LOHAN in “Liz & Dick,” with Grant Bowler as Richard Burton
LOS ANGELES—“I learned from my mistakes,” Lindsay Lohan declared recently at her first print press conference to promote “Liz & Dick,” a TV movie where she plays the late Elizabeth Taylor.
The controversial actress, clad in a light blue dress and matching shoes, spoke in her distinctive husky voice as she answered questions right after the first-ever media screening of “Liz & Dick” at the ICM Screening Room of the MGM Tower in Los Angeles. Lindsay appeared buoyed by the prospects of this cable network film and other coming projects—after coping with the past few turbulent years, during which notoriety often overshadowed her acting talent.
Once described as “the ultimate Hollywood train wreck,” the former child actress made news for various reasons—from car accidents and chases to several rehab stints, alleged bad behavior on the set, jail sentences, parole violations, hard partying, reported experiments with drugs, family spats, and even a jewelry theft case. Referring to those incidents indirectly by saying, “I’ve put myself in positions,” Lindsay seemed eager to turn a new leaf.
Not a saint
MOVIE within a movie: Bowler and Lohan as Liz and Dick in “Cleopatra”
“People grow and change,” declared the 26-year-old actress, pretty and looking like a young Ann-Margret. She was immaculately groomed, from makeup to long red hair carefully arranged on the right side. She often switched between “I” and “you” to refer to herself: “You have life experiences and I had some very traumatic ones, very serious ones. I’ve had them my whole life since I was a child. I’m really lucky because it could have been too late; I could have learned it later in life.”
Lindsay, legs crossed as she sat in a director’s chair, stressed: “But now, I know what to do. That’s not to say I’m a saint … because if I [thought] I was perfect, I wouldn’t be making movies. I’d just be boring. You draw from experiences. That’s where I am right now. I’m drawing from the things that I’ve seen and grown up with. I didn’t want to go back.”
When we asked what kept her going in the toughest times, Lindsay credited her family. “My mom and siblings,” replied the actress whom we first interviewed for “The Parent Trap,” when she was 12. “We really have just each other … that has a lot to do with it and having those kinds of people support me. I’ve had my manager since I started. I know I’ve had some faults, but knowing that and knowing that I love what I do and I am good at it—that has kept me going.”
She claimed that her close relationship with her mom, Dina Lohan, a controversial figure herself, was one of the similarities she shared with her true-to-life character, Elizabeth Taylor.
In “Liz & Dick,” Theresa Russell plays Sara Taylor, mother of the legendary actress. “There’s a certain bond that a mother and daughter create especially when there’s not a fatherly figure in your life,” said Lindsay, who is estranged from her father, Michael, a “Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew” TV show veteran who has had his own brushes with the law.
“And the fact that her mother didn’t want to see her daughter hurt,” added Lindsay, an articulate speaker who answered questions without pauses or hesitation. “She didn’t want that for Elizabeth. My mom never wanted that for me. Elizabeth and I are both very strong-willed. That’s a similarity that my mom had to deal with. It’s hard for her to tell me what to do and not do. She’s still going to be there for me, but there’s only so much that a parent can do. You have to learn it yourself. I related to that with Elizabeth and her mom.”
LINDSAY at the press con photo: Ruben V. Nepales
Mom is stronger
Lindsay conceded that Dina is stronger than she is. “She is the strongest woman I know,” said the actress, who is called LiLo for short by tabloid, blog and entertainment writers. “She’s been through—pardon my French—hell and back. She’s a really strong woman; I got it all from her. And my grandmother’s a really tough cookie, too. She’s Sicilian.”
Lindsay plays Elizabeth with obvious relish in “Liz & Dick,” which focuses on the fiery and tumultuous romance between the iconic actress who died last year and Richard Burton (Grant Bowler). The movie, directed by Lloyd Kramer, premieres in the United States on Nov. 25, 9 p.m., ET/PT on the Lifetime cable channel. “I really related to Elizabeth in a lot of different aspects because of her position in the public eye and the media obsession with her, her ups and downs in life relationships, and love for diamonds. She was an incredible woman—what she did for people with AIDS. She really had her heart and soul in people. That shows a lot about who she was.”
Lindsay admitted that several scenes resonated with her. “One was the scene where Elizabeth says, ‘They (paparazzi) used to take only the glamorous shots.’ When I first started acting, you want your picture taken, and you love that they’re taking these nice shots of you.”
She mused: “Maybe among the reasons I was chosen to play Elizabeth was that she was one of the first stars to experience [the paparazzi].” The term was reportedly coined for Elizabeth and Richard when they were in Rome in the ’60s. “That’s something I’ve really had to deal with a lot, and she did, too. She was one of the first in the tabloids. She [saw] how the pictures went from glamorous to not so [glamorous]. That’s something I deal with in a lot of ways, like Liz did.” Smiling, Lindsay corrected herself: “Elizabeth, sorry. I feel like she’s going to yell at me.” Apparently, Elizabeth had hated her nickname.
Very stubborn
Asked if being hounded by the paparazzi had ever made her consider changing careers, Lindsay answered: “There was a point when it got really lonely. I was being hounded a lot. I didn’t know what do … I didn’t want to listen to anyone. I was very stubborn. I think Elizabeth was like that in her love life.”
