There are four so-called ''power vortexes'' in the spectacular red rock canyons of Sedona, Ariz. Their electromagnetic fields are so intense that New Agers claim they bring out the best -- or the worst -- in people.
Two days after Christmas, at a posh resort in the heart of Sedona, a fifth power vortex seems to have formed -- in the bungalow where Debbie Reynolds, 64, and her daughter, Carrie Fisher, 40, are spending the holidays. They have cause to rejoice.
After years of struggling in dinner theater and Vegas, her movie career long forgotten, Reynolds is back. Once a top box office draw for 1950s movies like Singin' in the Rain and Tammy and the Bachelor, Reynolds achieved an unwanted, worldwide celebrity when her first husband, Eddie Fisher, left her for Elizabeth Taylor in 1959. After that, her star began to dim as the studio system waned. Now -- 25 years after her last major film role (in 1971's What's the Matter With Helen?) -- Reynolds is winning raves for her sweetly passive-aggressive performance in Albert Brooks' comedy Mother, and she's thought to be a front-runner for a Best Actress nod when Oscar nominations are announced Feb. 11.
She owes the success, in large part, to Fisher, who urged her mom to take the role. Here in Sedona, the expectation -- the hope! -- is that the normally quick-witted Fisher and the bouncy Reynolds will come off like the unsinkable Molly Brown and Princess Leia triumphantly celebrating Debbie's comeback.
The reality is more complicated; they are far from being in a celebratory mood. There is trouble over the interview itself -- Reynolds claims she didn't know it was set up and is steamed at a publicist for intimating that she forgot it because of her age. Fisher, one of Hollywood's premier script doctors and author of three novels, is said to be ill with a toothache. And, as it turns out, they are both still suffering from chronic bad luck with men. The energy, as they say in Sedona, is out of balance.
Oh, you're here,'' says Reynolds, managing to sound grim and look perky at the same time. She wears a pastel-colored sweatsuit, full makeup, and a slightly sour expression. A second later, Fisher -- wearing mismatched clothes and no makeup, looking exhausted -- emerges from a back room. They sit down on the couch as if they were preparing for the root canal Fisher recently endured. After a little chitchat, Reynolds cuts to the chase. ''What's the theme here?''
Reynolds thaws slightly when asked how she got the part in Mother, and readily tells the story. Cowriter-director-actor Albert Brooks, playing Reynolds' son who moves in with her after his second divorce, wanted to cast an older actress who hadn't been seen in movies in recent years. He had met with Nancy Reagan and Esther Williams (but offered neither the role), and had sought Doris Day, but discovered she was retired. Looking at her mother, Fisher says, ''I saw Doris recently and she looked fabulous, like she just had work or something.''
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