Mad about Madsen: Actress back on the big screen - and it's scary

ALTHOUGH SHE'D BEEN working for two straight decades, 2004's "Sideways" put the spotlight back on '80s screen babe Virginia Madsen. Women appreciated how natural and curvy she was. Men acknowledged she was still startlingly sexy . . . at the ripe old age of 43.

Now 47, Madsen has not checked herself into a retirement home. She's back in theaters Friday in one of her favorite genres - horror.

It's been 17 years since Madsen was covered in blood in "Candyman," and she said last week by phone from California that although she loves horror films - "The Werewolf," "The Mummy" and "Frankenstein" were the first films she remembers seeing as a little girl - she was willing to wait for a script that she thought mixed character and terror.

"A Haunting in Connecticut," based on a true story, is that film.

"It's very, very scary," she said gleefully. "It's truly a horror film. Don't take your kids."

When I explained that this was Philadelphia and parents would probably be bringing their toddlers, Madsen urged against it.

"They might drop them," she said.

Madsen said that when she saw the film recently with a friend and her agent, "I became airborne," at one of the scary parts, "and I made the film."

But Madsen is far more than a blood-curdling scream.

The busy single mom of a teenage boy has been easily switching from movies ("The Astronaut Farmer," "The Number 23") to TV roles (the short-lived series "Smith," "American Dreams," "The Practice") and superhero cartoon voiceovers ("Wonder Woman," "Spider-Man," "Justice League"). Next up is a small role opposite Hilary Swank in Mira Nair's Amelia Earhart biography, "Amelia."

"Mira Nair ("Mississippi Masala," "The Namesake") is one of the most important filmmakers of our time," Madsen said. "I would have been in that movie if I had one word."

Madsen is also trying her hand at producing. She's almost completed the documentary "I Know a Woman Like That," about an adventurous, open-minded, elderly woman. It's being directed by her mother, Elaine.

You can check it out at www.iknowawomanlikethat.com.

In the 1984 guilty pleasure "Electric Dreams," Madsen played a cellist caught in a comedic love triangle between a boy and his computer. The film is unfortunately not available on DVD but Madsen aims to fix that.

She recently got the rights to "Electric Dreams" and hopes to remake it.

With so many projects going, Madsen needs a lot of energy and she also needs to make 47 look like a lot less.

Her secret?

"You're not going to want to hear it," she said, "but you have to stay fit - going to the gym, going hiking. It's not about being skinny, it's about being strong.

"I often ask myself, 'What kind of [insert advanced age here] woman do I want to be?' "

So she works out - her trainer is 82 - and chooses healthy, home-cooked meals over fast food.

"The loss of the family dinner is contributing to the destruction of our country," she said.

And she was serious. Madsen said that the excesses of Hollywood have to be kept in check if you want to stay healthy and have a long career.

"You may be able to get away with that stuff in your early 20s," she said, "but a lot of the women I knew back then . . . not a lot of them are left. It's amazing how different our faces look and how different our outlook is on life.

"You've got to be a good girl if you want to be a beautiful woman."*