Kristy Swanson: One Cool Customer

Emancipation--being able to work legally as an adult--is something a kid might consider if, for example, her parents are money-grubbing ogres who live off the sweat of their tyke's brow. But Swanson says her parents "never spent a dime [of my income]." Even so, Swanson had her minor status changed so she could compete with girls 18 and over who were getting roles she wanted. At 15, she looked and acted older. "My parents and I made an agreement that it was for work purposes only. That didn't totally stick," she laughs. "Once I figured out what it really meant, I kind of used it to my advantage." She pauses. "I didn't kind of use it to my advantage. I did use it to my advantage. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but I realized what I was capable of, so by the time I was 16, I told my parents I was ready to split." Kristy found an apartment in North Hollywood, which is a long way from Orange County. Her mother "was not happy about it." How unhappy? Kristy offers another "Mmm..." and says, about herself, that she felt "an enormous amount of freedom. I'm not saying all kids should do this. Most kids should stay with their parents until they're 18."

How easy could it have been for a beautiful 16-year-old girl to survive, alone, in a wicked town like Hollywood? "There were times when I was coming home late from work when the garage was scary," she admits. "But I wasn't naive. To this day my friends call me paranoid and I explain to them--I'm not paranoid, just cautious. I'm aware of everything that goes on around me." But wasn't she lonely? "After about a month of living on my own, I began to feel it," Swanson allows. "I bought some plants. I remember I named one of them Penelope and I would talk to her and water her every day. Apparently, I over-watered her and she died. That's when I knew I needed a roommate. So I got one."

This woman seems unflappable, I think--but then I see her light yet another cigarette.

As her teenage years progressed, Swanson worked in TV movies and in films like Deadly Friend and Flowers in the Attic. Along the way, she played small roles in two John Hughes movies, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Hughes's teen star Molly Ringwald was then at the peak of her career. Was Ringwald a role model? "No," Swanson says. "I never thought, I want my career to be like Demi Moore's or Molly Ringwald's." After all, look at Molly's, I say. She's disappeared from sight. "But we're not in her head," cautions Swanson. "It's possible that she might not want to be working." Come on, I say chidingly, actresses want to work. But Swanson insists, "That's unrealistic for me. What is realistic is to sit down yearly and think, 'Okay, I've done this and this this year,' and think about what my needs and desires are for the next year. I may go through a period five to 10 years from now where I don't work for years. If I decide to raise a family. Or no one hires me. You never know," she says with a shrug.

Swanson's career, then, has progressed in a remarkable parallel to the way she responds to journalists' questions--in slow, measured and careful steps. No phenomenal risks--no phenomenal breakthroughs. In 1992, at 22, she starred in a film that looked like it might take her up to the next level of success. This was the much-hyped Buffy the Vampire Slayer. "Everyone expected a lot from it," she says of the film's failure. How big a disappointment was it for her? "I can't take that on my shoulders, because then I set myself up for a big letdown. I just kind of hoped people would like it. I can't ask for every movie I make to be great and brilliant. I can only try. It's a crapshoot."

On the surface--for surely that is what I'm getting here--it is hard to argue with what Swanson says. But her incredibly relaxed attitude towards the pressure-cooker environment of the film business might, if it goes deep enough, answer this magazine's cover question: Why Isn't This Woman a Star? Even if Swanson herself has no interest in answering this question, others are willing. On the one hand, casting director Johanna Ray, whose lesser credits include Buffy the Vampire Slayer, says, "Kristy's got everything it takes to become a major star--she just needs that one defining hit film to make the difference." On the other hand, another top casting director who prefers to remain unnamed observes, "I run hot and cold on her. She's got the talent, but she also has a lot of attitude. She's been around for a long time, and it's made her tough. I think that conceivably could get in the way of her becoming a star."

Swanson isn't hurting for work. She describes her latest film, The Chase, in which she co-stars with Charlie Sheen, as "a 90-minute high-speed chase. It's full of action, it's a love story, and it's a slam on the media. It's very commercial." But she has less to say about another film she's finished, Getting In. "I don't know if it'll ever come out. It's about med school. A murder-mystery kind of dark Heathers movie. I don't really know how to explain it." She can't even recall the director's name. "Uh--umm..." There is a long pause. "Doug Liman. Sorry! The movie's fun. You know, cute."

Since she works frequently, and since Hollywood isn't particularly easy on beautiful blonde actresses, I ask Swanson whether she has any tales from the casting couch. She ponders the question, and replies with her now-familiar politesse. "I've been approached in those ways where people have tried to treat me... a certain way. I've always fought it. I usually let people know right up-front that I'm not about that. I guess Hollywood treats women a certain way and some of it you have to take and some of it you don't." I've noticed she's managed to avoid typical traps like excessive nudity. Has she been pressured? "One time [shooting 1990's Dream Trap] this director said, 'I know you have a "no nudity" clause in your contract but we really need you to take your top off in this scene. We can't shoot it unless you do.' And I said, 'Well, we won't shoot the scene, then, will we?' He said, 'Can't you get in the water and start to take it off?' I said, 'We have so many naked girls in this movie, what do you need me to be naked for?' They backed off. When I was 16, they asked me to do it for Flowers in the Attic. They actually had a meeting about it. My agent was there, my parents, my lawyer. The director. His lawyer. It was totally a waste of time."

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