Her eyes are fascinating.
They are large and frequently go wide during conversation.
Then, there's her ever-present smile. Lovely and long, it
makes Karen Allen look as if she's always having a good time.
And for the most part, this 32-year-old actress is
enjoying herself, as she constantly switches from stage to
screen and back with little concern for typecasting or others'
opinions. She wants the challenges of a varied career, not just
the enduring fame of her best remembered role, Marion
Ravenwood, the heroine of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Seated in an East Village restaurant, Allen discusses her
screen past and present with candor and good humor. She makes
no apologies for the roles she has played. Each choice, she
says, was a good one at the time.
Allen is looking forward to the December 14 opening of her
latest film, Starman (STARLOG #89), hoping it's as
successful as the industry expects. "I saw a rough cut of it a
few weeks ago," she says. "I liked Starman a lot and
thought Jeff Bridges was really good. Charlie Martin Smith was
wonderful! But the first time you see it, you can never
tell if the movie is good because you're watching your role. If
a scene is missing, you spend the next 10 minutes thinking how
that's going to affect the rest of the film and your
character's emotions. I never can tell the first time. I have
to watch it a few times with audiences before I can make a
judgment. If someone is with me who hasn't been involved in the
production, I always listen to that opinion more than my own."
In Starman, Allen plays Jenny Hayden, a young woman
whose husband has recently died in a tragic accident. She's
packing up and preparing to move on, hoping to start life over
elsewhere. Then, a starship lands nearby and she encounters an
alien who has assumed the physical form of her husband. Coerced
into embarking on a cross-country trek, she is, at first, a
hysterical hostage. But Jenny soon learns more about the
Starman, portrayed by Jeff (TRON) Bridges, and tries to
help the stranded visitor as SETI investigator Mark Shermin
(Charles Martin Smith) and the U.S. Military pursues them.
"I thought and thought about this movie
before I accepted the role," Allen explains.
"I loved the script and thought Starman had
a wonderful story. Jenny is an interesting
character to play, so I decided to go ahead
and make this picture. The role is a complete
study in imagination. I spend the film
building and sustaining an emotional state.
What happens to Jenny never has--and
won't--happen to me. Most films contain
an experience related to your life in some
way, so you can draw upon that experience
but not this movie. This role allows me to explore
areas otherwise untouched.
"It was that magical 'what if?' that was a
very interesting incentive for me."
Although the film pairs her with Bridges,
Allen feels somewhat frustrated that the two
could never really act together. "We're in
every one of those scenes together, but we
couldn't work actor to actor," she observes.
"I spend most of the movie terrified of Jeff
and he's an alien, so we were working against
each other. These were strange characters to
play because we were not really making contact.
I played so many scenes not looking at
him, but looking for a way out. In fact, Jeff
and I have both said that we want to make
another movie together. He's a wonderful
actor and a wonderful person."
Starman, which filmed for several months
in early 1983 after being planned for several
years, also paired Allen with John Carpenter
(STARLOG #48). The noted genre director
completely surprised the actress. Throwing
herself back in her seat, Allen thinks long
and hard about Carpenter before describing
working with him. Leaning over the table,
she explains, "Carpenter is surprisingly
sensitive. He's very open-minded, very willing
to listen to ideas. He uses an interesting
combination of skills to direct because he
clearly knows what he wants, using storyboards
and all, yet he's very open to actors. He
wants the actors to play a strong role in
making the movie, having them help shape their
own characters.
"He's also a really nice guy. The people
working with him have a really nice thing
going. They've developed this strong support
system. He has chosen a good group of
people. They stay with him film after film. They
can bounce things off of each other in order
to get the film made. I had a good time
making Starman."
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Life with Adventure
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Raiders of the Lost Ark made Karen Allen
a star. Yet, it was an experience that she
regards with mixed emotions.
Some of her problems with the film
resulted from her own expectations. "It was
a different kind of film for me," she
explains. "To make a film like Raiders, you
must be a good technical actor. These types
of movies require physical precision--it's
more about where you put your hand in a
given shot than anything else. I had much to
learn and it was a humbling experience. If
was fun on a certain level, but . . . ."
Allen sits back again and thinks about the
big-budget adventure. "I came to the film
somewhat unprepared for the extravagant
way that kind of film is made." she admits.
"Spielberg storyboards everything. He
knows in advance how a shot looks,
although he is open to suggestion. Steven
and I had our difficulties. You see, I'm a real
collaborator, most of my creative
experiences are in that mode. I flourish best in
a situation where I feel we are working
together. At times on Raiders, I felt stifled
and it was hard.
"Steven is clear about what he wants. I
am, too. I take a role for certain reasons and
I like to carry them through. I made it hard
on Steven because I saw the character of
Marion a certain way and wanted to protect
that view. Although it wasn't one of the
easiest working relationships I have had,
there aren't any ill feelings. We really wanted
the same thing in the end and that creative
tension affected me in a positive way."
Before she can continue, another
restaurant patron stops by the table, bends
over, says, "I thought you were really good
in Raiders," and walks away. Karen Allen
shakes her head and smiles. "That happens
all the time," she whispers. "I'm usually safe
because I had my hair dyed so black for
Raiders and people think I'm taller.
