Anjelica Huston - Premiere Magazine

FROM MAEROSE TO MORTICIA, THIS BEWITCHING HOLLYWOOD ROYAL PROVES THAT INGENUES ARE OVERRATED

SO, ANJELICA, I FOUND THIS HILARIOUS QUOTE OF YOURS THAT REFERS TO “THE DERANGED PERSONALITY OF AN ACTRESS” AND I WAS WONDERING: SINCE YOU’VE PLAYED EVERYTHING FROM MORTICIA ADDAMS TO THE GRIFTERS’ MURDEROUS LILY TO THE MYSTERIOUS CARDIOLOGIST IN CLINT EASTWOOD’S NEW BLOOD WORK, DO YOU WORK OUT YOUR ‘DERANGED’ ISSUES THROUGH YOUR ROLES?
Definitely. (laughs) For me the landscape of the human personality is maybe not the most beautiful thing, but by far the most interesting, and I’ve always somehow had the ability to get a picture in my head of somebody and be able to enter into their skin. My latest is Sonya, Animal Planet's pet psychic, with whom I’m just obsessed. (laughs) Now, there’s no other profession in the world thatallows you to become obsessed with Sonya and then DO something about it. (lights a cigarette) Plus, they pay you, which is a wonderful bonus.

YES, THOUGH WITH YOUR INCREDIBLY CLASSY RESUME,

YOU’VE NEVER SEEMED ONE TO JUST TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN.
Well, there’s a herpes monster in [1984’s] The Ice Pirates, and that might drop your jaw a little, but I thank you—it’s hard for me to do stuff that I don’t believe in. Plus, I work with good directors, so there’s that much less of a chance of falling into a dark pit of embarrassment.

WHICH CERTAINLY DIDN’T HAPPEN WHEN YOUR FATHER, JOHN HUSTON, DIRECTED YOU TO YOUR OSCAR IN PRIZZI’S HONOR. THOUGH YOU WERE 34 AND WE ONLY KNEW YOU AS “JACK NICHOLSON’S GIRLFRIEND”, YOU BECAME AN OVERNIGHT STAR.
I felt ready and rested, and I loved having that very healthy bad side that Maerose did—‘cause, you know good and sweet parts are lovely but I was NEVER an ingenue.

NOPE, IN FACT WITH THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE WITCHES, AND EVER AFTER, YOU’VE BEEN CALLED THE “HIGH PRIESTESS OF WICKED WITCHDOM.”
Well, wicked witchdom is awful fun—it’s an opportunity to get rid of all that horrible stuff. In fact, I think I’m particularly NICE in real life when I’m playing a witch. (laughs)

WELL, I HAVE NOTICED THAT IN BOTH ADDAMS FAMILY FILMS AS WELL AS YOUR OWN AGNES BROWNE, YOU SEEM AWFULLY COMFORTABLE IN A GRAVEYARD.
I love a graveyard! I spent many days [growing up in Galway] rambling around Irish graveyards—I just feel settled there. And my father is at the Hollywood Memorial, and I love to go down there.

DO CHILDREN EVER SEE YOU AND RUN SCREAMING?
No, but they DO give me a look. Actually, a year after The Withces I had this apex experience when I went to San Sebastian for the film festival: I looked out my hotel window and there were about a hundred little girls and later I came out and I realized they were all six-year-old Witches fans with little dark circles painted under their eyes and they were all there for ME.

SO, AS THE THIRD GENERATION OF A LEGENDARY HOLLYWOOD DYNASTY, CAN YOU SUM UP EVIL OLD LA-LA-LAND AND YOUR PLACE IN IT, PLEASE.
Hmmm. (long pause) I feel like it’s a big ocean, full of bottom feeders, midlevel fish, the occasional shark, and some wonderful savvy whales, the elders, and the ones who guide you on your way. If you’re lucky enough, you get to be a dolphin and have your waves broken by the passage of these elders before you, but at the same time, you get an occasional shark bite in the tail and maybe one of the bottom feeders comes up and takes a little nibble. But I see myself as cresting a series of waves, dipping down, sometimes, lower than I’d like, but mainly kind of happily staying above. (smiles and takes a long drag of her cigarette) And, of course, I try to avoid the fishnets.