Photo by John Clifford, TM & © 2001 Dreamworks LL

FARMINGTON HILLS NATIVE ELIZABETH BERKLEY BOOSTS HER ACTING CAREER
WITH A STRING OF SOLID PERFORMANCES, INCLUDING HER LATEST —
A ROLE IN A NEW WOODY ALLEN FILM.

GAIL ZIMMERJ\LkN

Arts & Entertainment Editor

E

lizabeth Berkley's audition with
filmmaker Woody Allen for a
part in his latest comedy, The
Curse of the Jade Scorpion,
resembled a scene out of an I Love Lucy
episode.
All the actress knew about the highly
secretive project was its setting:
the 1940s. So, eager to impress
Cover
Allen and get the part, she had
her hair done in a Veronica
Lake style for their highly anticipated
meeting.
As she walked the few blocks to the
director's New York office, a sudden down-
pour engulfed the streets of Manhattan.
Sans umbrella, Berkley offered a fellow
pedestrian $20 for his, but was turned
down.
By the time she reached her destination,
Berkley was drenched. "It was like I had

just come out of a shower," she recalls. "I
was that soaked.
"I had a button-down shirt on and suede
pants, and my feet were just making weird
squishing noises. Needless to say, I walked in,
and out came this girl who was just perfectly
done up — the hair, the outfit, the makeup
just so, And I thought, 'There's not a chance
that this is happening."'
The actress wrung out her hair in the
bathroom sink and, after waiting
her turn, went in to see Allen.
Story During their brief five minutes
together, she explained what had
occurred. "You should have offered the guy
$40," Allen told her. "You're in New York,
and it would have helped." -

Comedienne In The Making

Despite the inauspicious beginning,
Berkley soon got a call to report for make-
up and wardrobe for The Curse of the Jade
Scorpion.
The film-noir comedy stars Allen as a

crackerjack insurance investigator in 1940s
New York. He butts heads with his firm's
new efficiency expert (Helen Hunt), who
— despite her steely demeanor in the
workplace — is involved in a risky clandes-
tine love affair with the boss (Dan
Aykroyd). David Ogden Stiers plays a hyp-
notist -- from Brooklyn — who sets the
twists and turns of the crime caper in
motion, and Charlize Theron is a spoiled
heiress used to getting any man she wants.
Berkley plays another classic staple of
I940s films: the sexy secretary. "She's the
office girl that all the men want," notes
Berk-ley, "but she's the one who always goes
home alone at night."
Playing the good girl on the big screen
is a nice change for the 5-foot-I0-inch
Berkley, who, during an interview with
the Jewish News at New York's Le Parker
Meridien Hotel, is dressed in a crisp
white shirt and jeans, her blonde-streaked
hair worn long and straight. She looks
RISING STAR on page 62

Above:

Elizabeth Berkley,
as Jill, and Woody Allen,
as CJ Briggs, in a scene
from "The Curse of the
Jade Scorpion."
"I think [Woody]
wanted to show the

sweeter side, which,
let's say, is the girl from

Farmington Hills, Mich.

I've felt truer to [Jill] than
most characters

played," says Berkley.