Actress Madsen Blasts Off
By Betsy Pickle Scripps Howard News Service
Virginia Madsen has had some rough patches in her career, but now is not one of them. She is starring in two current films: “The Number 23″ with Jim Carrey and “The Astronaut Farmer” with Billy Bob Thornton.
The 45-year-old single mother plays a devoted wife in both films, but the movies couldn’t be more different.
Madsen says “The Astronaut Farmer” is “a good movie and it’s a happy movie. Why is that so wrong in Hollywood?”
“I know it’s awards season. I know this is the time that we roll out, like, our real heavy hitters and big-time drama and a lot of dysfunction. But, it’s like, there needs to be an alternative for families.
“I don’t always want to go see the animated feature. I loved ‘Happy Feet,’ but I want to be able to go to, like, a film with my son. … I’d like to be able to go see movies with my mom. It’s so rare that you have that movie that everyone can enjoy.”
Madsen, who was Oscar-nominated for best supporting actress for her work in “Sideways,” knew going in that “The Astronaut Farmer” might be the kind of film that critics disdain.
“I was pretty sure that the reviews would be maybe 50-50,” she says. “‘Oh, it’s too happy. Nice ending. This family all loves each other.’ And I totally get that. But for the average person who’s going to see movies and trying to bring their families … I think they will love this movie.
“That’s why people responded to ‘Pursuit of Happyness.’ … Critics couldn’t be too cynical because it was a true story. If it weren’t a true story, they would have been, ‘Yeah, right.’ But it was like, you can’t argue with it because he really did lie on the floor of that bathroom with his foot up against the door, crying. That really did happen. He really did get hired in the end.”
“The Astronaut Farmer” is the fictional story of a Texas rancher, Charlie Farmer (Thornton), who was thwarted in his goal of becoming an astronaut and now is determined to go into space with a rocket he has built himself. His waitress wife, Audie (Madsen), supports his dream.
“I think if Farmer was sitting out in the back yard in the rocking chair with a beer sitting on top of his belly, dreaming about going to space, there wouldn’t be a marriage,” says Madsen. “But the fact that he’s been building this thing for 15 years in the barn, and this is what his children see — his children see this man who is working that hard for his dream.”
Madsen based Audie on her sister, who has been married for 27 years and has brought up three children while supporting her husband’s dream of running a “mom-and-pop diner.”
“My brother-in-law may not have been building a rocket, but that restaurant was his dream,” says Madsen. “That may be a simple dream for other people, but that was very real. And their family is like this family in the movie.
“That’s what’s going on in Middle America. It’s not all about people on crack and people with weight issues. This is what America’s really about. This is what the American dream’s about. The film may have seemed more like a fantasy, but to me, that’s in my family.”
“The Number 23,” a thriller directed by Joel Schumacher, is “the polar opposite” of “The Astronaut Farmer,” the actress says.
“Not for families. Not for families!” she emphasizes. Although she again plays a supportive wife, she has an alter ego who’s “an evil, hateful (witch).”
One might assume that an actor would prefer the dramatic intensity of “23″ to the upbeat vibes of “Astronaut,” but that’s not the case for Madsen.
“I like the happier side of things,” she says.
(c) 2007 Deseret News (Salt Lake City). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.