Movies
Diane Keaton is finally comfortable in her own skin

By Carrie Rickey
Knight Ridder Newspapers

	BOB MARSHAK / AP Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson star in the sophisticated romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give." Keaton plays a middle-age playwright who catches the eye of both Keanu Reeves and Nicholson.
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Thirty-five years later and ever the contrarian, Keaton takes it all off in "Something's Gotta Give," the riotous farce in which she stars as a middle-age playwright who attracts the eye of both a much younger doctor, played by Keanu Reeves, and her ingénue daughter's music-mogul beau, played by a satyric Jack Nicholson.

Wholesomely sultry at 57, Keaton defies the Hollywood axiom lamented by her co-star in "The First Wives Club." Goldie Hawn observed that the screen's three ages of women were "babe, district attorney and 'Driving Miss Daisy.' " For Keaton, it's babe, Baby Boom and va-va-voom.

"My whole opinion about my body has changed," admits Keaton, resplendent in a Dolce & Gabbana trouser suit of chocolate suede. "It's not a precious commodity anymore."

With a grateful smile, she stretches out lanky limbs in her Waldorf Towers suite, surveys her 5-foot-9 frame and cracks, "I'm just happy it works."

Though played for laughs, the sequence in which Nicholson walks into Keaton's boudoir and discovers her in the altogether may change audience opinion about the viability and vitality of women of a certain age. (After Kathy Bates' hot-tub scene in last year's "About Schmidt," it also gets you wondering about Nicholson's carnal karma.)

'Movie is a blessing'

Though older in "Something's Gotta Give" than Kate Hepburn was when she played the ruin in "Long Day's Journey Into Night," Keaton could be a pinup. Who knew what Annie Hall was hiding under all those baggy clothes?

"This movie is a blessing in so many ways," reflects the actress, whose performance earned best-actress honors last week from the National Board of Review, an award that often precedes an Oscar nomination.

"To say that a woman in her mid-50s isn't grotesque is a blessing," says Keaton, referring to Bette Davis, who was three years younger when she was cast as the gargoyle in a fright wig in "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

"But to say that you can fall in love at any age is a blessing, too."

This has particular resonance for the mother of daughter Dexter, 8, and son Duke, 3, who are adopted. Though romantically linked with many of her co-stars — "The Godfather's" Al Pacino, "Annie Hall's" Woody Allen, "Reds"' Warren Beatty, and "Father of the Bride's" Steve Martin — Keaton has never married.

The serious accomplishment of the comedy "Something's Gotta Give" is that it grants a seasoned actress the same prerogatives as an actor her age, meaning that she can play someone with a professional as well as a romantic life. Accordingly, Keaton enjoys a perk Nicholson has savored for decades: a love interest many years her junior. But don't count out Nicholson. After so many May/December romances, the 66-year-old is game for a November/December go-round.

Falling for Jack

The film, written and directed by Nancy Meyers ("What Women Want"), teases the real-life personas of Keaton and Nicholson, who haven't worked together since a brief encounter in "Reds" (1981).

Says Meyers, who created career-redefining roles for Keaton in "Baby Boom" and "Father of the Bride," "The real-life bachelor girl and the real-life playboy ... have to leave those comfortable spaces for someplace riskier."

The pleasure of Meyers' film is watching both actors dismantle their personas and comically retrofit them. The guy who loves "the sweet, uncomplicated satisfaction of the younger woman" develops a taste for a complicated sourball nearer his own age. The gal who has put her heart in cold storage finds it again.

"I loved being in love," Keaton says with a wistful grin. Even more, she loved being in love with Nicholson.

"Being intimate with Jack was one of the more extraordinary experiences I've ever had with a man," she confides.

"I think one of the reasons Jack is in the pantheon of the all-time greats is that he has a well-developed feminine side. He's hugely vulnerable.

"And he's hugely provocative."

How's that?

"He'll set traps. I'm judgmental and moralistic, and he'll watch me dig a hole for myself. He's sneaky and tricky and hilariously funny and speaks Damon Runyon poetry."

"Plus, he'll let you do anything and will be there right with you." Right before the cameras rolled, Keaton would glare at Nicholson, tell him she hated him, then promptly launch into a tender scene.

"I completely believed that she loved me," the actor told reporters. "For the moment."

A three-decade career

For Meyers, Keaton belongs in the same pantheon as Nicholson. It's the rare screen actor who sustains a career for a decade. Keaton has thrived for more than three, ever since her performance as Kay to Pacino's Michael in "The Godfather" (1972).

Five years later she won an Oscar for "Annie Hall" (1977), the movie that established her as a new kind of woman (one interested in business as well as pleasure) and comic (mistress of the non sequitur). Keaton was so funny that many forget her impressive dramatic roles in "Looking for Mr. Goodbar" (1977), "Reds" and "Marvin's Room" (1996), one of film's great screen performances.

As Keaton's friend and frequent director Woody Allen notes, "She has a very deep, deep range."

Keaton plays comedy with consummate distraction, drama with fervent focus. In "Something's Gotta Give," she has an extended sequence in which she swings from yuks to sobs and takes the audience on her pendulum ride.

"You can't deny her originality," says Meyers, who has worked with the actress four times and is still struck by the way Keaton, like Jimmy Stewart, makes every line sound improvised.

Filmmaker and actress serve as muse to each other.

"Nancy's a demanding director and the best audience I've ever had," Keaton says. "She treated me like a flower and gave me the opportunity to blossom. At my age."

There are other factors that have brought the glow back to Keaton's apple cheeks, and it's not her successes as a photographer (with numerous books to her credit), producer ("Elephant") and director (of the heartfelt caregiver dramas "Hanging Up" and "Unstrung Heroes").

Leaving insecurities behind

She credits Dexter and Duke.

"I grew up in a family where we all suffered from the same disease: crippling insecurity," Keaton says softly.

"Having this girl who's a social animal and who pulls me out of my shell and makes me go to play dates and be part of a community — well, she's cured me."

And then there's Duke. "The idea of loving a man in an entirely different context, to be a party to maleness — it's such a total surprise."

Though these days the once paralyzingly insecure actress has no trouble baring her body — or her heart — it does seem incongruous that her hands are concealed by formidable gloves of black leather.

So, what's with the gauntlets? In recent years, they've become a Keaton signature, as the fedora was in her younger days.

"Love 'em!" she exclaims with a flourish of her encased fingers. An outfit without gloves is like a painting without a frame, says the actress who has done more for this accessory than anyone since Grace Kelly.

"It finishes off the ensemble."

Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company