Stevie Nicks Said She Wouldn’t Like Being in the Movies: ‘I’m Just a Hippie, Movie People Are Strange’
Don’t ever expect to see Stevie Nicks in the movies. That’s one form of show business Nicks will never pursue. She’s been singing since she was five years old and had a bad experience with acting when she was in grades school. So, the acting bug never bit her like some of her fellow rock stars. However, she did a pretty memorable cameo in a famous TV show.
Stevie Nicks will never be in the movies
In 1982, Nicks spoke to Playboy about why she’ll never be in the movies. Hollywood isn’t a place where Nicks would be comfortable. She’s not a part of that world, or at least she didn’t see how she could be 40 years ago. Playboy pointed out that many of her rock ‘n’ roll peers had gotten the acting bug.
“I wouldn’t like to be in movies,” Nicks said. “Movie people are strange. They live a different life than musicians do. They get up early and work in the day. And I really think they’re much wilder than we are.
“One time, four movie guys walked up to me at a party after a show. I was looking good. And they took me apart with their eyes. I was so completely insulted that I never forgot it. They were so slick and smooth and suited up- it looked like they all had had face lifts with perfectly tanned faces.
“I’m just a hippie. I wouldn’t fit very well into that world. Those guys gave me the creeps. The hair on my arms stood up.”
So, Nicks won’t be on the big screen any time soon, but she has been on the small-screen.
Nicks appeared on ‘American Horror Story’
In 2014, Nicks appeared on Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story: Coven. Initially, Nicks allowed Murphy to use her music in scenes with Lily Rabe’s character, Misty Day, an extreme Stevie Nicks fan and outsider witch.
Nicks told LA Times that once she saw the first episode of the season, she was astounded. So, she called Murphy and suggested she do a “walk-through” on the show.
“I thought, I’ll walk through in this beautiful black dress and fantastic hair and makeup and maybe a fan and I’ll just walk through and say, ‘Hello, witches!’ and just keep walking,” Nicks said. “I want to make just a visionary appearance. Like in a moment of a dream. Let me walk through Misty’s mind and out.”
However, that’s not exactly what Murphy had in mind.
Nicks should have reiterated that she isn’t an actor. Murphy sent her the script at 2 a.m. the night before filming, and she saw that her cameo wasn’t exactly a walk-through. Suddenly she was terrified; this wasn’t what she signed up for. She was going to be playing a witchy version of herself.
“I read it and I was like, ‘Do they know I’m not a good actress? Do they not know about my Alamo incident in the fourth grade?'” Nicks said. “I was pretty terrified. Honestly. I did not sleep well. Yvonne, I was scared to go there. When I went in the next day, I thought, I’m never going to be able to do this.
“I got up at 7 o’clock in the morning so I could drink coffee for three hours like the basket case that I am; I got dressed and I got down there at 10 a.m., which is early for me because I don’t go to sleep until 4.”
Once she got over her nerves, walking onto the set was “like a dream” for Nicks. Later, she even made a connection with the Supreme herself, Jessica Lange.
Nicks’ mother wanted her to be an actor
Filming her cameo on American Horror Story: Coven was terrifying for Nicks. As a child, she had a bad experience with acting. Her mother tried to get her into acting and signed her up for her school’s play, The Alamo.
“I am not an actress,” Nicks explained. “Since the fourth grade when I was in an incredibly bad play about the Alamo and I played one of the last two surviving girls in the Alamo, I have vowed to stay away.
“It was so bad that I came home–in the fourth grade!–and said to my mother, ‘never put me in a drama class again! Ever! Because I suck! I’m a terrible actress, mom!’ From that moment on, all I did was sing. I have never had much faith in me as an actress.”
So, we can understand Nicks’ fear of acting. But apparently, Nicks didn’t have too much of a bad time on set because she reprised her role in American Horror Story: Apocalypse. Fans loved both of Nicks’ cameos but don’t expect to see her star in anything else ever again, on the big or small screens.