- Elisabeth Brooks,The Howling, 1980.
For those who think $1,000-a-day porno queens are dumb-belles, read on.”I liked the script and the part – the head werewolf,” said the tastiest hard-core queen of the hour, who had writer-directed one of her 89 pornos, Cave Women, in 1979 – withmost sex scenes in long-shot. “But there’s a scene in which the protagonist, a lady reporter, meets the maniac murderer in an adult bookstore, back where the loops are shown in the booths. She’sterrified… There’s the threat of this guy killing her, and you see a flash of what’s playing on the loop, which happens to be a gang-bang rape scene. So, you’ve got this attitude of fright, this tacky little movie going on and this maniac murderer – all inter-cut. And they repeat it over and over, reinforcingthe fright and horror in terms of sex. It’s sexploitation of the worst type and exploitation of my industry. I felt it was counter to the interests of my profession and the sexual revolution.” She regularly refused down other offersfor the same reason. “Most Hollywood people give me a pain. They have this attitude: Here, let me take you out of this. And they offfera menage a trois with a gorilla. Don’t laugh, it happened!” - Melanie Griffith, Body Double,1984. “Annette was astonished that a normal actress had to study lines and read for a part- the most ludicrous idea she’d ever heard of.” Researching his idea (after using a nude body double for Angie Dickinson in Dressed To Kill,l980), director Brian De Palma met with the high priestess of 110 porno flicks. He then wanted her to play his Holly Body (scripted as brunette) until Melanie begged to test. He tested both. Melaniewas the betteractress. (Oh, really?) Losing the opportunity to crossover from X-rated to straight movies,depressed Annette. “Brian was looking for something different than what I had to offer.I’m not a vulnerablefemale-it wouldn’t have been accurate.He made the ideal choice. He got the benefit of my experience, my input [she trained Melanie for her masturbation scene, based on Haven’s X-rated stage act]and could createthe character he wanted. We’d have been at each other’s throats -because I wouldn’t play a punk.Because punk is a nuerotic look.So, Brian is still taking liberties with reality which is, actually, a function of cinema, anyway.” The Columbia executive supporting the film but banning Annette was none other thanCraig Baumgarten…who once produced a porno film,himself (Sometime SweetSusan,l975)and filled in as a body-double for a stud withthe porno equivalent of a cold.
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Casting Calls: 2