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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Linda Blair talks about her new Hallmark Channel horror spoof, her love of animals and, yeah, that movie from the '70s with the pea soup and the crucifix.
Oct 25, 2003 | When you become famous for spewing green bile and alarmingly vivid invective, peeing on the carpet, spinning your head around 360 degrees and masturbating with a crucifix at the tender age of 14, what do you do for an encore?
In the case of Linda Blair, the young actress who was nominated for an Academy Award for her shocking and strange work as the possessed child Regan in the 1973 classic horror flick "The Exorcist," you work. First, as a slightly less troubled teen in memorable mid-'70s telefilms like "Born Innocent," "Sweet Hostage" and "Sarah T. -- Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic." Then as time goes on, on whatever "quality project" you can get your hands on.
"My dad used to tell me, 'Be like Bette Davis. Just work. Every job will provide an opportunity,'" Blair, now 44 and a devout vegan who has dedicated herself to promoting animal and children's rights, tells Salon from her home in Los Angeles, which she shares with dogs, horses, chickens and various other critters.
We called her to discuss her latest role -- playing a mother in the Hallmark Channel's family-friendly Halloween spoof "Monster Makers," which premieres this Sunday at 8 p.m. -- and how she got here from there.
What's all that noise in the background? Are you washing dishes?
No, I am making my yummy healthy morning breakfast shake, which I drink every day. It has soy beverage; Stevia, which is an alternative sweetener that's good for your spleen; powdered grains; brewer's yeast, which women need for their B vitamins; blueberries, which is what I was washing; a big apple; and a cantaloupe.
Does it come out looking like pea soup?
No, it's blue, actually. From the blueberries.
Oh, good. So how do you feel about playing somebody's mom?
That's really funny, isn't it? Technically I could have kids of all sorts of ages by now, but I don't. My kids are all the animals and all the work I do for both animals and children. I knew a long time ago that if I had a family I would not be able to do the work that I do. Because you can't do both. You cannot stand up for the rights of others as effectively as I do and still raise a family.
How'd the part in "Monster Makers" find its way to you?
I had been working for a couple of years for Fox Family Channel, doing "S Club 7 in L.A.," which was kind of like "The Monkees." It was really fun because little kids now come up to me and say [does squeaky little-kid voice], "You're that lady on 'S Club 7.'" I say, "Yes, I am. And I'm in that movie you can't see."
Anyway, then I did Fox Family's "Scariest Places on Earth," and when that got canceled, a lot of people -- including me -- were very disappointed. So when Hallmark called me and said they were doing their first spoof and it was a comedy and it was for Halloween and would I be interested, I basically had tears in my eyes because I was so happy that Hallmark thought of me both for comedy and for their channel. I'm really proud to work with them. To me, you don't have higher integrity than Hallmark.
It's been quite a journey for you from "The Exorcist" to the Hallmark Channel, hasn't it?
Uh-huh. What people forget -- and this has been the hardest part -- is that I'm an actor. A lot of people forget that.
Well, you've never really stopped working, have you?
Not really. First, right after "The Exorcist," I did "Born Innocent," an NBC movie about girls prisons and juvenile homes and there was a rape scene in there. The girls rape my character in prison, and it caused a whole big national scandal, made national headlines, because -- you know me, controversial. It actually led to the "family viewing hour" [a short-lived agreement in which the networks promised to keep the 8 p.m. hour free of sex and violence]. And then I did "Sarah T. -- Portrait of a Teenage Alcoholic" and, of course, that won an award from Alcoholics Anonymous that year for helping teenagers with alcoholism.
And then "Sweet Hostage" [in which she played a kidnap victim who falls in love with her captor], which was my favorite movie because that was a love story. I don't get offered too many love stories, but working with Martin [Sheen] back then was still probably the biggest highlight of my life. He's just so creative and so amazing and I hadn't seen anybody take a nothing character on a page and create this magic. And he taught me a lot about acting.
And in the intervening years, you've certainly done a lot of horror movies.
Well, I was asked to do "Airplane!" [in the late '70s], but Universal would not let me spoof my character, which is a shame, because I think that if I could have done that back then I could have had a completely different career. And later, I was filming "Roller Boogie" [1979] and "Ruckus" [1982] back to back and I missed the opportunity to have a meeting with Robert Redford, who'd requested me for "Ordinary People." If I had been able to work with him, I think things might have been different.
But over the years I have a huge fan base that knows that I'm very diverse and another set that just can't get past "The Exorcist," that forgets I'm just an actor. I mean, look at Anthony Hopkins, he plays the other scariest human being on earth and then he goes and makes a romantic film with Miramax. Nobody thinks twice about that. They need to remember that with me.
Do you think it's because you were so young when you played that role that you're so closely identified with it?
I don't know. Why can you look at him as Hannibal Lecter and let him scare the living bejesus out of you and then look at him at other movies and just be fine with it? Why can't they do that with me? Yeah, I think it's that that's how they were introduced to me and so that's how they will always think of me. Nothing I can do about the human brain.
