Getting Down To Business

Wednesday, October 23, 1996

In discussing her latest movie, ‘The Associate,’ Whoopi Goldberg
shows the film industry for what it is–a business.By Emily
Forster

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

or each celebrity there is an incident which brings the
realization that he or she has arrived.

For some, this moment comes with the presentation of an Oscar.
For others, it is simply a huge fan following. For actress Whoppi
Goldberg ("The Color Purple," "Ghost"), it was Mad magazine.

"There I was on the cover," remembers Goldberg. "I’m a big fan
of Mad magazine and it was amazing. I’ve been in it a couple of
times since then and I was just on the cover for the Oscars. It’s
great when I see myself in it. I just feel like Vanity Fair is
great, but Mad magazine is everything."

Starring in "The Associate," the upcoming comedy about a stock
broker who makes her independent brokerage firm successful by
creating an extremely impressive imaginary male partner, this Mad
magazine cover girl was once an innocent actress unaware of
Hollywood’s games.

"I was too naive," says Goldberg. "I couldn’t believe anybody
would bring you somewhere and then want you to change. They would
say, ‘Maybe we should do something with …,’" Goldberg reenacts,
swinging her arms around her tightly twisted dreadlocks. "I’d go
‘What?’ and they’d go ‘You know,’ and I’d go, ‘What, you want me to
change my hair? No, I’m not going to change my hair. Lots of people
look like this.’ Now, 13 years later, lots of people do look like
this. They pay a lot of money. Lips, people spend zillions of
dollars each week to get these lips. It’s ironic. But that’s
Hollywood."

Dressed in a black sweat shirt and black pants, the Academy
Award-winning actress and once stand-up comedienne appears
surprisingly serious as she remembers obstacles the entertainment
industry has thrown her way. Goldberg contrasts the adversity she
has faced as an actress with the adversities that her character in
"The Associate" faces as an African American, female stock
broker.

"Hollywood is a business," explains Goldberg. "Someone said to
me earlier, ‘It’s full of all these disingenuous men.’ And I said,
‘No, it’s full of business people.’ That’s kind of what they do.
Just like business people don’t give a shit about whether they’re
polluting a river, Hollywood people just want to know if it’s gonna
bring some money in. They’re business people too and that’s they’re
gig."

Not that Goldberg is angry about this. She accepts that her
salary will never match that of a superstar like Jim Carrey, not
because she is a woman or African American, but because her movies
do not pull in the same staggering revenue as Carrey’s. She
understands that this is an aspect of the business that is
Hollywood.

"If I made five movies that made 150 million dollars; I would
make 20 million dollars a movie," says Goldberg. "But I don’t make
that because not all my movies do that well. Now Jim Carrey, his
movies always make 150 million dollars. He could poop on screen and
money would roll in. That’s all he’d have to do. ‘Poop’ starring
Jim Carrey. And that’s why he makes what he makes."

Goldberg does not envy Carrey. The intense press coverage he
receives, for example, is something Goldberg can live without. The
actress recalls times in her career when she was forced to fend off
unfounded allegations and unnecessary paparazzi at every turn.

"For a little while there, every time I went to the bathroom it
made news," says Goldberg. "It’s just ridiculous. People have
written stupid stuff, stuff completely made up. Someone was
probably sitting around and said, ‘Well let’s write this.’"

The success of Robert Cutty, the fictitious male partner
Goldberg’s character creates in "The Associate" sheds light on the
power of the press. Goldberg uses this plot point as a metaphor for
fringe fans who try to get in on the success she has achieved.

"It’s kind of funny because the press is why Robert Cutty seems
like a real person," says Goldberg. "People are often attracted to
power and so they don’t really listen and they don’t really look at
you. They want so much to be a part of it that they just see
whatever they want to see. It’s like ‘Just take me with you, please
just take me down that road with you.’ It’s insane."

Although the press surrounding Goldberg has died down since its
field day with her relationship with actor Ted Danson, she deals
with its intent focus on her life on a daily basis.

"It’s not just in Hollywood, but it’s everywhere, it’s here,"
Goldberg says with a gesture toward the window of a suite at the
Regency Hotel overlooking the streets of Manhattan. "I walk down
Madison Avenue, and I go into one store and come out, and there’s
45 guys with cameras. Why? I’m buying aspirin. And then I look at
the work people are doing in places like Covenant House and people
who are spending their own money to do dance projects with little
kids from up in Harlem, and they can’t get any attention. It’s just
a warp. We’re in that bizarre warp now."

"The Associate" will be released this Friday, Oct. 25.

PolyGram Film Productions

Whoopi Goldberg stars as Laurel Ayres whose talents as an
investment counselor are overlooked until she takes matters into
her own hands with a unique scheme.PolyGram Film Productions

Laurel Ayres (Whoopi Goldberg) pulls one over on Fallon (Eli
Wallach), a powerful investor who thinks Laurel is partnered with a
distinguished Wall Street advisor.