POLICE WOMAN
Number 2, December 1990.
“LA MUJER POLICIA” por Kim
Howard Johnson.
Translated by Eva Rojano and reviewed by Derek Hazell
POLICEWOMAN
by KIM HOWARD JOHNSON.
NANCY ALLEN COMES BACK IN THE
SEQUEL TOUGHER THAN EVER, BUT SHE IS NOT ROBOCOP2.
Allen is a smart feminine blonde that has
opened a way through Hollywood, by
playing roles of passive victims.
"Lewis is a strong
courageous woman, and devoted to her job, that is all I hope to be in my own
life" says Allen. "I had
fun by playing other roles and I loved my character in Blowout.
I have to find a way to love my character; my life situation is reflected
in the roles I play, and in this case, it’s Lewis.
“My personal evolution has made
me get roles of stronger and more interesting women.
When I was young I was very shy and much weaker than now. I think people used to see me in those roles and thought: Oh,
poor baby…”
The actress, who is 5 feet
6 inches tall, is
having lunch in a Houston restaurant and takes coffee sips while explains which
of her roles is closer to the real Nancy Allen.
"In certain way, all of them have some
resemblance with me, but more so than ever I think Lewis.
I resemble this woman a lot, leaving the fact that I have quite a
personal life outside work, but in terms of character, Lewis is the role that I’m
closest to" she says, explaining that her role is not a punching bag
designated to receive aggressions "She is the opposite of that!
As I see it, Lewis is a person full of energy, she is not a victim, but a
person that has absolutely no problems. This
is a problem, that is a problem, and this is what I am going to do about”.
"Lewis is more consistent now; she acts,
instead of reacting. She is always
in action trying to do things, she tries to get pieces for RoboCop, she receives
a call to prevent a crime, and she succeeds!
In the first movie everything turns out
wrong for her" says Allen, laughing "She has grown up, besides, she
has been very close to death and that is something that changes you a lot."
"I
don’t know how things could go sexually speaking, but I think that spiritually
and emotionally, their relationship is open to new developments, they are so
attached to each other."
The green-eyed star says that despite her
character’s apparent toughness the Lewis she knows is not as hard as she looks
like.
"That is only appearance, she is very
feminine, I mean … how can I talk about the interior life of a character? it’s
so personal for me…!"
Working with Director Irvin
Kershner has been a very different experience than working with Paul Verhoeven
in the first RoboCop.
"I hate comparisons between directors!"
says Allen, "I love Kersh; he has a great inspiration, he is very creative,
he is a very considerate person that takes care of the details and the character.
In movies like this one the director can be
tempted to tell you: 'Do what you have to, and I will wrap it with lots of
action'.
He is always aware of details without caring
the movie he is working in, and that is quite a challenge, he is there, adding
some more to the movie…"
Allen says that one of these small
suggestions helped her a lot in one of the key scenes of the film, when she is
facing an opponent and she has a nuke can in her hand.
"When I offer him the nuke can I had already decided how to play the
scene, and everything was going so well but there was a very obvious detail I
hadn’t had in mind: I should act
like a drug addict. I was focusing
the scene from a police woman’s point of view and I was working with the
suspect almost like talking to a child.
That small adjustment by pretending being an addict had a wonderful result, the scene became more dramatic"
And talking about her partner, Peter Weller,
she has only compliments.
Working with an actor inside a robot suit
was again a challenge to Allen in this sequel as she explains, the key
was in
trying to connect with Peter’s eyes:
"I have been trying to find
his eyes and go further his armor, and in all of this there’s certain
frustration, that is not so bad."
Allen says that she heard the rumors that
came up after RoboCop, the rumors that said that Lewis was becoming a feminine
RoboCop.
"That is what everybody
though" says laughing "I suppose this was the first thing that made me
think about making a sequel, because they used to say 'well, she is going to
return as a robot'
I never thought that a real possibility,
because everybody expected it, if you’re going to make a sequel, you cannot
stay with the predictable. I don't
think I would like to play a robot, I don’t know how Peter manages it, I
suffer from claustrophobia!"
Allen affirms to be convinced that the first
RoboCop was going to be a success, but she didn’t imagine that the success was
going to be so huge.
"When
I am playing a role in a film I like to predict if it is going to be good or bad,
and when I saw RoboCop for the first time I thought: It is going to be a Hit, the audience are going to love it,
because everything works so well…”
If I have to tell the truth I
never thought about making a sequel, when people used to talk about it I thought
that was ridiculous. The first time
that I seriously thought about it was when Jon Davidson (the producer) called.
“You know it, right? RoboCop2?”
then I thought: “oh, that’s interesting”
During the years between one movie and
another, lots of stuff related to RoboCop was manufactured, toys, comics and
animated series.
"The other day someone showed me a
Lewis doll, I wasn’t wearing my glasses, but I had the impression that it
resembled me" she laughs "she even had small earrings, like Lewis…
it would have been disappointing for me if they hadn’t made her!
In the last days I saw the animated series -
I didn’t know that there were animated series, till my maid told me: “Oh, my
kids watch RoboCop,” and I asked: 'Really? Where?'
She turned on the TV. And
the series are great, to see Lewis running from one side to another, was awesome.
This week the movie has been shot
at night and Allen had yesterday’s day off, and that’s why she hasn’t had
to wear the police suit, with the police belt, the gun, and the body armor.
She says that running and shooting with all
the equipment on, helps her to give strength to her character.
"Putting the suit on and
grabbing the gun, it’s very nice" she says "of course it means some
physical annoyances, but reality is like that.
The gun, the belt and the rest of a real police equipment, weight a lot
more than what I carry in the movie: the
lantern, two pairs of scuffs, the ammunitions, they weight a ton!"
Allen was going to a police academy in Los
Angeles for two months, three days a week as a preparation for the sequel.
"I learned things I never imagined,
like shooting guns, police techniques.
I feel in love with guns, it was something
that I did not expect. Before, I
didn’t even want to grab a gun, and now I’m thinking of buying one!"
she laughs.
Allen’s father, who passed away some
months ago, was a policeman from New York and she says that her period in the
academy reminded her what is like to live surrounded by cops.
"Memories came back to me, they have
their own behavior and their own slang, and it was very interesting to observe
the women in the force, they weren’t so tough" she jokes.
Preparations for RoboCop2 required more than
the police training, Allen began to do some workout and she learned Martial Arts.
"I learned self-defense and many other techniques. Last night they shot a scene where I had to run, climb a
deposit and stab a guy, they repeated it over and over and that made me
understand why specialists exist. It
was really tiring, notwithstanding the fact that I finished covered with bruises!
Movies are illusions and I prefer not to play certain scenes unless they
are absolutely necessary.
When she is not working, Allen says she has
a busy and normal life.
"I go to the movies, I began taking
equitation classes, also I began jogging and I love to cook.
I know a hundred different ways to prepare chicken and I have a recipe
for baked lamb with garlic, spices and white wine which is delicious.
"I never say no to anything, but a
victim role wouldn’t be the first one I would choose, I think I have covered
this field, much more than the necessary!!"
