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Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009
Felicity Huffman talks about those rumored "Desperate Housewives" hissy fits, what it's like to have a penis, and why gays may just be the secret to the show's success.
Apr 23, 2005 | "Oh great, a transgendered woman driving across the country with her son! I wanna go see that," jokes Felicity Huffman, describing "Transamerica," the new movie in which she stars as ... well, a transgendered woman driving across the country with her son.
It's true, it doesn't immediately sound like a sure bet at the multiplex. In the movie, Huffman portrays conservative Bree (formerly Stanley), who is surprised to learn that during college she fathered a son -- who needs to get bailed out of prison for drug possession and driven from New York to California. The road trip occurs just days before the long-awaited operation that will complete Bree's sex change.
But the film, written and directed by Duncan Tucker, makes its North American premiere Sunday at the Tribeca Film Festival, and buzz is strong (it won a prize at the Berlin Film Festival in February). Given the groaning weight of its material, "Transamerica" is surprisingly light and smooth, buoyed by Huffman's compelling performance as Bree, an uptight, prissy woman who happened to have been born male.
Had "Desperate Housewives" (where she plays Lynette Scavo) not made Huffman so visible, "Transamerica" audiences might have been hard-pressed to recognize the "Sports Night" and "Christmas With the Kranks" actress in Bree. Huffman speaks in a voice that is unfamiliarly low, aiming awkwardly higher. She looks uncomfortable in her waxy skin and Bree's Pepto-Bismol pink ensembles. And her hands appear particularly mannish when she's shown stuffing her package deeper between pantyhose-encased thighs. For those who prefer their prime-time TV divas penis-free, the scene that shows Bree whipping it out by the side of the road to relieve herself will come as something of a shock.
With her increased (and increasing) profile, Huffman joins a new category of actresses that includes Edie Falco, Frances McDormand and Patricia Clarkson: women who have found bona fide stardom, glamour and meaty parts after 40, when most actresses have traditionally been checked into the Hollywood Home for the Aged and No Longer Nubile. Instead, here's 42-year-old Huffman, mother to two young daughters with actor William H. Macy, alternately tackling the most challenging of acting roles in "Transamerica" and lolling poolside in a plunging candy-colored bathing suit, head tilted insouciantly, on the inside cover flap of the May Vanity Fair along with the rest of the "Desperate Housewives" ensemble. The accompanying article dishes a tearful, hissing account of what took place during the cover shoot (Marcia Cross, it's suggested, becomes upset when Teri Hatcher is placed center stage), but Huffman comes off like the pro, the show's grown-up, who's recused herself from ego-tripping foot races.
Salon talked to Huffman by phone on an early Los Angeles morning before her call to the "Desperate Housewives" set. Surprise! She was a grown-up: a game, articulate pro who held forth with humor and original thinking on Hollywood gender-bending, her fake penis, how gays may be making Hollywood friendlier to women, being a bad mother, and -- yes -- all those rumors of female hysteria emanating from Wisteria Lane.
How did you get involved in "Transamerica"?
My wonderful agent from ICM called and said, "There's this really interesting movie, you should read it." I thought it was fascinating, and thinking about acting it was terrifying.
When was this?
I was at a table read for the pilot of "Desperate Housewives." We took a break, I walked outside, my phone rang, and he said, "You got the part!"
Whenever I get a part I immediately get sick and nauseous and don't want to do it and want to hide under a rock. So I spent the entire "Desperate Housewives" pilot reading thinking only about "Transamerica," going, "Oh my god, I can't do it. I can't do it"
