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Hollywood's fair lady - Julie Andrews is poppin' up in new Disney film
submitted by: Lisa D.
source: Boston Herald
Date: July 29, 2001
By Stephen Schaefer
Forty-five years ago on Broadway, Julie Andrews became world famous playing a commoner who could be mistaken for a queen in "My Fair Lady."
Now comes "The Princess Diaries," opening Friday, a Disney fable that casts Andrews as a queen who must transform a commoner - her all-American gawky teenage granddaughter (Anne Hathaway) - into royalty.
"It's a little bit of a Cinderella story, a bit of 'My Fair Lady' and also a little bit of 'The Ugly Duckling,' " the 65-year-old Andrews said.
This G-rated family film, directed by Garry Marshall ("Pretty Woman," "Runaway Bride"), casts Andrews as Queen Clarisse of the tiny mythical European country Genovia. The fun comes when the headstrong teen and the queen collide: Her royal highness knows the throne will go to vulgar usurpers if her granddaughter declines, so she must manipulate the girl for her country's sake.
Said Hathaway, who at 18 is making her starring debut opposite Andrews, "I knew everything about Julie. I'd read a biography about her and 'The Sound of Music' was one of my favorite movies, so you can imagine how nervous I was.
"That first meeting will stand out in my mind forever. It was the first read-through of the script; 75 people were there and they were people who just wanted to meet Julie Andrews. Suddenly, it went quiet: 'Julie Andrews is in the building.'
"I was shaking like a leaf, and, still shaking, I put my hand out to her and before I could finish a sentence, she gave me a giant bear hug and a kiss on the cheek and said, 'It's so nice to meet you! We're going to have the best time.' We had great chemistry from the start."
Marshall also experienced the awe of Andrews. During the filming of "The Princess Diaries," which was shot partly on location in San Francisco, he took Andrews as his date to the opera. "We walked in and a man came and said to her, 'I went into music because of you, just because I heard that sound of your singing,' " he said. "She is underestimated."
Surprisingly, this is Andrews' first film for Disney since she began her Hollywood career with her Best Actress Oscar-winning turn in "Mary Poppins."
"I hadn't been back there to work, something like 1964 when we made 'Poppins,' " she said. "I've made many tours but never another movie."
In fact, Andrews shot on the same soundstage used for "Poppins." "Yes, I saw this little plaque on the door: 'Mary Poppins was filmed on this soundstage,' " she said.
If her role as the practically perfect nanny established the English Broadway actress in the movies, it was her next film - 1965's "The Sound of Music" - that confirmed her status as a Hollywood superstar.
And though she has had hits such as "Hawaii," "10" and "Victor-Victoria," audiences still identify her with those two classic musicals. "I did two family blockbusters and the difference these days is people used to come up and say, 'My daughter just loves you,' and now it's granddaughters who come up to me and say, 'My mother just loves you,' " she said. "Thank God for every seven years for a new generation. It's when (someone says), 'My great-grandmother loves you,' I'll be in trouble."
Possessing a rare four-octave range as a child, Andrews got an early start in show business. "I started at 8 years old and I do feel very blessed," she said. "My parents were in vaudeville and all during my teens I was touring endlessly. It was at the end of vaudeville in England and the dying days of a really old craft. At the time I couldn't see what good it would do me - and it did. It got me used to working in front of people; it gave me discipline."
Regarding the tragic recent loss of her singing voice after an operation, Andrews said, "I'm optimistic. I haven't given up hope but there are tremendous problems with the middle range." With a touch of resignation, she added, "I'm not singing. I've got five good notes."
Still, she is not considering retirement. Andrews vows to "keep going, if I stay young. The bones tell me I'm aging, but I'm a great advocate of working out as little as possible."
Spoken like true Hollywood royalty.
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