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..Gary Dretzka
..Leonard Klady
..David Poland
..Ray Pride
..Patricia Vidal

Choreographer Marguerite Derricks is dancing as fast as she can. With an even dozen movies and television shows in production, already on the screen or on their way to video, the blond Buffalo native barely has time for her other projects, which include continuing to fine-tune Cirque du Soleil’s "Zumanity” and an end-of-year music video for VH1.

And, by the way, that number features several pole-dancing strippers, who just happen to be pregnant … sort of.

Derricks work recently has been seen in The Cat in the Hat, Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Grind and American Wedding. New arrivals on DVD include Gigli and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and she’s also anticipating the release next year of Johnson Family Vacation, Starsky & Hutch, Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen and 13 Going on 30.

As an aspiring ballerina, Derricks four of her teen summers training at the National Ballet School Of Canada. She later would try her hand at professional ballet in New York City, but she claims she didn’t fit the body type. From there, it was a short leap to jazz dance on Broadway, a gig on TV’s Fame and choreographing videos for Quincy Jones, Celine Dion, Donna Summer and Deborah Harry.

Derricks, now 42, has been dancing on the big screen since 1988, when, according to the usually reliable www.imdb.com archivists, she doubled for the Witch Bitch in Death Spa. Despite that prestigious assignment, her first big break came a few years later, when Ivan Reitman hired her to design a dance sequence for Arnold Schwarzenegger and Emma Thompson, in Junior, and she was asked to choreograph the many disparate dance elements in Showgirls. Indeed, Derricks may have been the only person to emerge from that disaster unscathed. This was followed by Striptease, which starred Demi Moore, who fortuitously also was co-producer of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

As much as those movies helped put her name within the sights of Hollywood producers, though, it was a groundbreaking series of dance-filled Gap commercials that finally launched her career into orbit. The first 30-second ad -- featuring a corps of swing-dancing hotties doing the "Khaki A Go Go" – coincided with the release of Swingers and Swing Kids, and, possibly, got young audiences in the mood for Moulin Rouge.

Derricks has won Emmys for her work in a variety of television shows, as well as several American Choreography Awards and MTV Movie Awards (choreography being the only valid category in the MTV hype-fest). She’s also choreographed numbers on That ‘70s Show, Will and Grace, Cedric the Entertainer Presents, Third Rock From the Sun, the Goodwill Games and Old Navy commercials.

MCN spoke with Derricks during rehearsals for “Zumanity” (at the New York, New York resort in Las Vegas) and, again, just before the opening of The Cat in the Hat.

MOVIE CITY NEWS: Imdb.com failed to mention your work in The Cat in the Hat, but included Gigli and your contribution to Death Spa, in 1988, as a.k.a.Witch Bitch?

MARGUERITE DERRICKS: Hmmm …Death Spa sounds familiar, but the Witch Bitch doesn’t. Where does that stuff come from, anyway.

MCN: No one really knows. They had Arnold Schwarzenegger as 6-foot-3, too. So, how did you link up with Mike Myers?

MD: It was when I was working with Demi Moore, on Striptease. Her production company produced Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, which, in 1996, was just this low-budget project with a first-time director.

I used to work out all the time with Demi’s producer. I had this six-pack stomach, and she wanted me to be a go-go dancer on Austin Powers. They wanted to paint words on my stomach.

MCN: Isn’t that how Goldie Hawn started? Doesn’t sound like the kind of offer one couldn’t refuse, exactly.

MD: When I read the script, it didn’t say anything about dance, but I saw great opportunities for it. I said, “I don’t want to be in the movie. I want to choreograph it.”

Finally, when I was introduced to Mike and Jay, I said, “This beginning … it needs to dance.” Turns out, we were on the same page.

MCN: The rest is history.

MD: That started a great relationship, yes. But, at the time, who knew …?

The first Austin Powers wasn’t such a big hit in its theatrical release, but it did great in video. The second one was huge.

MCN: Your mother is from Toronto. Mike is from Toronto. Both of your moms were in show business. What else did you have in common?

MD: Well, we both love Fosse, so we enjoyed many of the same movies. There was a scene in the script of the first Austin Powers involving a stewardess, and it made me think of the airplane scene in All That Jazz.

He just happened to have that video in his trailer, and we also discussed Sweet Charity. He loves that style of dance.

MCN: The swinging London a-go-go backdrop really seemed to fit your interests.

