chiller blog

Posted Mar 1, 10 03:15 PM

"Have another cherry."

Think how much better the genre world would be if everyone – damnit - just listened to Veronica Cartwright.

All the gall in Bodega Bay - channeling wickedly Freudian undercurrents - might not have led to all the gull. The crew of the Nostromo would have drawn straws and taken their chances with the escape pod. The good citizens of Eastwick would wise up to the who behind the true Daryl Van Horne.

But they never do. Thankfully, for iconic celluloid, they never do.

Often a martyred Voice of Reason, Veronica Cartwright's astonishing nuances continue to sculpt a thriving portfolio of stunning portrayals. It is her deep, deep sense of commitment to craft - that raw in-the-moment adherence to reach for and hold onto such traumatic live wires - which has bestowed the genre with many of its - and her - finest hours.

Cartwright's work has graced the lenses of William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock, Ridley Scott, Phillip Kaufman and Bill (Gods & Monsters) Condon. Tube audiences know her from classic episodes of The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Leave It to Beaver (she gave "the Beave" his first smooch) - oh, and those plucky Kellogg's Cereal Girl spots. For the Hi-Def and flatscreen crowd, Veronica is Jack's madre on Will & Grace, Peg Kimmel on Six Feet Under, and twice an Emmy-nominee as a repeat alien abductee on The X-Files. ("David [Duchovny] is a riot. He's so dry...")

Of course, that's not taking into account yet another statuette nod (ER) - and a win. At 15, no less. If anyone can track down a loaner copy of Tell Me Not in Mournful Numbers - a true case study starring Cartwright as a girl who could speak only in numbers - please contact Mike@ChillerTV.com. Yes, there is a reward.

Veronica – ever so gracious - shared an hour with Chiller.

The Right Stuff, IMHO, is one of the Truly Great American Movies. And she corrected my false historical perceptions on astronaut Gus Grissom and the lost capsule ("He did not blow the hatch. He never had any burn marks. It was a delayed reaction from re-entry and just blew.).

She hasn't bumped into Ellen Burstyn since sending-up The Exorcist in Scary Movie 2, although they previously worked together (on My Brother's Keeper).

And Shirley MacLaine gave her a big hug after Cartwright's huge emotional breakdown scene in The Children's Hour. Icepacks and laying down in the dressing room followed. Here's the when of the what's the how of her work...

(Have another cherry, indeed.)

Veronica: There's only so many times that you can think of a bird that you had that died, or a dog. I realized that if I just took it for what it was, and worked for the moment - which is pretty damn good for a twelve year-old - that you could cry every time. So in a weird sort of way, that was an eye opener.

Years later, when I studied with Jack Garfine, of course, (I learned) it was part of the Stanislavski Method... I thought, "S***, I figured this one out early!"

CHILLER: Is there a specific school of thought you prescribed to - Strasberg, Adler, Meisner?

Veronica: Jack was part of the original Group Theatre. They were all a part of the Group Theatre. So all those people went off and taught...Jack would go through all of the exercises...(he) always taught us to go for the opposite. You don't be cold - you actually tried to stay warm. And so out of that comes the action. The more you try not to cry, the more you'll cry. He specified these opposite things.

We were in the advanced group. Our class would take all day. I mean, it was fabulous.

CHILLER: So you played Cathy Brenner in The Birds. In interviews, you've stated that Alfred Hitchcock was very nice to you. Telling you, a young girl, how to properly cook a steak. What the best wine shop carried back in Bristol. Did he let on as to what he was going after with the cast?

Veronica: No. Maybe he directed it that way.

CHILLER: I mean, critics cite that the relationships between the characters played by you, Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy and Suzanne Pleshette...well, they're a little "dysfunctional." And the influence of The Birds - the imitations it spawned. Jaws, Arachnophobia, The Swarm...essentially any animal attack film, minus the psychology.

Veronica: Well, look at it. The casting of Jessica Tandy was fabulous: it's the whole Oedipal thing. She's in love with her son - and him being that much older.

I was a Trivial Pursuit question: "Who was Rod Taylor's daughter," I think. And I wasn't. I was his sister. This is her (the mother's) protector. She feels threatened by the sudden appearance of Tippi...this woman would not let Mitch go, which made it really creepy. There were other stories going on at the same time.

CHILLER: Especially offscreen. In the subconscious. Very Freudian.

Veronica: Absolutely. Absolutely. In a sense, Cathy was sort of the innocent of the whole thing. Yes - her last line, leaving, "Can't we take them (the caged lovebirds) with us, Mitch? They haven't done anything." But you don't know whether or not the birds were there to protect those birds, whether they were out to get her...it leaves a lot of unanswered questions. But these were innocent birds that were in a little cage. They hadn't hurt anybody. I guess that's a little "dysfunctional thinking" (laughter).

CHILLER: I love gray area. It leads to so many different, intriguing interpretations. Especially when you consider that unfilmed ending.

Veronica: Yes. I had read the script with that original ending: When the car takes off and the birds rip through the convertible roof. And they step on the gas and lose them. But you don't know whether the birds are out to get them, if they ever catch up with them, or what happens...You see birds everyday, integrated into our habitat. We don't think of them any differently. There's something terrifying about something so benign coming after you.

CHILLER: One bird attack question only, I promise. Even with a few special effects, the chimney scene - with about 2,000 sparrows blown down and into Jessica Tandy's living room - was filmed with a protective "bubble" around the set. Still... were there any accidents?

Veronica: They had 15,000 birds for the whole movie - little finches, little sparrows... apparently taken out of nests and streets signs. The SPCA got a little pissed off. They had collected them in crates inside the chimney. They pulled the crates open and the birds' whole reaction was to go down and swoop up. They weren't after us at all. But once they realized they couldn't get out, they started landing on the floor. Jessie trod on a couple - oh my God, she was a mess. Not pleasant to think about.

CHILLER: No.

Veronica: The interesting thing about Hitchcock is that he shot everything once - running down the hill, the attack scenes - in Bodega Bay. THEN he had everything recreated on a set. The sand dunes were brought in, the big tree when she boats across...all of the stuff could be contained inside a soundstage.

CHILLER: Let's fast forward. Phillip Kaufman's remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers marked another dramatic breakthrough. Of course, you re-teamed for your sensational turn as long-suffering Betty Grissom in The Right Stuff and cameo'd in Twisted. But back to Body Snatchers - and that finale between you and Donald Sutherland. Does it give you the creeps, too?

Veronica: We were both told different things (beforehand), and were supposed to go with whatever happened. So we were on edge. I didn't know what Donald was going to do. That's why I'm sort of tentative when I'm talking to him.

CHILLER: That finale is gaining credence as one of the all-time great genre endings. The juxtaposition of those odd trees against an institutional landmark. The warbling "Amazing Grace" echoing on the soundtrack. And...your performances.

Veronica: That was just a one-off take. That was just me reacting.

CHILLER: Wow.

Veronica: And it was interesting because nobody else was around. I guess they thought they'd do a sequel.

CHILLER: You did come back for The Invasion. Hmm. But you know, your Nancy Bellicec (in Invasion of the Body Snatchers) personifies the kind of lady we root for - even if she may not win.

Veronica: She's just very, very level-headed...a really strong woman who had an opinion. Whether or not it (writer's note: the appearance of seemingly innocent space flowers instead of colonizing space ships bent on re-evolving the species) sounded crazy - it wasn't. She had total survival instincts.

CHILLER: I'm so glad that you made it to the end.

Veronica: (laughter) I am, too -

CHILLER: I was pulling for you!

Veronica: She was probably a little hippie and was dropping bennies every fine minutes. Smart cookie!