Karen Allen Net Worth

Publish date: 2024-08-28
#Quote1I just felt like I had to create a life for myself where I was more independent. Where what I was doing in my life was so interesting I could literally put my whole acting life on the back burner because I was so fascinated by what was right in front of me. And that was the only thing that felt healthy to me. Short of that, I felt like somebody who was waiting for the phone to ring.2I'm from a generation of fantastic actresses. It's a big pool of really wonderful actresses, and so many of them we never even get to see on the screen anymore.3(On ageing) I was in that kind of real weird transitional period there. I was in my late 40s, early 50s, and it's a strange little place that you can fall into. These days all somebody has to do is Google you and they know how old you are. I would show up for roles that were written for somebody in their early 50s, and people would say, 'You can't do that, you look too young,' but if I showed up for a role for somebody in their early 40s then the people would say, 'Well, but she's 50.'4(Asked if she had any disagreements with Richard Donner on Scrooged (1988)) Only a few. Every single minute of the day. That could have been a really, really great movie. The script was so good. There's maybe one take in the final cut movie that is mine. We made it so fast, it was like doing a movie live. He kept telling me to do things louder, louder, louder. I think he was deaf.5(On working with Steven Spielberg on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)) We're both older, and I've done other films like this. So I kind of come into it just so much more relaxed and open-minded. I already know what kind of film we're making.6(On John Carpenter) John is a really nice guy. The people working with him have a really nice thing going. They've developed this strong support system. He has chosen a good group of people. They stay with him film after film. They can bounce things off of each other in order to get the film made. I had a good time making Starman (1984).7(How she got Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)) I was working on a television miniseries of East of Eden, and we were up somewhere in Napa. And he sent a courier to my hotel room, who had to sit in my room the whole time I read the script, and then took the script away.8I get recognized for Animal House (1978) a lot. That film is huge, too. That film has aged very well. People are still watching that film. I saw it not that long ago. It's just one of those films that seems as much fun now as when we made it. There's a whole huge Starman (1984) contingent as well. Believe it or not, there are people who have a little obsession with Starman (1984).9(On Steven Spielberg) He thought, 'She's such a nice person, I have to toughen her up." And I think he often, from my perspective, was not very nice to me, and I think there was a method in his madness.10(On Steven Spielberg') I didn't quite get all the time what he was going for in certain ways, and he didn't quite get me, how I worked. I was kind of a much more internally oriented actor, and at times he wanted me to be much more external than I was being.11(On The Wanderers (1979)) I love that picture. It's not my book, and I don't care. The spirit is right, and the way Phil Kaufman directed it showed me another way of looking at my own book.12(On her diagnosis with EKC) I didn't know whether I was going to get my eyesight back, and I was pretty frightened.13(On Animal House (1978)) I think I auditioned five times for that role. And nobody but John Landis and the casting directors wanted me. Well, I think Harold Ramis liked me, too. But nobody at Universal wanted me because they wanted someone with more experience, someone who had more credits. Someone they could point to as more of a star.14(On whether she was considered for Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)) I think that's not true. I don't know where that ever came from. Because when Star Wars was being made I had never done a film in my life. I was either still living in Washington, D.C., working in the theater or had just moved to New York and working in theater there, too. I had heard that rumour but I just can't imagine anybody knew who I was.15(On Donald Sutherland and her nude scene in Animal House (1978)) I thought he was so sweet to do that, so I sort of let go of my objections and said, 'Okay, if Donald Sutherland is going to bare his bottom, by golly, I'll bare mine too!'16When one film is enormously successful, you get so identified with that film until you're in another film that is equally successful or more successful. Well, it's pretty difficult to make a film that's going to be more successful than Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981).17I've always done things the hard way. I was born like a piece of tangled yarn. The job is trying to untangle it, and I'll probably go on doing it for the rest of my life.18[on the difference between Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)] Crystal Skull was more low tech than you might think, although we did do some green screen on it, but not that much. I guess that is the difference, there wasn't that type of special effects in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981). CGI [Computer Generated Imagery] didn't exist.19As far as acting in films, there is not much out there that is very interesting to do. The ones that are interesting to me are independent films and they have trouble raising money. With people putting their money into blockbusters, there is not much left for the independents.20It's a very instinctual relationship, a reaction to something in the script. I read a script and ask myself, "Is this a story I want to tell?" An actor is really a storyteller and sometimes the story being told is as important as the character in the story. Sometimes, I look at a character and say, "I don't know the first thing about this person, who she is and where she's coming from." That fascinates me. I know in order to get there I have to do my work, to think through in psychological terms who this person is and examine her whole thinking process. Sometimes you recognize certain elements of yourself that you didn't know were there. I also write biographies of my characters ever since Animal House (1978). I even do some research into the background if it's important. I create the character's history, who's her family and other things. It really does help.21I don't know if I've ever played a character who's close to me. There have been some elements of myself in different roles. Sometimes, I show one side of myself and then completely conceal the other.

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