Brockovich Is Testing the Waters

T he 2000 box-office hit “Erin Brockovich” not only brought Julia Roberts a best actress Oscar for her performance as the environmental crusader, it catapulted the real Brockovich to star status.

As a file clerk at the local law firm of Masry & Vititoe, Brockovich became interested in medical records in a file on a pro bono case. After receiving permission from the firm’s principal partner, Ed Masry, the then-single mother of three began to look into the matter. She discovered that numerous people who lived in and around Hinkley, Calif., had been affected by toxic Chromium 6 that had been leaked into the groundwater from the nearby Pacific Gas & Electric Co.’s Compressor Station. Because of the work of Brockovich and Masry, the giant utility was ordered to make the largest legal settlement in U.S. history in 1996. No longer a file clerk, Brockovich is director of environmental research for the law firm. She also has a book coming out in November and is popular on the lecture circuit. Tonight, the Distinguished Speaker Series will present Brockovich at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium.

Brockovich, 41, recently discussed her lecture tour and life since the release of the movie, from her home in Agoura Hills.

Question: Has the success of the movie opened doors for you?

Answer: It has. Thanks to Jersey Films--and I mean this--they did this movie with truth, with integrity and appreciation for the environment. They made what could have been an unlikable situation very likable. I am so proud of them and the work they did. I don’t ever look at this movie as about me, because it’s not. It was about Pacific Gas & Electric and their dirty secrets and the impact it had on these people’s lives. What has happened out of it is that I have become a vehicle. I have become a spokesperson, and the movie has given me that platform to work from--that is one of offering hope that we, as a people, have the ability to make a difference.

Q: Do you fashion your lecture for each audience?

A: It’s usually the [same] basic format. I often thought of doing a new speech for each group I am talking to. More often than not people say, “Oh, no. We want to hear what you said the last time.” Depending on my audiences and where I am, I will add and take away stories to the main element of the speech.

Q: Were you on the lecture circuit before the film was released?

A: I say in my lectures that all my life I have stumbled, my whole life was a fluke. My movie was a fluke. My stumbling into Hinkley.... I stumbled into the lecture circuit. It was after the movie came out and Candice Bergen was scheduled to talk in Kansas City [but she had to cancel]. The particular lecture circuit, Unique Life and Experiences, called New York and said they needed a replacement. Betsy Berg from the William Morris Agency knows Chris Newman, my agent here in L.A. She called him and he said that [I] would do it. So off I went to Kansas City [Brockovich’s hometown]. I was terrified that no one would show up. I was even more terrified when I found out there were 2,600 people there and my mother and father were sitting in the front row.

Before I gave my very first lecture, I said, “My gosh, what is it that people want to hear? What is it that I have to say that anybody really cares about?” I worked with a gentleman who engaged me in a conversation about what I was thinking during the time of Hinkley. So much of the fundamental values my parents offered me are exactly what were taken from the people of Hinkley. So I started operating my work and my life from a basic level of morals, value of your family and health. That became the crux of my lecture. It is everything that I believe in.

Q: Do you talk about your latest environmental cases?

A: I talk about the movie. I talk about Ed Masry. I share funny stories of what has happened between Ed and I. I talk about the people at Hinkley because I never want anybody to misunderstand what they have gone through. I talk about my children and how they are today. I talk about Chromium 6 and I let people know what I am doing today.

I talk about the wisdom my mother gave me of stick-to-itiveness. I grew up as an underdog. I am dyslexic and my mother taught me the value of stick-to-itiveness. I used to confuse effort and stick-to-itiveness, but there is a difference between the two. Effort points you in the direction and stick-to-itiveness will keep you there.

Q: What cases are you working on at the law firm?

A: The law firm, in a way, has carried on without me. I am more often than not not there. I am still employed there on more of a consulting basis. We had 100,000 hits on the Web site on the first 30 days of the release of the movie on potential toxic sites in the United States alone. Ed has had to beef up his staff. I am still very close to cases that were put together by me and done by me before the movie came out and during the process of the movie being made.

With all the incoming cases, there are a few Ed has clearly pulled me in on. All the other ones he disperses throughout the law firm. We don’t take every case, and we can’t. These toxic cases can’t be an assumption. They have to be a fact.

Q: Will you continue to lecture throughout the year?

A: I am going to finish my lectures this year, and I have a couple of TV shows in the works.

Q: Reality-type shows?

A: Yes. I am hopefully getting close to closing those deals, and that will be my focus.

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Erin Brockovich appears tonight at 8 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, 300 E. Green St. Admission is $26 to $60. For information and tickets, call (800) 508-9301.