Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 6, 1994 TAG: 9408090020
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mike Mayo
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Anna Nicole Smith's life seems to be following a familiar Hollywood script: Appearances in Playboy magazine and videos, Playmate of the Year, a sexy ad campaign for Guess? jeans, a key supporting role in ``Naked Gun 331/3,'' widely publicized run-ins with the law, showing up at the Oscars in a skin-tight dress, and then a few weeks ago, marriage to J. Howard Marshall II, an 89-year-old Texas oil tycoon said to be worth $400 million.
But the woman who showed up to talk to a roomful of writers seemed nervous and tentative at first. In appearance, she certainly lived up to her billing. She's a big woman - 5'11'' barefoot. In heels, a long pleated white dress and with her hair piled up, she really makes an entrance.
When she speaks, the brassy blonde disappears. She has a soft Texas accent and her voice is small, untrained. (Her professional acting education consists of two one-on-one classes with a coach.) She's not used to fielding questions, and her answers are punctuated with ``like'' and ``you know.'' Asked about the atmosphere on the ``Naked Gun'' set, she expressed frank admiration for Leslie Nielsen's creative use of a whoopi cushion, though she didn't use the word ``whoopi.''
For her, the most difficult part of the film was the ``Crying Game'' spoof. Even though it was done in silhouette, that scene demanded nudity. ``Actually,'' she said, ``they got a body double and I was looking at the screen, and I'm like `No Way!' My body is my career, she is not to be playing me. So I said I'd do it, which shocked everyone.
``I was ugly when I was young. I was really skinny and anorexic. My son, who's 8 now, really helped me, even though I've cursed a few times about the stretch marks. I weighed 125 pounds, wore size 3 jeans. When I was pregnant I went up to 211 and Double-F ... so he gave me my body.''
In the immediate future, ``I'm fixing to do `Venus Rising' in August. It's about this woman who breaks out of prison, and I'm her bombshell friend.'' Farther down the road, in five years, ``I'm either going to be a very good, famous movie star and model, or I'm going to have a bunch of kids. I've done my acting; I've done my modeling. If I don't work another day, I've done what I wanted to do.''
Debbie Rochon's career has taken a different, more unconventional route, and if she's not as well-known, she's certainly serious about her craft. She has appeared in several low-budget films. But these days she is best known for her writing and editing in ``Femme Fatales,'' a magazine devoted to the female stars of genre films. In that role, Rochon is an eloquent voice for change, for stronger roles for women and an end to victimization.
Like so many actresses, she's surprisingly slim in person, a redhead who hasn't completely lost her Canadian accent. She lives in New York where she works off-Broadway between films. At the VSDA convention, she was promoting an upcoming release, ``Abducted II.'' Despite the title, it was, she said, ``really a wonderful movie to work on, kind of `Thelma and Louise' meets `Deliverance.' It's challenging, acting-wise because it's highly emotional. The characters are in extreme situations.
``It's a good action film. It proves that you can do a film with talent and not have car crashes and airplane crashes and all kinds of gunfire - well, a little bit of gunfire - and hardcore exploitation. These characters are confronted with themselves and their own shortcomings and what they have to do to get out of the situation. That's what makes three-dimensional characters, and it makes all the difference in the world.''
Of course, in B-movies as in the rest of the industry, change comes slowly. The people with the money - Rochon calls them ``the big boys'' - are essentially conservative, resistant to new ideas. They'd rather repeat profitable formulas than try something unusual and risky. As Rochon sees it, ``If you have a script that's written, acted and directed well, you don't have to go the easy route. But everyone is involved in making a fast buck and everyone only wants to try things that are tested and true - that's the lack of creativity in this business, and it's ignorance. But I do see roles becoming much more valuable to women.
``The '80s are over, and it's time for the real femme fatale to come into her own.''
She's right.
Next week: More women in home video.
New releases:
Chasers **1/2
Starring Erika Eleniak, Tom Berenger, William MacNamara. Directed by Dennis Hopper. Warner Home Video. 80 min. Rated R for strong language, brief nudity, sexual content, some violence.
This disposable, sexy little time-waster will probably be a bigger hit on video than it was in theaters. It's an updated service comedy with a South Carolina beach setting. The story's too silly to be at all involving but a capable cast and Dennis Hopper's typically overheated direction make it easy to watch.
Angie * 1/2
Starring Geena Davis, Aida Turturro, Stephen Rea, Philip Bosco. Directed by Martha Coolidge. Buena Vista. 104 min. Rated R for strong language, subject matter, brief nudity.
Only a mother could love this one, because that's the point of it - mother love. In the Hollywood sense, it's a ``woman's picture'' about relationships between mothers and children. To anyone who's expecting conventional conflicts and resolution, it's long, slow, boring and trite. Geena Davis lays it on thick as the title character, an unwed mother in Bensonhurst.
The Ref *
Starring Dennis Leary, Judy Davis, Kevin Spacey. Directed by Ted Demme. Buena Vista. 95 min. Rated R for language, sexual humor.
Think of the most irritating couple you know - two self-absorbed, argumentative, unpleasant people whose company you loathe. What would it be like to be forced to spend several hours in close contact with them? That's the unfortunate premise of this thin comic drama. It has few laughs and a cast of uniformly unsympathetic characters. Burglar Leary makes a big mistake when he kidnaps a bickering married couple. For true masochists only.
Beethoven's 2nd: *** kids; ** adults
Starring Charles Grodin and Bonnie Hunt. Directed by Rod Daniel. MCA/Universal. 86 min. Rated PG for a little canine bathroom humor and mild violence.
The best aspects of the first film have been strengthened and the flaws are gone in this sequel. The result is an entertaining entry in a series that probably has a few more installments to go. Why not? The filmmakers have put together an irresistible combination with all the appeal (and the limits) of a 1950s TV sitcom. Grodin and Hunt are the suburban parents who put up with three cute kids, one St. Bernard and four adorable puppies.
by CNB