Michelle Pfeiffer tapped into grief over father's death for new role
Michelle Pfeiffer stars alongside Kurt Russell in The Madison, a TV series which tells the story of a family navigating their grief after a tragedy.
Michelle Pfeiffer’s entire perspective shifted when her father died.
The actress stars alongside Kurt Russell in The Madison, a TV series which tells the story of a family navigating their grief after a tragedy.
In an interview with IndieWire, Michelle said that to play Stacy Clyburn in the show, she used her own losses for inspiration - such as her dad Richard’s passing in 1998 at the age of 65.
She said: “You don’t have to search real long and real hard to tap into that. Especially when it’s a sudden and a tragic death, the shock of it suddenly shifts everyone’s perspective.
“It’s like you all of a sudden don’t have time for the b******* that you’ve been putting up with, and there’s a truth in the way that people start to interact with each other, but it doesn’t last very long. I had it when my father died. There’s a purity. Everybody for a short period of time is behaving with each other in a pure and honest way, and I remember always thinking, ‘If I could just hold on to this.’ And you never can.”
As well as starring in The Madison, Michelle can also be seen in Margo’s Got Money Troubles, alongside Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman and Greg Kinnear.
But shooting two series in quick succession has been a juggle for the 68-year-old.
She explained: “Even when I’m out to dinner, it’s always on my shoulder. And I thought, ‘I don’t want to do that. I want to be present, I’m a grandmother now.’
“I don’t want to miss it, and I don’t want to miss life either. I want to spend time with my friends and my family, and I want to travel, and when I’m not working — I love my job — I don’t want to be thinking about the job coming up.
“I want to be present. And that shift was being less prepared. It’s showing up and being present, and also having an amazing cast to work with, and great directors, strong material. So it was an experiment for me, and it’s been great.”
Michelle knew when she saw the scripts for the programmes that she had to do both.
She smiled: “They are two of the best parts I’ve ever had. I never thought at this stage, at this age, that I would be having these opportunities to play complex, well-rounded, challenging characters.”
