| lot in our cars, Michelle, looking like the breath of spring, was already installed in a camper. She had been signed for the role of Sukie Ridgemont but had come to read with us. The screen test was set up on a garishly lit set with a lot of green sidelighting, which I was all too aware did not enhance my features. The dialogue was tough to deliver, and in all the Oscar excitement, I hadn’t the time nor the concentration to learn the lines as well as I should have. Needless to say, I was terrible. As we walked away from the set after saying goodbye to Michelle, Amy said, “Well, I don’t think we’re in any danger of getting cast!” It was humiliating. Ultimately, I think it was probably best that they didn’t cast me. I had temporarily lost my confidence. On one hand, I was mad at Jack for not calling George Miller and standing up for me, and on the other I’d probably have resented him if he’d called in the favor. Cher was great in the role. I hadn’t really been aware of Jack’s reputation at first. It kind of grew over time, I think, that idea of Jack: He’s so baaad! Even though Warren Beatty was one of his best friends, I wasn’t recognizing Jack as a world-class philanderer at the time. For as prolific as he seems to have been, and as I have heard reported, he was actually quite discreet. Occasionally, I’d |
summertime was an explosion of green, red, yellow, orange, purple, and gold. The rivers ran fast and cold down from the mountains. Hiking on Hunter Creek, the air was fresh with the scent of pine. On the lower elevations, pale delicate ferns broke through the moss, and the silver-barked trees fluttered and whispered in the breeze. I loved climbing the narrow trails, often on horseback, when more often than not I would temporarily lose my way and have to circumnavigate streams and gulches on the descent. One day I almost lost my life on a thoroughbred racehorse that tried to back me over a ravine into the Roaring Fork River. But they were halcyon days, golden days. The fields were rich with Indian paintbrush, crocus, and edelweiss, and the sun cast long golden shadows before the sky turned pink in the evening, then a cool translucent blue as the stars came out. The bears came into town to hulk around the garbage dump just north of Hallam Lake, where Jack and Lou had purchased a beautiful Victorian mansion, forest green with white trim, on the edge of town, “to hang my pictures and watch football on Sundays with the lads!” There was no thrill too fast nor risk too fearsome that didn’t get serious consideration. Many of our dear friends from the mountains had the impermanence and fleeting quality of the drifting snow—locals, artists, athletes, drug dealers, and movie stars, a heady combination of interesting and good-looking people. Music |
