Despite being named for a movie star, my furry son rarely pays any heed to movies. The only thing he enjoys about DVDs is the reflected light they throw on the walls.
But this morning his paws sifted through a stack of Fox Searchlight screeners and he was suddenly all opinionated. He immediately claimed Danny Boyle's 127 Hours for his own. Moments later -- my god how I wish I had been filming -- he pulled that flick closer, then shoved Hilary Swank's Convictionright off the couch!
I am not making this up.
Later he used Never Let Me Go as a mattress which is as good a use as any for the movie.
In her music video "Uh Huh" Juliette Lewis sashays around with a bouquet of colorful balloons, smiling radiantly. Her mood seems lighter than air. It's an incongruous musical moment in her rock grrrl career -- in the newest video "Terra Incognito" she's back to her old in-your-face provocations -- but the softer side was lovely to see.
And why shouldn't Juliette's mood be lighter these days? After years of touring to build a music career while doing thankless cameos in mainstream comedies, could it be that filmmakers are finally on the verge of rediscovering her unique gift?
Juliette Lewis has taken up more than her share of my actressy headspace ever since I first heard her inimitable voice in the opening frames of Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). I don't even like narration -- in anything -- and I was instantly enamored.
I met with Juliette Lewis in October at the stylish Crosby Street Hotel in Soho, where she was holding court promoting the Oscar hopefulConviction. The film is still playing around the country (check the listing for yours) and speaking of holding court, Juliette's role is minor but attention grabbing.
Juliette Takes the Stand.
You meet her character Roseanna Perry first as she takes the witness stand. Roseanna's testimony will make things hopeless for soon to be life-sentenced Terry (Sam Rockwell). Later his sister Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) will come calling hoping that she'll recant that damning testimony.
When you only have two scenes, you have to make them count. I wondered if she prepared any differently knowing it was such a minor role. "NO." Juliette replied emphatically, explaining that the smaller the role, the bigger the acting challenge in a way.
Juliette the day we met.
Juliette: How do I tell what's been going on with this character in two scenes? I think with all my roles, I want them to be visceral sort of a live experience. I've been doing live shows for the last five years so I carry that with me but I always want you to get a sense of this personality. It's not necessarily in the words. When she's on the witness stand you see that she's troubled, she's damaged, she's not a very joyful creature. And then the exciting thing is to meet her 18 years later and telling a story of what she's been doing. I hope that you get the sense that she never leaves her trailer, she's been drinking for 18 years and doing drugs --we don't know what kind. If you just took those two elements and had a conversation with that person that would be incredibly complicated and interesting. But then you pile on that she's created a world of her own fiction through guilt and lying and then she's being confronted by the person she's wronged. It's intense and amazing and that's why she bounces off the walls emotionally.
Short answer: I had all these details and all these ingredients that I had to then put together and make an organic person. To me, I was like 'Oh, I get to play one of these characters,' a person that you walk the other direction when you see them on the street. These people who have a very upsetting unsettling energy. I wanted people to feel uncomfortable because she's uncomfortable.
We continued talking about her research. Despite what some would deem a loud performance, Roseanna Perry offscreen sounds like an even bigger nightmare than the one Juliette dreamt up for us. I told Juliette that as a fan I'm always hoping she'll get bigger parts. "Someday," she replied with mock dreaminess. "We'll build it together!"
Nathaniel: One of the reasons I love your second scene is that you are suddenly the star of the movie. If you think about it all the characters are surrounding you and they're living or dying based on what you're about to do. Plus, the punchline is so great. It's like your holding court in the scene.
Juliette: That's amazing. That makes total sense, I love that; it's her show. At the same time there's this oddity that she's receiving guests. 'Oh, guests are at my place. Would you like some wine?'
Nathaniel: She probably doesn't get guests that often.
Juliette: That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking she talks to her TV.
Juliette went on to describe Roseanna's psyche, sounding almost sad in the process, indicating that as an actress she'd really dug down into the contradictions of someone who is self-serving, who feels a lot of guilt yet won't make amends.
Nathaniel: I imagine as an actor you have to always believe in the truth of your character, even if they're a born liar?
Juliette: ABSOLUTELY. Human beings are so contradictory and colorful and a blend of so many things. She [Roseanna] turns up her own emotions to get affect but she also feels what she feels.
