Kim Basinger’s character in steamy 1986 movie 9½ Weeks was a world away from her other big screen roles and the actress said the filming experience was ‘horrific’
It was one of the steamiest mainstream Hollywood cinema releases of the 80s.
The movie in question, 9½ Weeks, saw New York art gallery curator, Elizabeth, (Kim Basinger) starting a torrid love affair with suave stranger, John (Mickey Rourke), who keeps pushing her boundaries. Those boundaries were quite racy and could make for uncomfortable viewing at times, as John gradually asserted more and more control over Elizabeth. Their twisted romance had everything from self loving to BDSM, shoplifting and even rape.
In spite of its dark subject matter, the movie made Basinger the sexiest of sex symbols for the 80s, projecting her to the top of many fantasy partner list.
But in a movie which was ultimately as sinister as this, you’d like to think that once the cameras stopped rolling everyone would have a laugh and relax.
Well not so according to Basinger, who said that Rourke’s on screen persona continued to play out behind the scenes.
She revealed that working with her co-star was a horrific experience as Rourke barely spoke to her on set, and she admitted she “hated him” at times. However, all the tension was part of a masterplan by Adrian Lyne, the film’s director, who was trying to elicit a performance he deemed necessary from Basinger.
In a 1986 interview with with The New York Times, Lyne revealed he needed to play upon ”an edge of terror” in Basinger, to create a more believable sense of fear, surprise and sexual arousal between her and her lover.
Before the cameras started rolling, director Lyne set some strict guidelines. He instructed his two leading actors not to see each other before production began and once it did, he didn’t want them to form an ”ongoing intimacy.” His aim, he explained, was to maintain a certain distance between them that could be channelled into their performances.
”She needed to be scared of him,” Lyne said. ”If they went out and had coffee together, we’d lose the edge.”
The film had a profound impact on Basinger. During the filming of the suicide scene, she confessed: ”Mickey was egging me on – I hated him sometimes. I got confused. I didn’t know who I was after a while. My husband and I had a bad time during this movie.”
Basinger said she and Rourke became estranged over the course of the film. ”We shot in sequence, and in the beginning, when the character was sweet, he was very sweet, too. Later, when the movie started getting strange, he stayed in character.
“I am not usually an actress who stays in character. But in this, as it started getting stranger, I found my character staying with me. I couldn’t wait to leave her.”
She described feelings of confusion, exaggerated mood swings off camera, and being depressed, moody, distant – ”not even being there.”
However, in spite of the negativity on the movie set, Basinger said that the experience was worthwhile, and helped her to grow as an actress.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
