When Brittany Murphy turned 32 last month I made an joke about her extended absence from the screen. "She acts 'I hope not sporadically'" It was an affectionate joke, riffing on my favorite of her many fine line readings from Clueless. I genuinely liked to see her onscreen. I never imagined that the following month she'd be dead of cardiac arrest. With talented young actresses, I always hope for the best.
The last time I saw Brittany Murphy in the movie theater she was playing the hard living title character in the female ensemble feature The Dead Girl (2006). As "Krista" entered a serial killer's car I felt an awful rising pity for her but also anger that she was such a fuck-up. It was tempting if uncharitable to feel both things about Brittany Murphy offscreen as well. I have no idea what was happening to her when her stardom began to burn out and the media turned on her but it didn't look good from the outside.
<-- Brittany looking great in 2008
But it's smart to push the media circus aside when you like someone onscreen. And besides isn't it dangerous or at least naive to think we know what's going on in the personal life of any celebrity. Who can know? It's not like the paparazzi record your soul.
But it's smart to push the media circus aside when you like someone onscreen. And besides isn't it dangerous or at least naive to think we know what's going on in the personal life of any celebrity. Who can know? It's not like the paparazzi record your soul.
So our thoughts go out to her loved ones on this sad day. And thanks go out to Brittany for her penguin singing in Happy Feet, for gifting 8 Mile with some brazenly sexual energy, for understanding 'popcorn' star turns in Don't Say A Word, for the second most memorable crazy in Girl Interrupted and for topping much of the empty attitudinal posing surrounding her in Sin City to deliver something vividly human if still appropriately theatrical. And of course big props to her endearing contribution to her one bonafide classic Clueless.
I already missed her before she was gone.
Related post: Vanity Fair retro 2002 and Top 50 Actresses of the Aughts (2000-2005)
