Rita Moreno is speaking out about the Hollywood “bitches” from her past she used as inspiration for her new role in “The Prank.” And one of them, TheWrap has learned, was super agent Sue Mengers. “[She] represented some huge stars and that was no accident. She was really brilliant,” Moreno told TheWrap.
“She’s gone now. She’s passed away, so I can say who. What a nasty woman,” Moreno said. Mengers was a top talent agent for Creative Management Associates throughout the 1960s to 1980s. Mengers represented the likes of Candice Bergen, Cher and Faye Dunaway, among countless others. Mengers died in 2011 at the age of 79.
In “The Prank,” Moreno plays a high school teacher who tortures her students, only to have the tables turned on her when a fake rumor is started about her committing a murder. “It’s so much fun,” Moreno said of playing a villain. “I remember thinking, ‘Jamie Lee Curtis, move over, woman!’ Although she’s never played a terrible person, I am playing the world’s worst human being.”
“It wasn’t as difficult as you might think,” Moreno admitted. “Because I just really go back to all the bitches who treated me badly in the old days for the obvious reasons: Puerto Rican. I took all of that stuff and I called it material and research. I just applied a whole bunch of that to Mrs. Wheeler.”
According to director Maureen Bharoocha, Moreno was game to try nearly anything when making the movie, but had two caveats: she wanted to smoke a cigarette and wear leather pants. The leather pants were fine but, unfortunately, Moreno didn’t end up smoking the cigarette. For Moreno, though, that inspiration Mengers and other unnamed actresses provided helped a lot.
“The Prank” is in theaters on March 15.
