A new biography out later this month argues that Polish actress Joanna Pacuła became a major Hollywood figure in the 1980s, even as she remained little understood at home.
Polish actress Joanna Pacuła.Photo: Byron Purvis/AdMedia via PAP
The book, Pacuła. Najsłynniejsza Polka na świecie (Pacuła: The Most Famous Polish Woman in the World), written by Marta Górna, will be published on March 25 by Agora Publishing.
Górna says she set out to separate fact from rumour around Pacuła, a star who avoided interviews and rarely shared details of her private life.
In the publisher’s announcement, Pacuła is described as one of the most heavily promoted new faces in international cinema in the 1980s.
She broke through in the United States with a leading role in Gorky Park, opposite William Hurt, for which received a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress.
Her dozens of screen credits include Escape from Sobibor, The Kiss, Tombstone, in which she played Doc Holliday’s (Val Kilmer’s) lover, and the action movie Marked for Death, alongside Steven Seagal.
Górna, who worked on the book for four years, told Poland’s PAP news agency that she spoke with nearly 100 people connected to Pacuła, including figures from Hollywood, Australia, Italy and Poland.
While Pacuła did not take part in the project, the author said the actress is aware of the book, and that Pacuła’s collaborators and close friends provided comments for it.
Górna argues that in Poland, Pacuła has long been discussed reluctantly, and often unfairly.
„She became a symbol of excessive ambition. Speaking well about her is speaking against the general opinion,” Górna said.
Well-known figures quoted in the book support a positive image which the actress enjoyed in Hollywood.
Robert Knepper, known for the TV series Prison Break, described his memories of Pacuła as having „the charm and strength of a young Betty Bacall.”
Marked for Death director Dwight H. Little said Pacuła was calm and experienced around major stars.
’A fascinating book about a fascinating woman’
Journalist Karolina Korwin-Piotrowska, in a promotional statement, framed Pacuła as an emblem of escape from communist-era greyness.
“When Poles were drowning in the grey and stifling darkness of the communist system, she embodied the dream that there is another world somewhere, fame, and screen and fashion goddesses admired by all,” she said, calling the biography “a fascinating book about a fascinating woman.”
Film critic Tomasz Raczek described Pacuła as “beautiful, quiet, mysterious, brave” and, in his view, „misunderstood,” saying the book may help her be seen more fairly.
In an excerpt shared with the PAP news agency, Górna writes that Pacuła was being prepared for the leading role in a film which ultimately would make Sharon Stone a global star.
“Director Paul Verhoeven, who, through his agent, tells me he was delighted with Joanna and wanted her to act in Basic Instinct, but the amount of nudity discouraged her,” Górna said.
Pacuła was born in the southeastern Polish town of Tomaszów Lubelski in 1957.
In December 1981, Poland’s communist authorities imposed martial law, a sweeping crackdown that suspended civil liberties and targeted the opposition.
Pacuła was in Paris at the time. She did not return to Poland, and ultimately emigrated to the United States in 1982.
In 1990, People magazine selected her as one of its “50 Most Beautiful People in the World,” along with the likes of Michelle Pfeiffer and Tom Cruise.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP
Radio Poland