by Nathaniel R
As all of you pfans now, Michelle Pfeiffer is not easy to pin down. She's been skittish about projects for her entire career, regularly turning down big deal stuff. That became especially true after the mid 90s when she turned her attention to raising her two children and only sporadically made movies, taking some very long breaks from cameras. With the kids left for college she finally started acting again. Her return has been pretty slow but it's now speeding up. Her renewed public profile began with the launch of her perfume line "Henry Rose" and a wonderful Instagram account (social media is not something we ever thought she'd embrace!). We're now in the middle of French Exit's awards run (we're crossing our pfingers hard for a Globe nomination as they've historically loved her more than Oscar voters have). There's so much Pfeiffer to enjoy lately including an amazing new interview with George Clooney in which she reveals she feels exactly the opposite as critics do when it comes to what she thinks are her best performances, and a long conversation with Scott Feinberg at the Hollywood Reporter.
Now comes news that she's signed on for the Showtime series The First Lady to be directed by Danish director and Oscar winner Susanne Bier. Emmy nomination #2 here she comes! The anthology series will reportedly focus on multiple first ladies per season...
First up are Eleanor Roosevelt (no news on casting yet), Michelle Obama (Viola Davis), and Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer). This news is exciting in at least three ways. First, La Pfeiff and Bier have long talked about working together but nothing ever came of it. In fact, several years ago I ran into Bier at TIFF and asked her specifically about this potential collaboration. She was tight-lipped but would only confirm that they were talking about something (that something obviously never materialized). Second Bier is 2-2 on her television projects, delivering major hits with both The Night Manager (2016) and The Undoing (2020).
Third, Betty Ford is a great role. She was a very active and outspoken First Lady -- often at odds with her own party (Republican) given her frank demeanor and her stances on abortion and the ERA. Her legacy is large having changed the nation's thinking about addiction by revealing her own struggles while she was in the White House. Can you imagine the impact that must have had at the time? Five years after leaving the White House she opened the Betty Ford Center for people struggling with alcohol and drug addictions.
Can we please get a scene at Studio 54 with Betty hanging out with Liz and Liza? Is this too much to ask?