Wednesday, November 13, 1996
Known by some as an amazingly well-organized, intensely
determined director and thought of by others as a controlling,
unsympathetic employer, Barbra Streisand discusses her latest film,
‘The Mirror Has Two Faces,’ her career and her personality.By
Brandon Wilson
Daily Bruin Staff
his is no ordinary press conference.
The collective sense of anticipation is palpable. Seasoned
journalists who routinely chat with celebrities are noticeably
giddy as they pile into a conference room at a West Hollywood
hotel. And it’s not the coffee or the buffet spread that’s got them
amped.
This band of press people have assembled in this fashion because
a true star wants it that way. Usually, an actor, or even an
actor-director will subject him or herself to the usual rotating
sit-downs, hitting about seven or eight tables in an afternoon.
But Barbra Streisand doesn’t want to. So, instead there’s a
press conference.
Shrewdly, Streisand has opted to get all the tedious inquiries
about her personal life and drooling fan comments out of the way in
one fell swoop, rather than have several writers ask the same
questions over and over again.
Streisand is here to talk specifically about her new film "The
Mirror Has Two Faces" (which she starred in, co-produced and
directed), but she knows full well that most questions won’t be
directed towards Babs The Filmmaker, but to Babs The Star.
She enters and the pulse of the entire room quickens. Reporters
converge on her table to place their tape recorders before her,
though it’s probably just an excuse to get closer to the star for
free  most people shelled out big bucks for the chance to see
her during her last tour.
The first question  does she think this new comedic Barbra
is a shift from her more somber persona in her last film, the
Oscar-nominated "Prince of Tides" Â is asked.
"I think it’s more of a throwback to something old," she says.
"It’s a return to my old films like ‘Funny Girl’ in a way; the
self-deprecating humor, the story of a person who isn’t supposed to
think of herself as pretty. Comedy is my background, I started as a
comedienne with ‘Funny Girl,’ so comedy is natural to me. I thought
about the fact that I’ve never directed a comedy and I set myself a
certain challenge with this film: ‘Yentl’ took five years of my
life, ‘Nuts’ took two and a half years, ‘Prince of Tides’ took
three and a half years, and I really wanted to do a movie in less
time. I figured a year is long enough to spend on a movie."
Streisand plays dowdy and lonely Columbia University English
Professor Rose Morgan, a woman who gets involved with a math
professor who has what he thinks is the formula for relationship
success  no sex. The film examines Rose’s life-long low
self-image, her increasing dissatisfaction with a sexless marriage,
and her subsequent self-reinvention.
Streisand first got involved with the project just after the
release of "Prince of Tides." The script was an update of the
French melodrama "Le Miroir A Deux Faces," and was adapted by
screenwriter Richard La Gravanese ("The Fisher King," "The Bridges
of Madison County").
"When I first read the script," says Streisand, "the woman had
plastic surgery (towards the end of the story), and I thought
‘that’s not right.’ I was more interested in self esteem from
within, not from without, and I asked Richard to change that."
When indirectly prodded by a reporter that perhaps her own
struggles with being famous and not looking like a supermodel
played a part in her connection to the material, Streisand only
offers, "One gravitates to roles and stories to which you have some
personal affiliation," and leaves it at that.
A question is asked about Barbra’s legendary perfectionism,
which Babs The Feminist immediately responds to. "I used to be
embarrassed and defensive about (wanting control). Now I say, of
course, I want utter and complete control over every product I do.
The audience buys my work because I do control it, because I am a
perfectionist, because I pay attention to detail. I still sell
records worldwide, and some of that is because of the care I put
into a recording. I think it’s a sexist attitude, it still hurts
after all these years."
Later that evening her co-star Jeff Bridges would have nothing
but praise for the director and her insistence on quality.
"I think perfectionism is a real plus in a director, being
someone who’s willing to hang in there till it’s right. She’s not
one to compromise her vision, she has the persistence to see it
realized, and that’s an important thing. It’s a great feeling for
an actor to know that your director is really concerned about how
you’re coming off, and isn’t going to settle for anything less than
having it just right."
Bridges also points out Streisand’s willingness to improvise,
and the way the director included him in the decison-making
process. The director cites the actor as a source of much
inspiration. "I would take a scene, and think I’d gotten what I
needed, and Jeff would say ‘Let’s just play.’ We always used to do
that, we’d get it in the can, then we’d throw caution to the wind
and try it a different way and have a good time with it," Streisand
says.
Lest we think all was a clambake on the set, it’s important to
point out that A-list cinematographer Dante Spinotti (who shot
"Heat" and "The Comfort of Strangers") was let go along with his
camera crew after shooting had begun. He was replaced by Andrzej
Bartkowiak, and many cited this as another appearance of Babs The
Practitioner of Bitchcraft. Her rep for being difficult is lost on
her actors though, and screen legend Lauren Bacall, who plays
Streisand’s mother in the film, quickly comes to her defense.
"Directors (replace people) all the time," says Bacall. "Men do
it and no one says a word about it. She’s a woman who has a
tremendous amount of power, and that alone is enough to annoy a lot
of people. Barbra just jumps into a project giving of herself
whatever the job demands, and she expects everyone around her to do
the same. If John Huston or Howard Hawks expects you to do
something, you do it. Why weren’t they accused of being
difficult?"
The press conference begins to wind down without major incident.
Some questions are lobbed at Babs The Singer (she says she may tour
Europe someday, as well as put out an album of inspirational
music), at Babs the Political Junkie (her support and love for Bill
Clinton is unwavering and well-documented), and even Babs The
Everywoman gets to inform everyone that her idea of a romantic
evening consists of nothing more than good food and a little TV
with someone special (watching reruns of "Hotel" perhaps?).
But when asked if she ever was intimidated before going into a
new field of endeavor, her answer is confident and comes from the
voice of Babs The Renaissance Woman, the Babs that unites and
anchors all her other facets.
"I don’t go into a field of endeavor unless I am first secure in
it … I was always an actress, before I was a singer even, and
watching the director work I’d think ‘why is he letting that actor
get away with that level of performance when the actor has so much
more to give? Why is the camera over here as opposed to here?’ So I
decided to take more control over my own work, so I became a
director."
And then Barbra Streisand leaves the building.
"The Mirror has Two Faces" opens this Friday, Nov. 15.
Photos courtesy of TriStar and Phoenix Pictures
Barbra Streisand (far left) stars as Rose, a woman who
transforms her self-image and her sense of self, in the upcoming
romantic comedy "The Mirror has Two Faces." Rose is surprised to
find that Alex’s (Pierce Brosnan) (left) sudden advances do not
interest her.