Juliette Lewis as Roseanna Perry
As the conversation shifted away from Conviction, Juliette talked about her year's away from the movies touring to building her music career but despite the devotion to her music career she seemed genuinely happy to be back in the mix of the movies. "I don't know if I've changed or the movies have changed," she explained "but everything has been this sort of delicious experience." Yes, even small roles in Jennifer Aniston movies are deemed delicious so you know Juliette Lewis means it when she says she's glad to be acting again.
When I asked if we could discuss the 90s, Juliette didn't hesitate though she did get a little contemplative about a retrospective "It's so funny when you don't have perspective at the time. You don't know what you're necessarily doing that's relevant or whatever. You sort of learn in hindsight." Nearly twenty years have passed since she first made a big mark on the screen, but her memory of the films seemed razor sharp.
We didn't peruse the films chronologically but jumped around in conversation beginning with Natural Born Killers (1994). It was the first time I'd heard her sing as she paced her prison cell singing "Naturally Born Bad." I theorized on what made that particular performance so special.
Nathaniel: Watching Mallory --- it's like she's hearing music in her head that you can't hear. A radio station that's JUST her frequency. So then when you start singing in that scene it's a natural fit, like the part is coalescing.
Juliette: I love that. That makes sense. That's funny -- for different parts I use music for brainwashing if that's what you want to call it. I was listening to Jimmy Hendrix. It's not so much his voice but the guitar playing. It had so much danger despair torment chaos if you listen to "Voodoo Child" it's everything of that journey, that character. I would listen to that over and over before filming so that was living inside.
We moved from talking about Oliver Stone who she called "brilliant" to Husbands and Wives (1992). One of my personal favorite scenes in Woody's filmography is her scene in the taxicab when her character Rain admits that she's lost Woody's book --- "his manuscript," Juliette corrected me, recalling the scene just as I'd begun to describe it. She had loved working with Woody Allen because he encouraged improvisation. I asked her if she was aware that he was going to leave the camera on her for practically the whole scene. He has most of the dialogue and yet we're watching her.
Juliette: That's crazy that he did that. What a nice director.
Nathaniel: Rain seems so amused by how much she's upset him.
Juliette as the precocious Rain in Husbands and Wives (1992)
Juliette: She is! Young girls... they just drive you nuts, that youthful arrogance, that superiority. I've had a 22 year old call me "honey" and I was just like 'WHAT? I don't think so!' Honestly she likes the attention of her mistake and she likes seeing him get all riled up. It's very flattering for her that he's asking her opinion. The more insecure he gets the more superior she feels -- classic younger girl and older guy. All those things I discover when playing it.
Nathaniel: But did you know it was your scene, that you would hold the camera?
Juliette: I had no idea, no. I thought we were shooting my take and than we shoot his take. I never even thought about that. I didn't really think of it in a heady way. I don't contrive these things so much before hand. I just sort of understand the scene and the character. My goal always is to surrender and be in the moment -- ultimately you're just surrendering and seeing what happens.
One of Juliette's favorite directors is of course her own brother Lightfield Lewis who she has worked with numerous times. Juliette raved about their new collaboration (the video is below, it had just come out a couple of days before the interview) for "Terra Incognito". "It's really visual and has a lot of fighting in it -- for taking your licks and getting back up."
Terra Incognito
"Terra Incognito" is the most recent single from her latest record but I had to tell her how amused I was to see a subliminal insert of the famous thumbsucking scene from Cape Fear in the previous video to "Uh Huh." Did she know that was going to be there?
Juliette: No, I didn't know it. That's my brother. He loves all things pop culture. He's very cinematic. My brother is the movie buff, the filmmaker. All the things that influenced me were all musicals: All That Jazz, Hair, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease. No, I didn't know he was going to do that.
She had actually asked him to remove it, fearing that the music fans would be confused. Not all of them knew she was an actress. The conversation about these movie referencing videos sent her into thinking about her different worlds and where they did and did not merge comfortably "It's funny that i'm used to being this underdog in different dimensions." But she believed she was finally finding the balance and merging the two. Does this mean she'd be willing to make a musical?
Juliette: I'd love it. I want it to be super strange though like Terry Gilliam style or Bob Fosse.
Nathaniel: John Cameron Mitchell, maybe. Like a Hedwig sort of energy?
Juliette: YES. I actually met with him. He wanted me to play Hedwig somewhere. Wouldn't that be neat? In the play. Wouldn't that be interesting?
