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The Transformation Of Andie MacDowell
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00:00You definitely remember her as Bill Murray's wholesome love interest in Groundhog Day,
00:05but did you know that Andy McDowell's first acting role was in a Tarzan flick? It happened!
00:10Keep watching to see how she's transformed over the years.
00:14Andy McDowell began her career as a model after being spotted by a Wilhelmina Models
00:19Representative while in Los Angeles in the 70s. McDowell initially thrived in the new environment.
00:25However, as a young model, she didn't enjoy every aspect of her new career.
00:29In fact, McDowell almost quit due to how alienated she felt by the industry,
00:34and the prevalence of drug use within it, telling The Guardian,
00:37There was a lot of cocaine around. I had a small experience at the very beginning and hated it.
00:42I really didn't like the way it felt. Consequently, she told her agency she wanted out. Instead,
00:47they advised her that she was, quote, hanging around the wrong people and flew her out to Paris,
00:52where she met a young man who didn't drink or do drugs. As McDowell told The Guardian,
00:57This clean-cut gentleman turned out to be the Moet Shondeau Winery heir,
01:01so her whole life opened up following their meeting. McDowell told The Guardian,
01:06I started working nonstop.
01:08Andy McDowell was more than just a pretty face, and in the early 80s, people were starting to notice.
01:14The young star subverted model norms by arriving to fashion shows in a T-shirt and jeans
01:19and wowing people with her personality. McDowell mused to The Guardian,
01:23I think it was my sense of humor and realness that people liked.
01:27A now-iconic commercial for Calvin Klein featured the young model unleashing that humor and realness
01:32with a charming Southern accent. But she wanted more, telling Bustle,
01:37I did theater in college and knew since I was a child that I wanted to act.
01:41She got her wish, landing her first role in the 1984 Tarzan flick Graystroke at the age of 23.
01:48However, the memory of the film continues to be one of the most embarrassing for the star,
01:53whose natural accent was dubbed over by Glenn Close for the entire film.
01:58I love you, Johnny. I love you.
02:02Stating that she received no complaints about her performance prior to learning of the vocal switch,
02:07McDowell told the Chicago Tribune that the experience was devastating.
02:11I was by myself when I found out. I mean, I could barely function. I was so devastated."
02:17She said that critics were mean-spirited about the decision to remove her voice from the film.
02:22However, it only made McDowell more determined to prove herself to the industry. McDowell told the
02:27Chicago Tribune,
02:28I knew I was going to have to fight really hard. So I just took a lot of classes and worked on every
02:33aspect of myself.
02:35At 27, Andy McDowell landed a role in Joel Schumacher's Brat Pack graduate melodrama,
02:41St. Elmo's Fire. She played a doctor obsessively pursued by Emilio Estevez's fanatical law student.
02:48It didn't give her much to flex her burgeoning talents, but it was a crucial career step. McDowell
02:53told the Chicago Tribune,
02:54It took until I was 30 to get a role that I could prove to everybody what I was capable of.
02:59The role in question was her breakout performance in Steven Soderbergh's indie hit Sex, Lies & Videotape.
03:06As Andy McDowell told Interview,
03:08The film was a rare blend of success, a great piece of art, which also made money.
03:13The star won an Independent Spirit Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for
03:18her performance, as well as a Golden Globe nomination. The project changed things for her,
03:23and she told Interview,
03:24It was a magical period in general for McDowell,
03:32who married former model Paul Qualley in 1986. She gave birth to their first child later that year,
03:38despite not planning on having children, as she told Bustle. Speaking to the website about
03:43her style of rejecting glamorous looks in favor of flowy dresses and other casual pieces, McDowell said,
03:49I think a part of me was just wanting to feel comfortable. That sentiment would become her signature.
