The cast of Scarface got together for a reunion, and all Michelle Pfeiffer was asked was how much she weighed during filming
The cast of the 1983 cult movie 'Scarface' recently got together at the Tribeca Film Festival where they had a panel discussion about the impact of the movie following a screening of the film. Michelle Pfeiffer, Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, and director Brian De Palma were all a part of the panel at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
The discussion hit a sour note when the panel's moderator directed a pretty gratuitous question at Pfeiffer. Entertainment Weekly reports that the air in the theatre was tense when the moderator asked the actress, who plays a drug-addicted 'trophy wife' in 'Scarface', what she weighed in the movie. The question was accosted by members of the audience, and was met with an 'audible boo'.
"Why would you want to know?!" shouted a member of the audience, which was followed by the boos.
The three-time Oscar nominee Michelle said that she had committed to the part of playing the troubled, drug-addict Elvira.
"I was playing a cocaine addict so that was part of the physicality of the part, which you have to consider. The movie was only supposed to be, what? A three-month, four-month [shoot]? Of course, I tried to time it so that as the movie went on I became thinner and thinner and more emaciated."
The actress went on to explain why the whole movie was an ordeal for her. "The problem was the movie went six months," Michelle said, "I was starving by the end of it because the one scene that was the end of the film where I needed to be my thinnest, it was [pushed to the] next week and then it was the next week and then it was the next week. I literally had members of the crew bringing me bagels because they were all worried about me and how thin I was getting. I think I was living on tomato soup and Marlboros."
The role of Elvira was a breakthrough for Michelle. She further went on to explain why her role was scrutinized so severely. "I get asked a lot, ‘What did I learn from working with one of the greats like Al Pacino?’ And I have to say, one of the things that hit me the strongest from the beginning was watching him fiercely protect his character at all costs and without any sort of apology," Michelle explained "And I had always tried to emulate that and I tried to be polite about it, but I think that that’s what really makes great acting."