The legendary horror role Michelle Pfeiffer threw away: “There was such evil in that film”
Turning down roles that go on to become legendary characters in cinematic history is a part of the profession. Against any acclaimed actor about the roles they played, they will deliver a strict and focused list with the utmost professionalism. Ask them about the pictures they almost featured in, and you will get yourself a rambling list of near-misses. Michelle Pfeiffer might well have the most impressive.
That’s not to say she didn’t bolster her CV with some impressive roles. Dangerous Minds, Scarface, The Age of Innocence, Stardust and countless more have maintained Pfeiffer as one of Hollywood’s elite for decades, and that’s even with the horrific blunder known as Grease 2 marring it.
But while she has always got herself some great roles in movies, there are also a host she didn’t get. In another world, it could have been Pfeiffer starring as Ginger in Martin Scorsese’s Casino, she could have defined a generation by playing one of the title characters in Thelma & Louise, she could have spent a lifetime talking about sharing the screen with Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, or spent a run of rom-coms striking sparks with Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle, all of which she turned down.
The actor admitted that her agent called her ‘Dr No’ after she knocked back so many offers, but she deserves praise for navigating a ruthless business on her own terms. Thelma & Louise is one picture from the list that could have been really special. Pfeiffer was set to star alongside Jodie Foster as the titular pair with Ridley Scott even on board to direct. But a scheduling conflict barred her from taking on the icon role. The actor once explained, “I still can’t watch it … it still kills me.”
Foster would feature again as part of Pfeiffer’s near-miss catalogue. The Silence of the Lambs is considered a masterpiece in horror storytelling. Smart as a whip and delicately poised between thriller and creeping horror, Jonathan Demme directed a classic of the genre that starred Anthony Hopkins as the maniacal cannibal Hannibal Lecter, while Foster would take on the role of Clarice Starling, the investigator using Lecter to catch another serial killer. Starling would earn an Academy Award for the portrayal and leave Pfeiffer ruing another lost opportunity.
Pfeiffer was first offered the role of Starling by the production team, with Demme directly involved in making the decisions to extend the opportunity. But, this time, Pfieffer would turn down the chance to be Starling, not because of scheduling conflicts, but because she felt the material was too dark to be involved with.
She told The New Yorker how she “was trepidatious” when she read the script. Even though it would mean working with Demme for the second time, she wasn’t convinced on the subject matter and felt it pushed her belief system a little too far in an uncomfortable direction.
“There was such evil in that film. It was that evil won in the end, that at the end of that film evil ruled out. I was uncomfortable with that ending. I didn’t want to put that out into the world,” she explained. After The Silence of the Lambs was released to high acclaim, becoming Demme’s biggest film, Pfeiffer was left wondering if she had made the wrong decision and later noted: “I don’t have an innate commercial nous. I’m always wrong.”
While Pfeiffer has certainly enjoyed some commercial hits, perhaps the greatest error for this movie was missing the chance to become a cultural reference point in the history of horror. Foster as Starling will be forever remembered, and it’s a role that Pfeiffer threw away.
