Bette Midler reveals the ONE role she regrets passing on: ‘I was really scared of the costume’
Bette Midler has had a legendary career, but she’s not without regrets. In fact, there’s one iconic role the Beaches star regrets passing on.
The 77-year-old hocus pocus star, who recently hit back at fans who called her transphobic, was offered a role in 1992’s Sister Act, but turned it down.
“They came to me with Sister Act and I was like, ‘My fans don’t want to see me in a headscarf,'” the Rose actress said on the Just For Variety podcast.
‘Can you belive that? How crazy is that? How crazy is that? Jeffrey Katzenberg called me every day, “Please, please.” I stood my ground because I was really scared of the costume. Isn’t that amazing? I can wear anything but a nun’s habit?’
The role eventually went to Whoopi Goldberg.
Regrets I have a few: Bette Midler spoke about the role she regrets passing on and one she keeps revisiting
“Whoopi carried it all the way to the bank,” Midler added. “So God bless her. And she was perfect for that.”
And there was one other role she turned down that she’s still thinking about – Misery.
“I just couldn’t. It was too violent,’ she said. “The character was so unfunny, so devoid of redeeming qualities. She cut off his foot. light up. Who does that?’
Midler will be honored with the Distinguished Collaborator Award at the Costume Designers Guild Awards in Beverly Hills on February 27, and she opened up about her career at Variety ahead of the event.
The First Wives Club actress would also like to star in a recent TV show: White Lotus.
She would accept a role on the HBO series In a New York minute.
“It’s a big show,” she explained. “Mike White makes fun of the worst people, the really entitled and rich people, who misbehave. Everyone loves to watch them get their comeuppance.
“I’m really enjoying that. It is the great saga of the haves and have-nots that is eternal. I tend to look at the stuff that – I don’t want to say hopefully – but I like to laugh. I love to laugh, but there just isn’t enough laughter. So I’m really looking for the stuff that makes me laugh.
And while she’s had a remarkable career spanning more than six decades, there’s one public role she’d never want to take on – that of being a politician.
Sister Act: The Divine Ms. M announced that she passed on the role in Sister Act, which eventually went to Whoopi Goldberg
“I’m not smart enough,” said the Ruthless People actress. “And the difference between me and the people who actually hold office is that I’m smart enough to know that I’m not smart enough to be in government to be in legislation.”
“Some of these people have no idea why, for God’s sake, they went into politics. They are so lame and they are so stupid. And they don’t really care about their constituents. They are mostly there to grab money. I really think so. I never thought like that when I was a kid.’
“Oh my god, this country. Oh my god my country is yours, I loved it so much,” she continued. “But I’m telling you lately, it makes absolutely no sense that we’re being governed by people so clueless. I’m sorry. That’s it. I do not have anything to say in addition.’
And Divine Ms. M admitted that the last movie she cried over was one of her favorites: Beaches.
“I show it once a week,” she joked. “No, I’m teasing,” she admitted.
Midler got serious and admitted: “I cried over a book, The School for Good Mothers. I just cried like a baby. It’s been a long time since I cried over a book like this.’
And since biopics are a hot commodity in Hollywood these days, the podcast host asked her if we’d ever get a Bette Midler biopic.
‘My daughter [actor Sophie Von Haselberg] and I’m two peas in a pod, so if she wants, she can have it. But I don’t think that’s what she’s aiming for.
Hocus Pocus: The 77-year-old actress recently appeared in Hocus Pocus 2