Sally Field says roles about women 'trying to find a man' never appealed to her
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Sally Field has opened up about one role that never appealed to her and that she resisted throughout her decades-long career in Hollywood.
The legendary actress spoke with PEOPLE recently as her new Netflix drama ‘Remarkably Bright Creatures’ began streaming on May 8. She has played a variety of roles — from a carefree California teen surfer and a flying nun to a revolutionary pro-union textile worker — in her over 60-year career.
Sally Field says 'stories about women trying to find a man' does not attract her
But when it comes to “stories about women that are trying to find a man,” the 79-year-old star could not commit to it.
“I didn’t like it then, and it doesn’t appeal to me now, because I think women are about so much more. Life is so much more complicated than that,” Field asserted.
Though the Oscar-winning actress has said that she does not like such roles, she did one of that kind in 2015's ‘Hello, My Name Is Doris’. Field was seen in the movie as Doris Miller in her 60s, who starts liking her younger coworker and romantically tries to pursue him.
Sally Field talks about her childhood experiences and how she used to do 'Norma Rae'
Elsewhere in the interview, Field explained how her traumatic childhood helped her get her first Oscar for the 1979 union drama — ‘Norma Rae’.
“Being a little girl raised in the '50s and having a very complicated childhood with my stepfather and even my mother at times, I was filled with rage. Really filled with rage. And it was working with [acting coach] Lee Strasburg that allowed me to begin to tap into it, to not let it devour me,” she described.
Recalling further, the ‘Steel Magnolias’ actress said, “I asked [director] Marty Ritt, ‘How angry can I be here?’ He said, ‘How angry are you?’ And I said, ‘Angry.’ And so that was the first time I was ever really able to learn how to tap into my own rage on film.”
Sally Field accuses Burt Reynold of trying to control her
During her lengthy interview, Field also shed light on her troubled relationship with Burt Reynolds.
She claimed that Reynolds was against her doing her Oscar-winning performance in ‘Norma Rae’.
“It was the beginning of me pulling away when he didn't want me to do ‘Norma Rae’. He wanted to control me, and because I was standing up, he said, 'Boy, you're letting this get the better of you.' And I said, 'This is the better of me,’” she shared, before adding, “I did the film. But it was the beginning of me finding my legs.”
