Pfeiffer, the haunted housewife

This is a psychological thriller in the old-fashioned sense, meaning suspense of the scary, supernatural kind. In it I play a haunted housewife, married to Harrison Ford, who is a prominent scientist. She's given up her career as a musician to be a wife and mother.

When her daughter leaves home to go to college the focus of her life is hazed over, especially when she learns her husband has been having an affair. She starts hearing whispering voices and seeing things and feeling a presence in their home as well, while trying to cover that she is a complicated woman struggling with her sanity.

I've always loved this sort of scary movie. As a kid I used to scan the TV guides for the supernatural flicks. I'm not a believer or a disbeliever. I am open to the possibility. I've never had a supernatural encounter but I know people who have, people who are intelligent and smart and have their feet on the ground. I believe it could be out there.

We shot in Vermont while director Robert [Forrest Gump] Zemeckis was waiting for Tom Hanks to lose weight for the final sequences of Cast Away,their desert island movie. For me as an actress this was new territory - different from the romantic films I'm usually cast in - and I was thrilled by it.

I have never been sent the script of a downright scary movie, least of all one with Harrison Ford and a director like Bob, who is known in the industry for having real boyish enthusiasm about moviemaking. Everybody says his films are fun. I had to spend a while submerged in a tank on a soundstage for underwater scenes, which was not a great experience for somebody who is as claustrophobic as I am - but even so, it was a lot of fun to make.

What Lies Beneath
Cert: cert12