STAR FICCIÓN, Spanish edition of  STARLOG

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.  

  1. At first sight that tough policewoman called Anne Lewis and actress Nancy Allen seem to have nothing in common.  Lewis is a veteran police officer whose partner has been turned into the Future of Law Enforcement:   ROBOCOP.

  2.   Allen is a smart feminine blonde that has opened a way through Hollywood,  by playing roles of passive victims.

  3. "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.

  4. “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…”

  5.   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.

  6.   "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”.

  7.     Allen says that in RoboCop2 she has more lines than the first one and notices that her character has been developed.

  8.   "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!

  9.   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."

  10.     "I think the script has progressed in a great way, I couldn’t have done it better and I think that nobody could have done it.  They don’t give us much information about Lewis’s personal life and I think that is because she barely has a life to be called Anne Lewis.  When I was developing the character I used to think:  What does she do when she is not working?  And I don’t think she has an interesting life off duty, I imagine her in an apartment almost empty, and I don’t think she has a lot of dates" says Nancy laughing "We know what we need to know, that she lives for her job, which is a great police officer that cares and respects RoboCop.  She is in love with Murphy; I think she is in love with RoboCop, but it's the love of a partner…it's almost like the love of a wife, without the sexual aspect, it’s something mental and much deeper, they have an spiritual connection" says Allen, observing that many police partners share an intimacy that some marriages don’t have.  "That’s what they say and for the marriages I have seen I think a part of this is true."

  11.  "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."

  12.   The green-eyed star says that despite her character’s apparent toughness the Lewis she knows is not as hard as she looks like.

  13.   "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…!"  

          ROBORUMORS

                                                                                                        

  • 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.

  •   "He is wonderful; he is always by your side, he is always there in any moment."

  •   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.  

          ROBOINFORMS

  • 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.  

  • Nancy Allen prepares to grab a gun and face criminals, giving the impression that she won’t play more defenseless victims.

  •   "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!!"  

 

    

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