Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 17, 1994 TAG: 9412190008
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LYNN ELBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Medium
``They asked if I wanted to do it, and I said anything Woody ever does, I always want to do,'' she says. ``Anywhere, anytime, anyplace. Anything. I don't even have to read it. I don't have to look at it.''
The admiration is apparently shared: Allen has made the actress a film regular. ``Don't Drink the Water,'' airing Sunday on ABC (at 9 p.m. on WSET-Channel 13), is their sixth project together.
Kavner, speaking from the New York home she shares with writer-producer David Davis, her longtime companion, reels off her Allen movies from 1986 on.
```Hannah and Her Sisters' was my first. Then I did `Radio Days.' Then `New York Stories.' Then I had one scene in `Alice.' What am I missing? ``Oh yeah, `Shadows and Fog' - and then this.''
``Don't Drink the Water'' is a Cold War-era farce based on Allen's 1966 play of the same name. (A 1969 movie version starred Jackie Gleason and Estelle Parsons.)
Allen plays Walter Hollander, a New Jersey caterer traveling with his wife (Kavner) and daughter (Mayim Bialik of ``Blossom'') in a mythical Iron Curtain nation.
When Hollander's photography convinces police he's a spy, the family takes refuge in the U.S. Embassy. In charge is an inept ambassador (played by Michael J. Fox) who catches the eye of Walter's daughter - to his dismay.
The TV movie, which Allen directed, was filmed last spring in New York.
``We shot the whole thing in the old Ukrainian Embassy in Manhattan,'' Kavner says. ``It looks very opulent and rich and gorgeous. That's due to nothing the Ukrainian Embassy had, except for the wonderful old building.
``Everything you see is Santo Loquasto's work, Woody's set designer.''
Filming was a delight, Kavner says.
``This to my mind is a classic farce, a true farce; people in and out of doors,'' she says. ``It was really quite wonderful to be a part of.''
But then, she feels that way about every Allen project. He is ``one of the few true auteurs of our lifetime,'' the actress says.
``He's a true filmmaker, one that has something to say, that is continually experimenting on different themes within his own filmmaking. He does not repeat himself, although he might cover different things in more than one way ... it's always a forward movement.''
And what does he see in Kavner? ``He thinks I'm funny,'' she replies.
The two got on from the beginning, she says. ``I'm probably a little less shy as I've gotten older. I'm probably a little more open as an actor at this point.''
Her career began with an off-Broadway play. Despite the accent, Kavner is a transplanted New Yorker, moving there from her native California after graduation from San Diego State University.
The 1974-78 CBS sitcom ``Rhoda,'' in which Kavner played kid sister Brenda to series star Valerie Harper, was her first paid acting job. ``Pretty lucky,'' she comments.
Although television launched her, Kavner is objective in her assessment of it. She understands why ``Don't Drink'' is Allen's first TV appearance since a 1969 special and is his first TV movie.
``I don't think TV is a bad medium,'' Kavner says. ``I think it's a very difficult one to do good work in. Dealing with commercials, breaking the rhythm - especially with something like this, that's so fast-paced.
``We're really moving it, and to have it broken up, that's really hard for a writer or director to incorporate.''
Kavner also resents commercial intrusions on ``The Simpsons,'' the animated Fox Broadcasting Co. series for which Kavner provides the deliciously raspy voice of mom Marge.
``I counted nine commercials once between the opening credits of `The Simpsons' and before it started again. Nine!'' she says, aggrieved.
That drawback isn't enough to make her give up a worthwhile TV project.
``For me, it's the writing. The writing is everything. I've been lucky that on the projects I've worked on. The writing has been exceptional.
On the big screen, Kavner has a part in the upcoming film ``Forget Paris,'' which reunites her with Richard Masur, her accordion-playing boyfriend Nick Lobo in ``Rhoda.''
``Paris,'' which stars Billy Crystal and Debra Winger, is co-written and directed by Crystal. That is how actors, at the mercy of those who hire them, gain control over their work, Kavner says.
But as much as she admires Crystal's determination she doesn't plan to emulate him - or her idol Allen.
``Too much work,'' she says. ``Directing and being in charge of a film, you never get to go home.''
by CNB