The 2007 movie that gave Michelle Pfeiffer her most “risky, courageous, and unusual” role
Michelle Pfeiffer will try anything. Making her film debut in the teen comedy The Hollywood Knights, she’d soon land a role in the critically panned Grease 2, something that had the potential to destroy a career that was only just beginning.
It almost did, because when she was suggested for the role of Elvira, the glamorous wife of Tony Montana in Brian De Palma’s Scarface, she faced a lot of resistance. Al Pacino thought she was a bizarre choice, deeming the star of Grease 2 unfit for a part that seemed much more mature, much more important.
In the end, though, she proved everyone wrong, and Pfeiffer soon became one of the most well-known stars of the 1980s, moving between period dramas, action thrillers, fantasy films, crime comedies, sci-fi flicks, and musicals, with nothing ever being off limits, and as a result, she has proved her versatility over the years, resulting in three Academy Award nominations.
So, in 2007, when Pfeiffer found herself offered a part that felt like a big melting pot of genres, she jumped at the chance, and alongside the likes of Robert De Niro, Claire Danes, and Peter O’Toole, cast as Lamia in Stardust, the second feature from Matthew Vaughn, who’d made his debut with Layer Cake just a few years before.
“What I loved about the script was that it wasn’t your typical fantasy, and it really wasn’t any one genre; it was a lot of different genres all mixed into one. It was an adventure story, it was romantic, it was magical, it was dark, it was incredibly funny, and it was very epic and yet at the same time, it had a very contemporary modern tone to it. The humour was very modern,” the actor told IndieLondon.
On the surface, Stardust didn’t look great, you’ve got to admit. That’s often the case with modern fantasy movies, though, where they rarely look all that appealing. Instead, they usually have this dated, slightly cheesy look, and the poster for Stardust certainly conveyed this.
It was actually received pretty well by critics, however, and sure, it’s not the most memorable project that any of the actors have been in, but it possessed much more depth than you’d expect, which was one of the major reasons Pfeiffer was attracted to the project, in fact.
“I then sat down and talked to Matthew, and he talked to me more specifically about where he wanted to go with the character and the commentary he wanted to make on society’s obsession with youth, beauty and perfectionism and kind of really poke fun at that and see how far we could take it,” she explained.
Pleasantly curious of Vaughn’s interest in social issues within the context of a fantasy film, Pfeiffer was convinced, noting, “I thought that was kind of risky, courageous and unusual for a man to be thinking about, so that intrigued me. And he’s also so young, so why would he even be thinking about that?”, and besides, she could hardly turn down such a strong cast, either.
