Michelle Pfeiffer is one of the most legendary actors in the world and was once one of the highest-paid actresses in the industry during the ‘80s and the ‘90s. She has starred in multiple commercially successful blockbusters such as Batman Returns and Frankie and Johnny. She has also been nominated for Academy Awards and Golden Globes.
While Pfeiffer has starred in many of the biggest and most acclaimed films of her time, she does have one huge regret. She was offered the lead role in Ridley Scott’s revisionist road film Thelma & Louis but she let it go to appear in the Kenndy Assassination drama Love Field, for which she earned an Oscar nomination.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s Illustrious Forty-Year Career
Michelle Pfeiffer was destined for greatness from the beginning of her career. Hoping to make it as an actor, Pfeiffer first started her career by participating in beauty pageants and won Miss Orange County in the year 1978. She then landed an acting agent, who helped her receive multiple small roles in TV.
Pfeiffer gained notoriety when she was cast as the lead in the film Grease 2. While she had done supporting roles on TV and independent films, Pfeiffer was a relative unknown when she starred in the romance. The film was a critical and commercial failure but Pfeiffer’s screen presence was noted by many critics.
Pfeiffer then starred in Brian De Palma’s crime saga Scarface, which featured Al Pacino in the lead role. The film was a commercial hit and still enjoys a cult following, with Michelle Pfeiffer finally making it big in the industry. The film was her breakthrough and she was cast in multiple films, such as her Oscar-nominated performance in Dangerous Liaisons.
Her career was at its peak when she starred as Selina Kyle a.k.a Catwoman in Tim Burton’s Batman Returns. A follow-up to his 1989 Micheal Keaton starrer Batman, Pfeiffer was one of the many villains in the sequel and she stood her own ground amongst stalwarts such as Danny DeVito and Christopher Walken. She became a s*x symbol due to the role.
Michelle Pfeiffer Regrets Turning Down Thelma & Louis
In her forty-year career, Michelle Pfeiffer has worked on a wide range of films. Seeing success both commercially and critically, the actress had such an incredible pull that she could have done anything she wanted. Yet, the actress says that she has regrets and that she cannot bear to watch Ridley Scott’s classic road movie, Thelma & Louis.
Michelle Pfeiffer was reportedly supposed to star in the film and was even the one to convince director Ridley Scott to helm the project as many directors such as Kevin Reynolds and Richard Donner had turned down the film. Scott was only a producer then and he finally stepped up to create one of his most iconic films.
However, Pfeiffer was not able to join the film as the schedule conflicted with her drama Love Field, which focused on the Kennedy assassination. Talking to Variety, Michelle Pfeiffer expressed her regret over having to let go of Thelma & Louis,
“I still can’t watch ‘Thelma & Louise’. It was a direct conflict, so it was one film or the other. It still kills me. You can’t always do everything. You’ve got to give something up.”
The road movie became one of the landmark films in history as both lead actors Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis received Oscar nominations for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively. However, Michelle Pfeiffer did not entirely lose out on the best as she too was nominated for Best Actress for Love Field.
