Check out buzz on these once up-and-coming stars.
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Top Dog
Michael Madsen made his mark as one of Hollywood's ultimate screen psychotics when he danced to "Stuck in the Middle with You" while doing a Van Gogh on a hapless cop in Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs. Madsen has appeared in over a dozen films, both as the good guy (Thelma & Louise, Free Willy) and the bad guy (The Getaway)--but he's known for his man-on-the-edge tough guy from Dogs. "Someone sent me a script called Hellvis, about a psychopathic illegitimate son of Elvis Presley." says Madsen. "By day he's a serial killer, by night an Elvis impersonator. I'm getting bored with that shit."
Madsen will next play an army specialist in Species, and he's also in the Willy sequel, but when casting directors look for someone who's really, really bad, why do they constantly go back to Madsen? "I've got a big dick," says Madsen, Then he launches without encouragement into a diatribe against what he calls "the black myth"-- that African-Americans have big ones and white guys don't. "It really pisses me off that they get all the credit," he says.
What kind of reaction does Madsen get from fans when he's out and about? "It's funny when I come across a family, because the kids will come running up to me, screaming. 'It's the guy from Free Willy,' and their parents will be yanking them away because they remember me from Reservoir Dogs." In real life Madsen is the father of two. Are there plans for a big family? "Yeah, I better have a lot of kids," he quips, "in case a few of them don't like me."
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Steve Weinstein
Linneys Leap
Laura Linney has an impeccable pedigree. She's an award-winning stage actress who studied at Juilliard and she's landed such classy, coveted roles as the star of PBS's mini-series Tales of the City, So what's she doing toting a laser gun and babysitting a gorilla in Congo? "It's amazing that they would give me a part like this," she says of her lead in the summer schlockbuster, which is based on Michael Crichton's best-seller, and is full of special effects and chase scenes.
For that matter, she never imagined herself as a movie star at all. "I have the Cindy Brady complex," says Linney, "You know that episode of 'The Brady Bunch' where Cindy goes catatonic when she appears on a TV show? That was me. There are all these photos of me as a child with my hand in front of the camera. I always fear the camera is going to see everything bad about me. It's taken me a while to realize the camera is not some scary medical device."
She is aware that there probably won't be any acting awards for rassling with reptiles and apes. Laura Dern did not exactly enhance her prestige when she starred in Jurassic Park (a role that Linney auditioned for, in fact). "I know people say the characters and the actors get lost in action movies," Linney sighs. "I've made that comment myself, but I will never make it again. Acting in Chekhov or Ibsen is a lot easier."
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Stephen Farber
Raging Angel
From the moment she growled, "You made me promise not to get you excited" in Raging Bull, I've had a world-class Jones for Cathy Moriarty. Her attitude has always been rangy, larger than life, tough as a teamster and incredibly adult--no matter how young she actually was. "When I did Bull I was only 18 years old, and was 20 when the film came out," says Moriarty. "I play 15 to 35 in the movie so later people automatically figured I was older. That was 10 years ago so you must be 45 now,' they said. I was 28! Now I'm, what, 34. I've always looked older and sounded older. When I'm 40 and everyone else is starting to age, I'll always look the same."
I could feast on this foulmouthed, Bronx-Irish earth angel all day and night, but she doesn't seem to have appeared in many films after Bull. "Let's see, after that film I did Neighbors, then I had a bad marriage, then I did The Two Jakes, but it shut down and when it started again it wasn't with me. Then I did Soapdish, got a divorce, had a bad car accident and started really working." Now she averages two to three movies a year, and next up are Forget Paris, with Billy Crystal, and Casper. "I inherit Whipstaff Manor and must get the ghosts out of the house to find the treasure. I am the villainess," she cackles hoarsely. Later this fail, she'll play--hold on to your jawbones--Andrew Dice Clay's blue-collar wife in a TV pilot, "Bless This House." "I have a thing for comedy--drama's for my life!" she says. Only kidding. "I don't know, maybe I'm just funny. I get a kick out of myself constantly. I laugh at myself all day long."
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Michael Atkinson