Catching the Scent of a Rising Star: Gabrielle Anwar’s Tango to Fame

It takes two to tango.

And in a memorable scene in the new film “Scent of a Woman,” British actress Gabrielle Anwar dances a very romantic tango with Al Pacino.

Anwar, who starred in the 1991 film “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken,” is amazed at the attention the seven-minute sequence is receiving. “It was all so quick, that’s why I am kind of baffled,” Anwar says. The auditioning process, she adds, was extreme. “I had to go put myself on tape and fly to New York to meet with Al Pacino. Then they told me I didn’t have the job because I wasn’t quite right.”

She had nearly forgotten about the part when she received a call requesting her to come to New York. “It was kind of a surprise,” she says. “It was lovely.”

Anwar spent most of the week prior to shooting the scene learning the dance with a tango instructor. “When it actually came time to film the scene, I was whisked onto the set and whisked off again.”

“Scent of a Woman” is just one of three films Anwar completed this year. She appears in the upcoming “Invasion of the Body Snatchers III,” but has no inkling if she turns into a pod person. “At one point it was yes and one point no. There has been a battle (about it) in the editing suites.” Anwar also plays Michael J. Fox’s love interest in the comedy “Love or Money,” set for release in 1993.

As a teen-ager, Anwar attended a dance/drama school in London where she trained to be a ballerina. “The school had a (talent) agency attached to it and they would send out kids for (acting) auditions. I was sent out accidentally because I happen to resemble one of the favorite girls who was sick that day.”

Much to her surprise, she got the job in a TV movie. “It was wonderful. I got to spend six months out of school in a wonderful hotel room by myself.” And Anwar hung up her toe shoes. “Acting was a hell of a lot easier and you don’t have to get up quite so early.”