ELIZABETH PERKINS, STAR OF THE FILM BIG, TALKS TRAMPOLINES, TOM HANKS, AND THE BERKSHIRES
AUGUST 24
By Dr. Joshua Sherman
ON SATURDAY, August 24, The Triplex Cinema will hold a screening of the ’80s classic Big, followed by a Q&A with the film’s female lead, Elizabeth Perkins. Her extensive cinematic resumé includes celebrated films such as About Last Night (1986), Avalon (1990), Indian Summer (1993), The Flintstones (1994), 28 Days (2000), and Must Love Dogs (2005), as well as prominent roles in television shows that include Weeds, The Moodys, and The Afterparty. I talked with Perkins recently about her life, her favorite Hollywood memories, her deep ties to the Berkshires, and her past and future hopes and dreams.
Sherman: Over the years, you've probably been asked every possible question about the film Big. But I’m hoping to ask a few fun, fresh questions that you’ve never been asked. Are you game?
Perkins: Let’s do it!
Sherman: Okay! Let’s start by discussing the iconic scene, in which you (in a cocktail dress) and Tom Hanks jump on a large trampoline in his New York City apartment.
Perkins: I still have the cocktail dress!
Sherman: Really?
Perkins: I do. I love that dress!
Sherman (laughing): It’s a beautiful dress! So—the question is this: When is the last time you got on a trampoline?
Perkins: Recently! I have a show that's out on Apple TV+ called The Afterparty, which is a murder mystery. My character jumps on a trampoline. They called me up, and they said, “We need you to come in and meet with the stunt coordinator, ’cause we need you to practice jumping on a trampoline.” I said, “Um, did you every see the movie Big? ’Cause I have some experience jumping on a trampoline. Trust me, I got this down. I can do flips. I can twist around.” It was really funny to me. I actually had to spend a couple of hours proving to them that I could jump on a trampoline—in a dress. And it required heels and pantyhose as well! That was less than six months ago. But that was, literally, the only time since Big that I’d been back on a trampoline!
Sherman: So, you’ve still got it!
Perkins: I still got it! And I did it in a ball gown this time!
Sherman: Along those same lines, in Big, Tom Hanks takes your character, Susan, on a rollercoaster. My first question is do you like rollercoasters, and how many takes did you have to do in order to get the shot?
Perkins: It was not a one-shot wonder. I think we did three or four runs. But, what was crazy about that scene is this: That rollercoaster is called the “Dragon Coaster,” and it's at Playland in Rye, New York. It wasn't until I got on the rollercoaster while filming Big that I realized that it was the very first rollercoaster I ever went on as a kid.
Sherman: Really?
Perkins: Yeah, when I got to Playland, I was sorta, like, hmmm, why does this feel familiar and odd? That night, I called my mom and said, “I'm filming at Playland in Rye, New York.” She goes, “Oh, that's the very first amusement park you girls ever went to. You were on the ‘Dragon Coaster.’” I was just completely flipped out that it was so close to home for me. To be back on that rollercoaster filming that movie about a young boy was very serendipitous—and fun for me. Everything about making that film was just sublime. So sublime.
Sherman: Everyone knew Penny Marshall from Laverne and Shirley, but Big was only the second film she directed. What was your experience working with Penny as a director?
Perkins: What I loved about Penny is that she came from an actor's perspective. It was actually a good thing that she was sort of still a newbie at the time, because she approached everything like an actor. She hired the great Barry Sonnenfeld as our director of photography, so she felt really comfortable leaving that side of it to somebody who was equipped to take over. She and Tom were friends, and she surrounded herself with other actor friends. Jon Lovitz was a friend, John Hurt was a friend, and I had met Penny earlier, so everybody kind of knew each other. I think in casting Tom, because he's so skilled, she was able to sit back and let everybody do their jobs. She was always very pessimistic, though. She would want to do 15 takes, when Tom was always a one, two, or three-take guy. By the fourth take, Tom would say, “I think we’ve got it.” But she loved to watch actors work, and she was keen enough to surround herself with people that were very capable at what they were doing. Penny and Tom just flowed off each other. They had a language. They didn't even need to really speak to each other, like with the famous corn moment in Big. Penny just said, “Hey—the corn.” She didn't have to say, “Eat it like a giant cob.” It was a friendship language and a friendship dialogue that they had with each other. None of us expected the movie to take off the way that it did. Tom got an Oscar® nomination out of it, and we didn't really expect that either. We were just having a really good time, and Tom's work was so stunning. Tom is the consummate professional. He never complains. He’s never late. He knows exactly what he’s doing, and he’s in complete charge of his instrument. He’s just the best guy you want to have on any movie or on any project, even as a producer.
Sherman: In the movie, your character asks Tom, “What were you like when you were younger?” He replies, “I wasn't much different.” What were you like when you were a kid?
Perkins: I was a tomboy. I was raised on my grandfather's 600-acre farm in Southern Vermont, so I learned to drive a tractor by the time I was 10 or 11. We had animals and fields and streams, and my stepfather was a hunter. We had dogs, and it was nothing for us to go snowshoeing, catch fish in the pond, or catch frogs and salamanders. I loved being outside, I was precocious, and I was brave and fearless. Then I went to New York, and then Chicago, but moving to the city was more complicated. I was always really comfortable being alone in nature or in a rural environment. Moving to the city was a much bigger deal for me. On a farm, you learn skills that other kids in suburbia or in the city don't really understand or have. We were four miles from the bus stop for school, so we had snowmobiles and toboggans to get us down the hill for school. I really thrived.
