— Movie stars are vain. As Fargo's pregnant Marge, McDormand tracks down killers while swathed in a brown uniform that would make Pamela Anderson Lee look dumpy. ‘‘I looked like a huge turd out there in the snow, waddling around. Joel said, 'You know, the character does not have to be as unattractive as you're making her.' But I love the way I look as Marge.’‘

‘‘I remember her saying she'd come to Hollywood and tried to make it,’‘ says director Gregory Hoblit, who talked her into accepting the tiny part of a psychiatrist in the new thriller Primal Fear. ‘‘She would walk into a room with girls all done up with miniskirts, and she said, 'I can't do it.' She's just removed herself from competing with the superficial stuff.’‘

— Movie stars act helpless. ‘‘I can be counted on,’‘ McDormand says. ‘‘When I'm here, I'm here.’‘ John Sayles, who wrote the role of a rabid football fan for her in his new film, Lone Star, agrees. ‘‘There are actors you couldn't ask to make a phone call or to get their own driver's licenses,’‘ he says. ‘‘Fran is so good because she can play competence. In fact, she doesn't have to play it.’‘

‘‘I have friends who are movie stars, and I think it's just as hard a job as being a working actor,’‘ she says diplomatically as she dashes to get a towel for Pedro. ‘‘But it's a different job, and it's not the one I want.’‘

Originally posted Apr 12, 1996 Published in issue #322 Apr 12, 1996 Order article reprints
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