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By LAURIE HALPERN SMITH The new issue of Time magazine had just come out, and Demi Moore’s publicist eagerly pored through it. The cover story was on Molly Ringwald, with a sidebar on Hollywood's young actresses, and Demi was one of the few to be fea tured. There were several par agraphs on her, as well as a color photograph and the publicist was elated. ‘‘You look great!’’ she ex claimed. ‘‘Beautiful’’ agreed the publicist’s aide. But Demi was not so thrilled. “They weren't very nice about ‘Wisdom.’’’ she remarked. ‘Wisdom”’ is the film she recently finished shooting, and in addition to her professional interest, she has a personal stake in it too; it was writ ten, directed and acted in by her boyfriend, Emilio Estevez. ‘The film is terrific,’’ says the 23- year-old actress with great convic tion. ‘‘And I was able to really see the filmmaking process from begin ning to end — from the conception of the script to what it takes to sell it, to the fight and determination it took to direct it . . . the politics, the frustra tion, and the games that have to be played. I got an inside view into what it takes.”’ Demi is reticent about her private life, but it is obvious that making the film deepened her relationship with Estevez (the word is that the pair will be married in the fall.) “Working with him was a real joy. I learned a lot about him as a person. I had to really keep in perspective what I needed from him as a direc tor, actor and writer, and wanted to be there at the same time for him as his support. Knowing what kind of pressures he was under, I didn't want to put more on him, yet I still had to stand up for what I needed. I respect and admire and, I don't want to say envy him, because it is always taken in the wrong way, but I'm really in awe of his talent An exquisite young woman with a delicate, fine-boned beauty, Demi is caught up in the excitement of grow ing as an actress, a process she says takes great leaps forward with every new project. Eschewing formal training, she feels ‘each fil: is an incredible learning experience. I look forward to each one with such love and de sire. Originally from New Mexico, she frequently moved around with her family as a child — ‘‘about 48 times before I was nine’? — which she thinks may have sparked her inter est in acting. ‘‘When you move around a lot it is like taking on differ ent roles to fit in. You can re-invent yourself every time you move to a new town.” The acting dream solidified when her family moved to California. ‘‘I met a young actress about two years older than myself,’’ Demi recalls. ‘‘I was 15 at the time, and I just knew there was something about what she was striving for that I thought I could do. She became successful and moved away — I can't tell you who she is— and I started asking ques tions to find out how someone be comes an actress. She seemed to have an acceptance from people that I wanted. The difference is, now I have an acceptance of myself, so I don’t need it from anyone else. I’m learning to work from the inside out instead of the outside in.” In addition to ‘‘Wisdom,”’ she has just finished ‘‘About Last Night (formerly ‘‘Sexual Perversity in Chi cago’’) for Tri-Star. She grimaces when asked about the title change. ‘My initial reaction was, ‘They are out of their minds. There is nothing that could compare, and I hate it. But I see why they had to do it. The title was misleading. It’s not about perversity in the literal sense; it's about a relationship that lacks com munication, so sex is used as a means of communicating. I've got ten to the point where I'm calling it ‘About Last Night. She found shooting the film, which also stars Rob Loew, Jim Belushi and Elizabeth Perkins, to be a ‘‘tre mendous experience.’ First-time feature director Ed Zwick, Demi raves, ‘is truly an actors’ director. Directors are in charge of every thing from beginning to end, and a lot of times the work with actors can take a back seat. But Ed never al lowed this to happen. Ninety-nine percent of the time he was there for me, and he opened himself up to al low his actors to lean on him. He is just like a little boy in that he is so excited, he has so much passion and love for people.” Demi’s other movies include ‘‘No Small Affair;’’ that classic yuppie /bratpack tour de farce, ‘‘St. Elmo's Fire,’’ and ‘‘Blame It on Rio.” Of the latter, which was directed by Stan ley Donen and starred Michael Caine and Joe Bologna, Demi comments, “That film was a little sexist and in sulting, like a film made for dirty old men. On a creative level, I felt it was disappointing.’’ A comedy of sexual shenanigans with slightly incestuous overtones, the movie had Caine and Bologna as a pair of unencumbered fathers on vacation with their nubile young daughters in Rio de Janeiro. In ‘No Small Affair’ she played the ‘‘older woman” singer for whom Jon Cryer ( Pretty in Pink’’) pined; and in ‘St. Elmo’s”’ she was the trou bled Jules (of course, everybody in that film was troubled in some way or other), an attention-craving party girl and druggie. ‘‘Jules was a very sad little girl desperately searching for a place in life where she would fit in, where she would be liked. I felt at the end of the film I was able to show what was going on behind all her at tempts to get attention.’’ She credits Joel Schumacher for his strong di rection. ‘I think it could have been quite an intimidating experience working with seven actors, and all of us playing the lead in a sense. Among the members of the ensem ble, she singles out Marc Winning ham for special praise. ‘‘She’s phenomenal, probably the best young actress around. I think she could be the Mery Streep of our gen eration.” Demi thinks it’s important to see as many old movies as possible. She loves Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hep burn pictures — ‘‘I'm a sucker for all the romance and drama.” She also makes a point of seeing everything current. “It’s important to know what’s new, to see what style it’s in.”’ 1986, Laurie Halpern Smith Distributed by Los Angeles Times Syndicate Demi Moore FOCUS -FOCUS BY BOB SCHROETER Find at least six differences in details between panels. 7/10 ‘Buissiw si Wag “9 ‘peuedo si pueH “G 196uR Si JBOD ‘Pasoid SI YINOWY € “ZeUOYS SI JBOD ‘Zz ‘Guissiw Si Pua ai] “| :seousIEyC
Newspaper Details
Marysville Yuba Sutter Appeal Democrat
Marysville, California, US
Thu, Jul 10, 1986
Page 26
Full Page
Clipped by
Dj P.
GB 12 May 2026
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