Happy Birthday to the One and Only Michelle Pfeiffer
Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 4:00PM by Nathaniel R
Pfeiffer last week at the Scarface reunion screening in NYCHappy 60th birthday to Michelle Pfeiffer! Looking as perfect as ever.
It's been so thrilling to witness the RePfeiffal this past year beginning with her stealing the gonzo show in mother!, to pulling some focus in the box office hit Murder on the Orient Express, receiving an Emmy nod for Wizard of Lies, and then winning rave reviews for the very bleak Where is Kyra? in which she plays a destitute woman suddenly in a very dark place when the only thing keeping her going (caring for her ill mother) is gone. Next up is something lighter for the masses with the role of Janet van Dyne (the original Wasp) in Ant Man and the Wasp. This will be her first superhero outing since her indelible Oscar worthy star turn in Batman Returns (1992) and will surely be added to her pile of $100 million plus domestic hits...
Marvel recently revealed that the plot of Ant Man and the Wasp is about the search for her character specifically. There has already been plentiful theorizing online that the long missing presumed dead Van Dyne is in "the Quantum Realm" and the exploration / secrets of the Quantum Realm (briefly scene in both the first Ant Man film and the first Doctor Strange film if I recall correctly) will also somehow tie in to how Marvel will rescue itself from the faux bloodbath at the end of Avengers: Infinity War in which AVENGERS SPOILER...
they killed off so many major characters they've basically committed suicide as a powerhouse movie studio unless they resurrect them. I'm not joking. Two of the many deaths alone -- namely Black Panther and Spider-Man are worth at least 10 billion each in immediate future revenue as they're just at the beginning of their insane franchise popularity with the current stars. This is why we can't figure why anyone is taking the ending of that movie seriously, but many people including critics and media types who really ought to know better are. Why are people so gullible? /SPOILER
Anyway. before Ant Man and the Wasp even opens Pfeiffer's lining up another similarly surefire box office hit so we're hopeful for maybe the pfirst time ever in her pfrequent intermittent "comebacks" that she actually plan to stick around this time. She's in advance talks to play the Queen in Maleficent 2 opposite Angelina Jolie who herself had seemingly all but retired post By The Sea (2015). Given that Maleficent 2 isn't operating off of the Sleeping Beauty myth anymore who knows what that plot might be like or how large a role the queen might have. But if any female movie star can hold her own in the very specific realm of the franchise popcorn picture against the supersized screen presence of Jolie, it's surely La Pfeiffer.
My favorite reaction to all the "Michelle Pfeiffer Joins Maleficent Sequel" headlines came from our very own Jason Adams, who tweeted.
Michelle Pfeiffer doesn’t join movies
— Jason Adams (@JAMNPP) April 28, 2018
Movies join Michelle Pfeiffer
Damn right!
So happy birthday to my lifelong pfav and pforever queen. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you for coming back to us. Please stick around for once!
P.S. Over on twitter I indulged in some pfandom as well so I'm lifting this impromptu list I made to make this post a bit more celebratory
Her 10 best performances according to this lifelong Pfan (subject to change with each rewatch)
— Nathaniel Rogers (@nathanielr) April 29, 2018
1) Fabulous Baker Boys
2) Batman Returns
3) White Oleander
4) Scarface
5) Dangerous Liaisons
6) mother!
7) Married to Mob
8) What Lies Beneath
9) Age of Innocence
10) Where is Kyra? pic.twitter.com/0dUfk3S5te
Reader Comments (28)
I like she is working but her poor choices haven't diminished,At least she's out there though.
I'm still irked she wasn't Oscar-nominated for mother!
60? She looks like she's in her early 40s. She looks incredible. I'm eager to see her in Ant-Man & Wasp and hopefully Infinity War II.
I like her, but her recent movies ( IMO 0 were horrible. I have not seen Kyra movie yet.
I am disappointed that she is going the "easy way" for exposure in 2 action movies.
I think she is a much better actress than that. Oh well, I guess she feels that people have forgotten her. RIGHTLY SO!
I hate to be that guy, but... I clicked on this to read a tribute to MIchelle Pfeiffer, and instead got "spoilers" for a movie that she is pretty much not in. Huh??
I’m glad she’s back and working but haven’t been loving her recent work at all, really.
Well no matter the quality of her movies 2017. They did not feel as much as a non-event as her 2011-2012 run did: New Year's Eve, People Liks Us, Dark Shadows. All did relatively pretty bad at the box office, and god middling reviews. (At least she was good in People Like Us).
