Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gives supporting characters enough life to matter beside the leading men. We value her for it, though Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves shows how much an actor can still be limited by the writing.
Fi1m perspective
In Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Marian is livelier than the romance written for her. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio gives us someone worth following even when the screenplay cannot decide how seriously to take the adventure. We warmed to her because she kept Marian interesting through those changes of tone. We value that ability to make a supporting character matter, but the script leaves her to do too much of the work.
Her breakthrough as Gina Montana, sister to Al Pacino’s character in Brian De Palma’s Scarface (1983), established her beside a major star. Her 1986 role as Carmen, Tom Cruise’s girlfriend and manager, put her opposite Cruise and Paul Newman. These are substantial examples of the supporting work on which much of her reputation rests. She also took a lead role as Lindsey Brigman in James Cameron’s underwater science-fiction thriller The Abyss (1989).
The difficulty in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is that the writing asks for seriousness, then retreats into broad comedy. Screenwriters Pen Densham and John Watson give the cast awkward changes to negotiate, and Peter Boyle’s editing cannot find a comfortable rhythm for them. Mastrantonio helps keep a decent adventure watchable, alongside Alan Rickman’s mischief and Michael Kamen’s score. But she cannot make the romance consistently persuasive or stop the film feeling long.
Her later work includes fishing boat captain Linda Greenlaw in The Perfect Storm (2000), followed by a greater emphasis on television series and stage revivals. Those stage roles include Aldonza/Dulcinea in the Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha (2002). In 1989, she explained that working in cinema allowed her to afford stage work. Theatre has been a parallel career, and the gaps between films should be understood in that light. For an introduction, try her Marian, with fair warning that the adventure takes longer than it needs.
Biography
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio is an American actress and singer. Born on 17 November 1958 in Lombard, Illinois, she studied drama at the University of Illinois and made her Broadway debut as an understudy in the 1980 revival of West Side Story.
She first gained notice for her role as Gina Montana in Scarface (1983). She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Carmen in The Color of Money (1986). Her other film roles include Lindsey Brigman in The Abyss (1989), Maid Marian in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), and Linda Greenlaw in The Perfect Storm (2000). She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the 2003 Broadway revival of Man of La Mancha.
Mastrantonio is married to film director Pat O'Connor.
