6/30/05 Shirley MacLaine no longer wacky

Shirley MacLaine no longer wacky
By LOUIS B. HOBSON - Calgary Sun

Shirley MacLaine in a scene from "Bewitched."
HOLLYWOOD -- She's had the name for a long time and now Shirley MacLaine finally has the game.

"I've always wanted to play a witch. Most people think I am already, so this is a wonderful way to wink at them," says MacLaine, 71, who has made more than 50 films in a career that spans 50 years.

In Nora Ephron's film tribute to the classic '60s sitcom Bewitched, a fading movie star named Jack Wyatt (Will Ferrell) agrees to star as mortal Darrin in an updated Bewitched.

There's one catch.

The new Bewitched must be a vehicle for Darrin, rather than his wife, Samantha.

To ensure he's not upstaged, Jack chooses a first-time actress named Isabel Bigelow to play Samantha.


What poor deluded Jack doesn't know, is Isabel really is a witch, which explains why she plays one so well.

MacLaine stars as Iris Smythson, a grand cinema diva who is cast as Samantha's mother, Endora.

"The Bewitched fan website cast Shirley. We just had to make the offer to her," says Ephron.

"When Shirley came to the part, Iris was not written as a witch. She was just an actress playing the part of a witch, but Shirley brought her own witchcraft to the set."

That often made life on the set of Bewitched a little bizarre.

"Forget about Shirley's previous lives. Her current ones are more astonishing than I could ever dream up as a writer," says Ephron.

MacLaine takes it as a compliment.

"I find it amusing and comforting that what I've been saying for more than 30 years is now considered mainstream. Far fewer people call me wacky any more."

MacLaine says she was never really a fan of the Bewitched TV series.

"I didn't like the show itself but what I loved was that Bewitched made witchcraft acceptable to the public."

In the original TV series, the witch Endora was played by Agnes Moorehead, who died in 1974.

"I never met Agnes in person, but I talked to her recently and she's doing fine," says MacLaine with a smile.

"She told me I really have to make an effort to see the movie to see how much of my stuff has been cut out."

In the film, Iris bewitches Isabel's father (Michael Caine), who is a warlock.

"I've known Michael for 50 years. What I love most about Michael is that he has never forgotten where he came from," says MacLaine.

"Because he is not putting on airs or pretending to be someone he isn't ... it makes him very truthful and a joy to act opposite and be around."

And Kidman "is in the same league as Meryl Streep. She's one of the truly great actors of her generation."

MacLaine feels Kidman needs to act.

"Nicole needs to be other people. It's how she fulfills herself. (She) has a quality of elusiveness in real life which is what makes her so appealing as a celebrity."

Kidman returns the compliment.

"If anyone is up there with Meryl, it's Shirley," says Kidman.

"Meryl gets a lot of accolades, but if you look at Shirley's performances over the years, here's a woman who is as great a comic actress as she is a dramatic one.

"She has made us laugh and cry in the same film and even at the same time. That is such a hard thing to do."

Kidman says MacLaine's Terms of Endearment is a good example of the tightrope the actress can walk.

"Shirley is the heart and soul of Terms of Endearment. She made Jack Nicholson better and Jack was pretty good to begin with."