THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512150050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 118 lines
SEAN CONNERY AND Richard Gere fought over her in ``First Knight,'' and she nearly tamed the wild spirit of poster boy Brad Pitt in ``Legends of the Fall.''
Not since Cleopatra sailed up the Nile or Delilah took to barber's shears has a woman floored men so abruptly.
But is Julia Ormond equal to ``Sabrina''?
This time around, the bright-eyed British beauty recreates the title role originated by the oh-so-elegant Audrey Hepburn in the 1954 film directed by Billy Wilder. The late Miss Hepburn, wearing clothes by Edith Head and Givenchy, had one of her most irresistible roles as the chauffeur's daughter who goes to Paris, comes back a stunner and wows the two rich guys in the mansion.
Have the casting agents gone too far this time?
Julia Ormond herself wonders as she sits in a New York hotel several days before the movie's premiere. ``I meet women in the street who give me strange looks,'' she said. ``I get the feeling they're looking at me and saying, `I don't get it. Why did they cast her?' ''
Ormond didn't hesitate to take the role. ``I was too scared to say `No,' '' she said. ``I had seen the original film. I saw it before my audition and once afterward. Then, I let it go. I was so excited by the new script.''
She even agreed to cut her long brown hair. ``It was in the script,'' she said, simply. ``It was a part of Sabrina's transformation, and I didn't want to rely on a prop - a wig.''
In ``Sabrina,'' the big romantic-fantasy that opens this weekend, Ormond's two rich and handsome suitors are played by Harrison Ford (proving that even Indiana Jones likes worldly comforts and romance) and, in the year's surprise casting, Greg Kinnear (crossing over from his sassy TV wise-cracking on the old ``Talk Soup'').
In the beginning, it was only Ford who thought ``Sabrina'' should be remade. ``I wanted to do a romance,'' he said in a separate interview. ``I wanted a change of pace - a romance and a comedy. This is one of the best.''
Everyone else seemed reluctant. Sidney Pollack, who won an Oscar for ``Out of Africa,'' admits, ``I didn't think it was a good idea to remake it without Audrey Hepburn, but then I got this call from Harrison and he talked me into it. That was the way I got into `Tootsie.' I didn't think that could be made either until Dustin Hoffman talked me into it. I called Billy Wilder and asked what he thought of the idea of remaking `Sabrina.' He asked `Would you like someone to remake `The Way We Were'? I admitted I wouldn't, but then, Billy had liked the Broadway musical version they'd made of his `Sunset Boulevard.' ''
Pollack's quandry: ``We were going to remake `Sabrina' and all we had was Harrison Ford, no Sabrina.''
Julia Roberts was talked up for the part. Meg Ryan, according to rumors, turned it down. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was mentioned for the role of the younger brother (played in the original by William Holden and this time by Kinnear). Tom Cruise was also interested in the part, primarily because he wanted to co-star with Ford.
Pollack won't comment on any of the alternate Sabrina possibilities but says he never met Kennedy and that Cruise was too expensive.
Pollack does admit that French actresses Juliette Binoche and Julie Delpy were considered but that he was enthusiastic about getting Julia Ormond because ``she is a more sturdy Sabrina. She is not this elfin thing that Audrey Hepburn played. That's another film. What we faced was doing a movie with fairy tale sensibilities, but giving it the edge of the 1990s. It's a different style. The '50s was the last real romantic era. Today, we think in terms of exclamation points and sound bites. We are not long and thorough about anything. We are short and compact.''
Ormond originally studied art at West Surrey College of Art and Design. She switched to the Webber Douglas Academy in London. ``I never, ever, thought of being a film star,'' she said. ``I came out of drama school with just one main hope - that I would get an Equity card in the next five years and be in the acting trenches. Theater was my goal. I thought that maybe someday I might even be in a film.''
She was cast as Stalin's wife in the HBO production ``Stalin.'' She landed the title role in Ted Turner's mammoth TV production ``Young Catherine,'' about the early days of Catherine the Great, empress of Russia. ``It was the toughest job I ever had,'' she said. ``We filmed in Russia - everywhere. I learned about pacing and how to deal with people. I was truly stressed-out during the filming.''
With a salary rumored to be $2 million, she now has hordes of assistants, make-up artists and costumers waiting on her every moment of the day during filming. ``I suppose I'm getting better at being a so-called `movie star,' '' she said, ``but it's not a natural state of being. I'm concerned that I'll get cut off from reality. You have more and more responsibility taken away from you. If you let them, they'd do everything for you. The other day, I got on the bus and I realized I didn't have any money. When I'm on a set, they take care of all that for me.''
Seemingly shamed, she added, ``I just got off the bus and walked home.''
Ford said that Julia was the right ``Sabrina'' choice because ``she has a combination of acting skills and personality. She's completely professional - and fun.''
Ormond returns the compliment. ``Harrison loves to tell jokes. I can't tell you any of them here. There was quite a lot of practical jokes. It helped very much in getting me relaxed, which is the main thing I needed. In the early filming, I was worried because most of our scenes were isolated. At first, I had to be the waif. Only later did I have scenes with Harrison.''
Next, she's going to Europe to star in an arty film directed by Bille August, a mentor of Ingmar Bergman.
More than just a shy slate waiting to be written upon, there are indications that Ormond isn't willing to just have stardom as a temporary thing thrust upon her. She's just formed her own production company, scheduled to make three movies for Miramax films.
She has no interest in being the latest imitation of Audrey Hepburn. Instead, she's clearly out to be the first Julia Ormond. ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photos]
PARAMOUNT PICTURES
Harrison Ford takes over the Humphrey Bogart part and Julia Ormond
has Audrey Hepburn's role in the remake of "Sabrina."
For Audrey Hepburn, 1954 was a good year indeed. Besides starring in
the original "Sabrina," she picked up an Oscar (right) for her role
in the preceding year's "Roman Holiday."
by CNB