Here!TV: July 2008 Archives

I'm so glad to read the various glowing reviews for Margot Kidder in the current "Donald Stachey Mysteries" film "On the Other Hand, Death." In an interview on Advocate.com, Margot gives her thoughts on co-star Chad Allen and gay actors in general:

Q. Speaking as an actress whose Hollywood career blossomed in the early 1970s, what was it like to work on Death with openly gay actors like Chad Allen?
A. Well, I don't think Chad would've worked much in those days, and he's such a wonderful actor and a wonderful person. But I know from my own manic depression that the weight and the stress and the pressure of not being who you are drives you mad. It's a horrible thing to live with, especially if you become someone who's in the public eye, and you're trying to hide your essence under some persona. It's just a personal nightmare and not something I would recommend to anybody. There's something so great about being so utterly exposed that you have nothing left to lose. You get to wear the insides of your psyche on the outside of your skin without having to have a lot of defenses protecting it. The business, in terms of the big studios, hasn't completely switched yet. They still cast straight men in gay roles, but they don't cast that many overtly gay men in straight roles. There's something really wrong with this picture. I don't know why they continually cast straight men in gay roles, and then the straight men get nominated for Oscars as if playing someone who's sexuality happens to be gay is a big leap. So when you asked me if I researched being gay? No. What's to research?

here! Films continues its steady march toward gay movie world domination!

Here! announced Wednesday that it has acquired all North American distribution rights to "The World Unseen," a new film from director Shamim Sarif.(who wrote the script adopted from her book of the same name) and screened at this year's Outfest. Written, directed, financed and produced entirely by women, "Unseen" will be released theatrically this fall by Regent Releasing, here! Films' sister company.

Here is a synopsis: Set in 1950's South Africa at the beginning of apartheid. Free-spirited Amina (Sheetal Sheth) has broken all the rules of her own conventional Indian community and the new apartheid-led government, by running a café with Jacob, her black business partner. When she meets Miriam (Lisa Ray), a young wife and mother, their unexpected attraction pushes Miriam to question the rules that bind her to a traditional role. As Amina helps Miriam's sister-in-law to hide from the police, a chain of events is set in motion that changes both women forever.

The first time Margot Kidder saw a movie being made, she was just 16 and happened upon a cast and crew on a location shoot in her native Canada.

She stood and watched for a really long time and thought about what it would be like to be a part of that process. She found out in a big way when she was cast as Lois Lane opposite Christopher Reeve in the original series of "Superman" films.

"I've always had a wonderful time making movies," Margot said recently. "I love the process, yacking with the crew around the Crafts (Services) table. I love working and don't think in terms of the end result as you can tell if you look at some of my movies!"

Although Margot appeared in all four of the "Superman" films of the late 70s and 80s, she didn't have a whole lot of success on the big screen other than the original "The Amityville Horror," the Richard Pryor drama "Some Kind of Hero" and "The Great Waldo Pepper" starring Robert Redford.

But she always found work on television. There had the juicy lead role in the 1987 miniseries "Shell Game" and followed that with starring roles in "Body of Evidence," "To Catch a Killer," "White Room" and "Mob Story."

"I love working but I was a dreadful planner as you can tell by my career," she said. "I didn't have any sense of (career path) at all which I sort of regret now at my age. I tend to grab things depending on the character. I'm almost 60 and in the position where if I get an offer, it's thrilling. They all go to Meryl Streep and Jessica Lange and Sally Field for the most part."

A car accident in 1992 left her in severe neck pain and in debt and she also has battled bipolar disorder which she has had under control since a widely-publicized breakdown in the mid-90s.

Margot, who turns 60 in October, and has a take me as I am feeling toward acting.

"There aren't a lot (of parts) when you get to be my age if you refuse to have facelifts," she said. "They'd run me out of Montana! You don't need a facelift in Montana."

Even without a facelift, Margot has kept working in television. she returned to her "Superman" roots with two guest spots on "Smallville" and more recently appeared as Sally Field's best friend on "Brothers and Sisters."

"I had a wonderful time but I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't remember my lines. I wasn't up to snuff. I was just very nervous when I did it. Maybe I can be a running acharacter though. I love that show. What's nice about it is they portray women our age as being our age, the way we really are."

Her latest movie is the crime mystery "On the Other Hand, Death" opposite Chad Allen. Margot plays a lesbian high school guidance counselor who is being run out of town by unknown forces.

"I just loved the script, it was very witty and a great mystery," Margot said of the film which begins airing on Here! TV on July 25.

This is a time when the experience of making the film was positive and resulted in a finished product that she is awfully proud of.

That is not always the case.

"The experience of making a movie or TV show involves a lot of things from the script to who the crew is," she said. "Sometimes you can have a great time on a really bad movie or a miserable time on a movie that ends up being good."

ONLINE BONUS:
On playing a lesbian: "Have I ever played a lesbian before?," she wondered. "Gosh, I don't remember. Maybe I have somewhere. I have sort of a butch-like presence anyway. I asked, 'Am I butch enough?' They said, 'Oh yeah, you are."

On working with Chad Allen: "Oh my God, he's Mr. divine. He's so wonderful and he's so present. When you work with him, he's right there in the moment in a way that's rare and makes work very easy. He's a real star that kid."