Awesome Andie
‘WHEN I turned 40, people kept asking me what it felt like to get older and know I wasn’t going to work any longer,” says Andie MacDowell. Well, she showed them. Now 59, the longtime face of L’Oréal is enjoying the juiciest role of her career: a widow rediscovering romance, to the horror of her grown sons, in “Love After Love,” out March 30. She’ll discuss that and more at the 92nd Street Y on Wednesday, between clips from such films as “Groundhog Day,” which paired her with Bill Murray. Here’s what she told The Post about him, her daughters Margaret and Rainey Qualley and her upcoming nude scene — her first — in “Love After Love.” How did you keep your clothes on for all those years? My agents and managers wanted me to have a body double. I found it comfortable [to do then] because I didn’t want to embarrass my children, for starters. But they’re grown up. How did you get through it? The director knew it wasn’t something I was dying to do, so the crew was cut back. And I practiced! Right before we did the scene, he said, “How do you want to do this?” I said, “Should I just show you?” So I took my clothes off in front of him and said, “What do you think?” He kept saying, “You are so beautiful, oh that’s beautiful, that’s beautiful.” It made me calm. What career advice, if any, have you given your daughters? Basically I tell them, “Obstacles are just opportunities to grow.” Now they give me advice. Where did you last find Bill Murray? I ran into him in an airport. I know he’s living in Charleston[, SC,] now and I’ve gone to Charleston and hoped I’d run into him by accident. It hasn’t happened. There’s only one Bill Murray. He’s a comic genius. What's next? I did a movie for Netflix [airing this year] with Chevy Chase and Richard Dreyfuss, “The Last Laugh.” It’s a powerful story with a lot of comedy. You seem to prefer comedy to drama. I’m glad I get to do both, but I think dark comedies are my favorite. I watched a documentary on Cary Grant. He had a whole persona that he played nonstop — he was never truly himself. That’s not something I ever wanted to do. I play characters, but in real life, I’m me.