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  WINDY CITY TIMES

Olympia Dukakis on 'Magnolias,' being pro-choice
by Jerry Nunn
2010-10-13

This article shared 3017 times since Wed Oct 13, 2010
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Olympia Dukakis hit our eye like a big pizza pie, winning an Oscar for Moonstruck. And we will never Ousier in Steel Magnolias and her quick one-liners. She talked about her upcoming appearance on behalf of pro-choice organization Personal PAC as well as her past and future work.

Windy City Times: Hello, Olympia. I am excited that you are coming to Chicago.

Olympia Dukakis: I am, too. You know my husband is from Chicago so I am trying to convince him to come with me. I don't know if he will or not. He has some relatives still there.

WCT: How did you become involved with Personal PAC?

Olympia Dukakis: They called me up. They had heard about my activism so to speak. They asked me if it was something that they thought I could do. This is a good cause.

WCT: Are you doing a speech?

Olympia Dukakis: Yes, I am doing a speech. There is a general reception, then a luncheon, there is my speech and then there is a longer reception.

WCT: Well, I will be there.

Olympia Dukakis: Okay, good.

WCT: I have to tell you that Moonstruck is my number-one favorite movie ever.

Olympia Dukakis: Aww, thank you!

WCT: Did you know it would be a hit when you made it?

Olympia Dukakis: Oh, not at all. We all thought it was a small movie but we knew that it was choice as they say, choice meat. Norman Jewison directing, of course, was a big thing. Actresses everywhere wanted the roles. They were terrific parts. John Patrick Shanley was hot at the time. I think he is still hot but, at that time, he was particularly on the news waves.

WCT: I love his writing.

Olympia Dukakis: Actually it was the first movie that I had decided that I was going to go out of town for. I had to go to Canada because we shot all of the interiors in Canada. The exteriors we did here. So that is the first movie that I left town for after seventeen years.

WCT: Wow.

Olympia Dukakis: That is what I remember about it. I had done movies in New York but this one was a wonderful part.

WCT: And it led to other things.

Olympia Dukakis: Oh sure. It led to paying my bills. What about that? That's what it led to! [ Both laugh. ]

WCT: Yes, and every gay guy in town loved Steel Magnolias.

Olympia Dukakis: Oh yeah, and a lot of women love it, too. You should see it. I travel around and women come up to me and say they have seen it. I actually met someone that had seen it twenty eight times!

WCT: Oh, my; that's a lot.

Olympia Dukakis: These women get together—families, sisters, mothers, daughters, as well as friends. They cry, they laugh and say the lines out loud.

WCT: That is great. I watched you in Tales of the City. That was an interesting role to tackle.

Olympia Dukakis: That was my favorite. It didn't change my life the way Moonstruck did but that was my favorite role. It was an extraordinary part. I was so fortunate to have had the part and gotten to know Armistead [ Maupin, who wrote Tales ] . Alastair Reed was a great director. We did two others but none of them had the depth I thought of the first. That is my opinion, but for me the first one was extraordinary.

WCT: They are making a musical version of it.

Olympia Dukakis: I know! It will be in San Francisco with the people that did Avenue Q.

WCT: That will be great.

Olympia Dukakis: I know. I should be wonderful. I met and talked with them. I am obviously too old for the part but they just wanted to hear my responses and what it was like to do it.

WCT: Sure, and you have a movie coming out this year called Montana Amazon.

Olympia Dukakis: Yes, it is a wonderfully offbeat, quirky, funny movie with horrible things in it. [ Laughs ] You have a combination of horror and humor. It is an interesting movie.

WCT: And Haley Joel Osment stars as well ,and you produced it.

Olympia Dukakis: Yep. Alison Brie is quite good in it, too. They both play my grandchildren.

WCT: Any other movies coming out?

Olympia Dukakis: Yeah, there is a movie called Cloudburst. It will probably be out in the spring. It is with Thom Fitzgerald. I have done two other movies with him, The Event and 3 Needles. I play an aging dyke in this one and play it with my partner, Brenda Fricker.

WCT: Oh, yeah?

Olympia Dukakis: We play partners. It is very funny and very moving.

WCT: I have to check that out. You are never slowing down!

Olympia Dukakis: Well, no. I just turned down something because I had stop so I could prepare for this play that I am doing.

WCT: So you are doing a play, too?

Olympia Dukakis: Yes, in New York; [ it's ] called The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore. It is a Tennessee Williams' play. It is at the Roundabout.

WCT: Well, we will see you when your train stops for a moment in Chicago!

Personal PAC's 17th Annual Awards Luncheon begins at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 18, at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan. For tickets, visit www.personalpac.org or call 312-422-0055.


This article shared 3017 times since Wed Oct 13, 2010
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