By Tim Nasson
Actress Pam Grier marches across the planet Mars 200 mm years in the future as Commander Helena Braddock in John
Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars. Adorned in leather army fatigues, a fabulous long, black wig, not one but two machine guns, and professing her love towards colleague Lt. Melanie Ballard (Natasha Henstridge), Grier
makes one butch lesbian warrior.
“Playing a lesbian felt so empowering,” Grier said in a recent interview. “Not only did I get to play a lesbian, but Mars is ruled by women!”
While the film does have gay undertones, it could have gone one step further. “Mars is really not a red planet,” director John Carpenter said. “During the daylight hours, it’s pink. I didn’t think I could do a horror movie on a
pink set, that’s why the film takes place at night.”
Grier, who is nearly 55 but does not look a day over 30, said that the reason she thinks she has such a huge gay following among men who were old enough to appreciate her films from the 70s is “because all of my characters from those early films were so honest.” She is referring especially to Coffy. “There I was as Coffy,” she said, “this mother of five kids down to her last $5, and some asshole is going to try and steal her last $5. I don’t think so. I don’t care if you’re a woman, gay, straight, old or young, but if someone was ever going to steal my last $5, I’d sure as hell kick their ass. I played Coffy and all of those other roles in the 70s as if I were that character. She was hon¬est. She did not take shit from anyone.
“And gay men especially understand what being honest is. I believe that people are born gay. They do not choose to be, and if they do, then it’s only their own damn business. But the point is, no matter the reason, most gay people are honest. The ones who are not in the closet have had to put up with so much shit, probably more than welfare mothers like Coffy had to. So they appreciate her character’s honesty.”
Beyond dolls
Grier debuted on screen over 30 years ago in Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, then progressed to more campy fare like Women in Cages; Black Mama, White Mama; Scream, Blacula, Scream; Greased Lightning; and Something Wicked this Way Comes.
Not until director Quentin Tarrentino “rediscovered” her did Grier’s name pop up on lists of other A-list directors. “Quentin is a sweetheart. I owe him a lot,” said Grier. In Tarrentino’s Jackie Brown Grier was able to prove herself as a great dramatic actress. Nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in 1997, Grier seemed destined to get a nomination from the Motion Picture Academy as well. It wasn’t to happen.
“I have never made a movie to win an award,” Grier said. “I hated when my friends said to me, after I made Jackie Brown, ‘Now you won’t be able to make any more B, C or D-list movies.’ If I was only going to make A-list dramas for the rest of my life, I’d only be doing one movie every 15 years, if I was that lucky.
“I have no aversions to doing movies like Ghosts of Mars. It’s the type of movie that put food on my table 30 years ago, and I think I am lucky to still be able to do action films. How many other actresses at my age can put a movie
like that down on their resume?”
Grier, who was diagnosed with an inoperable, invasive type of cancer at 40, is amazed that she is still alive 15 years later. “The doctors told me in 1988 to get my estate in order and to transfer it to my family, because I was that close to death. After all the Western medicines my doctor tried on me, he suggested Eastern treatments, herbs and such. Whether it was the herbs or a miracle from God I will never know, but I recovered. 100%, and have not had even a cold in 15 years.”
While never married, Grier does spend time with a significant other (not in the movie biz), and with her two dogs, Snoop Doggy Dog and Jackie Brown.
Pam Grier Interview with Tim Nasson for Ghosts of Mars.
