With her Broadway debut in Pygmalion coming up this autumn, screen beauty Claire Danes got in some practice for making a dramatic entrance onstage when she turned up at a music studio in Toronto this week. The gorgeous actress emerged from a cloud of dry ice as she promoted her role in new big-budget fantasy flick Stardust, which also featured Michelle Pfeiffer and Sienna Miller.
"I play a star who crashes to Earth and gets kidnapped by some amazing characters… pirates and witches… it was a fantasy finally realised," says Claire of the film, which is due to hit North American cinemas on August 10. "I got to ride a unicorn (and) have long blonde hair," she adds.
The 28-year-old, who starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in the 1996 film version of Romeo And Juliet, admits it wasn't all smooth sailing during filming in the UK and Iceland. "The horn kept falling off the horse's head," she explains, referring to the 'unicorn'. "We had to tack the horn on with some glue… but we shot a lot of those scenes in the rain so I guess the glue lost its stickiness."
Nonetheless the chance to work with fellow Golden Globe recipient Ricky Gervais and Oscar-winner Robert De Niro was a dream come true for the young actress, who was especially thrilled to be using the Taxi Driver star's nickname. "I get to call him Bob," she says proudly of their close working relationship. "I was in a scene with Ricky and Bob and thought: 'Okay, yes! I don't need to do anything else in my career'."
The native New Yorker, who still lives in the SoHo neighbourhood in which she grew up and dutifully rides the subway in an effort to be "greener", is moving full speed ahead in her acting career - and her love life. She admits to being excited but "terrified" by her Broadway debut on October 18 as Eliza Doolittle in the play that inspired the musical My Fair Lady. She also seems happier than ever with British beau Hugh Dancy, who she met on the set of Evening.
Photo: George Pimentel
Photo: George Pimentel
