Barbra Streisand took a bite out of science to recreate her beloved dog.
Barbra Streisand took a bite out of science to recreate her beloved dog.
The actress, who spoke to Variety in a wide-ranging interview where she discussed breaking into the Hollywood boy’s club years ago with «Yentl» (1983), posed with her two Coton de Tulear dogs that she cloned from her late dog Samantha, who died in 2017.
Streisand used cells from the dog’s mouth and stomach to form Miss Violet and Miss Scarlett. She also adopted Miss Fanny while awaiting the clones.
«They have different personalities,» Streisand told Variety. «I’m waiting for them to get older so I can see if they have her brown eyes and her seriousness.»
Streisand dressed the two clones in different colors in order to tell them apart when they first arrived.
The «Funny Girl» star also shared that she almost added another directing credit to her IMDB page.
The Oscar-winner said that she was in the running to direct «Hidden Figures» — the 2016 Oscar-nominated flick was based on the real-life NASA women mathematicians of the 1960s.
«I wanted to do ‘Hidden Figures’ because that is a great film to me,» Streisand told the mag. «I was sent the script, and I said yes. They gave it to the man who wrote the script (Ted Melfi), and he did a good job. I wish I had directed it.»
The film’s producer, Donna Gigliotti, confirmed Streisand was a contender and explained why she didn’t get the gig.
«UTA, Barbra’s agents at the time, urged her to read the script,» Gigliotti said.
«She liked it, and we had a terrific, wide-ranging conversation about the screenplay. I loved her! But I was pretty far down the road with Ted Melfi. If the timing had been different, the result might have been different.»
Streisand, who directed «Yentl,» «The Mirror Has Two Faces» and «The Prince of Tides,» told the mag that she also had an uncomfortable experience with disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein, though it was not sexual.
«I thought he was vulgar,» she said, referencing a dispute they had on opening night of Weinstein’s Broadway musical «Finding Neverland.»
«He wanted me to come there on his arm and sing a song on the album,» Streisand recalled. «I said, ‘No. I can’t do that.'» He then threatened not to work with her on future movies and said he would not be sending any of his released to her for viewing. «That kind of stupidity. So I thought he was a boorish guy.»
Streisand is now in negotiations to direct «Skinny and Cat,» which is based on a 1994 script about Life magazine photographer Margaret Bourke-White.
