With her auburn hair, freckled face and emerald colored eyes,
Karen Allen is anything but the typical screen heroine. She may
not have displayed the screen presence of Sigourney Weaver, the
range of Kathleen Turner or the power of Meryl Streep. Yet,
Allen has impressed audiences in a number of diverse roles with
an attribute that is totally hers, an idiosyncrasy that may be
overlooked at first, but is actually quite rare among today's
female stars.
It's called spunkiness.
Allen has brought an element of spunkiness to all her movie
roles, from her screen debut in National Lampoon's Animal
House to such overlooked Allen outings as The
Wanderers, A Small Circle of Friends, Split
Image and Until September. And certainly Allen's
distinctive style has contributed to the success of Raiders
of the Lost Ark and Starman, her two most popular
genre films.
One wonders, then, if the real Karen Allen is anything like
the strong-willed, sexy women she becomes on film.
"I don't know if I've ever played a character who's close to
me," confesses Allen. "There have been some elements of myself
in different roles. Sometimes, I show one side of myself and
then completely conceal the other."
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Reader & Writer
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How the 34-year-old actress chooses her diverse parts isn't
all that simple. "It's a very instinctual relationship, a
reaction to something in the script," she says. "I read a
script and ask myself, 'Is this a story I want to tell?' An
actor is really a storyteller, and sometimes, the story being
told is as important as the character in the story.
"Sometimes, I look at a character and say, 'I don't know the
first thing about this person, who she is and where she's
coming from.' That fascinates me. I know in order to get there,
I have to do my work, to think through, in psychological terms,
who this person is, and examine her whole thinking process.
Sometimes, you recognize certain elements of yourself that you
didn't know were there.
"I also write biographies of my characters--ever since
Animal House. I even do some research into the
background if it's important. I create the character's history,
who her family was and other things. It really does
help."
Allen's own background could be the basis of one of her film
characters. Born in a small southern Illinois farming
community, she spent her first 10 years traveling around the
country with her FBI agent father, her mother, and two sisters.
The family settled in Maryland, but she left home at 17 and
moved to New York to study art and design. Allen returned to
Maryland and enrolled at the University of Maryland to study
writing. She soon left there to travel to Mexico, Central
America and several countries in South America. "I studied many
different things in college," Allen recalls. "I took art, then
psychology and several literature courses. But I guess I never
really liked the structure of education. I always relied on my
own ways of learning. I was more comfortable following those."
Her interest in theater actually began when she came back to
the U.S. after an extended period of travel and saw the
experimental Polish Theater Laboratory in Washington, D.C.
After taking acting classes, she began performing with the
Washington Theater Lab. Following four years with several
Washington and Maryland-based theater groups, Allen headed to
New York to pursue career acting. She studied at the
prestigious Lee Strasberg Institute and made a short,
award-winning film, The Aftermath.
"When I arrived in New York," the actress recalls, "I made
a serious commitment to work in theater. I went to a number
of theater auditions."
Film called her away from the stage and Allen made her 1978
screen debut in National Lampoon's Animal House. She
played Katy, the level-headed college girl who keeps trying to
get her boy friend Boon (Peter Riegert) to make a firmer
commitment to their relationship. Shot on a smail budget with a
cast of then-unknowns, Animal House surprised audiences
with its off-the-wall gross-out humor. It went on to become one
of the most popular comedies of the decade, earning more than
$200 million worldwide at the box office.
"I knew the film had a wonderful energy," Allen recalls. "The
actors I worked with were wonderful. None of us anticipated,
however, what sort of hit Animal House would become."
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Circles of Friends
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Animal House brought Allen into the Hollywood spotlight,
and she was soon cast in The Wanderers, another youth
oriented tale. Based on a novel by Richard Price and directed
by Philip (The Right Stuff) Kaufman (STARLOG #16,77),
The Wanderers was a colorful, satiric and often violent
look at New York gang life in the early 1960s. Allen played
Nina, a guitar-toting Bronx high school student who hung out
with a tough, but likable, Italian gang called the Wanderers.
Released on the heels of Walter Hill's controversial gang war
opus, The Warriors, The Wanderers quickly
vanished from theater screens. Over the years, Allen reports,
it has found its audience. "It has become a cult film," she
observes. "It's incredible. In London, there's a whole
following around The Wanderers. It's an amazing
phenomenon."
Although The Wanderers failed at the U.S. box office, it
did showcase Allen in her second strong movie role. Her work
caught the eye of director Rob (Scandalous) Cohen, who
cast her in A Small Circle of Friends.