"It's difficult playing that type of strong
character and being so closely identified with
it. I don't think any actor, myself included,
likes being thought of as 'Karen (Raiders)
Allen.' Yet, that's how people see me. My
character in Starman is just as memorable as
Marion, but these things have so much more
to do with the films' success. I would prefer
that people relate to me for a body of work
not just one movie." She shrugs, grabs her
coffee mug and adds, "I don't like to think
about things over which I have no control."
Though Raiders proved to be an unusual
experience, Allen did enjoy working with
Harrison Ford (STARLOG #48). "Harrison
likes to keep to himself and I left the film
feeling as if I hadn't gotten to know him.
"I'm real good at screaming, but the
snakes didn't bother me," the actress
explains. "I grew up in the country, always
around snakes. Sure, it took some getting
use to running around barefoot, wearing
that white thing, with 7000 snakes
underfoot, but it was no trouble. It wasn't always
fun because I was one woman with 70 men
on the production--and they loved to do
things like throw handfuls of snakes at me."
Another animalistic co-star was a bit
hairier and certainly more troublesome than
the snake extras. "The monkey was young
and he could only be in the heat for two or
three minutes before getting ill," Allen
explains. "We had to time our shots very
exactly."
After Raiders, Allen made Split Image, an
independent film about religious cults, and
Shoot the Moon, in which she played Albert
Finney's lover. Then, the time came to move
from the screen back to theater.
"I Had an extraordinary opportunity to
work with director Arthur Penn and
actresses Ellen Burstyn and Jane Alexander,"
she says explaining why she accepted the
role of Helen Keller in William Gibson's play
Monday After the Miracle. This sequel to
The Miracle Worker was a well-received
production that played around the country to
good reviews for a year-and-a-half before it
died on Broadway after only 10
performances. "I fell in love with that character
and that play," Allen says."When it closed,
it was a very painful experience. It became
like a child to every one of us involved. When
the closing notice went up, we felt that
something had died. I was with the play
when we started at the Actor's Studio and
then stuck with it through the most extensive
changes while we were at the Kennedy
Center. It could have had a good run if the
producer had not overreacted to the reviews.
They were not bad reviews and if we had
taken the time to fix the faults, I'm sure it
would be running today.
"I still have people come to me on the
street and almost go into tears when they tell
me how much they loved that show."
Allen got the chance to expend her anger
by venting it nightly in the off-Broadway hit
Extremities. "I loved that play the first time
I read it," she explains, "and I went down
to Louisville, Kentucky to see the first
performance. I let everyone involved with
Extremities know that I loved the play and
would be interested in doing it, if the lead
ever became available." The play, about an
almost-rape victim who then terrorizes her
attacker, originally starred Susan (The
Hunger) Sarandon and earned rave reviews.
"When Susan left," Allen says, "the
playwright thought of me, but after Monday
I was very unsure. What had been enormous
enthusiasm became ambiguity. But then, I
cast those thoughts aside and did it.
Extremities became a wonderful experience,
although I injured myself a lot and
ultimately broke my knee. I'm glad I did it because
I love the role and it's such an extraordinary
opportunity for an actress. When doing it,
I feel like I'm shot out of a cannon and I keep
going. Extremities was such a release that I
never felt run down although it was a very
physical production."
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Life with Animals
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Allen's life has been a busy one. She was
born in Illinois and grew up in a succession
of towns. The daughter of an FBI agent,
Allen says she found life a bit different
because the constant moving made it hard to
establish deep friendships. "We were always
in small towns, so I was never exposed to
theater. Sure, I saw high school plays, but
they didn't grab me. Can you imagine
singing 'Oklahoma' for the rest of your life?"
Again, she laughs. "Theater just never
injected itself into my life."
Allen enrolled in the Fashion lnstitute of
Technology, planning to become a costume
designer. She dropped out after two years,
and then spent a while trying to decide a
course for her life. She worked part of that
time, she traveled and then, one day, she
watched a performance of the Polish
Theater Laboratory, run by Jerzy
Grotowski. "I was blown away," she adds.
"I decided to try working with the
Washington Theater Laboratory Company
in Washington, D.C., and stayed with them
for four years. Little by little by little, I
became totally immersed in what they were
doing. During that time, I made one small
film, The Widget Maker, which won a few
awards including one from the American
Film Institute.
"Then, I moved to New York in 1976. I
had come to work in the theater, but I was
open-minded about doing anything like
movies. Until then, I always had to have a
second job. I was like an unofficial
professional actor, but I wanted to be official. I
made another small film with some New
York University students, The Aftermath,
and that's what I showed John Landis."
The young director was about to make a
low-budget comedy, National Lampoons
Animal House, for Universal. He was
looking for people who hadn't made movies and
the biggest name in the cast, at the time, was
character actor John Vernon. "It was a tiny
little budget." agrees Allen. "It was a bunch
of young people starting out, all around the
same age. The shoot lasted less than four
weeks and we were all sharing. We pitched
in to get Animal House made. I think John
chose his cast very carefully because when we
were together, it was wonderful.
