The one movie Julie Andrews urged her friends to avoid like the plague: “So that’s that”
Every actor has to smile, nod, and pretend that their latest movie is the greatest of their career until it’s been released, at which point they can breathe easy and tell the truth. However, on one occasion, Julie Andrews didn’t even wait that long, and she got chewed out by an icon for it.
The legendary star of stage and screen has spent her career being lauded as a bastion of positivity, with barely a bad word to say about anyone or anything. That’s the public persona she’s maintained for over 70 years, but in private, that hasn’t always been the case.
Andrews’ award-laden career hasn’t been without its regrets, though, even if there aren’t many. She was distraught that she had to turn down a role in Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, even if the reasons for her doing so were cruelly ironic, since she was too high on painkillers to commit to the gig.
The Academy Award, Bafta, three-time Primetime Emmy, seven-time Golden Globe, and two-time Grammy performer has amassed a collection of indelible credits and seminal performances that have made her the envy of many peers, who can only dream of enjoying a fraction of her success.
However, none of that was worth a damn when she worked with Alfred Hitchcock on Torn Curtain, which shouldn’t be a surprise when the ‘Master of Suspense’ didn’t hold the acting profession in the highest regard, and viewed his ensemble cast more as pieces to be moved around a board than singular entities.
Why did she sign on for the movie? For the chance to work with Hitchcock, and the chance to star alongside Paul Newman, who didn’t have the best of times, either. It’s not one of the director’s best, and Andrews knew that, being left so disheartened by the final version of the film that she instructed her inner circle to avoid seeing it, knowing that it was nowhere near reflective of her best work.
Even in public, she couldn’t hold her tongue. “I did not have to act in Torn Curtain,” she boldly proclaimed. “I merely went along for the ride. I don’t feel that the part demanded much of me, other than look glamorous, which Mr Hitchcock can always arrange better than anyone. I did have reservations about this film, but I wasn’t agonised by it. The kick was working for Hitchcock. That’s what I did it for, and that’s what I got out of it. So that’s that.”
That was her being diplomatic, and it’s clear that Andrews wasn’t thrilled with either her contributions to Torn Curtain or the film itself, with Hitchcock about the only thing she deemed worthy of praise. Unfortunately for her, when her criticisms reached his ears, the filmmaker felt compelled to call her out.
“I made the mistake of saying in an interview that I was not very happy with my performance in the film,” she shared in her memoir, Home Work. “I got a terse letter from Hitch, saying that he hoped I would never do that again.” Lesson learned, she didn’t, making Torn Curtain one of the very few of Andrews’ credits that she’s openly disparaged.