With a title taken from a popular song by Phil Ochs, the film
depicted the relationship between three Harvard students during
the turbulent 1960s. Allen played Jessie, an artist
romantically involved with both journalism major Brad
(Midnight Express) Davis and med student Jameson
(Simon and Simon) Parker.
The movie drew harsh criticism, and was never given wide
theatrical exposure. Like The Wanderers, A Small
Circle of Friends has since extended its coterie of fans
through cable and videocassette release.
Many critics found the movie somewhat naive in its attitudes
about the tumultuous decade, They claimed the story lacked
depth, especially when it dealt with the period's important
issues, like Vietnam, changing sexual mores and campus unrest.
Allen, however, admires the film and still supports it today.
"Much of the backlash from critics had to do with the fact that
A Small Circle of Friends tried to make a statement,"
Allen suggests. "Rob Cohen and [writer] Ezra Sacks felt that
the revolutionary passion that came from that era had
dissipated in a frightening sort of way when Vietnam was over.
Thus, Jessie and Jameson Parker's characters became
conventional. She was an artist who became radicalized, then
later became a lawyer. He was a guy who wanted to become a
doctor, but became a psychologist. Both became seemingly
dispassionate people.
"I think there was a backlash because there wasn't enough
distance between the '60s and 1980 when the film came out. Some
recent films about the era haven't been as shocking because of
when they've been released. But I don't think the ultimate film
about that period has been made yet."
Following A Small Circle of Friends, Allen took on roles
in a few films and in something she does rarely, television.
She appeared with Al Pacino in William Friedkin's controversial
Cruising. And she starred in a mini-series reworking of John
Steinbeck's East of Eden.
In 1980, Allen was cast opposite Harrison Ford as heroine
Marion Ravenwood in Raiders of the Lost Ark, directed by
Steven Spielberg and produced by George Lucas. Spielberg cast
Allen after being impressed with her performance in A Small
Circle of Friends.
The part of Marion required Allen to attempt a different style
of acting. She was asked to partake in physically demanding,
action-oriented sequences. And the production would take her to
a far away place the well-traveled actress had never thought of
visiting: Tunisia, located in Africa's Sahara desert.
"It was all new to me," she muses. "I never made a film like
that one before. Harrison, of course, was very experienced and
comfortable with the physical acting since he had done Star
Wars. I came to it fascinated and very eager. But I really
didn't know how to do that kind of work on film.
"The acting really becomes technical. You really have to work
with the camera, as opposed to forgetting that the camera is
there and trying to get some emotional depth. Instead, you have
to look at the camera and figure out how to move an object
across it, how to move within the frame, while creating some
kind of feeling at the same time."
Though she admired actor Harrison Ford, who starred as the
dashing adventurer Indiana Jones, she never really got too
close to him. "I worked with him for four months, but I really
didn't get to know him well," explains Allen. "He was very
professional and very good to work with. At times, there's a
thing with actors where you get along wonderfully and become
lifelong friends. Then, there are times when you work with
people and barely get to know them at all. I guess I didn't get
to know Harrison too well.
Did she have any idea Raiders of the Lost Ark would become such
a smash hit?
"Because Steven Spielberg and George Lucas were involved, you
couldn't help but be aware that Raiders would have a
tremendous amount of attention paid to it," Allen says. "This
meant it could also have been a tremendous bomb or a big hit.
Raiders was really an interesting story. Watching Steven
work on it, I know the movie had a wonderful look to it. I
watched the dailies every day while it was being made. The
first time I saw the completed film, I was pleasantly surprised
at how wonderful and inventive it was and how it moved along
like a bat out of hell."
With one sequel (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom)
down, and one more to go, it's apparent Allen will never be
called on to reprise her role of Marion Ravenwood. She's happy
with her work in Raiders, but is also pleased about not
committing to any of the follow-ups.
"When I was asked to do the first one, they told me they were
doing three and were going to go backwards in time," Allen
remembers. I said, 'Great!' I don't know if I would have liked
to have done all three films. You do one, and
two-and-a-half-years later, when it's time to do the next, you
may not want to be in it. Maybe you have another project at the
same time.
"I hate the idea of agreeing to do something so much later. You
can never see far ahead enough to know if you want to commit
yourself to that."
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Allies & Aliens
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Instead of accepting to similar heroine-type roles in other
large-scale Hollywood movies, Allen decided to tackle more
intimate parts which allowed her to expand her acting
abilities. After several smaller films and some New York stage
work (which she discussed further in STARLOG #90/BEST OF
STARLOG #6), Allen returned to sizable Hollywood productions in
1984. In the romantic SF fantasy Starman, directed by
John Carpenter, she played Jenny Hayden, a recently widowed
woman who encounters--and eventually falls in love with--an
alien who has taken on the form of her late husband. Jeff
Bridges was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar as the
extraterrestrial visitor.