03:55The 90s heralded a fresh start as Andy McDowell followed up her smash indie debut with a romantic
04:01comedy, Green Card, opposite the French actor Gerard Depardieu. As Entertainment Weekly enthused
04:07about McDowell at the time of the film's release, the project was positioned to serve as her passport
04:12to the big time. The actor followed up the performance by packing six films into a two-year period,
04:18including the Bruce Willis action flick Hudson Hawk and indie dramedy The Object of Beauty,
04:23opposite John Malkovich. Somehow, the star also found the time to have two more children with
04:28her husband. The disparity between the domestic comforts of her personal life and the demands
04:33of her career must have been tricky to navigate. In an interview with The Daily Beast, McDowell confessed
04:38to her discomfort at having to stay out late into the night around this time, stating that partying
04:43was not in her nature. Similarly, she found the paparazzi's newfound affection for her frightening,
04:49telling Entertainment Weekly,
04:50"...I'm not accustomed to people yelling my name."
04:53Though the actor hit red carpets looking the most glamorous she ever had during this time,
04:58she had all the flair of a woman clocking in for her 9 to 5. Acting may have been her dream,
05:03but fame seemed little more to her than a necessary evil.
05:07By 1992, Andy McDowell had gotten used to depicting the love interest in a variety of Hollywood films,
05:13big and small. So it's no wonder two of her biggest films to date would center around just
05:18such a role for the star. The first, Groundhog Day, would position the actor as an endearing suitor
05:24opposite improv superstar Bill Murray's character, a misanthropic curmudgeon repeating the same day
05:30over and over. The oddball comedy was a surprise success, and helped to showcase the actor as a
05:35star capable of delivering savvy, smart quips with heart and nuance. She'd need those skills for
05:41her next trick as another love interest, this time to Hugh Grant's neurotic everyman in the
05:46Richard Curtis rom-com Four Weddings and a Funeral. Speaking to The Guardian, McDowell reflected on
05:51reading the script during promotional duties for Groundhog Day, telling the outlet,
05:56"...Four Weddings and a Funeral, one of the best scripts I'd ever come across.
06:00Intelligent humor is something I really enjoy doing."
06:03She went on to add that Curtis' talent for humor with a, quote,
06:06"...beautifully romantic heart was something she deeply appreciated."
06:10Arguably, these sensibilities also seemed to suit the star,
06:13who seemingly thrived when her down-to-earth nature was beautifully juxtaposed against a sharp,
06:18irreverent script. As the 90s ended, Andy McDowell arrived at her 40s,
06:24an age that isn't always appreciated in a woman's acting career.
06:27"...That is the main question I got at 40. That was it. It was like,
06:33so it's done. How does it feel to know that your career is over?"
06:36In fact, while speaking about the
06:38lack of interesting characters available to her in the latter half of her career,
06:43the actor admitted to The Guardian that she'd felt lull since leaving her 30s, declaring,
06:48"...I've been struggling since I was 40."
06:50Clearly, this was a major age of transformation for the star,
06:53who also divorced her husband Paul Qualley in 1999. Speaking to People on the painful
06:58nature of divorce, McDowell stated,
07:01"...it's not an easy transition. I think that the sooner you can let go of any anger,
07:05the better off you are."
07:06It's understandable that the actor may have felt angry at this time,
07:10not just for the dissolution of her marriage, but also for the limitations she was facing in
07:15her career. Either way, you would never have known what the actor was going through by looking at
07:19her. McDowell continued to look the picture of professionalism, wearing slightly more relaxed
07:24styles on the red carpet, aesthetically fighting back against Hollywood ageism with youthful defiance.
07:30She looked glamorous, yet comfortable. A woman willing to play by Hollywood rules,
07:35but without having to compromise her own style and values to do so.
07:40Work didn't get much easier for Andy McDowell as she entered her 50s, but the actor refused to be
07:45ground down by her struggles. She worked consistently. McDowell told Fox News,
07:49"...I may not be the lead, or I may not get the starring roles that I used to because so many
07:54movies revolve around youth. But I refuse to go away, because I enjoy it. I always find a way to get work."
