Tuesday, 5/27/97 Russo redefines motherhood with role in
upcoming ‘Buddy’ FILM: Despite dislike of animals, actress accepted
role to portray character as positive role model
By Aimee Phan Daily Bruin Staff Motherhood is the hardest
profession in the world. Especially if your child is a 600 pound
gorilla. But even with this unique child, a parent still needs to
learn the hard lesson of letting go. And to play the part of Trudy
Lintz, a woman who cared for exotic animals in the new film
"Buddy," actress Rene Russo had to adjust to treating chimpanzees
and gorillas as if they were her own children. For Russo, who
previously has co-starred with such formidable leading men as Mel
Gibson in "Ransom" and Clint Eastwood in "In the Line of Fire,"
this film was a great opportunity to take top billing, seeing that
she would be one of the few human beings in the movie. The only
problem is that Russo hated chimps. Quite a problem when the film
requires her to coo and cradle these animals like adorable infants.
"I was afraid of them," Russo says. "I don’t have the same gift for
animals as Caroline [Thompson, director, "Black Beauty"] obviously
does. I didn’t want to do this film in the beginning because I was
so scared of the chimps." Perhaps it had to do with the fact that
she’s been bitten by them. Twice. "I was bitten in my twenties when
I was foolish," Russo says. "I picked up a hitchiker with a
chimpanzee. He grabbed my arm, and they are so strong, and ripped
it off the steering wheel while I was making a turn. I almost
crashed the car. Scared the hell out of me. The second time, I was
doing a press junket for ‘Lethal Weapon 3’ and there was a little
monkey on the set and the darn little critter bit me. And I
thought, ‘I am not good with animals.’" So what would convince this
actress, who already had a shaky history with these temperamental
primates, to do a film that celebrated these fuzzy little animals?
Maybe the better question is who. "I made this movie for my
daughter Rosie," Russo says. "I also made it for kids because I
thought that they could get a better understanding of these
creatures. I liked that it had a sweet message. This was a family
film and there are not that many out there, so it was nice to make
it for that reason." "Buddy" tells the true story of Gertrude
"Trudy" Lintz, a modern-day Noah in the 1920’s who takes it upon
herself to care for every exotic species she can get her hands on,
including chimps, geese, horses and snakes. But when Trudy "adopts"
a baby gorilla she names "Buddy," she watches it grow to an
uncontrollable size and learns the hard lesson of letting go of a
creature that was never really hers. While her character’s
unrealistic attempt to tame such a wild animal was a mistake, Russo
believed that Trudy’s good intentions made for a positive role
model to children about learning to treat animals with gentleness
and humanity. "I think for all of Trudy’s faults, she did have a
good heart," Russo says. "She taught me something about animals and
the way we treated them in the 20’s. She tried to make a difference
and I really liked that message for kids." Since motherhood knows
no bounds, Russo tried to relate to this eccentric character by
calling on her own experience as a mother. Russo can sympathize
with her character’s often controlling behavior with her
"children." "At a certain age [with children], you just gotta let
go," Russo says. "You just can’t keep holding them back and Trudy
learned that the hard way. She was very manipulating and
controlling. I think that as a mother, when my kid turns into a
teenager, I also may want to try to manipulate and hold on. But you
learn these things about boundaries and letting go and where to
hold back and where to draw the line." To get over her fear of
chimpanzees for the film, Russo went twice a week to visit the
chimpanzees and their trainers two months before filming would
begin. After eating breakfast and taking walks with her them, Russo
eventually became more comfortable with her furry co-stars. Her
friendship with the chimps was amicable, even though, she points
out, the chimps were the ones getting the star treatment on the
set. "The chimps really were treated like royalty," Russo says.
"And they should be because they get tired, but they had naps! Naps
when I wasn’t having a nap. Naps when I was ready to go. We were
always waiting for them to get in the mood or stop picking their
noses in front of the camera. It was not an easy shoot. Caroline
was very patient, and you had to be, otherwise, you’d tear your
hair out." Director and writer Caroline Thompson remembers Russo
also being a very good sport during the filming, which was often
halted due to the animatronics of Buddy the gorilla and the fussy
chimpanzees. "Rene was a really well-behaved animal," Thompson
jokes. "She is one of the loveliest human beings I’ve ever met. She
certainly has the character of Trudy as far as I could see. She’s
charming, sassy, stubborn, and willful." While "Buddy" is the first
family film that Russo hopes her daughter Rosie will see, Russo
nostalgically remembers the first movie she remembered going to, "A
Hard Day’s Night" starring the Beatles. "I fell in love with Paul
[McCartney]," Russo says, with stars in her eyes. "I didn’t scream
during the movie, I was too in love. But then I went to a Rolling
Stones concert and I fell in love with Mick Jagger." And it was at
this fateful concert in 1972 that Russo walked into show business.
"I was seventeen years old and I was walking down the street after
the concert," Russo remembers. "I was really just daydreaming and
thinking about marrying Mick when a car pulled up and my manager,
who is still my manager today, got out of the car and asked me if I
modeled or acted. I said no and he gave me his business card and
told me to bring my mom and visit him. So we went up there and he
helped me get started." Russo’s crossing paths with Mick Jagger
didn’t seem to end at his concert. She actually got the chance to
work with her former teen idol later on the movie, "Freejack." "I
told him at the dinner table that I thought for sure I was going to
marry him when I was seventeen," Russo says. "He was unimpressed.
Or maybe he didn’t hear me." FILM: "Buddy" will be released this
Friday. Jim Henson Pictures Gertrude Lintz (Rene Russo) takes
Buddy, a gorilla, in as an infant in the new film "Buddy."