Al Weisel
Gena Rowlands
By Al Weisel
Premiere, September 1999, p. 32
When Gena Rowlands acts, it's like watching someone jump off a skyscraper and land on both feet unharmed. The riskier the performance, the more effortless it seems. Witness three of her favorite roles: the mad housewife in A Woman Under the Influence (1974), the stumbling-drunk actress in Opening Night (1977), and the gun-toting moll in 1980's Gloria. (Sharon Stone steps into her estimable high heels for the upcoming remake.) No matter how wacky the character, Rowlands, 63, with her cool beauty and Wisconsin down-to-earthness, makes even the most over-the-top moments seem perfectly natural. It's no coincidence that each of the three films was written and directed by her husband, John Cassavetes, who is considered the godfather of U.S. independent cinema. Starting with A Child Is Waiting (1963) and ending with Love Streams (1984), their mutual-inspiration society was one of the great collaborations in film history. Since his death, in 1989, she has appeared in a variety of indie-minded films, including Jim Jarmusch's Night on Earth and son Nick Cassavetes's Unhook the Stars. In addition to this year's The Mighty and Dancing About Architecture, Rowlands stars in Grace and Gloria, a TV movie in which she plays an 80-year-old farm woman, and the recently wrapped The Weekend, with Brooke Shields. "I went from walking with a cane to playing a character who wears caftans and turbans," she says with a laugh. "It's 'Joan Crawford never died.'"
What was your first impression of John Cassavetes?
That he was possibly the handsomest man I had ever seen. I soon saw he was a good actor, but I was totally unprepared for him to turn into a director. He pulled that one out of the hat.
You appeared with Judy Garland in A Child Is Waiting. What was she like?
It was getting toward the end with Judy, but her acting was swell. We used to get together and play poker. She loved poker. She had a good poker face. I can never have a poker face. Anybody looking at me can tell exactly what I'm thinking.
What do you remember about Faces, your first real Cassavetes picture?
It was a hard picture to shoot. I was not used to John's personality as a director. He was very strong-minded. We had a lot of arguments, and it was rough going. After I saw it put together, I realized I was wrong. That came as a very big shock. He would ask you to do things that were impossible. The scene where I was dancing and twirling—I was quite pregnant. It was agonizing.
What other impossible things did he ask you to do?
In Love Streams my character is getting divorced from her husband. In the script it says, "She makes them laugh." I said, "What's this?" He said, "I don't want to ruin the surprise. You'll love it." I was ready to strangle him. On the day we were going to shoot it, he wouldn't let anyone tell me what was going on. So, on this picnic table is every gadget you can buy at a joke shop. He said, "Make 'em laugh!" I said, "Which things am I supposed to use?" He said, "Rolling." So I went around madly trying to make them laugh, and of course the whole point was that they didn't think I was funny. He had told the other actors; "Don't laugh at anything." So no matter what I did, I couldn't make them laugh, which was rather dismaying. So I said, "I didn't make anyone laugh. I want to do it again." He said, "It's exactly what I want." When I saw the scene, I thought it was very funny.
Everyone loves your performance in A Woman Under the Influence—
That's my favorite. We rented a little house in Hollywood and shot the entire thing there. We had the luxury of time. Without that pressure, it releases a lot of things in you. John would seldom answer a question about a character. He would say, "I've given it to you. You own it now."
Was there anything you did in that film that surprised you?
The parts where I get mad and go "Pffft!" and stick my thumb up in the air. I didn't plan that. I never plan anything physical. I had never done it before or since. John laughed very hard after I did that.
Did you base her on anybody?
Not in particular. But you base everything on people you know. [For that role], I remembered junior high school, [when] I would go to my best friend's house. Her mother was always pleasant, but classical music would be pounding through the house. Now that was very unusual when I was growing up. There was some strange tension in that house that did turn out very badly years later. I couldn't put my finger on it. I just knew there was something terribly wrong.
Was it difficult working and living with John?
Oh, our life was a wild life. But I thank God that we met each other. We both had a lot of temperament and a lot of opinions. But I don't think I ever saw him depressed, and I never saw him fearful. Now, I saw him angry a lot.
How do you feel about Sharon Stone's remaking Gloria?
At first I was startled. After you play a part, you think of it as your own. Sharon was very polite about it. She said, "If its terribly meaningful to you to not have someone else do it, I won't do it." I said, "I don't feel that way. Go ahead." I'm truly interested to see what they do with it.
Did you ever have difficulty being beautiful and being taken seriously?
I think the ones that have the most difficulty are the glamour girls. I never played any glamour girls, so it wasn't a problem. Getting a good role is hard for anyone. I can totally understand Sharon's wanting to do Gloria, because that is a great role.
Is it a fair assessment to say your heart belongs to indie films?
I love independent filmmaking. I don't agree with a lot of it, but that's the point. People in independent film have a passion; they're not in it for the money. I'm very proud that John had a part in it.
Would you say that John was the great love of your life?
Yes. But I don't want to start talking about it. You're just going to get me crying.
Something happier, then: Tell me about one particularly special day in your life as an actress.
It was when A Woman Under the Influence played at the New York Film Festival. It would be hard to top that. It was one of the most extraordinary nights of my life. We worked so hard on that movie. "Who wants to see a movie about a crazy middle-aged woman?" was the general attitude we had to contend with. And then for it to be so well received was thrilling. For weeks afterward, every time I'd walk down the street, someone would come up to me and say things like "That's my mother." I began to think that behind every third door in America, someone is going crazy. But it was just wonderful that people were personal about it. That's what you always hope for when you do a movie.■
Al Weisel is the co-author, with Larry Frascella, of Live Fast, Die Young: The Wild Ride of Making Rebel Without a Cause, being published in October 2005.