Olympia Dukakis hit our eye like a big pizza pie, winning an Oscar for Moonstruck. And we will never Ousier in Steel Magnolias and her quick one-liners. She talked about her upcoming appearance on behalf of pro-choice organization Personal PAC as well as her past and future work.
Windy City Times: Hello, Olympia. I am excited that you are coming to Chicago.
Olympia Dukakis: I am, too. You know my husband is from Chicago so I am trying to convince him to come with me. I don’t know if he will or not. He has some relatives still there.
WCT: How did you become involved with Personal PAC?
Olympia Dukakis: They called me up. They had heard about my activism so to speak. They asked me if it was something that they thought I could do. This is a good cause.
WCT: Are you doing a speech?
Olympia Dukakis: Yes, I am doing a speech. There is a general reception, then a luncheon, there is my speech and then there is a longer reception.
WCT: Well, I will be there.
Olympia Dukakis: Okay, good.
WCT: I have to tell you that Moonstruck is my number-one favorite movie ever.
Olympia Dukakis: Aww, thank you!
WCT: Did you know it would be a hit when you made it?
Olympia Dukakis: Oh, not at all. We all thought it was a small movie but we knew that it was choice as they say, choice meat. Norman Jewison directing, of course, was a big thing. Actresses everywhere wanted the roles. They were terrific parts. John Patrick Shanley was hot at the time. I think he is still hot but, at that time, he was particularly on the news waves.
WCT: I love his writing.
Olympia Dukakis: Actually it was the first movie that I had decided that I was going to go out of town for. I had to go to Canada because we shot all of the interiors in Canada. The exteriors we did here. So that is the first movie that I left town for after seventeen years.
WCT: Wow.
Olympia Dukakis: That is what I remember about it. I had done movies in New York but this one was a wonderful part.
WCT: And it led to other things.
Olympia Dukakis: Oh sure. It led to paying my bills. What about that? That’s what it led to! [Both laugh.]
WCT: Yes, and every gay guy in town loved Steel Magnolias.
Olympia Dukakis: Oh yeah, and a lot of women love it, too. You should see it. I travel around and women come up to me and say they have seen it. I actually met someone that had seen it twenty eight times!
WCT: Oh, my; that’s a lot.
Olympia Dukakis: These women get together—families, sisters, mothers, daughters, as well as friends. They cry, they laugh and say the lines out loud.
WCT: That is great. I watched you in Tales of the City. That was an interesting role to tackle.
Olympia Dukakis: That was my favorite. It didn’t change my life the way Moonstruck did but that was my favorite role. It was an extraordinary part. I was so fortunate to have had the part and gotten to know Armistead [Maupin, who wrote Tales]. Alastair Reed was a great director. We did two others but none of them had the depth I thought of the first. That is my opinion, but for me the first one was extraordinary.
WCT: They are making a musical version of it.
Olympia Dukakis: I know! It will be in San Francisco with the people that did Avenue Q.
WCT: That will be great.
Olympia Dukakis: I know. I should be wonderful. I met and talked with them. I am obviously too old for the part but they just wanted to hear my responses and what it was like to do it.
WCT: Sure, and you have a movie coming out this year called Montana Amazon.
Olympia Dukakis: Yes, it is a wonderfully offbeat, quirky, funny movie with horrible things in it. [Laughs] You have a combination of horror and humor. It is an interesting movie.
WCT: And Haley Joel Osment stars as well,and you produced it.
Olympia Dukakis: Yep. Alison Brie is quite good in it, too. They both play my grandchildren.
WCT: Any other movies coming out?
Olympia Dukakis: Yeah, there is a movie called Cloudburst. It will probably be out in the spring. It is with Thom Fitzgerald. I have done two other movies with him, The Event and 3 Needles. I play an aging dyke in this one and play it with my partner, Brenda Fricker.
WCT: Oh, yeah?
Olympia Dukakis: We play partners. It is very funny and very moving.
WCT: I have to check that out. You are never slowing down!
Olympia Dukakis: Well, no. I just turned down something because I had stop so I could prepare for this play that I am doing.
WCT: So you are doing a play, too?
Olympia Dukakis: Yes, in New York; [it’s] called The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore. It is a Tennessee Williams’ play. It is at the Roundabout.
WCT: Well, we will see you when your train stops for a moment in Chicago!
Personal PAC’s 17th Annual Awards Luncheon begins at 11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 18, at the Hilton Chicago, 720 S. Michigan. For tickets, visit www.personalpac.org or call 312-422-0055.