THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 28, 1995 TAG: 9509280035
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E6 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
IN 1983, Jennifer Beals leapt to instant stardom in ``Flashdance.''
Discos across the land held ``flashdance'' contests, right down to the all-wet look Beals sported in one memorable scene. Discovering that most of the film's dancing was done by a double barely dampened the enthusiasm.
Then Beals disappeared.
She returned briefly to co-star with rocker Sting in ``The Bride.'' The Frankenstein flick was supposed to be a hit, but it wasn't.
So where was the dark-haired Jennifer?
Most of the time, she was at Yale University, exactly where she wanted to be.
``I became a missile on fire,'' she said during a New York interview a few days ago. ``You might say I was just a flash, but that was what I wanted. I wanted to go back to school. My agents gave me a hard time about it. They said `You're throwing away your career. You're throwing away what might amount to millions of dollars.' I didn't see it that way. I felt that I would have only one chance to be in school with my peers. I could always return to acting later.''
She majored in American literature, graduating from Yale with honors in 1987, but it has not been easy to regain the ``Flashdance'' momentum.
Her best post-``Flash'' role yet is the title role in ``Devil in a Blue Dress,'' co-starring Denzel Washington, which opens Friday. Based on the first in a series of popular detective novels by Walter Mosley, it is set in 1948 Los Angeles. Beals plays Daphne Monet, a woman from the right side of the tracks who likes to visit the wrong side of the tracks.
``I called. I wrote. I offered to audition. I was determined to get this part,'' Beals said.
She even gained 15 pounds ``because I felt Daphne had to be more well-rounded than I was.''
``Devil'' may revive her flagging movie career. But whatever the reviews, Beals has no regrets about leaving Hollywood for academia.
``My mother was a school teacher,'' Beals said. ``Education is very valued in our family. I was a freshman when I got cast in `Flashdance.' I was extremely shy. It was a year later that the film was released, so I kept it secret and told very few people that I was starring in a movie. When the movie did come out, I still wasn't treated like a celebrity on campus.
``At Yale, they weren't overly impressed that I was in this movie. They respected my privacy so much that I had practically no friends. And, after all, Jodie Foster was already at Yale. It wasn't a new experience to have a Hollywood star on the campus.''
After college, she got a small part with Gene Hackman in ``Split Decision,'' but little came of it. She thought her role in ``Vampire's Kiss'' with Nicolas Cage would be better.
``I was all ready to play this naturalistic vampire and then Nicolas comes in, and in one scene, holds a gun to his head, fires it, and goes `Boo-Hoo' to the camera. After that, I knew it was going to be a comedy - or at least offbeat. We were all encouraged to improvise. Nicolas Cage is totally fearless. He's a high diver, and doesn't even ask if there's any water in the pool.''
She had the role of Gertrude Benchley, the wronged wife, in ``Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle.'' ``It was just a small part,'' she said. ``Dorothy Parker was the center of things, as played by Jennifer Jason Leigh. I stayed at Jennifer's house during part of the filming and I remember she got out this candle for me to burn. She said, `This is the candle I used to get the accent for ``The Hudsucker Proxy.'' Try it.' It was like voodoo. Jennifer is great. She'll try anything to get at a character.''
Beals married independent filmmaker Alexandre Rockwell in the mid-1980s and has appeared in several of his low-budget films.
Coming up, she has several big projects. She appears in Quentin Tarantino's section of the four-part movie ``Four Rooms.'' Then she'll be in the romantic comedy ``Let it Be Me,'' opposite Campbell Scott.
This time, it's no flashdance. Jennifer Beals says she's in the movies to stay - even it if is Career No. 2.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE by CNB