Mary-Louise was considered to be too old to play the screen role by the project's original director, Nicholas Hytner, which is why it went to Paltrow.
She was not too thrilled about that either but she does admit that she was too old.
Question: On the other side of coin, do you have any interest in seeing the movie of Proof?
Answer: I don't. I'm not even curious. Not to be bitchy or anything, but I know what happens in Proof. I did it every night for a year and a half. I had my experience and I loved my experience. If you offered me the movie over the play, even if you told me I was going to win an Oscar for it, I would pick the play. That's so much more rewarding to me. I had the experience of taking it from its very first reading around a table to Broadway, which nobody thought was going to happen. One of my agents literally laughed at me when I said, "This got good reviews; do you think it will move?" I just felt it would have been nice if David [Auburn, the playwright] had come to me and said, "I'm selling the rights." I have zero bitterness now, but it hurt me that he didn't bother to tell me he had sold it because I was so close to it. They weren't going to produce it on Broadway without me. [Playwright] Robbie Baitz said, "You can do [a movie of] The Substance of Fire, but only if you use Ron Rifkin." I felt like because I had so much to do with getting the play done, it would have been classier if David had said something to me. But I was too old for [the movie] anyway.
"Smart! And into all those exotic mystiques -- The Kama Sutra and Chinese techniques. I hear she knows more than seventy-five. Call me tomorrow if you're still alive!"
Updated On: 8/5/05 at 09:29 PM
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