The stars come out to shine (plus a writer and director)
The new, fun family fantasy frolic Stardust — and curse them for not picking a title beginning with an "F" — is a charmer of a movie. Reminiscent of The Princess Bride, an underrated classic if ever there was one, it's a tremendous romp based on a tremendous novel. The writer of that novel, Neil Gaiman, joined stars Charlie Cox and Michelle Pfeiffer plus director Matthew Vaughn in London recently to talk about the film, and Neil Davey was in attendance. And sitting opposite Michelle Pfeiffer. Wibble. The plan here was to pull a few key quotes together, but the Pfeiffer effect meant that much of it wasn't suitable for publication. So, if you'll forgive us, here's the transcript of the whole conference with, we think, most of the Pfeiffer-obsessive detail edited out.
So, Matthew. Your last film was gangland drama Layer Cake. Why choose Stardust to follow it?
Matthew Vaughn: I loved it, I loved the book, I loved the story and I wanted to do something I could share with my family. It felt like the natural thing to do.
Neil, you were initially wary of giving your story over to filmmakers. Why did you decide Matthew was the man for the job?
Neil Gaiman: I'd let Miramax have it at the end of the 90s and I was very relieved when the option expired and I got it back. And then I spent five years saying no to various directors and very beautiful blonde young ladies who thought it would be a great vehicle for them. I said lots of 'Nos' and then Matthew asked and I knew that he loved Stardust. Claudia [Schiffer, Mrs Vaughn] had read it first, fallen in love with it and made him read it. He talked to me about how much he would love to see it as a film and maybe produce it one day. And then he called me, saying I've just walked off X-Men III and I want to make Stardust, I want to make it now, do you want to make it with me? It seemed a no-brainer. I trusted him. In a world, in Hollywood, where lying is something people do like breathing, Matthew is a man who sticks to his word.
Charlie and Michelle, you vision of utter perfection, as performers, what was the draw?
The Goddess That Is Michelle Pfeiffer: What I felt about the script was that it wasn't your typical fantasy. It wasn't any one genre, it's a lot of genres mixed into one. It's an adventure story, it's romantic, it's magical, it's dark, it's incredibly funny. And at the same time it had a very modern tone to it. Then when I talked to Matthew and he talked more specifically about the character and the direction he wanted it to take, and the commentary he wanted to make on society's obsession with youth and beauty, and poke fun on that, and I thought was kind of risky and courageous and unusual for a male to be thinking about that. Plus he's so young, I wondered why he'd even be thinking about that. So all of those reasons, plus it was one of those things where I knew if I didn't do it, I'd regret it! I really didn't want to see anyone else in this part.
Charlie Cox: I think Michelle said it all there. Obviously I've only read a modest amount of scripts but when I read Stardust I thought it was original and charming. I read the script and didn't know what it was, it was clearly a project where the director's vision was going to influence the entire production and I wanted to know what that was going to be. Without forgetting the fact that I needed a job...
Much of the filming was done in Skye. How did you find the Scottish scenery and hospitality?
Be still my beating heart, it's Michelle: I'd never been to Scotland and it was spectacular — but very rugged and not the easiest location I've ever been on. And the weather was fierce but we had to shoot then because if we'd waited another month there are these little bugs that eat you alive. So it was either get hai l ed on or get eaten alive. They had to anchor me at one point because they thought I was going to blow off a cliff. I also thought my make-up artist was jabbing me with the powder brush and then I realised I was being hailed on. It was brutal. Matthew didn't care though, he just kept rolling...
Matthew Vaughn: I did care actually. I just didn't show it...
Michelle, you play an old hag of a witch. That is so very unlike your beautiful normal self that the make-up must have taken quite some time.
Michelle Pfeiffer: I really hate it when I hear actors whine, but it was difficult. The very first time they applied the prosthetics, it was in California and it took about six hours, and it never occurred to me what it would feel like, how the claustrophobia would set in. My head and face and n eck were encased in rubber, the only thing of me left was the tip of my nose and my eyeballs. And I panicked. I didn't honestly think that I could do it. All of these people had worked so long and so hard on this, and I didn't want them to know how upset I was, so I went into the bathroom and called Matthew on my cell phone and he talked me off the ledge.
Matthew Vaughn: I had no idea what you were going through. Once I saw the make-up, I felt guilty.
It's been a while since we've seen you on the screen, what have you been up to and did you have your kids in mind when you picked Stardust?
Michelle Pfeiffer: I'm actually very selfish when it comes to choosing the films that I make and the parts that I play. It's really for me and I really did feel that, as hard as this movie was, b y the end of it I felt like all pistons were going and I remembered what it was I love about the work, what it gives me as a person.
Neil, back to you. How much input did you have to the script?
Neil Gaiman: What was good talking to Matthew was that it was very apparent that he had a vision on how to make the film, and I was very comfortable with that. He offered to let me co-write the film and I elected not to. What I did, that I think was very fortunate, was I found him his co-writer. I knew from talking to Matthew that the bits he felt less comfortable with were the romantic elements and I thought it would be a good thing for him to work with a woman on this, but it would have to be a woman who understood fantasy, and was funny and sharp and could cope with the action stuff and I went and found Jane Goldman. I introduced them, they hit it off and it worked.
Charlie, you get to fight Michelle in the film. How was that — or was it more fun swashbuckling with Robert De Niro?
Charlie Cox: I was very excited to work with both Michelle and Mr De Niro...
So it's not Bob then?
Charlie Cox: Well, it kind of is, he asks you to call him Bob, but I don't feel entirely comfortable doing that! You can't enter into something like that though without worrying that you might injure one of the greatest actors of all time. I was nervous as well as excited.
Matthew, how on Earth did you persuade Robert de Niro to play a camp sky pirate?
Matthew Vaughn: It was surprisingly easy: he read the script and liked it. I was nervous when we had the meeting. We talked about Layer Cake a lot, more than we did Stardust, which was flattering, but I started to get suspicious that he hadn't actually read the script! Then as he was leaving, he said he had one question: is the character gay or a transvestite? I just said it's whatever you want it to be Bob... and he pulled it off.
After the lower-key drama of Layer Cake was it overwhelming to take the step-up to this level of effects?
Matthew Vaughn: No. X-Men III, when I was working on that for three months, was my university of big filmmaking. That's when I learned to coordinate si x different film units. The hard thing in life is to make good films, at the end of the day though, filmmaking is a camera and actors and telling a story and that's what I'm more interested in.
Michelle, a couple of months ago, you got the star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Did you ever dream that it would be there?
Michelle Pfeiffer: Honestly, it wasn’t something I ever dreamed of… well, maybe when I first started acting. Come the day, I was very surprised by the enormity of the event. I don’t know why I didn’t anticipate it. It’s a great honour to be incorporated into such an old Hollywood tradition.
Have you been checking it out and keeping it clean?
Michelle Pfeiffer: I haven’t had it that long. But I might...
