Michelle Pfeiffer's racist role

Jul 7, 2007, 7:00 GMT

Michelle Pfeiffer was shocked when she realised her 'Hairspray' character is a "big fat racist".

The 'What Lies Beneath' star - who plays malicious mother Velma Von Tussle in the remake of the hit musical - pondered over playing the nasty character, but didn't realise just how mean she was until filming had begun.

Michelle told Access Hollywood: "I've played a lot of mean, ruthless characters, I've played some pretty hateful characters, but this one really made me kind of take a pause.

"I started to kind of inch my way toward this character, and suddenly it dawned on me that I'm a big, fat racist.

"You know, it just kind of slipped right by me!"

The 49-year-old actress claims she often misses key scenes when first reading scripts, and is sometimes convinced directors add nude scenes after she has accepted a role.

She said: "You know, sometimes the impact of a scene doesn't really dawn on you until later.

"In fact, sometimes I'll read a script, and two months into shooting I'll say to the director, 'Um, see this love scene here where I'm naked, that wasn't - did you just write that?' 'No that's always been there.' And I'm like, 'No, no, no, that wasn't here before.' "

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