THAT HAIR. THOSE legs. That accent. For nearly two decades, male moviegoers — and in all likelihood, more than a few female ones — have been swooning over Andie MacDowell. Though her trademark Southern drawl was ultimately dubbed over with Glenn Close’s voice in her first film, 1984’s Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, MacDowell went on to become one of the best-known pretty faces to make the transition from supermodel to actress. From Emilio Estevez’s unsuspecting love interest in St. Elmo’s Fire to a sexually repressed wife in sex, lies, and videotape to an American in love with an Englishman in Four Weddings and a Funeral, the long-time L’Oréal pitchwoman has made a name for herself in a variety of genres. Last month, her Yugoslavian-war drama Harrison’s Flowers hit theaters; now, she’s on the road promoting her latest film, Crush, in which she plays a woman who falls in love with a man (played by Kenny Doughty) nearly two decades her junior. But holed up in a suite at Boston’s Four Seasons Hotel, MacDowell, 43, is tired from a whirlwind week of publicity and admittedly hung-over from celebrating the film’s New York premiere.
Still, it’s Andie MacDowell. And she’s worth it.
Q: Why Crush? What attracted you to this movie and to this part in particular?
A: Well, it was beautifully written. I love British humor, and the way they use words. It was really well-written; the characters were real deep and complex and multi-layered and interesting. So it was the script, first of all. Then I met [director] John [McKay], and he was really cute and funny and had a great personality and is smart and had good energy, and the producer was darling, so that gave me even more hope.
Q: Do you find the sensibilities of English audiences different from American ones?
A: I don’t really know. I haven’t had that experience. I do know that the concept of a woman at 40 being any different than a man at 40 does not exist there. I really like that. And women I think are more appreciated [there] for something deeper than their exterior. British actresses in their 50s and 60s get great roles.
Q: Is that an ongoing battle with you?
A: It does exist; I mean, there is truth to it. But I think the idea of it is what bothers me more than the work issue. The fact that it exists in our culture bothers me more than whether I’m going to get a job or not.
Q: Talk to me about the relationship in this film.
A: Kenny and — I mean, Jed and Kate?
Q: Or Kenny and Andie.
A: Oh, no. I mean, we had a great work relationship, but he’s pretty much like my son, not my date. Um, you have this woman who has, at a relatively young age, become a headmistress in a small village in England and obviously has worked very hard to get there, like all women do that are in high positions. She has two friends, one’s a doctor and one’s a cop, and they’re both strong positions for women to be in, and obviously they’ve had to sacrifice a lot to get there, and I think what Kate has sacrificed is her sexuality. And she meets this young man, and she’s so blown away that he’s actually attracted to her that it catches her completely off-guard, and the next thing you know, she’s doing something that she would never have dreamed of doing, if she had had her wits about her. But in a moment of desperation, she does something that she wouldn’t normally do, and it turns out to be an incredible experience for her and actually brings her back to life again and makes her young again and vibrant.
Q: What are your feelings about the age difference in the relationship between Jed and Kate?
A: In that relationship, I think it’s fine. I could never do it. But I think you have to look at the characters. Kenny believes, truly, that this is a wonderful relationship and that it would last and that it’s great.
Q: And you don’t?
A: No, I have a hard time with it. And I think Kate had a hard time with it. She’s so responsible. And myself, on a personal level, I would feel like I was with my son. I’m so maternal. And that’s the way I treat people that are that much younger than me.
Q: What originally drew you away from modeling and into acting?
A: I actually did theater before I modeled. My manager that I have now worked in the talent department at Elite, which is the modeling agency where I was, and she showed an interest in me from the very beginning, and I just started taking classes.
Q: Do you ever miss modeling full-time?
A: I don’t know if modeling exists full-time for a 43-year-old woman! And it’s been so long since I modeled full-time; it’s been 20 years.
Q: It must be a different lifestyle, in a lot of ways.
A: Yeah, I mean, it was great when I was young. But I really stopped when I was 23. It was great; I got to travel all over the world, I worked with incredible photographers, incredible artists, all over the world — I worked with Helmut Newton when I was 20. And I actually got to do some really fun things, like the Calvin Klein commercials, and I had two billboards in Times Square.
Q: Is it strange for you that you haven’t modeled full-time since you were 23, and yet people continue to ask you about it?