"I really liked my character, Katy,
because I got to represent a whole point of
view outside the film's mainstream." She
sips her coffee and then, with a big smile,
launches into a description of Landis, "He's
not like any director I've worked with before
or since. He's so full of energy, enormous
enthusiasm and a desire to make the actors
comfortable. Rather than direct, he creates
an atmosphere that's good for the actors. He
builds up all this energy and takes everyone
along with him."
After the smash success of Animal House,
Allen went on to play other roles in a number
of films including The Wanderers, directed
by Phil (The Right Stuff) Kaufman
(STARLOG #77), A Small Circle of Friends
and Cruising. "I can't say they were all the
best choices," Allen admits. "But I made
them all for the right reasons. I really
enjoyed making The Wanderers. It was fun
movie and I love [novelist] Richard Price's
writing. I didn't know Cruising would be a
horrifying experience for all, and I think the
finished product reflected that. I worked on
that movie for about five days and,
fortunately, all my scenes were indoors on the
set, so I wasn't exposed to the gay protestors.
William Friedkin was a good director,
allowing for improvisation during rehearsals and
building up energy. I didn't get to see the full
script, but others didn't either. Sometimes
directors do that, thinking they have valid
reasons.
"A Small Circle of Friends" was flawed.
but I liked it a lot. It was a very personal film
to the writer and director and I'm sorry it
didn't make it. The movie was released in
that period before cable made it big, so it
hasn't been on cable or out on cassette.
When CBS aired Circle recently, they
butchered it."
Just before leaving America for her
Raiders stint, Allen appeared in the ABC
mini-series version of John Steinbeck's East
of Eden. "It's very interesting to play a
period piece. And it's refreshing to walk
away from the modern day to make a
picture." Besides this project, she has rarely
done any television, something the actress
calls "the medium I'm least drawn to. I guess
that's because I live in New York, but you
also have to work so fast, there's little time
to feel creative. You only have time for one
or two takes and that forces actors to make
clean decisions, which can be good for you.
I prefer having a little more time such as
movies or even more time with theater."
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Life with Acting
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After a short break, she accepted two
consecutive film roles. Suddenly, Karen Allen
was a movie actress again after more than
two years away from the screen. "I like to
stay interested and the more diversity that
there is, in both media and roles, keeps
everything vital." she explains. "You're
constantly putting yourself on the line and I
love doing that. I don't care about the size of
roles. I was talking with one reviewer who
couldn't understand how I could go from
something as strong as Raiders to a
weak-willed individual in Split Image. I don't
think about it that way. I just look for good
roles. The British have always done the same
thing. It never confuses me and I like the
opportunity of doing both big and small roles
as long as what I'm doing is interesting."
Her two new films are Starman and Until
September, a romance lensed in France
with European heartthrob Thierry Lhermitte
under director Richard (Return of the
Jedi) Marquand (STARLOG #71).
Although Allen enjoyed making Until
September and remains happy with the
finished product, the MGM/UA production
never found its audience this fall. "When
your name is first in the credits." she says,
"you feel a responsibility to make it work,
but there are so many other elements and
film is such a collaborative thing. The work
itself is working with other actors and the
director and there are elements over which
the actors have no control. I try and forget
all about that. I can't control whether the
movie itself will work.
"Richard is very into the acting process.
Being a former actor, he knows the
vocabulary and he loves to work with actors.
We rehearsed a lot and there was a lot of
improvisation. If something didn't work, we
went back to the scene's beginning and
started again. There was a real trust between
us, a very special relationship. I think it was
very out of character for him to do Jedi
because he's so much more at home working
with characters and story. I loved what he
did with Eye of the Needle, another story
focusing on two people."
One of the things Allen especially liked
while first reading the screenplay was the
freshness of the dialogue. "Janice Lee
Graham, being a novelist, came to the
screenplay with no preconceived notions of
how to write screenplays." Allen says. "The
system hadn't gotten to her as she didn't
know what she would or could not do with
the script. The dialogue was so good. Even
when I read other good scripts, actors are
saying the same things the same ways--
you've read them hundreds of times before.
"I took the role even though I knew in
advance that reviewers wouldn't like this film.
Sometimes, I think they conspire. I've seen
them all together at a few screening and if
one snickers during an important scene, they
all know. I'm thankful Rex Reed cham-
pioned Until September."
For the moment. Allen is preparing for
her next film role, as a clinical psychologist
in Animal Behavior, a drama unrelated, of
course, to Animal House. "I've been
studying sign language. The finger-spelling I
learned for Monday is helping me much
more than I expected. It's going to be a very
funny movie." she says. "I'll be working
with a monkey while there are all these other
bizarre characters. We'll be filming in
Albuquerque, New Mexico."
She scoops her belongings into her
oversized bag and prepares to dash uptown for
a period of exercise, one of her passions.
When she has the time. Allen enjoys exercise
or reading but what she would really like is
to find the time for writing. "I've been
working on a few things here and there," she says,
"but I have been concentrating more on
acting. What I really need to do is find a year
and spend it writing. Then, I think I can
come up with something good."
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