Hide Article Text (OCR)
Monique Gabrielle‘Moves’ star gets last laugh on name-calling classmatesBy Linda D. SmithGT Features WriterThey said she was skinny. They called her ugly Although the name-calling by classmates sent her running home from school each day with tears in her eyes, actress Monique Gabrielle says their taunts only made her stronger — and bitter.“Sometimes when I think about ‘making it big,’ I think of the people in Denver who laughed at me,” says Ms. Gabrielle. “It spurs me on and has added fuel to my fire ”Ms. Gabrielle was in Colorado Springs Monday to promote the movie “Hot Moves,” which is opening here Friday for a national test engagement.The film company, Cardinal Pictures Corporation, has selected the Springs to test the potential of its latest release Jim Mulvaney, assistant booker for Westland Theaters in Colorado Springs, says if a movie does well in its test engagement, it is then distributed nationally. If the movie is not well received, it usually is taken back to the studio for editing “Hot Moves,” starring Ms. Gabrielle, will be showing for at least one week at the Peak, Aircadia and Rustic Hills North theatersThe movie is the latest in a long string of films in the “Porky’s” genre, dealing with adolescent sex.“The movie has a cute quality about it,” which Ms. Gabrielle says separates it from similar movies.“Hot Moves” deals with the adventures of four young men who graduate from high school and head for the beaches of California, where they plan to lose their virginity.The character portrayed by Ms. Gabrielle and three other young women endeavor to help these guys in their quest.“You're gonna laugh, hopefully, all the way through the movie. It shows the funny side of sex, instead of the raw side of sex and the passion.”Ms. Gabrielle, 22, grew up in Denver and attended the Denver Christian Schools Tyo months after graduating from high school, she moved to California with her parents.“I tried to talk my parents into moving to California for years After one particularly bad winter, the three of us went out there and we’ve been happy ever since — well, happier.”Although she has spent only the last five years in California, she calls it home “I’ve been happier in California than I ever was in Denver, says Ms. Gabrielle “Denver wouldn’t let me be me .’’As an only child, Ms. Gabrielle spent a great deal of her childhood playing alone, making up stories and characters She wanted to be an actress and a model She wanted to be a star “But the other children would laugh at me for saying that,she recallsThose taunts and name-calling that stung so deeply as a child, don’t apply today. She could best be described as pretty, trim, flashy and stylish.“You have to feel good about yourself, or no one can make you look as good as you can look,” she advises.It wasn’t until 1982, when she appeared as the December Penthouse centerfold, that Ms. Gabrielle says she began to build a good self-image “Until I was 18 or 19, I didn't think I had that good of a body, says Ms. Gabrielle. “I still thought I was a skinny, gawky, little kid But after the Penthouse photographs were published, she was suddenly perceived as a sex symbol.“I’d look at those pictures and say, ‘That’s not me That’s not what I look like,’ ” she says.“Some people would say I looked even better in person and I didn't know how that was possible, since those pictures were about as glamorous as you could get.”Before “Hot Moves,” Ms. Gabrielle had minor roles in such films as “Night Shift,” “Chained Heat” and “Flashdanee.” Her television credits include “Bare Essence,” “Boone, and “Splendor in the Grass.”But the comedy movie “Young Doctors In Love” made the biggest impact on her career, and her two lines in that film ended up on the cutting-room floor.“That movie started me thinking seriously about comedy, she explains. “Garry Marshall, the producer, said he thought I had a flair for comedy and advised me to study comedy “She followed his advice.In “Hot Moves,” Ms. Gabrielle gets her first shot at a comedic role, portraying the character of Babs.“Babs is a ditzy, kooky Valley girl. She’s a real fun-loving girl who will laugh at anything.”Although there is nudity in the film, and she appears nude in one scene, Ms. Gabrielle says the nudity is not excessive.“As long as it is a good role, and it is not nudity for nudity’s sake, I’m fine with that,” she says.She has had no problem reconciling her Christian background with the nudity of Penthouse magazine or film “I’m still a Christian. I figure church people would say that what I am doing is wrong,” she says. “But I believe that killing people and hurting people is wrong. The people at Denver Christian made fun of me and made my life miserable. That was wrong.”
Newspaper Details
, ,
Mon, Jan 01, 0001
Page 0
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
