By BETSY PICKLE
Scripps Howard News Service
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Janeane Garofalo's character in the new Pixar film "Ratatouille" is easy to pick out. For one thing, the Garofalo-voiced Colette is practically the only female in the energetic animated tale about a rat named Remy who dreams of becoming a great chef in a Paris restaurant. Colette is the love interest -- not of Remy but of Linguini, the garbage boy mistakenly credited with Remy's culinary feats.
Garofalo -- the petite actress and comedian known for her sarcastic wit and liberal activism -- isn't often cast as a romantic lead. Nor does she usually portray a style role model. Yet assistant chef Colette, with a crusty exterior hiding a soft heart, sports a chic raven-hued bob that's been earning her real-life alter ego heaps of compliments.
"It's beautiful, beautiful hair," says Garofalo.
Garofalo, 42, a New Jersey native, chats for several minutes about hair and politics, then suddenly realizes she has deviated from her mission.
"Please, please, let's talk about 'Ratatouille,'" she says. "I really think it's the best movie I've ever been in -- and no thanks to me. It's not because of me. I've never been prouder of a project I've participated in."
In addition to Garofalo and comedian Patton Oswalt, who voices Remy, the vocal talent includes acting legend Peter O'Toole, Ian Holm, Brian Dennehy and Brad Garrett. Brad Bird ("The Incredibles") directed the film.
Garofalo enthuses about the computer software that the filmmakers created to bring Paris to life in all its ancient glory -- and then detours into a discussion of Parisians' reputation for not cleaning up after their dogs. Which leads her to the subject of her three dogs -- now two, since Lulu passed away. Which then evokes a mention of her 1996 romantic comedy, "The Truth About Cats & Dogs."
"Oh brother," Garofalo says of "Truth." "Corny. Cornball -- cornball in a nice way. Feels good like 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' ... and 'Crossing Delancey.'"
"Crossing Delancey," the 1988 Amy Irving-Peter Riegert romantic comedy, is one of her favorite films.
"I love that movie," says Garofalo, who played media consultant Louise Thornton on the final season of "The West Wing." "Seen it 1 billion times."
She claims to adore every version of "Pride and Prejudice and its to-die-for romantic hero Mr. Darcy -- from Laurence Olivier to Colin Firth to Matthew Macfadyen.
Yes, the famously caustic Garofalo, who spent 28 months co-hosting "The Majority Report" on Air America Radio, has her own soft center, just like Colette.
At the suggestion that "Pride and Prejudice" is superior to melodramatic cheese like "The Notebook," she offers a defense of the critically drubbed film.
"I didn't see it, but I'll tell ya, that Ryan Gosling looks pretty good in that poster," says Garofalo, who worked with Gosling in "Stay." "Handsome, handsome young man."
Garofalo expresses unease at crushing on a guy 16 years her junior.
"It feels wrong," she says. "It doesn't feel good for me to say, 'Hey, Grandma would like to date you. I could literally have borne you, but I'd like to date you.'"
She doesn't buy into the "cougar" phenomenon -- single, self-sufficient women in their 30s or older pursuing younger men for sexual satisfaction. Supposedly "cougars" mark an empowering breakthrough for women.
"That's what I've heard," she says. "But they (media outlets) sure don't paint flattering portrayals of them ..."
She can't comment on Ellen Barkin's libidinous cougar in "Ocean's Thirteen," which she hasn't seen. But that film brings up another subject -- her as-yet-non-existent but inevitable relationship with "Ocean's" star George Clooney.
"I'm so in love with George Clooney, I don't even know what to do," she says. "And it's not even for the hack reasons. It's for his activism -- besides that he's lovely to look at, and funny. He addresses the United Nations; he goes to Darfur with his father and does a documentary. . . .He doesn't realize that I'm supposed to be his girlfriend. ..."
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