Sherman: Do you long for your childhood? Or are you happy being an adult and where you're at today?
Perkins: That's a good question. I think as you get older, it's not that you long for your childhood, but the memories become faded. There's a familiarity to your childhood, and there's a comfort in your childhood, especially when you start losing your parents. I've lost both my parents in the last five years, and I think I want to hold on to those memories, because they're starting to fade. I would never want to be 12 again. I wouldn't want to be in my 20s again—and I might even throw in my 30s—but there is a comfort in childhood memories as you get older that grounds you.
Sherman: You have a home in the Berkshires. Is this a new development, or is this also a longstanding family home?
Perkins: For many years, I had a home in a little town called Shelburne Falls, just below Colrain. It's a gorgeous little town. The Deerfield River goes through, and the Bridge of Flowers is there. My father ended up relocating to the Litchfield Hills of Connecticut, so for years I had been going down to see my father and going through Great Barrington. I would come to Tanglewood, and I would come to the Berkshire Theater Festival, and then MASS MoCA opened, and I would come down there to hear live music. Eventually, I said to myself, “You keep coming to the Berkshires, so why wouldn’t you just live there?” That’s when I sold my place in Shelburne Falls. I still have a place in Los Angeles, but I moved to the Berkshires. I love the people here and the community. I take art classes. There are always fun things going on and great food. The Triplex is amazing. I finally just said, “Hey, land where you want to be. Go where you're the happiest.” I'm happiest here.
Sherman: Do you have any other favorite places to go in the Berkshires?
Perkins: I love the Egremont Barn, and I love just being able to pull into some place and hear some great music. I love the Dream Away Lodge in Becket, I love Taft Farms, and I love the community. Most people come to the Berkshires in the summer, occasionally for the fall, and sometimes for the ski season. But I love it when it completely empties out and it's mostly just the people who are here year-round. That’s where I really find the solid community. There's a lot of pride in this area and its natural resources. You can literally pull off the side of the road, walk anywhere, and find a gorgeous waterfall and a trail. There's also great access to New York. You can be in Hudson in 30 minutes and get on the train to the city. There are festivals here all the time. Even in the middle of winter, there's a festival. And there's always something to do and somebody really interesting to talk to.
Sherman: People are creative tend to express their creativity in a wide variety of ways. I understand that you’re an artist— and your art is part of an exhibition that happened this summer in the Berkshires. Can you tell me about it?
Perkins: I've always done collage, but I'm sort of learning now that it's not really collage in a traditional sense. I've always been attracted to found objects, like marbles, keys, bottle tops, and things I've kept that I think have a story. Eventually, that translated into mixed-media collaging. And then I got into paper and different materials, and these collages started happening. That was many years ago, and then I became more interested in metal. Then metal got incorporated into my collages. Then I got into beads and gold plating, and everything started to become like an assembly. I'm working with a teacher here named Jody King Camarra, who is a very talented collage artist. She said, “I'm not sure you're a collage artist. I think you might be more of a mixed media assembly artist.” I don't set out to make a piece. I just start and then the piece kind of becomes something. Everything's very visceral and immediate, and there's always a burst of energy involved. Then it becomes more Zen at the end of it. For me, it was always just sort of a private form of expression. Then I started taking a class, and I was asked to be in a show. It’s the first time I've ever shown anybody anything I've done, so that was odd. We had a reception. It was also the first time I ever hung a piece of my art, so I was actually a little nervous. The funny thing is, I have no stage fright whatsoever, whether I’m in front of a camera or in front of an audience. But as people were coming into the gallery, I started getting kind of sweaty, because it’s always been very personal and not something I have ever shared. It’s at this little gallery in Monterey, in the library. It's called the Knox Gallery, and it was there until the end of July with a great group of other collage artists.
Sherman: Okay—the final question is a three-part question.
Perkins: Okay!
Sherman: Question 1: In Big, Zoltar grants 12-year-old Josh's wish. If your 12-year-old self could make one wish and have it granted, what would it be?
Perkins: At 12 years old, my wish would have been that my mom would be okay. My mom had drug and alcohol issues, and she ended up being okay. She got sober shortly after that, and things did turn out great for her.
Sherman: I’m so happy to hear that.
Perkins: Thank you
Sherman: Question 2: What would your one wish have been when Big came out in 1988?
Perkins: At that point, I really wished I had traveled more. I was so busy working that I didn't have that sort of post-college, "backpack around Europe" phase before you sort of start settling into life. You have kids, and you're like, “Wait—I didn't do that trip around Europe that I would like to have done.” One of my best friends went to Crete, lived in a cave with other artists, and traveled through Greece right after college. I've always been envious of the experiences she had that I could have had in my early 20s.
Sherman: And Part 3: What would your one wish for Zoltar be today?
Perkins: I know this may sound like a “Miss America” answer, but I would wish for a more hopeful future for the younger generations. I have kids who are in their 30s, and I see what they're going through right now. I don't know what life is going to look like for them when they're my age. It's hard to tell them that everything is going to be okay, because it's an odd moment. It's hard to tell them, “Don't worry.” I would wish for more security for them.
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