
the chief film critic of the New
York Times, had favourably reviewed
Scarface
and wrote of Pfeiffer:
'She's a beautiful
young actress without a bad or even awkward
camera angle to her entire body, She will
not be easily forgotten.'
 Earlier
in the year Pfeiffer
rather thought she had been. It led to
tension in her marriage. She compensated
by spending time working on their Santa
Monica house as well as keeping up her
acting classes and helping her husband
on his projects. But she had waited to
find suitable parts after Grease
2, and the months were ticking
relentlessly on and on. But with the help
of her inborn stubbornness she persevered
and resisted stepping back into what could
have meant her future, back into bimbo
land. 'Even as a
kid,' she would say later, 'I
never even understood the words, "You
can not do." I was always trying
to figure out how I could get what I wanted.'
From her Scarface
work with Al Pacino,
Pfeiffer
has always remembered his advice, which
in turn went back to Pacino's
late acting teacher, the revered Lee
Strasberg.
'Is someone doing what they should be
doing? That's the question.'
 It's
always been the important question for
Pacino, an
actor who has turned down more good roles
than he's had. Pfeiffer
follows the same thinking. Pacino
who regards Pfeiffer
as a close friend gave his view of her
during an interview in New York in 1992:
“Basically, she's
a character actress. I think that's a
strength. And she happens also to be a
leading lady type, which is, I guess,
glamorous. She has both. But she's someone
who will endure because she'll find characters
to play.” |
