Meat
'fights' for acting career
By JOHN URBANCICH
Executive Editor
Oct. 14, 1999
LOS ANGELES -- Looking absolutely
nothing like the proverbial "Bat Out of
Hell," trimmer, dapper, ever-gracious Meat Loaf
thanks a reporter for complimenting his sharp black
suit, worn with matching black shirt and charcoal tie.
"That's very nice," says
the actor/singer/author, whose close-cropped hair
today belies the rocker image that first made him
famous in the late '70s. "My wife (Lesley Aday)
always says, 'This Meat Loaf character that goes on
rock and roll stages is not allowed in the house.' So,
now I look like this."
![[Bob]](meatloaf.jpg)
Meat Loaf Aday plays big Bob, a
support group survivor and eventual member of the
"Fight Club."
You probably don't have to tell
Meat's huge army of Cleveland fans, who attended his
book-signing last month (for an autobiography called
"To Hell and Back") and have tickets for his
Dec. 18 "Storyteller's Tour" concert at
Public Music Hall, that Marvin (Michael) Lee Aday
wasn't always a rock star.
"The fact is I started as an
actor, all through high school and college," he
says. "I did seven years in New York and got very
spoiled doing straight plays and musicals. I was only
out of work one Monday there in seven years.
"I did everything from two
Shakesepeares with Joe Papp and a lot downtown, at
Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center, and Sam Shepard
plays. I mean, I really did the theater circuit, all
the places you're supposed to go: Broadway,
off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway.
"Then, when I was trying to do
music," Aday continues, "they told me,
'You're an actor. Actors don't make rock records.
You're like Ethel Merman.' So then we made music and
now people are saying, 'Oh, isn't that sweet? You're
another musician who wants to be in films. Oh, that's
nice.' "
Actually, Meat Loaf made his big
screen debut almost 25 years ago as Eddie in "The
Rocky Horror Picture Show," which he also
performed on Broadway. Though he says nobody knows it,
he's been working steadily in films ever since.
"I mean, I've appeared in 28
films and 24 of them suck," laughs the
51-year-old performer. " 'Rocky Horror' wasn't
exactly a piece of cinematic magic but it entertained
people a lot, and 'Roadie,' which I did for Alan
Rudolph, was a pretty good little film for what it
was.
"Now, I have two good films
coming out back to back: 'Fight Club' (on Friday) and
then, the next weekend, 'Crazy in Alabama,' which
Antonio Banderas directed. Those two movies are very
good.
"I'm happy," he adds.
"I'm getting a little more picky because I've
done nine (movies) in the last 3½ years and I'm
actually turning scripts down now. Whoa, am I
impressed!"
Most will be impressed by Meat's
performance in David Fincher's startling "Fight
Club." He plays a bear of a man (wearing a
38-pound suit to make him look even bigger) whose size
belies his weaknesses.
"I laughed out loud when I read
the screenplay," he recalls. "I was in
London recording when I got a call from my theatrical
manager who says, 'David Fincher wants you to do a
part in "Fight Club." It's got Brad Pitt and
Ed Norton in it,' and I go, 'OK, that's good. Let's do
it.'
"It's just an extraordinary
piece of work," Aday concludes. "You're just
confronted by the reality of it all. It's not one of
those films that ends and you say, 'Michelle Pfeiffer
was cute, wasn't she? Now, where do you want to go for
dinner?'
"Some are even saying 'Fight
Club' is 'A Clockwork Orange' for the '90s, but I tend
to think it's more like 'The Wizard of Oz' because the
truth is always inside yourself."
Apparently Meat Loaf and Marvin Lee
Aday both understand that personal gig. "I've
been kinda brutalized in the rock press for saying I'm
an actor," he says. "I always say I can't
sing, but I create these characters who can sing. It's
kind of schizophrenic.
"I even call my book my
'unauthorized' biography because I didn't give myself
permission to write it."
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