Mother! was a polarizing picture by Aronofsky with a scene-stealing role for Pfeiffer.
Murder on the Orient Express did good at the box office
and Where Is Kyra? reminds at least the critcs about the screen presence and acting talent of La Pfeiffer.
Ant-Man and the Wasp will give her more exposure. (Even though Ant-Man at the moment feels like one of the minor Marvel entries). I am happy to see Pfeiffer in a queen role in Maleifcent 2. Two magnetic screen presences in one film. I am here for it!
She's a goddess! Can't wait to watch the Kyra movie. Someone else spoke about People like Us...that was a great supporting performance. In fact, had she been much younger, she and Chris Pine would have made a lovely rom-com couple. But I wish she could have gotten other roles - not Murder on Orient or even Ant Man. She deserves better.
Her work in Where is Kyra? is absolutely stunning. We need to start the Oscar campaign.
guest -- critique noted and agreed with. sorry. but at least I labelled it as such!
Today is Uma Thurman’s bday as well.
Michelle always rocks, love her!
She was phenomenal in Murder on the Orient Express.. Love her.. i saw the old one too. she very good.. especially the last scene and don't forget the singing.. :)
In Mother! - love her scenes, intimidated Jennifer Lawrence.. AWESOME!!!
What?! Thurman and Pfieffer share a birthday! OMG.
Huh -- and Daniel Day Lewis, too!
I watched Hairspray the past few days and Pfeiffer was quite good as the racist former beauty queen Velma Von Tussle. She sings well in her numbers and in the context of the movie, I can see why she is a former beauty pageant winner. Her little gestures, smirks, dismissive air and her constantly watchable scenes especially when she is throwing her weight around in the TV studio made for much too much campy fun.
Did you hate Wizard of Lies so much that you just couldn't bring yourself to mention her Emmy and Golden Globe noms for it? Lol. Can't really blame you, it was so boring, but she did great character work in it.
Her performance in WHERE IS KYRA? is her best work ever and it's a shame hardly anyone will get to see it. Maybe they'll release the DVD in the fall and try to mount a small campaign for her, but I doubt it.
Heyya -- i loved her in Wizard of Lies but did forget it while writing this post ;) agreed that the film was dull but she was aces in it. I obviously think she's very good in WHERE IS KYRA but I'm utterly baffled that people are saying it's her best performance. I keep thinking "did people just forget how talented she is?" which is entirely possible.
I wish she had a leading role in a dramatic Woody Allen movie, like Blanchett and Winslet, who gave their best performances like ever acting his screenplays. I can totally see Pfeiffer excelling in one of those gigantic implosions of women.
David O Russell is too abusive a collaborate for me to wish a pairing of the two. And Aronofsky is too much into his own ideas to build an awesome character for her to play leading the movie. Paul Thomas Anderson honestly thinks he'll create magic with Tiffany Haddish but now I'm consumed with the idea he'd be a wonderful fit for Michelle and her Oscar-less sister Sigourney.
For those being overly harsh with her current choices--remember the roles for women over 40 aren't ever that juicy. And we're celebrating her 60th birthday. Hollywood will not prioritize her as they do Streep and the foreigners so stop beating her up for not getting their opportunities.
I don't think her recent choices have been poor at all. Working with directors like Aronofsky and Branagh make huge sense on paper (and let her steal the show twice in one year).
And then a Marvel film and Malificent are sensible commercial decisions to get her name out there again (plus the thought of Pfeiffer and Jolie vamping it up together on screen is too delicious to be mad at).
Like everyone, I wish she was making more daring and exciting films with the likes of Andrew Dosunmu and Bradford Young, but like /3rtful said, those roles for an actress of 60 are few and far between.
She's doing good, this 'comeback' is going well.
I feel Pfeiifeer is ready for the Oscar,this is where it starts,little roles,a so called snub and Big Budget supporting roles leading to that role that gets you the win.
Wow, Michelle totally looks like Madonna in that first picture, who is also turning 60 this year!!
Thank you for this post!
I'm going to pour some love towards two under appreciated performances: The Deep End of the Ocean and Frankie & Johnny. No one does brooding better than Michelle Pfeiffer, and she's fantastic in those films doing just that and more!
No mention of Grease 2--very underrated.
Yeah, you love her but you couldn't even finish your project.
Gotta throw in some love for Love Field. She does wonders with a character that edges so close to grating and elevates an average story and film.
Some films I had forgotten in these comments. Happy Birthday, and yes, please come back to us on the Big Screen!
Always disappointed to be reminded I missed sharing a birthday with her by hours!