Elizabeth Hurley remembers how the controversy over her iconic Versace gold safety pin dress in 1994 was very surprising.
Elizabeth Hurley has found her place as an actress.
“I usually play people who are manipulative, sneaky, and have no morals,” she says on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast.
The actor, model, and producer says it all started when she played the devil opposite Brendan Fraser in “Bedazzled” in 2000. She then worked on the first season of “Gossip Girl” and then played the queen of England in “The Royals” on E! And on Hulu, she played the supervillain Morgan le Fay in the Marvel show “The Runaways.”
Hurley says, “We like to think of it as charming evil, not just stab you in the eye with a pencil evil.”
But her new romantic comedy, “Christmas in the Caribbean,” is on the lighter side of things. She plays a London theater critic whose fiance leaves her at the altar, so she takes her two best girlfriends on what would have been their tropical honeymoon. In that story, the character of Hurley falls in love with an Italian chef. “She’s friendly. Hurley says, “She’s not angry or sneaky.” “She seems hurt and is a very good person. I’ve never been in that role before. It was hard in some ways because she’s so nice.”
Elizabeth Emanuel, who made Princess Diana’s wedding dress, also made the dress for Hurley’s wedding in the movie. “I said to myself, “You know what? This sweet, charming, and romantic Christmas movie is being made. “What could be more romantic than using the dress designer of the late Princess of Wales?” Hurley asks.
When we were talking about dresses, I asked Hurley to think back to when she was dating Hugh Grant and wore that famous gold safety pin Versace dress to the premiere of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” in 1994. Critics said the dress was too revealing, which is funny to think about now, but it made Hurley famous all over the world at the time.
“Hugh and I lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment without a full-length mirror, so I didn’t even see the full dress until I read about it in the papers the next day,” she says. “But of course, no one knew that his movie would be a big hit. We had no idea what was going on at all. So the next day, when both the movie and, strangely, my dress were all over the papers, it was a big surprise to both of us. But we’re both very thankful that both of those things happened.”
Hurley also talks about how she stays friends with her ex-boyfriends, how she remembers her first audition when she was just 21 years old, and how she hopes to work with Marvel again, but this time on a big screen.
Hurley says, “I’m a big fan of Marvel.” “I’d love to do it, but I know they’ll put me in a catsuit. I mean, for Morgan le Fay, I spent almost the whole time in a catsuit. It seems like I’ll always have to squeeze into a catsuit. It was a one-time thing. Even though it was only one season, I wouldn’t mind being a bad guy.”
