Pfeiffer in Beat-Up Little SeagullJust so everyone knows, I am indeed still alive. After briefly passing out. I was on a flight when news broke that Michelle Pfeiffer had signed on to the cast of the new untitled Darren Aronofsky film due in 2017 with filming to start this June.
La Pfeiffer has been MIA from the movies in a significant way since White Oleander (2002) her last Oscar worthy performance (she has famously never won despite multiple breathtaking star turns) and the last onscreen appearance without significant breaks thereafter. She flirted with a comeback in a brief flurry of activity around 2007-2008 (Stardust & Cheri being the highlights) but it's been relatively quiet since then. But no more?...
This year we'll see her in as a co-lead in HBO film Wizard of Lies about the Bernie Madoff scandal, and as the lead of Beat-Up Little Seagull about a "fragile, sensitive woman" (yup, that sounds up her alley) reeling from her mother's death and a new romantic relationship. Signing on with a real auteur after both of those, is a good sign that maybe with her two kids off to college she's FINALLY ready to work again.
This is very exciting though we can't possibly know what to expect...
There's little info about the film just yet other than that it involves a couple's relationship tested & disrupted when uninvited guests arrive so it could be anywhere from a Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf mental dramedy to a Carnage satire to a Funny Games thriller. The other cast members announced are Jennifer Lawrence, Javier Bardem, and Domhnall Gleeson, with Ed Harris and Domhnall's brother Brian Gleeson in talks as well. One can assume that JLaw is the lead, given her current stature in the industry but who is her man? Javier Bardem or Domnhall Gleeson (age appropriate)? Is Pfeiffer JLaw or Gleeson's mom or someone else entirely?
Aronofsky's filmography isn't female driven per se (only 2 of his 6 pictures have female leads) but it's not not female driven, either, with a good track record of exciting female roles.
ARONOFSKY'S FEMALE ROLES RANKED
UNASSAILABLY CLASSIC ROLES
Your opinions of the performances might vary but if this were the theater they'd be roles everyone aspired to and wanted to prove themselves with in revivals...
01 "Sara Goldfarb" in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
02 "Nina Sayer" in Black Swan (2010)
MEATY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ANY ACTRESS
Roles with depth but it's partially what the actress can bring to them, of course
03 "Cassidy" in The Wrestler (2008)
04 "Marion Silver" in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
05 "Lily" in Black Swan (2010)
06 "Erica Sayers" in Black Swan (2010)
07 "Stefanie" in The Wrestler (2008)
YOU'LL HAVE TO WORK TO ELEVATE IT
Not a lot to work with but with the right actress...
08 "Isabelle" / "Izzy Creo" in The Fountain (2006)
09 "Naameh" in Noah (2014)
10 "Beth McIntyre" in Black Swan (2010)
11 "Ila" in Noah (2014)
NOT MUCH TO WORK WITH
filler, bit parts
12 "Ada" in Requiem for a Dream (2000)
13 "Dr Lillian Guzetti" in The Fountain (2006)
14 "Na'el" in Noah (2014)
Do have any strong feelings about this character gallery or high hopes for where Jennifer Lawrence and Michelle Pfeiffer might land in this list?