Sally Field has one of the most memorable and misquoted speeches in Oscar history (“I can’t deny the fact that you like me. Right now, you like me!”) and a résumé filled with beloved and award-winning films. such as Norma Rae, Places of Heart, Mrs. Doubtfire, Forrest Gump and Lincoln. But ask her how it feels to be an icon, and the 76-year-old gives a look and an answer that she clearly thinks otherwise. “I find it a bit shocking,” he says on Zoom. “I’m not entirely sure what an icon is. What is an Icon? Do you know what an icon is?
Yes we can, I’m Sally Field. From his career-defining roles in TV series like The Flying Nun and Gidget to the 1989 tearjerker Steel Magnolias, the Oscar winner is a household name thanks to his performances. But Field’s goal in Hollywood has never been fame: her goal is to hone her craft and make a living. That’s why she doesn’t have an answer when asked if she remembers a time when she started to feel confident in her chosen profession, in part because it changes all the time. “It’s not that you don’t feel safe,” she explains. “It’s just that you can’t think about [stuff like that].”
In other words, you never know if your movies will be successful when you sign up (to be honest, nobody does). So he’d rather have fans think about the characters he plays on screen than who he is. However, when you control a scene like Sally Field does, it’s nearly impossible. she disagrees “There’s something weird about being a celebrity,” she says. “Why do people I don’t know think of me at all? Honestly, the only thing to think about is the movie.”
This time, “the movie” is Spoiler Alert, a romantic comedy-drama that opens nationwide on Friday, December 9. She stars alongside Jim Parsons, Ben Aldridge and Bill Irwin, and the story is based on the real life of broadcaster Michael Ausiello. and his journey through love and pain. Field plays a woman coming to terms with the tragic news that her son has terminal cancer.
“Even though there seemed to be a lot of dark work going on, there was a lot of laughs,” Field says. “It’s both very funny and then dark.” The film is already receiving a lot of critical acclaim, which is good considering Field hadn’t even read the script when he signed on. All he needed to know was that he would be working with two of the people he admires most: director Michael Showalter, who worked with Field on Hello, My Name Is Doris, and screenwriter David Marshall Grant, who was the screenwriter and showrunner of ABC’s Brothers & Sisters, Sisters, which earned her her third Emmy Award. When they called to see if she’d be ready for a “small supporting role,” the answer was a resounding yes. “They said, ‘Well, at least read it, right?'”
Eventually Field did and he loved it. The point is, her initial instincts rarely lead her astray, whether she admits it or not. Then, as the reluctant subject of Glamor’s latest icons, she opens up about the embrace of being called an icon, why getting older is “better than a sharp stick in the eye,” and the importance of movies like the ’80s to Brady.
