Michelle Pfeiffer might have taken a break from the silver screen, but she never gave up on Hollywood. "I've never lost my love for acting," the 58-year-old told Interview magazine. The ageless beauty, who graces the publication's April cover for the first time since 1988, added: "I feel really at home on the movie set. I'm a more balanced person honestly when I'm working." In fact, becoming an "empty nester" drove the mum-of-two (Claudia Rose, 24, and John Henry, 22, whom she shares with husband David E. Kelley) back to the world of film.
Michelle appears on the cover of Interview magazine
"I was pretty careful about where I shot, how long I was away, whether or not it worked out with the kids' schedule. And I got so picky that I was unhirable. And then ... I don't know, time just went on. And now, you know, when the student is ready, the teacher appears," the actress admitted during the interview with her Mother! director, Darren Aronofsky.
Michelle continued: "I'm more open now, my frame of mind, because I really want to work now, because I can. And these last few years I've had some really interesting opportunities. And I have this weird synchronicity with Annette Bening. I was supposed to do Bugsy [1991]. I fell out of that. She did it, so she met Warren [Beatty]. That wouldn't have happened. And then she was supposed to do Batman Returns [1992]. She fell out of that. I replaced her. So, we're always kind of tag-teaming. This year alone, the veteran actress will make her return in the HBO film The Wizard of Lies alongside Robert De Niro, in addition to starring with Jennifer Lawrence in Mother! and reuniting with Johnny Depp for Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express.
Michelle opened up about her time away from Hollywood
Michelle, whose last film was 2013's The Family, revealed that she was the first person to convince herself that acting was her calling. "I’m from Orange County, Southern California, and couldn’t have been more removed from the entertainment business," she recalled. "In fact, I didn't really even go to the movies much. My mother didn’t drive. My father couldn’t be bothered. So, I didn’t really go anywhere. But what I did do is I would stay up really late watching old movies on television. I can’t even tell you what they were because I was so young."
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She continued: "I remember watching what they were doing and saying to myself, 'I can do that.'” Michelle may have found her passion at an early age, but she maintains that not knowing is also okay. “What’s interesting is, there’s always a lot of talk to young people about finding their passion, following their passion,” she said. “But I remember reading somewhere that a lot of people don’t have a passion. And there’s this pressure to have one. It’s perfectly fine not to have one. But to be lucky enough to know what that is at such a young age is really a blessing."