Rebecca De Mornay: The Mini-Star with Many Faces

''What would be worse: knowing that the best roles in your life were in the past or that the best sex in your life was in the past?"

"This is a question?"

I nod.

"I wouldn't give credence to either one. I know that neither is true."

"An optimist, huh?"

"No," she says, really laughing, "a realist."

"If you knew that in order to be successful you'd have to be mega-famous, would you want that?"

"I'm a mini-star, and I'm comfortable with that. But what's the choice here? Mega-famous or not famous at all?"

"Yes, but you still get to be rich either way," I add, making the stakes a little easier to bear.

"Well, I don't want to sound boring and philosophical about that question, but I think ultimately it's something that you don't choose. You can't choose to be famous. You can aspire to be famous, as do maybe three million people a year who come to Hollywood, but it's something that you really get chosen for. You're chosen by the people and by coincidence and by timing and by fate, and it's not something you can do anything about. The caliber, or the degree, of how famous you become, I don't think is anything that you can alter. I saw it very first-hand with Tom Cruise. We were together and Tom was chosen by the American people, and then, subsequently, by the world. He has a great talent, and he has a great quality. A lot of other people do, too. But something about Tom's face, about Tom's certain energy, is something that--phoom--people in the theater just went, 'He's our man, he speaks for us.' And that's ultimately what makes someone a mega star."

"So, you'd take it, huh?"

"Honey. I'm just happy to be working. It's either that or go back to the novel!"

"So, tell me about Never Talk to Strangers. Haven't we seen that film before?"

"No, we've seen When a Stranger Calls. We've probably seen Don't Be a Stranger. But this title is new. It's about a woman, me, who's a criminal psychologist. She's very cool and poised in her profession, and personally she does not have it as together as she does professionally."

"You mean like everybody else?"

"Exactly. That's why I think we can all relate to it. She lives by herself, is somewhat shy and reserved, but very educated, intelligent. She winds up falling for this guy, Antonio Banderas, who picks her up one night in a supermarket and he's a biker. He's got leather pants, a Harley, tattoos--"

"I love it already."

"--and he's exactly the guy she never thought she'd be attracted to. She finds her-self melting in his presence, trusting him more than she's trusted anybody, and then this series of very bizarre things starts happening to her. Sort of intrusive and slightly ugly things, in her home, things she can't put her finger on. Who's doing these things? Of course, the prime suspect is Antonio. The film has the most unexpected ending. I liked it because it's like a classic suspense drama that has some wonderful sexual clashes between these two characters, which was a parable, to me, about the arena of dating in the '90s. All the things you worry about now. Can I trust him? Does he have AIDS?"

"Last night I was out with these friends," I tell her, "and one of them said that a guy she dated five years ago called. We all looked at her and said. 'Is he OK?' Because we all thought he might have called to tell her he tested positive."

"I know. It's a very different climate these days for dating. If you think you're falling in love with someone, it's just different than it was in the '50s, the '60s, the '70s."

"So do you?"

She rolls her eyes, ready for almost anything. "OK. Martha, do I what?"

'Think you're falling in love? Because everyone told me that there was a story about you in People last week ..."

"It wasn't a story," she says with some exasperation. "It was just two little lines."

"Well, everyone seemed to have read those two little lines, which had the name of your new boyfriend ..."

De Mornay starts gathering her things. "Don't you think it's sick that everyone reads every line of that shit? Doesn't it upset you that we're such a celebrity culture in America? That's our astrology, that's our royalty, that's everything we think about. Doesn't it drive you nuts?"

"Sweetie." I say nicely, "when people stop caring about that stuff, both of us may be out of jobs..."

"Well," she says with a wink, "at least I can fall back on that novel."

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Martha Frankel interviewed Andy Garcia for the September Movieline.

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