Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 12, 1994 TAG: 9412080010
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB THOMAS ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long
Their initial reactions? No way!
``I thought it was a mad idea that they should be doing a continuation of the story,'' says Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, who plays Scarlett O'Hara in the eight-hour miniseries ``Scarlett'' on CBS.
The sequel to Margaret Mitchell's ``Gone With the Wind,'' written as a novel by Alexandra Ripley, debuts Sunday (at 9 p.m. on WDBJ-Channel 7), and continues Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.
``I didn't read the book `Scarlett,''' Whalley-Kilmer said. ``I remember it, because you couldn't miss it. I was intrigued. I said, `It sounds crazy, but let me read it.' I read it and I thought `It's great. It's really well done.'
``Then I found out who was involved in the film, and I thought, why not? It's a fantastic role. I'd never done anything in this convention before. It's a melodrama - a big, entertaining, rip-roaring roller coaster of a melodrama. That intrigued me.''
Timothy Dalton, at first gasp, thought re-creating the role of Rhett Butler was inconceivable.
``I thought, you can't follow the footsteps of Clark Gable, and not in that film - it was wonderful, incredible. I've joked about it, but the real truth is that I began to feel there was something that I rationalized as a challenge.
``But I also began to wonder if it was an odd kind of self-destruction, a sense of masochism. I honestly felt that I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I was scared to take it on.''
Whether the pair made the right decision may be clearer after the four-night run of ``Scarlett'' is completed.
The supporting cast includes Ann-Margret, John Gielgud, George Grizzard, Esther Rolle, Julie Harris, Paul Winfield and Stephen Collins. John Erman directed the film over six months in Charleston, S.C., Ireland and England.
This is not the first time Dalton has followed a tough act. In 1970, he assumed the Laurence Olivier role of Heathcliff in a remake of ``Wuthering Heights.'' Then, he undertook James Bond in ``The Living Daylights'' and ``Licence to Kill,'' following Sean Connery and Roger Moore.
Surprisingly, Dalton hadn't seen ``Gone With the Wind'' until about four years ago.
``It seems odd,'' he admitted. ``But it doesn't come out in the cinema too often. Only with the advent of video has it been readily available. So I only saw it on a television screen. But it was still big on the small screen.''
The actor was impressed by the scope of the film, he said: ``But it struck me as being soap opera. The background was the Civil War, but it was about the people, about love and betrayal and emotion and people behaving badly and hoping and losing.''
Whalley-Kilmer remembers seeing ``Gone With the Wind'' in England when she was 7 or 8.
``It was over Easter. They always show big movies then,'' she said. ``I just loved it. But I've always loved that kind of film. Since then, I've seen it over and over. Now, I have my own copy.''
About the character of Scarlett: ``She's not an angel. It would be hard to play Melanie. I can't be that noble. Scarlett, you see in all her colors. She wanders through them in quite rapid succession. She's very instinctive, very direct.
``She knows what she wants in the big picture, but she improvises in getting it. She does have kind of a pattern, but it's a spontaneous one that will take you by surprise. She's very sure in her goals. She wants Rhett back, that's certain.''
The actress was Joanne Whalley when her career began in English theater and television. Then she appeared in ``Willow'' with Val Kilmer. They fell in love, married, and she added Kilmer to her billing. Since then, she has appeared in ``Storyville,'' ``Shattered,'' ``A Good Man in Africa'' and ``Trial by Jury.''
Dalton admitted that he couldn't eliminate Clark Gable from his mind while playing Rhett Butler.
``I don't think you can,'' he said. ``You can leave him behind a lot of the time, because you have to. But he will always loom large throughout. There's always the reality that projects will be compared, performances will be compared.
``You can't escape that. You accept that and go on with doing your best in this particular job. You rationalize: How do you compare a movie made in 1939 with a TV miniseries on a small screen? How do you compare a cinematic style when you could use painted backdrops? People will compare. No question.''
Did Scarlett really love Rhett?
``Yes,'' Whalley-Kilmer said flatly. ``I think as she matures, she comes to understand things better. I think they both realize they are meant to be together. He is the only person she can really be herself with.
``They both have great misunderstandings, great miscommunication. They drive each other crazy. But they have to get over that. Because what they have, you only find once.''
by CNB