When my time was up -- promotional rounds have tight time frames -- Juliette offered to keep chatting, holding the clockwatcher (i.e. publicist) at bay. "He has a million great questions!" We ended by chatting for a few minutes about Kathyrn Bigelow's Strange Days, her recent Oscar win (Juliette was "over the moon" about it) and the birth of Juliette's own music career by way of P.J. Harvey's songs.
I told her about the first time I saw Strange Days and being as thunderstruck watching her as Ralph Fiennes was from his crosswalk overlook. It was hard not to think of her as a fully formed rock star. This wasn't pretend. At first Juliette rejected the Faith/Juliette comparison and amusingly described her vision of her self with sing-song wit.
Juliette: It was very much Kathyrn's vision of what she was so it wasn't me per se. Faith is really damaged. I'm a much different creature on stage -- I like to think a superhero or a magical pixie -- but, yes, that was amazing. That's when P.J. Harvey entered my life as a musician. I just drank her up. There's nothing like her.
Nathaniel: Well, tome Strange Days was your debut as a rock star; it was the start of the music career before the music career actually started.
Juliette: [Suddenly excited] What I'm not telling you is that it did! I was a closeted songwriters/singer. I was keeping it in because it was the most personal -- too vulnerable. Having to sing for a role made me step out and go 'remember this? You're a singer.' But I still wasn't ready because I was so self critical. I had to go through some changes in my life. I finally did it when I was approaching age 30. A little bit late but i'm making up for lost time.
Nathaniel: Hey, late bloomers... that's fine. I started writing when I was approaching 30 and now I don't love anything else more.
Juliette: Isn't that amazing? It's like 'This is who I was all along and now I finally let it out.'
Uh Huh
Let it out, Juliette. Keep letting that magic out. *
Since America proved tonight at the polls (yay democracy!) that we are all just one tiny step away from being uneducated white trash who vote against our own interests and functioning society -- seriously if there's no government, who will pick up the garbage, who will protect us if someone breaks into our homes, who will make sure our children aren't as idiotic as we are? -- I thought this might be an appropriate way to "celebrate"!
White Trash Cameos!
God bless Catherine at the Guardian for the word "hameo". Maybe she didn't invent the word (?) but I was unfamiliar and I will now use for-e-ver.
The article is inspired by the hot mess bliss of Juliette Lewis in Conviction and features a spot on appraisal of what Ms Lewis does for and to the film (I'm sorry my article on Lewis is so delayed). Catherine surveys memorable "hameos" and then asks readers for theirs. You must read the comments section. It's joy upon joy upon joy... a veritable stack of blueberry pancakes smothered in syrup (the hefty portions of bacon on the side are a given).
Weirdly Catherine cites Keanu Reeves in The Gift (which, if you've never seen it is like THE perfect embodiment of "erratically acted movie") as an, uh, problem. My favorite so-terrible-maybe-it's-good? performance in that 'Cate Blanchett is Totally Psychic!' movie actually belongs to none other than Hilary Swank (the defacto star of the movie that Lewis is currently stealing away).
In The Gift Swank plays, you guessed it, Poor White Trash. But she's doing it with this absurdly tinny/squeaky little girl voice. To this day, I can hear her bizarre line reading of "I was thinking baaaad thoughts." It's literally the only thing I remember from the movie. That and Katie Holmes's Demi-Moore-like breast baring, which is to say: she got those babies out emphatically, as if her career depended on it.
What is it about playing white trash that makes actors go so bonkers? They always become cartoons.
"People heare bout what yer doin' and they laugh at yyyeeeewwww"
Whether or not you believe the old Hollywood maxim “directing is 90% casting,” you do have to admit that it’s a hefty percentage of the sum of any good film. Tony Goldwyn, who directed the true story exoneration drama Conviction, now in theaters, obviously understands this. Sam Rockwell was Goldwyn’s first and only choice to play the convicted murderer Kenny Waters and casting him was a wise move indeed. Now, signing Rockwell didn’t leave Goldwyn with only 10% of the work to do but it certainly improved the film before the cameras got rolling.
I regret to inform that there's no proper review of the movie coming. (If anyone knows a good free Time Management Class in NYC, do let me know, will you?) But Conviction, which expands (maybe to your city) Friday will get some coverage here nontheless. Some words on Tony Goldwyn (writer/director/sometime actor) and the one and only Juliette Lewis are forthcoming. Many of you have already asked what I thought of the Swankster. So I shall divulge.