Lindsay said her passion as an actress trumped the paparazzi problem. She remembered asking herself, “Do I do this or do I take the easy way out and just stop? But I love acting … It’s unfortunate that people began to know me as a celebrity rather than as an actress. I can hope to gain that respect back only through my work.”
She regards “Liz & Dick” as a step toward reclaiming her acting cred. That was why she fought hard to get the role. “I didn’t get the project at first,” she revealed. “I started calling and harassing agents … because I felt people were hesitant [to cast me], which I understood. I actually said, ‘I’ll just do it for free.’ My agent was like, ‘No, no, no, don’t say that.’ It’s not that everyone believed in me enough to give me the role.”
On the well-known passionate romance of the couple now referred to by some as the original Brangelina, Lindsay commented: “I can only imagine the kind of love that Elizabeth and Richard had. It’s such a wonderful thing, [if] heartbreaking. Love is scary. I’ve yet to find that one person [for me]. I relate to Elizabeth’s quote, ‘I love being in love.’ I really do. There’s a lot of things to love about life. There’s nothing better than that first feeling of being in love; I look forward to having that at some point.”
She remarked about the couple’s volatile relationship: “I think Elizabeth and Richard became very toxic for each other.”
Taylor and Burton divorced in 1974, remarried in 1975 and separated again a year later.
Lindsay stressed: “I didn’t know them personally [but] when you love someone so much, it can get so aggravating and scary. I think Elizabeth’s fear was that she was going to be the one that finally got cheated on. It was vulnerability that she never wanted to feel.”
The fact that Elizabeth and Richard were both drinkers, said Lindsay, was not a good combination. “I think that was the moment she took it upon herself to say [to Richard], ‘Look, I can’t watch you self-destruct.’ That’s what I got from her nurse. Elizabeth and Richard loved each other so much, it was scary. [But] he had a lot of women; that didn’t help.”
Asked if the Burtons’ life of fame and extravagance somehow resonated with her, Lindsay candidly replied: “There are certain things that you experience, especially when you reach a certain point of fame where people are afraid to say no [to you]. I think that has a lot to do with living in excess.”
She added: “Again, if you don’t have the right people around you, then you’re never going to learn when to stop. You’re done. It comes a lot more now in different ways. But if you think about it, people lived in excess in the ’80s and ’90s. History repeats itself. I was there at one point because I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t take the time to listen enough. I relate to Elizabeth in that way.”
Lindsay never met the iconic actress although she had a chance. “Elizabeth and I shared a makeup artist named Paul Starr,” she recounted. “He kept inviting me to Elizabeth’s house. He said that she would have me over for dinner. I was just too scared. She ended up sending me a ring from her House of Taylor collection with a note. That’s really precious to me.”
Unfortunately, Paul passed away, she said. “He was my connection to her. So I didn’t get to meet her. I’d have loved to. I’ve had a lot of people say she would have been a good person to converse with.”
Lindsay admitted that she shared Elizabeth’s well-known passion for sparkling stones. “I love diamonds,” she said, laughing. “I love jewelry. Ask anyone who knows me.” She revealed another affinity with La Liz: “A nurse who was with her for seven years was on the set with me a lot. I would look [to her] for guidance because she spent so much time with Elizabeth. She gave me one of Elizabeth’s furs and a piece of jewelry. Those are probably the most precious that I have, especially after having this [“Liz & Dick”] experience.”
Known for living in hotels, Lindsay—who stayed for a long period at LA’s famed Chateau Marmont—said she didn’t have a home these days. She is also noted for putting her clothes in several places, including storage facilities. “I might be moving soon but most of my clothes are at home,” she said with a chuckle. “Some are at my mother’s when I travel. I do have a lot of storage units. It’s not just because I was living in hotels; but when I was working a lot more, which I’ll be doing soon again, I was always on the move … So you feel like you have less, and you end up buying more. And people are sending you things so it piles up… ”
Lindsay may keep her passion for clothes but she sounded intent to change other aspects of her life. “I’m very determined these days,” she declared. Then, laughing again, she quipped, “I make the calls myself. I’m serious. My life is different now.” (Shortly after our interview, Lindsay terminated her publicist and hired a new one.)
Busy schedule
She rattled off her busy work schedule to prove her point about the changes in her life: “After I finished ‘Liz & Dick,’ I had a week off. Then I went straight to a movie, ‘The Canyons,’ which was completely different, film-wise. It was a guerilla shoot, as Paul Schrader (director) calls it. There were no trailers. It was very unglamorous. Paul was like, ‘You’re not going to have this, not have that.’ I said, ‘That’s fine. I want to do the movie.’ Then I had maybe three weeks off and I then did ‘Scary Movie 5.’ ”
She pointed out: “I want to keep working. I actually said to everyone I worked with, ‘Just keep me on the set because that’s where I’m happiest.’ I lost that feeling and now that I have it back, I’ve had a great taste of it. I don’t want to give it up. I just want to keep making films.”
What made her focus again? “Sitting back and seeing all of these other young actresses come up,” she confessed. “I said, ‘I could have done that.’ And knowing that I was missing out on what I loved best.”
How did she see herself in 10 years? Lindsay chuckled and said, “Ten years is too long. Maybe I’m settled down but still acting. I am very happy today. I feel really honored to have people who took a chance on me, trusting me after all that’s been said. I couldn’t thank them enough.”
And with a smile, she added, “Hopefully with an award or several.”
E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com. Follow him at https://twitter.com/nepalesruben.