Today, Allen says making Starman was one of the most
pleasurable experiences of her screen acting career.
"Jeff was a dream to work with," she notes. "He was the
sweetest person in the world. We hit it off right away. The
first time we met, he came over and gave me this big hug, and
said, 'It's great we're working together.' "
Allen also holds director John Carpenter (STARLOG
#48, 92, 100, 109, 115) in high esteem. With a record of past
efforts like Halloween and The Thing, Carpenter's
sensitive directing hand and skill with actors turned out to be
something of a surprise.
"John worked very well with Jeff and I," Allen says fondly. "He
was very supportive and very much wanted us to create this
special relationship between characters. John also has a
terrific crew of people he uses all the time which helped to
make the set very comfortable."
Allen says she has difficulty watching her performances after
her work has been completed. She often sees changes she would
have liked to have made when she takes another look at a movie
a few years after its original release. The role of Jenny
Hayden in Starman posed an especially difficult problem
for the actress. Yet, she's pleased with the way things turned
out.
"I'm very tough on myself," Allen admits. "I look at the most
minute details with each role. I was happy with what I did in
Starman — at least in terms of creating a 'What if' situation.
"The 'What if?' was 'What if my husband died, and I woke up in
the middle of the night and saw this infant growing into a man
who turned out to be my dead husband's body who actually turned
out to be an alien from another world?' "
Allen pauses.
"You don't know how any human being would behave under those
circumstances," she continues. "The problem for an actress is
how to create a believable sequence of emotions from this stage
beginning to the point where the characters believably fall in
love with each other. The love has to remain even during chase
scenes and things like that.
"I felt, in some ways, Jeff and I were successful in creating
that relationship. But I still look at Starman and
cringe and say: 'I wish I had done that scene differently' or
'I wish I had taken more time here.' "
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Movie "Menagerie"
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Although Allen hasn't been highly visible to moviegoers over
the last two years, she has been extremely busy. She has three
films set for future release. There's Terminus, a French
takeoff on Mad Max, which stars Allen as the driver of a
computer-guided truck called Monster. Allen is only featured
in the first half of this futurist road fight flick. Also
completed is Backfire, a suspense yarn, directed by
Gilbert Cates and co-starring Keith (Trouble in Mind)
Carradine. In a change-of-pace role, Allen plays a woman who is
accused of murdering her husband.
Allen welcomes the opportunity to play someone so unusually
complex. "There are more interior, deeper emotions and elements
to this character," she says. "Like this woman, I have
different sides to myself that are very fierce. Of course, I
would never be driven to murder, but it's interesting to find a
character you can understand, to learn how somebody could be
motivated to do such a thing."
She has also been involved in two stage productions which have
proven to be very special to her. During the spring, Allen
returned to an Off-Broadway theater for a presentation of
The Miracle Worker. This time, however, Allen played
teacher Annie Sullivan to a younger actress' interpretation of
Helen Keller. Allen essayed the character that Jane Alexander
and Ellen Burstyn had so impressed her with several years ago
when Allen portrayed Helen in Monday After the Miracle.
In a recent restaging of Tennessee Williams' classic The
Glass Menagerie, Allen played the demanding part of the
sad, crippled Laura at New England's Long Wharf and
Williamstown Theatres. Joanne Woodward also starred as Laura's
mother, domineering Southern belle Amanda Wingate. The
production's success led to a new film adaptation, directed by
Woodward's husband, Paul Newman, and featuring Allen, Woodward,
John (Making Mr. Right) Malkovich and James (TV's
Planet of the Apes) Naughton, set for September release.
The Glass Menagerie's evolution from stage to screen has
been unusual. "Paul Newman came to see us from time to time,"
recalls Allen. "Then, we started to get all these offers to
take the play to London, New York and other cities. At the same
time, Joanne really wanted to put it on film. We were contacted
by Showtime, HBO and American Playhouse, but the Williams
estate wanted too much money for the rights, so it wasn't
possible to do it for TV."
When Newman decided he wanted to direct a film version of the
play, according to Allen, the money was quickly raised.
Certainly, the character of Laura doesn't fit into the typical
Allen mold. But, strangely enough, Allen says she can identify
with the lame, troubled girl.
"It's not a part of me I choose to show very much, but there
are elements of her that are in my own makeup as well," Karen
Allen says. "Laura is not exactly who I am, but I certainly do
feel close to her."
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