I would rank this as her third best performance. It's lesser than Million Dollar Baby (able work but the film / character are nowhere near as dynamic) and miles below Boy's Don't Cry. The latter is her peak, her Mount Everest if you will; her other performances can only see it with binoculars. To be fair, many Actresses could only see that particular performance with binoculars. Contrary to popular belief I have never begrudged her that first Oscar.
"It's okay, Sam. You can have one of mine."
It's interesting that Hilary Swank's best work always involves single-minded characters. As you know I've never found her particularly gifted but rather than bag on her (she's good in the film) like the haters always assume I will, I'll just explain my theory about her.
Were Swank to have stayed in television, I think she'd have proven to be a popular and fairly adept lead in procedural dramas or some such with a shelf of Emmys to show for it rather than two Oscars and pockets of haters and minor media backlash. She is undoubtedly capable of hitting her marks, carrying a film (i.e. the ability to hold audiences attention for a good long while -- which is a different talent than "acting" but mandatory for film stardom) and, most importantly, selling the important emotions of a scene. She can sometimes do this with enormous aching feeling and she's been abundantly rewarded for just that. But where I've always found her lacking, and thus the Oscar attention galling, is that she doesn't seem capable of doing that and... Which is to say that she only sells one idea about a character at a time. Were you to define the greatest weapons in the arsenal of any truly gifted big screen actor, I think you'd find that their ability to convey a multiplicity of feelings simultaneously is one of them. The great screen actors can merely look towards the camera and you get not one but two (or several) ideas about the character. They have the gift of three-dimensional sculpting. Some of them, the ones with a penchant for minimalism or an unusual facility with ambiguity especially, can even cross over into a fourth dimension of...
But I digress. I could go on and on -- I have feelings and theories about screen acting (!) to state the very obvious -- but I do think the filmmakers (and maybe the actress herself?) who have found the best uses for Swank have understood, even if only on an instinctual level, that her limits can be used as strengths to service characters who have only ever allowed themselves one track, one purpose or one guiding emotion. (Amelia, was an interesting failure in light of this. While Earhart was engaged in a singular-minded pursuit, the woman was too complex an individual otherwise for Swank's approach). Swank's key characters, Brandon, Maggie and now Betty Anne Waters, really have only this single-mindedness to unite them.
Swank x 3: Boy's Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby, Conviction
Well, that and their coincidental (?) white trash childhoods. I have no explanation for the poverty stricken childhoods -- "I'm just a girl from a trailer park with a dream!" -- and I'll leave that up to your theorizing, should you want to go there.
Do you plan to see Conviction? Do you think Swank can pull off a surprise third nomination (it is a longsuffering bio) or that Sam Rockwell will finally win an Oscar nomination? *
First things first, changing your movie title from something very specific like Betty Anne Waters to something as generic as Conviction is not a good sign. Searching for Conviction on IMDb will get you several films, theatrical/dvd/made-for-TV. Searching for Betty Anne Waters gets you just one. Are they scared of people thinking "ewww, it's a girl's movie!" or maybe "Is this a sequel to Amelia? That sucked" or what?
But here's the trailer.
So here's where we break it down.
Yes, no, or maybe so?
The supporting cast is jam-packed with good actors: Melissa Leo - sure okay; Sam Rockwell - yes, please; Minnie Driver -why the hell not?!; Juliette Lewis -Yes, please x 10. And wherever I can get her which isn't on silver screens that much. I had all but forgotten that she had a role in this film. I never knew, even before the forgetting, that it would a real role, and not some throwaway part. But she's even name-checked in the trailer and with her Academy Award Nominee status no less. Yay and also Wow because that doesn't happen much. With all of these good actors on board, maybe they'll all escape the typical "I'm poor! Listen to my weird townie/rural accent!" actor's trap. An accent is not a character.
You're smart. You'll know that I don't have to explain myself here. Kapeesh?
I don't think there's enough films made about brothers & sisters and their unique bonds. I really don't. Usually if you see a film about siblings it's almost always brothers with a random sister act hitting us now and then. I'm always curious to see if actors can pull off a familial bond. Most of the time this game of pretend is no more than adequate but when something really clicks between two actors in terms of family chemistry, it can be truly potent stuff. I'm hoping Swank and Sam pull it off since the whole film will kind of depend on it.
