The New Divas

Her mission? To explain "what a good actress I thought I was and why they shouldn't pick so-and-so, so-and-so, or so-and-so, but should pick me." Rumor has it the role had already been virtually pocketed by Halle Berry, but Rochon was finally granted the audition she pursued, and, as she recalls, "I tore it up!" No wonder that when Rochon auditioned for The Chamber, a role written for Miss White-Bread, director James Foley reportedly told her, "You've got the chutzpah"--and gave her the gig. Rochon's burning ambition already has her eyeing a whole other level of competitors. "When there's a script Sandra Bullock or Meg Ryan aren't doing, I want my name on top of that list," she's declared. But she has no desire to be merely a tough cookie battling the competitive casting game gloves-off. Rochon wants to be a diva fighting for everything, gloves included.

Rumors buzzed around Hollywood that Halle Berry managed to lose the role in Waiting to Exhale to Lela Rochon by refusing to audition, diva behavior extraordinaire to be sure, especially when indulged in not by a Stone, a Moore or a Houston, but by a veteran of cable TV's Solomon & Sheba, and movies like Father Hood, The Program and Losing Isaiah. This variety of self-enchantment is in keeping with Berry's overall image.

Michael DeLorenzo, the New York Undercover star who was rumored to have had a short-term affair with Berry, was quoted as saying, "Halle is nuts!," no doubt alluding to her much-talked-about mood swings, tantrums and attitude. And well he might. When vexed or under emotional siege, the beauteous temptress (a bad photograph of Berry has yet to be taken) can breathe fire with the best of the dragon ladies. "When I'm pushed to the limit, in life or in a movie, I'm like a cornered cat. I'll scratch your eyes out," she has said. "She can go from good girl to vamp like you and I shed socks," said The Flintstones director Brian Levant of her on-screen allure. Such headsnapping emotional about-faces apparently happen offscreen, too. Atlanta Braves right fielder David Justice, from whom Berry split last year, claimed, "I always felt I was walking on eggshells with her. Everything I did was wrong."

Still merely a diva-in-training at the moment, Berry's got the looks, style and inclination to soar high in the diva pantheon. Warren Beatty handpicked her to costar in his upcoming as-yet-untitled project (formerly called Bulworth), which may be the ideal showcase to launch Berry's ascent toward full-fledged divadom. If that film proves to be her breakthrough, she might find the $1.6 million home she shares with expensive objets d'art and her beloved pooches suddenly inadequate.

Salma Hayek, gifted with the lustrous look, fire and charisma of an old-time screen goddess, displayed herself at last year's Oscar ceremonies decked out in an accessory only a true diva would dare to flaunt in front of billions of TV viewers--a diamond tiara. And she pulled it off. Hayek is so ravishing she even pulled off, on the same evening, that very iffy blue eye shadow. But don't mistake Hayek for an actress who's content to be merely physically stunning. "Beauty's not the flesh," she has declared, "but what you project. It has a lot to do with sensuality--the capacity to motivate dreams and fantasies." With neither a big-screen smash nor a severe embarrassment so far on her resume, Hayek's reputation rests mostly on her beauty and the steely aggressive commitment she radiates.

One hit picture and watch her pop as the actress and diva the evidence says she is.

Hayek's history suggests she may have been a diva from birth ("I always got more attention than anyone else. If I hadn't, I would have made sure I did."). She may even have diva genes-- her mother was an opera singer. As a young, self-admitted spoiled brat, Hayek convinced her parents she would "go on strike" unless they sent her to a U.S. boarding school, from which she was tossed for having too much attitude. At home she took to strutting around in a bikini, a form of dress her parents strictly forbade. With the opposite sex, she has apparently always been supremely self-possessed. "I hope to God I keep being spoiled by every man I meet in my life," she has declared; and she's fond of telling interviewers that, as a girl, she was often followed by "all the boys and all the boys' fathers." The grown-up Hayek reflects the cumulative effect of having been a man-magnet all her life: "Somebody told me I'm the biggest nightmare any man could have because it always looked and sounded like I could just walk away at any time ... and I probably could." If you missed her point there, listen up again: "I'm not going to have a boyfriend until I find one who has bigger balls than I do."

For all the drama, extravagance and glitzy excess divas bring to bear on the Hollywood scene, a diva-free Hollywood wouldn't be anywhere near as spicy, entertaining or fun. As Joan Crawford once put it, "If you want to see the girl next door, go next door." But there's more than that to be said for divas. These women don't merely make Hollywood pay through the nose, a lot of them also give through the nose. Elizabeth Taylor may once have had Chasen's chili flown to her on the set of Cleopatra in Rome, but she's also selflessly pumped tens of millions of dollars into AIDS research. Sharon Stone follows her example, not only with the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) but with a homeless rehabilitation charity as well. It's a sure bet every other diva you can point to has done some larger-than-life good deeds. We'd all love divas anyway; when their lust for the spotlight leads to charity, it's icing on the cake. Of course, you'd best believe that when a diva plays Lady Bountiful, she does it with flair. Hosting an AIDS charity event, Stone fired back at a wiseguy in the audience who urged her to auction her panties, "Anyone with $7.50 knows that I don't wear underpants."

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Stephen Rebello interviewed Tori Spelling for the September '97 issue of Movieline.

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