Michelle Pfeiffer is currently filming “Margo’s Got Money Problems,” the Apple TV+ series adaptation of the bestselling novel co-starring Nicole Kidman and Elle Fanning, in Los Angeles. In the last 20 years or so, Pfeiffer says of the 23 projects she’s worked on, only three have shot in the city.
“That’s crazy,” the three-time Oscar nominee told me Friday, following her hand and footprint ceremony at the TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. Like so many people in television and movies, Pfeiffer worries Los Angeles is on the verge of no longer being an industry town.
“I don’t know lot about the politics of it all, but I know you need to bring back tax incentives,” Pfeiffer said. “People look at the bottom line for productions — where are we going to get the most for our dollars because you want all that money to go on screen, and if you’re saving $4 million by going somewhere else, or even a million, that’s huge.”
She added, “I know it’s probably more complicated than it appears, but…the jobs are not gone. They’ve just moved. We gotta bring them back.”
Pfeiffer’s comments follow Ben Affleck recently telling The Associated Press that California needed better tax and rebate initiatives to lure more film and TV production to the state. “Other places will have better exchange rates or tax rebate deals that are meant to lure this industry there because they understand how stimulative it is for the economies,” he said.
Affleck added, “Part of the problem with California is they came to take this industry for granted a little bit.”
Pfeiffer also recalled her first acting a job – a Ford truck commercial. She was given the day off by her boss at a Von’s in Orange County – she was a cashier — to shoot the spot in Malibu.
“You know, when I started out, all I initially thought was, ‘Can I make a living? And if I could make a living doing this, that would be fantastic,’” she says. “That would have been good enough for me.”
Fast forward about 45 years to today. Pfeiffer admits she had a case of the jitters before speaking at the ceremony.
“I was just so nervous,” says Pfeiffer, who stars in Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming series “Madison.” “I get really nervous about public speaking.”
During her remarks, Pfeiffer said she fell in love with acting while taking a theater class when she was a junior in high school.
“I caught the bug,” she said in her speech. “I didn’t expect it. I thought the theater people were kind of odd. But very soon I just discovered that I fit right in and I had this immediate sense of belonging. Apparently, I was an odd ball too all this time.”
Dakota and Elle Fanning, both of who have worked with Pfeiffer, were on hand to offer tributes. The guest list also included Pfeiffer’s husband, David E. Kelly; CAA agents Kevin Huvane, Chris Andrews and Franklin Latt; and “Madison” co-stars Patrick J. Adams, Kevin Zegers, Amiah Miller and Elle Chapman.
The hand and footprint ceremony was presented as part of the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival and was hosted by Ben Mankiewicz.