I suppose I'm a "maybe so" based solely on Juliette Lewis and Oscar interest. But I'll be an immediate "no" with mediocre reviews. I really can't be bothered with courtroom dramas unless the reviews are strong. I personally think it's the genre that's most "dead" onscreen. As in, why is someone making this movie? They'd better have a damn good reason and explain it with some cinematic zing! But every once in awhile there's a great one (see Erin Brockovich)
This is neither here nor there but the film is directed by Tony Goldwyn, grandson of legendary studio mogul Samuel Goldwyn. You might not know Tony's name but you surely know his face. He's that vaguely eyebrow-less guy who Hollywood always wants you to loathe and also loathe yourself for loving because he's super attractive.
Hey, it's a niche. An actor's gotta work.
But is it really fair to hate on him for killing his best friend to get into Demi Moore's pants? Because who wouldn't have offed their buddy for Demi circa 1990? I mean, cut a guy some slack. It'sDemi.
Goldwyn A.D./B.D before and after psychoanalyzing one Dexter Morgan
I've been watching Dexter lately on Netflix Instant Watch (that obsession has cooled a bit). Goldwin directs multiple episodes and in one he even directs himself as a psychiatrist who kills off powerful women after reducing them to hot messes with a lethal combo of bad therapy and drugs. [Why are psychiatrist always evil in movies? Discuss.] Naturally, Dexter cuts him up into little itty bits.
Goldwyn previously directed the critically well received A Walk in the Moon (1999) but, alas, Conviction (née Betty Anne Waters) doesn't star Diane Lane and Viggo Mortensen.
To celebrate the kick off to the new Oscar predictions, we asked you to amuse us by adding a caption or dialogue to a still from Hilary Swank's latest Oscar play, Betty Anne Waters. honorable mention goes to... Victor Pytko
Hee. Topical! And it is quite funny to imagine thrilling "research" scenes shot in 3D. Maybe Swank could throw a book towards the camera when she becomes frustrated?
And the winner is... The Z
Both winners may collect door prizes from my Oscar party that I forgot to give out, should they choose to!
P.S. It's your last chance to enter the fourth edition ACTRESS PSYCHIC CONTEST - No more entries will be received after tonight! *
Came in from the cold, fed the cat and the next thing you know. There she is. Juliette Lewis filling every nook and cranny of me brain.
<-- 8 year-old Juliette kissing Clint Eastwood. She is (literally) a child of Hollywood.
When actresses invade my consciousness to that degree I immediately surrender to the moment: Think about the last time I saw them (Whip It in this case which was such fun), look at pictures or videos, surf the web to find out what they're up to. In Juliette's case she's still plugging away at that music career (her last record Terra Incognito hit in September) and she's filming or was filming Due Date, Todd Phillips' follow up to The Hangover.
We'll also see her next year in Betty Anne Waters, the latest Hilary Swank vehicle. I have no idea how big her role will be but I hope she shares a scene with fellow Whip It alum Ari Graynor, to ably demonstrate that they're the two coolest people in the movie... give or take Sam Rockwell.
Who takes up more space in your brain than you can justify or explain? *
Juliette: That's amazing. That makes total sense, I love that; it's her show. At the same time there's this oddity that she's receiving guests. 'Oh, guests are at my place. Would you like some wine?'
I told her about the first time I saw Strange Days and being as thunderstruck watching her as Ralph Fiennes was from his crosswalk overlook. It was hard not to think of her as a fully formed rock star. This wasn't pretend. At first Juliette rejected the Faith/Juliette comparison and amusingly described her vision of her self with sing-song wit.
The supporting cast is jam-packed with good actors: Melissa Leo - sure okay; Sam Rockwell - yes, please; Minnie Driver -why the hell not?!; Juliette Lewis -Yes, please x 10. And wherever I can get her which isn't on silver screens that much. I had all but forgotten that she had a role in this film. I never knew, even before the forgetting, that it would a real role, and not some throwaway part. But she's even name-checked in the trailer and with her Academy Award Nominee status no less. Yay and also Wow because that doesn't happen much. With all of these good actors on board, maybe they'll all escape the typical "I'm poor! Listen to my weird townie/rural accent!" actor's trap. An accent is not a character.
You're
I don't think there's enough films made about brothers & sisters and their unique bonds. I really don't. Usually if you see a film about siblings it's almost always brothers with a random sister act hitting us now and then. I'm always curious to see if actors can pull off a familial bond. Most of the time this game of pretend is no more than adequate but when something really clicks between two actors in terms of family chemistry, it can be truly potent stuff. I'm hoping Swank and Sam pull it off since the whole film will kind of depend on it.
Goldwyn A.D./B.D
It happens from time to time.