A: That used to irritate me, because I felt like I had to defend myself. But I don’t feel like that anymore, and it actually amuses me, when people say it, because it has been so long, and I’ve done so much, and hey, if I’m 43 and they want to think I’m a model, I think that’s incredible. It’s actually hysterical.
Q: The famous L’Oréal line — were you ever embarrassed to say, "And I’m worth it"?
A: Not really. Because the context of what it is, is to say, "You are worth it." That’s what the meaning is. And I think people get that, or else they wouldn’t have stuck with that line.
Q: Talk to me about your accent. You seem to be one of the only actors who’s allowed to keep it.
A: Yeah, sometimes. But I mean, I don’t really have a Southern accent in Crush. I calm it down a lot; I use the rhythm of an English person. And Sissy Spacek has one. There are a lot of people that have Southern accents. I mean, the South is a big place.
Q: I was doing some research about you online, and I came across a rumor that you’re the illegitimate daughter of Charlie Chaplin. Where did that come from?
A: Oh, that wasn’t really a rumor; it is now, because I told someone. So now that everybody’s asking me, it’s going to be a rumor, but I don’t care. It was just some strange article. Years ago — I’m talking 15 years ago — a friend of mine went to Mexico and brought me back a paper that said that. I don’t know where in the world it came from. I never told anybody, so no one ever wrote about it.
Q: So it wasn’t running rampant.
A: No. Now it is. Because I told one person. You tell one person, and there you go.
Q: I also read that you beat Sarah Jessica Parker for your role in Four Weddings and a Funeral. Would you ever want a role like hers on Sex and the City?
A: You know, I love her, but I’ve never watched Sex and the City. I need to watch it, because everybody is always talking about it, but I haven’t watched it.
Q: A lot of twenty- and thirtysomethings remember you well from your role as Dale Beaverman in St. Elmo’s Fire. Is it funny to you that that small role is almost iconic?
A: I think it’s hysterical; it’s hysterical that you remember the name: Dale Beaverman. That was a good experience.
Q: Did it feel like a breakthrough role at the time?
A: Yeah, I was glad to be working, and I was thankful that [director] Joel [Schumacher] gave me the job. I felt a bit like an outsider, because that whole gang, they were supposed to all be buds. But it didn’t really bother me. I got to hang with them a little bit.
Q: What’s next?
A: I have another movie to promote, and then I’m doing a pilot in Asheville, North Carolina. And then I hope I get to go home and sleep.
Q: What’s the pilot?
A: It’s called Joe, and I play a veterinarian, and it’s going to be shot where I live. That’s so nice.
Q: Has that been a challenge, not living in New York or California?
A: Yeah, but it’s just because I’m happy living there. I mean, it’s my life. And this is my job. I wanted to live where I wanted to live. You get to do this once. I live down the street from my sister, and I’m really glad that I’m there.
Q: You just finished doing publicity for Harrison’s Flowers and now you’re doing this — you must be exhausted.
A: I’m so tired. Yesterday was horrible. I was in New York, and it was the most [publicity] I’ve ever done in one day. When I looked at the schedule to see what they had [scheduled] for me, I could not believe that they actually did it. I did Good Morning America, I did Rosie, I did The View, a Fox-TV show, Conan, and I did a round-robin situation with the different radio [stations]. And then went to my premiere, straight from Conan, and then the dinner party. And I had two cosmopolitans last night.
Q: So you were a little sluggish this morning.
A: Oh, I was hideous. I had some girlfriends from North Carolina come up. I was going to try not to drink; my idea was, I was going to go work out during the movie. This is what I thought I would do. I was like, okay, that’ll refresh me. It would’ve been really smart. But then I sat down, and I really like the movie, and I’d only seen it one time, and I started watching it again, and I was laughing and enjoying the movie. So I thought, I’ll stay, we’ll watch the movie and I’ll be with my friends and then we’ll go to the party, and I’ll give myself a break and not work out. I think I would’ve been better off if I’d gone and worked out and then felt really healthy and not had the two cosmopolitans. I remember walking up to the bar, and [my friends] were like, "Do you want a drink?" They were getting their cosmopolitans. And I stood there for a second and thought about it, and I was like, "I really shouldn’t, I really, really shouldn’t ... yeah, I’ll have a cosmopolitan."
Q: The first one must’ve been good if you went back for the second one.
A: I was looped, off of the first one! Completely gone. I woke up this morning and I was like, "What did I say?"
Crush opens April 26 at the Kendall Square Cinema. Tamara Wieder can be reached at twieder[a]phx.com
