The Whig-Standard - January 6, 1996

"Rosetta: A tough challenge; Canadian star Megan Follows tackles role as autistic savant"
John McKay

It's the same tilted head, wringing of hands, shuffling walk, middle-distance stare and repetitive, monotone voice. But Megan Follows isn't worried people will compare her performance as an autistic savant with Dustin Hoffman's famous Rain Man.

Follows is part of a powerhouse trio of actresses starring in Under the Piano, a Sullivan Entertainment film premiering on CBC-TV Sunday at 8 p.m.

Along with Amanda Plummer and opera soprano Teresa Stratas, they tell the story of Rosetta, a handicapped girl torn between a domineering, poisonous mother who tries to inhibit her daughter's development, and a loving sister who wants to nurture the savant side of Rosetta's mind.

An Inspiration

Like Hoffman, Follows met and studied real autistic savants for her role, including an elderly woman from Boston who was the real- life inspiration for the script's character.

But she insists that while the American actor did an "amazing job" in his 1988 film, her take on the disability was different.

"I wouldn't say I felt the need to embellish or change [the role] based on his performance as being the ultimate of something," she says.

The diminutive redheaded actress, known to most Canadians for her Anne of Green Gables miniseries of a decade ago, concedes she had some misgivings about tackling the Rosetta role at first.

For her, the challenge would be playing a character who could not express emotion.

"What I learned through the process wasn't that there was any less emotion," she says. "It was just a different means of expressing the same things that you or I or anybody else might feel."

Under the Piano is the latest in a varied string of performances Follows has attempted over the years after the Anne Shirley part that gained her worldwide fame.

Romeo And Juliet

She has done Romeo and Juliet at Stratford, made some unsuccessful stabs at series TV, and will be doing some theatre work in Toronto this month.

In 1991 she took on an even more challenging role when she married film-technician husband Christopher Porter. They now have two children, Lyla, four, and Russell, 18 months.

She's 27 now and the red tresses are shorter and darker. But in faded jeans and with a student book-bag slung over her shoulder, she still suggests the all-Canadian ingenue.

This despite a hectic professional schedule that involves frequent travel between her Los Angeles home and Canada and with no imminent plans to settle in anywhere.

"I feel my creative heart's up here and that's why I'm here right now," she says.

"I'm not projecting too far into the future. I'm basically taking things a day at a time in terms of where my goals are."

Follows exudes complete happiness with her life, conceding children and career can lead to a sort of schizophrenia, a fracturing of the mind.

"There's your own needs and wants and desires, and then there's your need to feel that for two other human beings who demand that," she explains.

But she says she's the kind of parent who has to work because it brings satisfaction. And thus fulfilled, she can then bring that to her children.

"It's hard and I'm sure it will get harder soon because of their age. But right now it's still manageable."

Follows' ability to juggle family and career is in ironic contrast to the subject matter of Under the Piano. In the film, set in Depression-era Montreal, co-star Stratas turns in a remarkable performance as a faded opera diva embittered because, in her day, she had to sacrifice her career to raise a family.

"Doctors said they would be a comfort in my old age," she laments, convinced her daughter's handicap is divine punishment for throwing away her talent.

Thoughts By Megan Follows

"I've totally come to terms with that. It hasn't been a problem for me. It hasn't hindered me to do other work. I'm obviously associated with that and what a great thing to be associated with."- On being remembered for Anne of Green Gables

- "Those are monumental learning experiences. Better actors have theatre experience. It forces you into learning. How can that not make you better? I think it makes me a better performer." - On doing Stratford and other theatre

- "I have to work because it satisfies me and I can bring that to my children as someone who is more fulfilled. That's certainly not the case for everybody, but it's the case for me." - On juggling acting and motherhood

- "Obviously when women get to a certain age in Hollywood they start to become invisible. You only have to turn on the TV and watch how most women are portrayed . . . the wife, the girlfriend, the love interest." - On scarcity of good parts as actresses get older

Source: The Whig-Standard