On film Actress wins hearts with wacky ways

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 21

On film

Actress wins hearts with wacky ways

R. W. FOWLER

By

Seriously kooky. Those two words sum up the approach of the winner of this year’s best supporting actress Academy Award, Geena Davis, to just about everything: work, art, love, life.

The attitude, it appears, is infectious. The actress’s six feet of kooky charisma, versatile talent and fun-loving enthusiasm have endeared her to some of the most admired filmmakers in Hollywood, people like Sydney Pollack, Lawrence Kasdan and David Cronenberg. Whether she’s playing silly or straight, Davis’ sweet, idiosyncratic intelligence shines through. In her latest movie, “The Accidental Tourist,” which will start at the Regent today, she plays Muriel Pritchett, dog trainer extraordinaire. An eccentric single mother with her eye on the older, separated, quietly uptight travel writer, Macon Leary (William Hurt), Muriel wears funny clothes, does weird things, has nutty friends, and is fiercely practical when it comes to life’s emotional needs.

A longtime fan of the author of “Accidental Tourist,” Anne Tyler, Davis first read the novel while she and her husband, Jeff Goldblum, were making “The Fly.” “I’d read it out loud to Jeff while he was in the make-up chair for hours on end, decomposing,” she says with a chuckle. Davis fell in love with Muriel at first sight — love that quickly turned to anger. “I remember thinking, God, this dog trainer is the best character I’ve ever read in any literature, anywhere, and I read a lot,” she says. “I thought it was a killer part of all time, and if they ever made a movie out of the book I was already convinced that nobody would think of me for the role.”

It only took a few auditions for Davis to convince the director, Lawrence (“The Big Chill”) Kasdan, that she was born to play Muriel. The actress says, however, that she approached this characterisation differently from any she has done before. “Whenever I act, I try to draw on as much of myself as I can. I sort of feel like that’s my best resource. But with this character, I tried to go further away from myself than I usually do. In other parts, if a scene calls for being charming or seductive or whatever, I go, ‘So what’s charming about me? What’s worked before for me in a similar, real-life situation?’,” said Davis. “But with this one, I was more concerned with figuring out her special take on things.” As Davis delved deeper into Muriel’s unique world view, her admiration for the character grew proportionately. “She’s this wonderful, life-embracing person who’s had nothing but hardship in her life. She’s poor, barely scraping by doing all of these odd jobs, but she has a terrific, positive outlook that isn’t Pollyannaish in any way. Her motto is, ‘Life’s tough. So what?’ That’s a fantastic idea that I really try to subscribe to myself.”