Who's (Supposedly) Who

[vardathemessage]

script:
CECIL
(voice-over)
And there, at the center of it, was Brian’s American wife, Mandy, whose dramatic transformation to London party girl was a constant source of amusement to us all.

Of course Mandy is an incarnation of Angela Bowie, David Bowie's American wife. Notice in the opening minutes of Ziggy Stardust, The Motion Picture, Angie pops in on Bowie backstage being made up by Pierre La Roche and speaks in several voices and accents in the space of 3 minutes. She also says a line in perfectly accented French to LaRoche. According to Todd, this type of camp female character has mostly disappeared from our cultural landscape. As he says in the introduction to the script, "Mandy has a theatrical, campy party girl persona that can be turned on and off at will, and owes a great deal to the gay male sensibility of the time." Mandy has something in common with Liza Minnelli's fabulous portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 1972 film Cabaret as well. It seems these women instinctively knew that they had to be larger than life to stand out in the world of the preening peacocks that they lived among.

While Cecil's assessment of Mandy is quite catty, it echoes the feelings that Ken Pitt had for Angela Bowie.

Comments

[lauramcewan.livejournal.com]

Mandy has something in common with Liza Minnelli's fabulous portrayal of Sally Bowles in the 1972 film Cabaret as well. It seems these women instinctively knew that had to be larger than life to stand out in the world of the preening peacocks that they lived among.


Wow that you would mention this. I watched Cabaret for the first time a few months ago and Sally reminded me constantly of Mandy - mannerisms, voices, all of it.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

I'm glad Liza won the Oscar for her performance, I think she truly deserved it.

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

According to Todd, this type of camp female character has mostly disappeared from our cultural landscape.

Is this really the case? There are plenty of self-styled 'fag hags' who have a pretty outrageous, flamboyant campiness that stands up well to that of the gay men they be-friend. Think of Margaret Cho (the best example), Madonna (Rupert Everett being merely the most recent of her gay pals), or all those charming straight old school gals who are still around and kicking, the Bette Midlers, Chers, and so on.

And you mention Liza's character in Cabaret, but she herself has always been married to/associated with gay or gay-perceived men like Peter Allen and that David chap.

[vardathemessage.livejournal.com]

I see your point. However, I think Todd was referring to the difficultly finding the right actress in casting the role. This is the larger quote, and I've read other interviews where he's said something similar. "Mandy was the hardest part to cast in the film. It's a particularly demanding role due to the range Mandy has to display as she changes from the seventies to the eighties. This type of camp female character has basically vanished from our cultural landscape, as far as I can tell. The closest equivalent today is probably a Parker Posy-type character, but she's still quite different from the Liza Minnelli of Cabaret or the Angela Bowie of the glam era."

While Margaret Cho is fabulous, she is essentially a comedian. (We'll politely skirt over the dramatic range of dear Maddy) And as you say Cher and Bette – especially of the Divine Miss M years – are old school. So, in other words, can we imagine another actress portraying Mandy? This is a little similar to the casting of Curt Wild. Todd said most of the younger generation of actors are the moody brooding types rather than the extrovert he needed for the role.

As for Liza and her succession of gay or perceived to be gay husbands, she was just copying Judy after all.;-)

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Funny he mentioned Parker Posey, because I had to stop myself from mentioning her when I wrote my response. Damn right.

Thanks for the full context of the quote -- this is exactly why I admire directors who cast Toni Collette. She consistently displays a range that most actors cannot hope to match. From Muriel to Carla (and everything in between), she never fails to amaze me.

As for Ewan, I suppose this fitness for the part is so obvious in retrospect that it's hard to imagine Todd not immediately leaping to that conclusion. Extrovert, yes. Repeatedly and proudly naked in almost every film? Yes.