Natasha Richardson: The New Natasha

"Liam was offered it and decided to do it," Richardson recalls, sighing. "Many other fine actresses were up for my role, so I went through the casting process, which was quite lengthy and painful, particularly because this was something that I wanted to do so much. I knew my partner was going to be in it, whether I got to do it or not. That can create an imbalance in a relationship. You're supposedly equals and then one of you is very much not an equal."

Richardson falls silent, as if ruminating on the notion of equality and fairness in a business, not to mention a world, that is based on neither. For an instant, her perfect posture and coolly elegant gaze seem to reveal a hairline crack. Which she promptly smooths over. "It really taught me a lesson," she concludes. "In the past, I guess, I'd been sort of insecure and arrogant at the same time. When I was growing up, it would be like, 'Why would they want me to read, goddamn it? Why don't they just look at my work? Don't they realize that I'm a good actress, which means I can play different kinds of parts?' I really put myself on the line for Nell. I'd rather be asked than do the asking. But who wouldn't? Happily, this one worked out."

Others haven't. Richardson freely admits she hungered for such roles as Debra Winger's in The Sheltering Sky, Michelle Pfeiffer's in The Age of Innocence and Meg Ryan's in Sleepless in Seattle. "The truth is, I've rarely gotten things for which I've read. It's also the truth that I took a little detour because maybe I was a little too picky about a couple of projects that I turned down and should have done. I feel sidetracked. One of those projects in particular turned out to be amazingly successful. And no, Steve, I won't mention it," she says firmly. If rumors can be believed, it was Howards End she passed up. "I will mention that I wanted to do Sheltering Sky desperately," she adds, "and I met Bertolucci a few times about that. I wrote him a long, heartfelt letter about why I felt that I understood this person in a special way. I know where I made my mistake, though, if I made one. I thought, 'If he wants to see me so many times, he wants to see something different.' I didn't need to do 'different.'"

The event that made a tangible difference in the roles to which Richardson could aspire was the critical triumph of her performance on Broadway in Anna Christie, in which she played the waterfront prostitute who finds her heart in her love for a young seaman--a role that launched Greta Garbo in her move from silents to talkies, thereby ensuring her movie immortality. Richardson won a Tony Award nomination for her work. "I'm not a great theater fan," she says, to my surprise. "I don't go very often, mostly because I'm too often disappointed and there is nothing more claustrophobic than being in the theater when it isn't great. What was wonderful was being on that stage and feeling the audience respond to something you knew was special. It did give you a kick going into the theater knowing there were theater scalpers selling tickets. It was like being at a rock concert."

Simultaneously with success came all the paparazzi flash that attended Richardson's romance with Liam Neeson. The two have been hounded by the paparazzi, particularly since they got married. "When Liam and I were on our honeymoon, that was intrusive," she says, her gaze turning to hardened steel. "It's intrusive at those moments when I don't want to be on show," she observes. "Sometimes, I don't look good, I don't want to be an actress right now, I don't want to be known. When I work is when I feel special. When I'm not working, I don't feel special at all. I remember being next to Liam and realizing, 'Well, maybe I can't do this with the same freedom anymore,' because you feel that everybody is watching. But I'm not going to have to deal with it on the Tom Cruise level."

Except sometimes. "We were on a beach and changing to have some lunch when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a telephoto lens. I thought, 'Oh, man, they're going to take one of those awful shots,' so we walked up to him, and he said, 'Please, can I take a shot?' Liam said, 'No,' but I said, 'Let's give him a shot. Otherwise, we don't know what he's got and whatever he's got, he'll use.' We got followed around Venice, too, and we weren't even aware of it most of the time. Until we saw some of the pictures."

Did she ever fight becoming involved with an actor, especially knowing so well their internal dynamics, their vanity, insecurity, madness?

"Oh, Steve, I could write you a book on why not to get involved with an actor," she says, the glint in her eyes suggesting that she could write several books. I'll settle for a couple of good reasons. She ticks items off on her slender fingers. "Because anybody who is good at what they do gets totally obsessed by it to the exclusion of other people.

Because of the physical distance often involved. Because careers sometimes move at different rates. Because, oh, God, there are so many reasons I never, never wanted to be involved with an actor. Ever." Then, sliding back in her chair with a deliriously satisfied grin, she adds, "That was before I met my actor," and lets fly with a whiskey and honey-throated, shoulder-shaking laugh.

Richardson recalls a moment with Neeson early on when she thought she might be looking at the rest of her life. She says, very softly, "Our relationship developed in stages. We met when we were doing the play and had never met before that. I guess I only really knew that this was for the rest of my life on my wedding day."

Wasn't she at all wary of his reputation as a man who is catnip to women? "Until I got to know him, I was very daunted by that reputation. But I was too in love to be as sensible as all that. And then I got to know him. I got to know that you mustn't believe what you hear. I learned also that he loves women in a genuine way and sometimes that's misinterpreted. I love that he loves women. And, loving him, I can understand why women adore him."

I wondered whether Richardson has ever before felt so much in love before Neeson.

"Well, you know, I was married before Liam," she reminds me. "I loved my husband and still love him very much. But obviously, it goes without saying that I just got married to Liam and I believe we are going to be together for the rest of our lives. I didn't really feel these different kinds of love and intensity before. This, this is umm . . . this is as deep as it goes."

I tell Richardson I've heard a few people comment that Neeson, by many accounts one of the nicest and most decent people in the business, has "changed" since Schindler's List. True? She fires back: "Not at all. Not at all. Yes, it's affected him. Of course, it's affected him. It's a big change and he's still adjusting, realizing that, in some ways, he has more responsibility and less freedom in this business. Those are big changes, but not at all changes in terms of ego. There are people who surround you--whether it's people who try socially or in a work situation to toady up. You just have to have very strong antennae out for who those people are."

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