now defunct ' Famous Monsters Magazine"
issue #152

SUPERMAN'S NEMESIS:
Valerie Perrine speaks About Her Role as Eve Teschmacher in SUPERMAN.  Recently, FAMOUS MONSTERS interviewed actress Valerie Perrine in her Hollywood home. A superb actress and an attractive, bubbly girl she had just completed THE ELECTRIC HORSEMAN with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda and was preparing to leave for Canada to shoot THE AGENCY with Robert Mitchum and Lee Majors, TV's SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN. However, Valerie is perhaps best known to readers of FM for her slinky portrayal of Lex Luthor's criminal aide in the super movie SUPERMAN. We asked Valerie about this part - a far cry from her roles in sci-fi drama SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE or the drug addict stripper in LENNY - and about the film in general.

FM: What is you character in Superman?

VALERIE: I play the evil Eve Teschmacher. She's the girlfriend of Lex Luthor, who is played by Gene Hackman, and they are partners in crime.

FM: Tell us a little about her.

VALERIE: Well, she overdresses and is overly made-up - she kind of dresses 1950's tacky, with skin-tight toreador pants, high heals, a cigarette holder, and Cartier diamonds.

FM: Was any of that image your contribution, or had the character been fully fleshed-out when you joined the cast?

VALERIE: It was all pre-conceived. The costume had already been designed. I didn't change any of that.

FM: Did you find the role much of a challenge?

VALERIE: No, it was quite simple.

FM: Would you call it two-dimensional?

VALERIE: It's hard to say until I see it.

FM: Why is that?

VALERIE: When you do something in front of a camera on a set, it sometimes comes across differently on the big screen.

FM: But it doesn't compare with your Oscar-nominated part in Lenny?

VALERIE: There's no comparison whatsoever at all in any way, shape or form.

FM: How so?

VALERIE: Eve's more like the character I played in Steambath, a caricature of a character.

FM: The film has only recently premiered, but haven't you already seen it? Are you anxious to do so?

VALERIE: I'd like to yes. Especially since I read an article in TIME saying that it was a love story.

FM: You sound surprised.

VALERIE: I am! I had no idea. The script I read wasn't a love story.

FM: Obviously, movies undergo many changes during production. Early on was Superman the serious drama that has emerged?

VALERIE: It was a comedy when we - Gene Hackman, Ned Beatty, and myself - did our scenes. We played it straight, but thought it was going to turn out funny.

FM: Sort of like TV's Batman?

VALERIE: Well, since I haven't seen the film it's difficult for me to say. But from what TIME Magazine said, it seems straight until you get to Luthor's lair, which is my part. We live underneath the city. TIME said that those scenes were very amusing, but didn't fit the rest of the picture. So I guess what happened after we left, they decided to change the concept of the picture and make it more serious.

FM: You weren't present for the picture's entire shooting schedule?

VALERIE: No, I worked in the very beginning. The producers kind of got rid of Marlon Brando, Gene Hackman, and myself and then concentrated on the rest of the basic acting before going on to the special effects and the technical part of shooting the picture.

FM: How long did you work on the movie?

VALERIE: Four or five weeks, I think. Maybe six. I went to Canada to do a few scenes - I don't remember what scenes they were - but it was supposed to be the Midwestern United States.

FM: Did you enjoy your Superman work?

VALERIE: It was interesting. I didn't do any flying or anything like that, so I was only involved with maybe one or two special effects. But it was fun working with Ned Beatty - he's really a character. And Gene Hackman. He's such a fine character type.

FM: There have been reports in magazines like LOS ANGELES of conflicts between director Richard Donner and producer Pierre Spengler. Did you encounter any of that?

VALERIE: No. I think it came later on.

FM: Has it been frustrating, waiting nearly two years to see the finished product?

VALERIE: Not on this particular picture, because it's not really my picture.

FM: What do you mean by that?

VALERIE: I was in and out, just a character in the picture. So I went, learned my lines, got on the set, did my job, and left.