Movieline itws.
Journalist Martha Frankel interviewed Madeleine in 1993 and in 1998.
I love the way she wrote the itw.
1993: When I get to Stowe's house, her husband meets me at the door. "Come on in," he says, so I do. (...) Madeleine is standing in front of us... (...) We shake hands, and then she sort of pushes me out the door (...). Brian walks us to the car, (...) he pulls her to him, puts one hand deep into her hair, massages her neck, and kisses her good-bye.
1998: Across the room, one-year-old May Benben sees her mommy and laughs with delight. Stowe scoops her up, and for once the actress, who often looks in normal life like a deer caught in headlights, seems relaxed and happy.
1993: The house looks like he and Madeleine just got there--boxes on the dining room table, sheets thrown over the couches, nothing on the walls.
1998: I'm wondering if she and husband, Brian Benben, have changed their ways since having a baby. (...) Nah--now there are just baby things adding to the clutter.
1993: We laugh so hard we have to pull over to the side of the road.
1998: We drive along the ocean through Malibu in Stowe's car going very, very fast. (...) Stowe does a 180-degree turn with almost no braking and now we're headed back to Santa Monica. Even faster.
And the little things Mads confessed:
1993: "My dad was sick from the time I was six, he had MS, and it was uncomfortable for me to bring other kids into the house because of what was going on. (...)".
"I know you play the piano," I say (...). "The violin, too." (...) she says.
"I never used to feel particularly nervous about love scenes. As I get older, I feel a lot more vulnerable about the whole situation, and it's very, very difficult for me to get in bed with another man."
(...) lemon-tasting gum that Stowe loves (...).
"I was coming off an airplane after I finished Blink, and Brian came to pick me up, and right away there were like six photographers who leapt in front of us and started taking pictures. I felt really horrible. I mean, my arms were shaking and I kept my head down and I was ill. I understand that you should be thrilled in a sense over that kind of recognition, but I was so upset and shaken by it."
"How long have you guys been together?" - "Brian and I? Since 1980. (...) We talk on the phone, at least twice a day. (...) It's so important."
"When I was a kid, my biggest crush was on Joel McCrea."
"I really don't have friends. I have about maybe two good friends."
1998: (about having May) "I'm good at this," she says. "Really good. I didn't know if I would be, because I don't really know that many people with kids."
"My sister used to go to church and fantasize about the priests," Stowe says. "You know, when we were kids...we used to play what we called Nasty Barbies, where we'd have Ken jump on Barbie and hump her. I didn't even know what it was, but it was a real turn-on."
"My best friend when I was a kid was a girl named Mary," says Stowe. "She was about a year older than me and I was just in awe of her. I loved her. One day she started talking about lesbians, and I didn't know what that was. And she said, 'Lesbians are when two women grow up, they get to marry each other.' And I went home and said, 'Mom, Mary said when we grow up we can marry each other!' I was elated. It wasn't sexualized in any way, but my mother, needless to say, was speechless."
"To me, one of the great sexy moments of all time is that moment between Harrison Ford and Kelly McGillis in Witness, where they just look at each other. You don't know if they're going to stay together or what. That was the orgasm, right there."
I am embarrassed to admit it, but Stowe and I drive along yelling, "Eat my pussy," at the top of our lungs for a full 10 minutes. We are in spasms of hysteria before we realize that other drivers are staring at us.
"I'm ambitious, I care about my career...." - "Madeleine," I say, "if you really cared, you wouldn't take two years off between films. You'd be out here going to premieres, being in the public eye...."
"Can I tell you something personal?" she asks. (...) "When I think of actors being sexy on-screen, I realize that personally, I find that a lot of the directors I worked with are far sexier than the actors I've worked with, because they're really good at what they do." (...) "Just don't tell anyone that I said that."
As Stowe gets out of the car, I notice how tiny she is and I can't believe she had a baby anytime in the last decade. (...) (She ate) a huge lunch that ended with a gigantic piece of chocolate cake. (...) "Madeleine," I ask, "do you ever diet or work out or watch your weight?" She laughs her laugh and says she doesn't do any of that. (...) "You just eat whatever you want?" (...) Stowe tells me that's exactly what she does, and proceeds to explain that she buys her jeans three sizes too big so she doesn't have to unsnap them after she eats. "I know you think I'm crazy," she adds when she sees my expression.
Final words from Martha Frankel:
1993: I feel as if I've been given a gift, and so, for the first time in my life, I don't snoop around, I don't ask a million questions. I just sit and have a glass of juice and watch Madeleine try to act as if this is the kind of thing she does every day.
1998: But I don't think Madeleine Stowe is crazy. She's just not at all like any other actress I've ever interviewed.
