Farrah Fawcett: Land of the Farrahs
Q: It's interesting that you replaced Goldie Hawn in Dr. T and the Women when she replaced you in Foul Play.
A: It is. The posters had already been made of Chevy Chase and me in Foul Play when ABC wouldn't let me do the movie.
Q: Is there a twenty something contemporary equivalent of Farrah Fawcett?
A: I thought that Cameron Diaz in There's Something About Mary embodied traits that I have. There's something about her that strikes home.
Q: Are you saying that Cameron Diaz is like you or that her character in There's Something About Mary like you?
A: My friends kept telling me that her character in Mary is like me. That's what my life was like at the University of Texas.
Q: You mean that guys went nuts for you?
A: [Laughs] Well, OK, yes.
Q: Were you aware in college of what your looks could do for you?
A: No. I lived in the dorm and I'd get these phone calls about modeling or acting jobs and it would spread through the dorm, "Hollywood's calling." I wasn't aware of anything except that most of my life I've been hit on.
Q: When you first came to Hollywood were you picked up by the town's skirt-chasers?
A: Yes! [Laughs] When I first came to L.A. I didn't know the rules. I met with Jack Nicholson about a project he was going to direct. Jack is Jack. I know him now. He said something for the shock value. If I told you what he said, people reading it out of context or not knowing Jack would go, "How rude, how awful."
Q: We're all grownups here.
A: [Laughs] Jack said, "If I take the camera and put it in a certain ... place and your legs are apart and it's ... right here... would you be able to do that?" And I said, "Oh, no." If I'd been smart and said, "Of course I can," I would've gotten the role. It wasn't required for the role at all--he was just seeing how I'd react.
Q: What about Warren Beatty?
A: I was walking out of Saks on Wilshire when a black Lincoln with dark windows pulled up. I can't say that was out of the ordinary, OK? [Laughs] The windows rolled down and this bearded man in sunglasses said, "Hi, how are you?" and I said, "Fine," and kept walking. He said, "Wait, wait, I'm Warren Beatty," and I started laughing, saying, "You are not," He insisted he was, so I said, "Take off your sunglasses," and he had those eyes and I said, "Oh, my God--you are!" He asked for my phone number and called four or five times. One night he called and said, "Where do you live? I'm just on my way home; can I come by and see you for 10 minutes?" I said, "I have to work tomorrow, I'm ready for bed and my roommate is asleep." He said, "Can't you come out to the car for 10 minutes?" [Laughs] I was in my robe and slippers and I had my hair set on those big orange juice can-sized rollers. He didn't seem to mind. [Laughs] We're friends now and we laugh about it. Nothing happened. Was I out of my mind? I mean, I was single. He was single.
Q: No other memorable encounters with him?
A: We both lived on Mulholland and we'd see each other at parties over the years. He sent me the script for Dick Tracy to consider and I met with him, but I was doing something else.
Q: Is there anything about yourself you'd want to change?
A: No. I am who I am. I'll go around in rollers and if I'm on location in the woods and my trailer is miles away, I will go to the bathroom in the bushes. There's no way my makeup lady would do that, for instance. But that's who I am.
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Stephen Rebello wrote about heartthrobs from Down Under for the August issue of Movieline.
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