Even though she was one among seven, Christa McAuliffe,
who would have been the first teacher in space, was the focus of
most of the press attention before and after the Challenger
exploded. So it's appropriate that Karen Allen, who plays Ms.
McAuliffe in Challenger, gets not only top billing but the most
attention in the three-hour movie airing at 8 p.m. Sunday on
WSB/Channel 2.
LOS ANGELES - Challenger 8 p.m. Sunday on WSB/Channel 2
She hasn't made another movie with the box-office clout of
Raiders of the Lost Ark, but she's developed a solid body of work
in movies such as Starman, Shoot the Moon and The Glass
Menagerie.
"I knew very little about Christa McAuliffe," says Ms. Allen, who
had her brown hair done in a soft curly permanent to better
resemble the character.
"But I looked at a lot of interviews with her and I really began to
feel that I knew her. I began to become acquainted with her and
liked her enormously.
"She seemed to be an extraordinarily positive person. There was
very little question to me why she was chosen out of 11,000
teachers who applied to go on the Challenger."
Ms. Allen plays Ms. McAuliffe as extraordinarily positive -
relentlessly cheerful, brighter than a supernova. It's not a very
complex portrait, which may be more the fault more of the script
than of Ms. Allen's ability, but she defends the portrayal.
"It was a great moment in her life," she says. "She was on a
high leading up to it."
"I think she was approaching it the launch with an enormous
amount of excit ement at the opportunities, not only those that were
presented in her going up, but what she was going to be able to
bring back with her, to share that over the next couple of years
when she would have traveled around and talked to students all over
the country."
That, of course, didn't happen. The Challenger exploded Jan. 28,
1986, killing Ms. McAuliffe and her six companions.
"I don't think I went into the project knowing what an emotional
experience it was going to be playing this character, to work with
the other actors playing the astronauts and to be at NASA working
every day with a lot of people who knew them well," Ms. Allen says.
"There were times when it was very difficult because the reality
would wash across you."
Copyright © 1990 Atlanta Newspapers, Inc.