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Even Wonder Woman gets tired.
When Lynda Carter, who played the superhero in the mid-`70s TV series, began a phone interview to publicize two movies, her first words were, "Sorry I flaked out on you yesterday, Chris."
She's referring to an interview that was postponed a couple of times and completely vanished once. There were a variety of reasons but, mostly, Carter was beat: "My car didn't show up, there was no one to meet me at the airport, and I ended up feeling like I couldn't even speak anymore. So I called a girlfriend, and she came to my hotel and we relaxed for a while."
Carter has had to be a lower-case wonder woman the past few weeks, jamming in "hundreds" of interviews for "Sky High," a comedy about a kid who goes to superhero school (where Carter is the superpowered principal), and "The Dukes of Hazzard." It opened Friday, featuring Carter as a Duke family confidante named Pauline.
"She's a good, solid Southern woman, and anyone knows you don't cross a good, solid Southern woman," says Carter, her voice a good-humored, early-morning rasp. At 54, she plays authority figures now-she was a governor in "Super Troopers"-which seems like a natural progression from the powerful woman who was her first big role.
"I always thought of Wonder Woman as one of the first strong women on TV. I like to think we broke open a few doors, and I always tried to play it in a way that bought into it 100 percent, with no we're-just-kidding," says Carter. "Now, I'm hoping I'll make a bajillion dollars and get offered a lot of these older women parts."
Older but not old. She hasn't been in major projects the past few years, so Carter is aware that when she takes a meeting about a potential project, the producers worry about something other than how she delivers the lines.
"It's not about whether my reading is good. It's, `How does Lynda look?,'" chuckles Carter. "If people have not seen you recently, there is a tendency in this business for them to think you had a bad facelift or gained 50 pounds. When I go to meetings, I can see the relief on their faces."
Her meetings for "Sky High" had a lot to do with shoes. "The designer showed me my costume, and it was this tweed skirt, with flat shoes. So I said, `I kind of saw the opposite: stiletto heels and really great, fitted suits,' " says Carter. "I just felt like she is a force to be reckoned with, since this is not your typical high school and, besides, they hired me to play her."
Much of the time, Carter could be wearing bunny slippers for all you see of her feet in "Sky High," but she doesn't care. "I couldn't even do a close-up if I was wearing flat shoes, even if my feet hurt," says Carter. "It doesn't matter if you don't see them. Ask any woman. The shoes make the difference about how you feel about yourself."
For "Dukes," Carter cobbled together part of her costume from her own closet. "Pauline is sexy, but she's not trying too hard," says Carter. So, flats? "No! Hey, baby, she needs boots. Those are my own boots that I have had forever. And, no, they're not flat! Of course, they have a bit of a heel."
There's a third movie on Carter's mind, although it's not clear if it will involve her. Joss Whedon, creator of "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," is preparing a big-screen "Wonder Woman."
"You'd have to ask Josh (sic) Whedon and (producer) Joel Silver about that," says Carter. "I know there's a Web site where people are trying to get me into the movie, but I haven't heard anything."
Refreshingly, Carter is one actor who has been strongly associated with a role who doesn't attempt to distance herself from it. She even asked to have the line, "I'm not Wonder Woman, you know," added to the "Sky High" script. But she has mixed feelings about taking a role in the movie if it's offered to her (such stars as Katie Holmes and Rachel McAdams have been mentioned for the title role).
"I would only want to do if it's right for me," says Carter, who's protective of her red, white and bustier alter ego. "If they feel a need to distance themselves from me or the original show, I think that's the wrong decision. But we'll see. I know that I wouldn't want to do just a campy, cameo thing. That wouldn't be right."
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Chris Hewitt: chewitt@pioneerpress.com
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(c) 2005, St. Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.). Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service.