08:00In a fashion sense, McDowell wasn't hiding herself away, either. On red carpets, the actor arrived in
08:06complete ownership in celebration of her age and sexuality, pairing a series of chic looks with the
08:12ultimate accessory — her personality, which she once described to The Guardian as being, quote,
08:17"...kind of goofy." This was a woman making the most of her life, peeps and slumps and all,
08:23and loving every second of it. It's telling that during this period the actor pushed herself into
08:27new territories professionally, and in a myriad of different ways. She voiced a CGI hen in family
08:33film Barnyard, played a butt-expanding salon stylist in Beauty Shop, and brought to life what she
08:39described as a narcissistic sex addict in the Lifetime movies At Risk and The Front.
08:45Luckily, that next big piece was awaiting Andy McDowell as she entered her 60s. While speaking
08:51with Michael Keaton for Interview, she indicated that the business could be brutal and hard to predict,
08:56telling the actor,
08:57"...you feel like it's all over and you'll never work again. Then all of a sudden, people like
09:01something you do, and you get a great script and feel revived, like, oh wow, okay, I'm not dead yet."
09:07For the first half of the 2010s, the great scripts that infused her with renewal could have been the
09:12whip-smart Kat Dennings-led teen drama Daydream Nation, or the male stripper film Magic Mike XXL.
09:20Unsurprisingly, McDowell's career resurgence looked phenomenal on the star,
09:25who stepped out looking the most radiant and confident she possibly ever had.
09:29Admittedly, the actor had maintained a consistent sense of style since she arrived in Hollywood.
09:34The only thing that ever changed was her overall vibe. Previously, McDowell appeared on red carpets
09:39dressed for the job. Now, she looked like she was dressing only for herself.
09:43By 2016, Andy McDowell was maintaining a career balance by appearing in TV movies such as Christmas
09:50Inheritance, while also challenging herself with fulfilling performances in indie flicks.
09:55Love After Love, one such indie film wherein the actor depicts a heart-sick widow,
10:00saw the star doing some of the best work of her career. There was just one problem. McDowell told
10:05The Guardian,
10:06"...not as many people have seen it as I would have liked."
10:09On top of being one of McDowell's strongest performances, the role also pushed the actor
10:13out of her comfort zone to deliver her first nude scene at 61, something which the media focused on
10:20a great deal, causing the actor to gripe to the Daily Beast. It was embarrassing how it was written about.
10:26Ultimately, she was proud of how the scene helped to express the vulnerability of her character,
10:31and that it gave her a lot of confidence. Fashion-wise, it seemed that McDowell's spirit
10:35had shifted in some way. Turning 60 may have given the star a sense of assurance and liberation,
10:40but being given the space with which to try new things in her career gave her even more
10:44freedom to be herself, without apology.
10:47By 2021, Andy McDowell's delightful boldness reached new levels when the actor allowed her
10:54natural gray hair to come through. Speaking to Interview, she suggested the decision was
10:59as easy as it was satisfying, stating that it was exhausting to maintain the illusion of youth.
11:04McDowell told Interview,
11:06"...I'm not young, and I'm okay with that. I feel so much more comfortable. It's like I've taken a mask
11:11off or something." McDowell had never looked more at home in herself or her career. On top of enjoying
11:18a fun cameo as herself in the Ted Danson sitcom Mr. Mayor, the actor also starred opposite her
11:24daughter, Margaret Qualley, in the Netflix show Maid. As the actor told Michael Keaton,
11:29her role in Maid demanded her performance be bigger than she's normally used to,
11:33in a way that she found to be terrifying. But clearly, that element of the unknown is also
11:39something that drives McDowell in her career and her subsequent performances.
11:43Her trajectory isn't the standard, and it's thrilling to see. McDowell told The Guardian,
11:48"...everyone has their own journey. Maybe something fabulous is going to happen for me at 70."
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