MD: I had this Saturday class for a dozen or so young dancers, and so I invited Mike to come by, thinking we’d put something together. He came over in his slippers, and, in 45 minutes, we had this dance. Here he was, standing in the room with all these kids. He’s a great mover, and loved the kids, who were all between 12 and 16.

MCN: Tell me how his spoof of Lord of the Dance, on the MTV Movie Awards, came to be. You said that TV Guide recently named it one of 50 funniest moments in TV history.

MD: When I met with him for the first time on the show, he put on a video of Lord of the Dance, and he had me cracking up with his comments. He told me he was a great tap dancer. I hired 16 wonderful girls, who really could tap, and put this scene together.

When he got there, he already knew “hop, shuffle, step.” We repeated it throughout the whole number, and he added such comedic moments as biting the girls, looking at his watch and humping our stand-in for Michael Flatley’s famous “girl in a red dress.”

He turned it into this Lucille Ball moment, which was so beautiful. I had created a real dance, but he put all the wonderful comedy into it.

MCN: I know that you won’t take any credit for the wonderfully precise seduction-with-round-objects scene between Mike and Elizabeth Hurley in the first Austin Powers. Nonetheless, you must have contributed something to make it look as fluid as it did on screen.

MD: Mike and (director) Jay Roach approach all dance choreography and movement in the old style … of Fred Astaire, where you can see everything. It’s not about making a scene move by cutting it up. They do it the way it’s supposed to be done.

I wouldn’t consider that particular scene to be dance, exactly. But, choreographers are brought on set a lot of times if there’s going to be any kind of movement. I helped smooth out the movements, so it just flowed … by working on the timing.

MCN: It looked like a Post-Modern ballet to these untrained eyes.

MD: Mike and Jay think like dancers, in counts of 8. It’s easy to work with them because we speak the same language.

MCN: Explain that one to me.

MD: In dance, we break everything down to 8s … so everything is timed. If I tell Mike that something should happen at 4, in the fifth count of 8s, he knows what that means.

MCN: When we met in September, during rehearsals for “Zumanity,” you mentioned that getting the Cirque performers to count was something of a challenge. Were you successful?

MD: Well, they’re counting now! When I first got there, it was like, ‘Whoa, what do you mean you don’t count? What do you mean, the music is different every night?” That’s too dangerous. I thought, “This isn’t going to work. We need to count music, guys.”

To me, it was just too risky, not to be synchronized. There are a lot of the things they do in “Zumanity” that rely on the mechanics of flying and all that stuff, They needed to have a layout and know what I was going for… and on what counts … then , if anything happens, they can work it out on the fly.

MCN: The Cat in the Hat would seem to have provided a natural fit for you and Mike.

MD: The original script for Cat in the Hat called for a ton of dance numbers. But, every time someone rewrote it, a number was removed. At one point, I didn’t think there would be anything left for me to do.

But Mike loves music and dance so much, I knew something else would come up. Just when I thought I wouldn’t be working on the movie, he called me up to work on the “Fun, Fun, Fun” number. He wanted to come down the stairs dressed as Carmen Miranda, then we did this piece with him as a matador.

A lot of times, he’ll want me on the set just in case something comes to his mind that involves movement. Artists and directors create bonds with choreographers, because dance requires trust. We’re there to get them through and make them look good.

MCN: How different is it for you to create dance numbers for characters in big bulky costumes – some of whom are digitally animated – than lithe dancers in leotards.

MD: Actually, in Cat in the Hat, it’s Mike and Thing One and Thing Two, who are in costume. Plus, the fish is animated.

MCN: But, Looney Tunes and Country Bears must have presented a challenge?

MD: Yeah, you have to take large costumes completely into consideration. Movement looks one way when it’s just your regular body doing it. But, when you have this big old suit on -- with big feet and hands with four long fingers -- all of a sudden it takes on a whole new dimension.

So, I like to create the choreography while the dancers are in the outfits. The movements are always dictated by what they’re wearing.

I didn’t physically do the stuff with the bears in Country Bears, because I was busy working on a Broadway show at the time … so, I had someone else come in for me. It took three people to get the bear moving, including one who controlled the facial motions animatronically.

MCN: Was there much digital stuff in Looney Tunes, which combined live action and animation?

MD: I work with dancers wearing sensors all the time, but we didn’t do much of that with the monsters in Looney Tunes. One of my dancers was in a gorilla suit, though.

