Elizabeth Hurley: Hurley in the Morning

Q: What about nonsurgical procedures?

A: I have a girlfriend who's 50, very good-looking, who had something illegal done--she had free-floating silicone injected in tiny little particles into her cheeks. But where does it float to? I'm a complete coward about these things.

Q: How is it going at Simian Films?

A: I've neglected it hideously. I took a year and a half out of Simian, really. Stuff was ticking away, but I was making a lot of movies and so was Hugh and we split up and it was difficult. But at the beginning of this year, we made two new deals, one with Castle Rock and one with Intermedia.

Q: Hugh was in both your earlier efforts, Extreme Measures and Mickey Blue Eyes. Are you going to star in any of them in the future?

A: Very much so. At least half of the stuff in the last couple of months that we've been putting into various stages of development, I will probably star in. And Hugh's in the other half.

Q: But the two of you won't costar in the same movie?

A: We've got one idea where we would be together. We thought now that we're not going out together, we'd actually be allowed to do it. I don't know if it will happen. It's a story Hugh came up with, I embellished and I want him to write. It's a comedy.

Q: What are some other projects you hope to develop?

A: We're developing a few erotic thrillers. I've watched a ton of them in the last month. You can really tell when there's heat there. Definitely Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas had it in Basic Instinct, definitely Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in Body Heat. Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum, who was amazingly good, had big chemistry in Out of the Past. As I left my office today, I was in the middle of watching Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward in Against All Odds, the remake of Out of the Past. And Jeff Bridges's body in that--amazing!

Q: Speaking of bodies, you were criticized for telling a reporter that if you were as fat as Marilyn Monroe was, you'd kill yourself.

A: That was so unfair. I adore Marilyn Monroe. I used to have pictures around my mirror of Marilyn. I used to try and copy her eye makeup, her lip shape. I can do half her movies for you right here. It's so unfair that I'd be branded as someone who was mean about Marilyn Monroe. I was being nice, and that nasty interviewer picked up one sentence without anything around it.

Q: What was around it?

A: I was saying that she's my favorite person. I'd just been to see her clothes at a Sotheby's auction. I didn't buy anything. It was kind of macabre, except for the notebook of scribbles inside of her script, which was enchanting. I was saying [to the interviewer] how it must have been to live in the '50s when you were allowed to be curvy, and here I am picking at my salad because I had a photo shoot the next day. I said that now, if I were her size, I'd have to kill myself because I wouldn't work. That was it. Very unfair.

Q: Have you ever come face-to-face with a sex symbol you've looked up to?

A: I got very tongue-tied meeting Elizabeth Taylor. I'm a huge fan. Her Butterfield 8 look is something that I've had put on me very often. I met Elizabeth with Hugh when she invited us around once for a holiday celebration. I became the village idiot-- very shy and gauche--but she was absolutely charming. Sharon Stone was there, too, and she was much less shy than I.

Q: When was the last time you felt the presence of God?

A: When my dad died. Which means there hasn't been enough God in my life for four years now. Again when I had to go to Hugh's mother's funeral two weeks ago, which was very sad. I was, of course, reminded of my dad's funeral the whole time, even though I was desperately unhappy for Hugh. It was jokingly horrible.

Q: Were you and his mother close?

A: I wasn't actually that close to his mother, but seeing Hugh... [Breaks off] I knew her, of course. But it was quite strange being back with all his family because, obviously, we are estranged now, even though I still see Hugh. But there were his cousins, uncles and godparents and all that. So, it was quite unsettling in many ways.

Q: Are you Catholic?

A: I'm a weird half-and-half. I was really brought up Church of England, which is Protestant, but my father was Catholic, though he didn't practice. My mother is a practicing Protestant. But I went to Catholic school, so I'm a bit of both. I go to Catholic church as it happens, though I've never actually been baptized in the Catholic church. I like any church, but I've always liked the rituals attached to the Catholic church. I like lighting candles for people. I like the incense and the choir. Of course, I weep every time.

Q: Have you been let down often?

A: Not very often, because I don't really trust that many people. There are things that chip away at your faith, though. This is such a trivial thing to say, but once I had a nice chat with a British Airways stewardess, who was incredibly nice and I was very nice to her. The next day, it was in the papers, this person saying how all I did was sit and tell her I buy Chanel perfume. Which is crap. She actually came up to me and asked, "What are you wearing?" It was Estée Lauder. And we had a lovely, girly chat about hair and makeup, things like that. That was such a hideous thing to do, I wanted to say, "Why on earth would you do that?" Your temptation is to say, "I'm not going to talk to strangers anymore."

Q: Madonna was recently named in a survey as the woman most other women admire. Have you ever coveted the life of another woman?

A: God, I don't think so. I can covet somebody's brain sometimes. It's going to sound like I'm name-dropping, but I was astounded by Bill Clinton's intellect and knowledge. I had a chat with him at a fund-raiser. Astonishing. Really dynamic, clever, unbelievably bright. It's rare that you meet someone who's really intellectually up there.

Q: Have you ever written a fan letter?

A: When I was nine I wrote to Jimmy Osmond. I got back a life-sized poster of him wearing pink corduroy jeans, which I hung on my closet door.

Q: What's something you had fun doing in your youth that people wouldn't guess?

A: I'd frequently make boys go out dressed as girls. Both straight guys and gay guys. I think they feel vulnerable, that if a big, butch, nasty boy recognizes that there's another boy in a dress, they'll be in trouble.

Q: Why did you do that?

A: It's just one of those things teenage girls do, like putting makeup on their boyfriends. I don't think it has to do with making them put on your underwear and finding it sexy. Personally, I can't think of anything less sexy than a man in my underwear.

Q: Have you ever wanted to go out dressed as a man?

A: I think I'd like it, but with a new personality, not just myself. Most of the boys I really love are actually quite girly, come to think of it.

Q: What's missing in your life these days?

A: I'm very much lacking a dog. Mostly because of England's terrible quarantine laws. It's a six-month quarantine, and absolutely unnecessary. They're very kind to them in quarantine; you can visit, but it tends to be upsetting to the animals when you leave again. Do you know that not one of them has ever developed rabies? The whole system is all about money. I had a dog here in America that I rescued and ended up taking home to England. When I visited her, she ate her paws for a long time. Awful. She unfortunately got cancer and died, so she was with me in England for only a year and a half. But she had the best year of her life. It would be irresponsible of me now to get a dog, but it's annoying because I'd love having two hefty German shepherds lolloping around this house.

Q: What do you hope people might write about you 20 years from now?

A: It would be nice to have been in and produced good films. Maybe to have done a few nice things to help other people. But who the hell knows? [Laughing] I'm sure there'll be some scurrilous gossip. I mean, Jean Shrimpton was a very successful model from England who must have retired 30 years ago, and now runs a hotel, but she's still tormented by the British press. It's a lifetime of "Has she had surgery?" or "She used to be really thin, but now she's really fat."

Q: What's your plan for staying sane while staying in show business?

A: The only people I see who've been around for a bit with any semblance of happiness seem to be people who aren't caught up in the star system. They kept grounded. They have great mates and are pretty normal, surrounded by family, friends they've known for years. That seems to be the way to go. To isolate yourself in your own lunacy, which is extremely easy to do, would be awful for the soul.

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Stephen Rebello interviewed Raquel Welch for the August issue of Movieline.

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