http://www.richmond.com/output.cfm?ID=1005534
This Contender's Light But No Lightweight
Local actress Irene Ziegler plays Gary Oldman's wife in "The Contender."
Irene Ziegler
Nicole McMullin
richmond.com
Friday October 13, 2000
It's not unusual for a film actress to be told to lose weight for a part, but Irene Ziegler had a different problem at her audition for "The Contender" -- she was asked to put on a few pounds.
"My agent arranged an audition with ["Contender" writer and director] Rod Lurie. It was unusual that he sat in on my first reading," recalls Ziegler. "I initially read for the part that went to Muriel Hemingway, but Lurie asked me to read a second part" -- that of May Runyon, the wife of Gary Oldman's character, U.S. Sen. Shelly Runyon.
"[Lurie] liked my read, but he had a problem with me physically. He wanted me to gain 10 pounds."
Ziegler's second audition, reading opposite Gary Oldman, produced the same results. Oldman also wanted her to put on a few pounds. "Apparently they were looking for a different type. More similar to Kathy Bates," says Ziegler.
Despite having just lost five pounds at Weight Watchers, the veteran actress landed the role anyway.
Ziegler, familiar to local theatergoers for her many performances with Theatre IV, TheatreVirginia, and the Barksdale, was on the set of "The Contender" for three days, playing opposite Oldman in the role of the senator's wife. "It was a typical experience," says Ziegler, who has acted in other feature films such as "G.I. Jane" and has appeared on TV shows including "Dawson's Creek" and "Homicide: Life on the Street."
That "typical experience" included some rather atypical company, though, for Ziegler, who acted alongside Joan Allen, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges, Sam Elliott and Christian Slater.
Behind The Scenes
"Joan Allen was nice. She was very down to earth and she didn't act like a movie star," Ziegler reveals, "but Gary Oldman I found to be closed off and a bit cold. … He wasn't friendly or unfriendly. He responded when I spoke but didn't initiate any conversations."
Actors' temperaments aside, Ziegler enjoyed working in "The Contender," and she's one of the many local talents still singing the praises of "Contender" director Rod Lurie. "He invited a lot of local cast to the Jefferson [Hotel] for the initial roundtable reading. Sitting at the table with Sam Elliott, Jeff Bridges, Christian Slater and Joan Allen was the coolest part. The mix of locals and celebrities was quite harmonized."
The local film community is made up of "very professional people," Ziegler says, "but it has been difficult to convince a lot of people from Hollywood that we're worthy of their time."
The Virginia Film Office is working vigorously to change this sentiment. Last year's production of "The Contender" was followed by the Richmond-area filming of "Hannibal" this summer, starring Sir Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore. And Hopkins plans to return to Richmond soon to film the upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's Vietnam War-era novel "Hearts In Atlantis," which is just beginning the early stages of production here.
Gov. Jim Gilmore announced this summer that film and video production in the state increased to an all-time high of $76 million in 1999, a 5.5 percent increase over 1998 and a 137 percent increase over 1996. Nearly half of that money came from film productions in Richmond and the Central Virginia region.
Actors and non-actors alike share Ziegler's enthusiasm about the Virginia film industry. Virginia's new role, however, may still take a bit of getting used to. Says Ziegler: "It's like sitting at the table with the big kids. I belong, but there's still a sense of wow!"
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