Mostly, I worked with Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman, as well as some actors in costumes. I also did a number for a saloon scene, with Heather Locklear, 16 girls and four “little people.”

Heather’s wearing this big old-fashioned hoop dress, and, when she starts to sing, these four little guys came running out. The 16 girls go into a can-can number, while Brendan and Daffy Duck get into a fight.

MCN: What’s the deal with all the on-screen brawls that turn into dances, and dances that turn into brawls?

MD: That’s kind of a trend right now. The producers asked me to stage a number for Brendan and Jenna, at this crazy monster-making place, and they do a break dance while fighting off the monsters. In American Wedding, Seann William Scott gets into a dance-fight with this gay guy in a club. In Starsky & Hutch, Ben Stiller does a disco-fight with a guy in a club.

It’s not as if one director or choreographer all of sudden saw everyone else’s stuff, because I’m getting the scripts for these movies only weeks apart. But it seems as if there’s a vibe out there for dance-fights.

MCN: Shades of West Side Story and Oklahoma.

MD: I think dance – big and small -- is making a comeback, and actors are getting used to working with choreographers. Mostly, the challenge is getting them past the fear.

When I see that in an actor, all I want to do is get them alone in a room for five minutes. Once the fear is gone, they’re amazing.

MCN: You spent a lot of time in Las Vegas for Showgirls, which depicted what might occur backstage at an old-fashioned production show. “Zumanity,” which is an adults-only cabaret-style show, is an example of what’s happening in the new Las Vegas.

MD: I really love working in Las Vegas. For me, it’s like being on Broadway, because night after night, there are these big audiences, and lots of money is put into these productions. It’s a creative playground.

MCN: You say you can’t identify any specific signature moves in your work, but that some people will be able to recognize your personal style. Based on such films as Showgirls and Striptease, as well as “Zumanity,” I’d argue you’ve influenced an entire generation of so-called exotic dancers, though.

MD: (Laughs) Well, Demi and I went to a lot of strip clubs together to research Striptease. I had just finished Showgirls, and had already been to some of the clubs.

They flew me into New York, where Demi was working on The Juror, and we’d go to Scores.

The girls in New York were basically just doing bump-and-grind and lap dancing, but the girls I saw in the Body Shop, on the Sunset Strip in L.A., were doing more of a striptease. It wasn’t the nudity that was important, but the teasing, costumes and the pole work.

MCN: Which brings us to the VH1 shoot you’re doing tomorrow.

MD: We’re covering the trends of 2003. One of the scenes I’m doing is about sexy moms, and we’re using pregnant girls on stripper poles, and, no, the dancers aren’t really expecting.

MCN: There’s an audience for every fetish, I’m told.

MD: I brought in the best dancers in L.A., and after two days of rehearsals they’d complain that their arms and upper bodies were killing them. What those strippers do with the poles is an art form, but it’s also very athletic.

MCN: Maybe that will be your legacy.

MD: I think I’d rather get credit for something else.

MCN: I hate to bring up a potentially sore subject, but, in addition to your successes, you’ve also been involved in some real turkeys … Showgirls, Striptease, Gigli … and the critics, at least, haven’t been kind to Cat in the Hat.

MD: At the end of the day, if you’ve done your best work, you can’t take that kind of criticism seriously. Showgirls was my first big movie, so I was sad when it turned out like it did, and, Striptease got bad reviews, too. Then came Austin Powers, though, and it helped me learn how to go with the flow.

It’s hard not to feel bad when you’re part of a project. At this point in my career, I’m only taking jobs that are going to challenge me, or I’ll have a really good time doing. I try to be really choosey that way.

But, you never really know. When I did the first Gap commercial, it became this overnight sensation that put me on the map. Who knew a 30-second commercial could do that for my career?

MCN: You seem to have developed the same kind of bond with Cedric the Entertainer, as you have with Mike Myers.

He’s awesome. I did Johnson Family Vacation with him, Vanessa Williams and Steve Harvey.

For me, Cedric’s right up their with Mike, and I miss his show. It was a good time going to work.

MCN: Pardon me for allowing my personal stereotypes to surface, but I can’t shake the image of a white choreographer creating dances for a bunch of famous black entertainers.

MD: Yes, I’m a white lady from Buffalo teaching black people how to dance. (Laughs, again, thank goodness) I swear it won’t look like black people dancing like whites, though.

 

November 25, 2003

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