THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010021
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Interview
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
DATELINE: LOS ANGELES LENGTH: Long : 129 lines
``WOMEN OF THE WORLD are cursed,'' Janeane Garofalo was saying. ``I mean, is it fair? It's happened to us twice in one century. up against impossible odds of imagery. The guys think they deserve these gorgeous, thin creatures and the rest of us are judged against that.''
It's a problem of perception, according to this brand new star. Garofalo, who is makes her leading-lady debut with ``The Truth About Dogs and Cats,'' is being hailed as the next big thing in Hollywood. After stealing scenes as Winona Ryder's best friend in ``Reality Bites'' and Randy Quaid's nightmare blind date in ``Bye Bye Love,'' she's likely to get star billing from now on.
She's not so sure.
``I don't feel on the brink of anything,'' she said as she sat in the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills.
``Plain,'' she said. ``That's the parts I get offered - plain. I mean, look at me. I don't dress plain. I don't act plain, but the slightest deviation from the Madison Avenue ideal and a woman is called `plain.' I mean, I go up for parts and they say `We like you Janeane. You're great, but maybe we should go another direction here.'
``Well, you're a guy. You know the direction they're going. I might give the best audition, but the powers that be want to sleep with Uma - not me. It's that simple. Might as well admit it.''
Uma Thurman, the current sex symbol of the movies, is her co-star in
``Truth.'' Uma plays a ditzy, but striking, blonde who lives down the hall. When a sigh-guy Brit, played by another new star, Ben Chaplin, comes calling - smitten by Janeane on the phone - the ``plain'' one is so threatened that she substitutes Uma instead.
With a trademark sarcasm and wit, Garofalo has risen rapidly from stand-up comic to movie actress. After eight years on the road, playing to noisy people who get in for a two-drink minimum, she was plucked from obscurity when Ben Stiller hired her for his low-budget, short-lived TV series ``The Ben Stiller Show.''
She landed a job as a regular on ``Saturday Night Live'' but quit halfway through the season.
``It was just bad luck that I got there during the year ('94-95) when there was nothing for the women to do. I wasn't getting any airtime. There was an adrenalin rush when the band struck up, but then you had to do the show. That was some of the worst writing ever attempted for comedy. . . .
``I don't think (producer) Lorne Michaels was sorry to see me go. No one likes someone who talks back to the boss. I mean, I just wanted the show to have a few laughs. . . .''
Currently, she is seen as Paula, the acid-tongued talent booker, on HBO's ``The Larry Sanders Show.'' Coming up in a matter of weeks is her co-starring role with Bill Murray in ``Larger than Life.'' She'll then co-star with Jason Priestley in ``Cold Blooded.'' She's also on view in a cameo part in ``Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy.''
In spite of all this activity, she talks like a person who is worried about getting work. She's wearing tight leather pants, a loose-fitting shirt and boots, and looking ultra-thin.
``I've lost 30 pounds since `The Truth About Cats and Dogs,' '' she said proudly. ``I mean, there is an immediate difference. When you get thinner, they immediately think of you differently. I don't want to play somebody's friend, or the `nice' girl forever. I mean `nice' doesn't do it for me. Nice girls don't get the guy. I can live with that, but I can't necessarily live without getting the part.
``I just bought a co-op apartment in New York. I need the money. I mean, everyone talks about Hollywood stardom and all but meanwhile, I got bills to pay. If thin is what they want, here it is.'' She holds up her arms and turns around. ``Hey, I'm still not Kate Moss, but give a little slack here.''
At 5-foot-1, she was an odd-looking co-star for the 6-foot Uma. ``They put me on an apple cart for some scenes - just so they could get us in the same frame,'' Garofalo said.
She claims the stereotyping works both ways.
``People, particularly ugly people, seem to think that all gorgeous people are stupid. That makes them feel better. A woman like Uma, tall and thin and blond, a knockout, is automatically perceived to be stupid. That's no more fair to her type than it is, uh, to mine. I wish to remind you there are a lot of ugly stupid people out there too. . . .''
Be that as it is, she claims that Uma, for whatever the reason, ruled the set during filming.
``Whatever way she wanted to go is the way we went,'' the comedian said. ``I kept my mouth shut. Uma wasn't pushy or anything. It's just that they kept watching to see the slightest thing she wanted. She is very mature. I could hardly believe she is 24 and I'm 31.''
Uma and Janeane are different kinds of actresses.
``She comes prepared - totally prepared,'' Garofalo said. ``I am not that prepared. I don't mean I come in drunk or anything, but I like to improvise. She does not. Uma likes to rehearse. I like to wing it.''
The edgy day of filming came when Garofalo had to play the phone-sex scene with Ben Chaplin.
``I am still the person who says, `Oh, no. I don't want to do that.' I don't want to make the leap. I mean, I kept my pajama tops on, but, still that scene. We simulated phone sex, and there were 100 guys from local 57, the union guys, standing around looking. My real-life boyfriend got on the phone and talked to me. We tried that. Well, I felt more like laughing than anything else. I once had a job as a phone sex operator. I lasted only about two hours. I told the guys on the line to talk like real people. I got fired. Still, I think the scene is pretty hot. You know, for the telephone.''
A native of New Jersey, she spent her formative years in Houston, Texas, and went to Providence College in Rhode Island.
``During my first two years of college, I looked at television all the time. David Letterman was the highlight of my day. Then, I started trying stand-up comedy. The first time I got out there, it was terrible. I think I talked about history.''
Her style is sarcastic and edgy.
``It's not an act. I really am sarcastic and edgy. You think I'd put this act on by choice?''
She admits that there was trouble on ``The Truth About Cats and Dogs'' set ``because they kept wanting to make my part so likable. They kept saying `she's got to be more likable' as if any woman who expresses an opinion is not likable. I am naturally cynical and edgy and I thought this girl would be too. I mean, what's so adorable about having to let the other, pretty girl take over when the guy comes over?''
As for the title, she reasons that, ``the film is more about men and women than it is about pets.
``You know, I think the title of the movie refers to opposites. Cats are from Venus, dogs are from Mars. Or is it the other way round? Anyway, they're opposites. That's what it's all about.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX
Janeane Garofalo..
B\W Photo
Janeane Garofalo, right, with Uma Thurman in ``Truth.''
KEYWORDS: PROFILE INTERVIEW by CNB