Thursday, November 20, 2014

In Character: Juliette Lewis

Few people kill it as quickly and consistently as Juliette Lewis did in the ‘90s. After being nominated for an Oscar for one of her first major roles, Lewis went on to own the ‘90s with a diverse selection of characters – from innocent school girls to white trash lovers, abused homicidal maniacs to heroic vampire killers. Although we haven’t seen as much of Lewis in recent years, I’m always pleased when she pops up in a film and steals a few scenes (such as in last year’s August: Osage County). Here’s a look back at one of the most fearless actresses of the past few decades.

Five Essential Roles
Husbands and Wives (1992)
Rain
Perhaps the best, most shocking thing about Lewis’ work in Husbands and Wives is that in just one short year, she went from playing a pubescent girl in Cape Fear to playing a confident and opinionated woman in Husbands and Wives. I mean really, if you watch the films back to back, the emotional transformation between those two characters is astonishing. But, of course, there’s plenty more to love about Rain than the context of Lewis’ career arc. One of my favorite scenes in Husbands and Wives is when Gabe (Woody Allen) asks his student, Rain, to read a manuscript of his novel. She does, and promptly mentions how much she enjoyed it, before describing everything that’s wrong with it. There is no shortage of joy I get from watching Lewis crush a grown man’s dreams with just a few words.

Kalifornia (1993)
Adele Corners
I wasn’t going to list Lewis’ work in Kalifornia as one of her best roles, until I saw Lewis’ post on Instagram a few days ago. In that post, she comments that Adele Corners was her first real “character,” and that director Dominic Sena let her improvise 90 percent of her dialogue. “Total freedom,” Lewis said. That post motivated me to watch Kalifornia for the first time in years. Prior to rewatching it, all I remembered of the film was that it was essentially a tamer version of Natural Born Killers. But upon giving Kalifornia another go, I found myself oddly transfixed by Adele’s innocence. Unlike her Natural Born Killers character, Adele is completely unaware of what her homicidal boyfriend (a fearless Brad Pitt) is up to. And while Kalifornia certainly isn’t for everyone (though Roger Ebert’s glowing review is a great read), Adele’s white trash naïveté is immensely compelling.

What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)
Becky
Early in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Lewis’ character, Becky, watches as a local boy named Gilbert (Johnny Depp) tries to convince his mentally handicapped brother, Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio), to climb down from a water tower. Becky, along with most of the town, stares up at Arnie, fearing the worst. On the ground, Gilbert uses a bullhorn to sing to Arnie, in hopes of talking him down. While he’s singing, Becky focuses on Gilbert and her eyes say it all. In this moment, she’s literally falling in love with a boy she hardly knows. So taken is she with Gilbert’s parental guidance, that she can’t help but fall for him. It’s beautiful little moment from what is arguably Lewis’ most tender role to date.

Natural Born Killers (1994)
Mallory Knox
Natural Born Killers is cinema at its most deliriously unhinged. There is no amount of fancy adjectives that accurately convey the lunacy of this film. The most fascinating arc in the film is the ongoing development of Mallory Knox’s psyche. When we first meet Mallory, her predilection for homicide is already in full swing, but through flashbacks, we see an earlier Mallory. A scared and abused and neglected Mallory. But from the moment she’s “saved” by Mickey Knox (Woody Harrelson), she begins to transform into a psychopath. Pretty much everyone involved in Natural Born Killers delivered the most insane work of their respective careers on the film. Lewis is certainly no exception. Whether or not you like the movie, there’s no denying the utter fearlessness that went in to playing Mallory Knox. It is an actor fully giving herself over to the material. This is a hell bent and enraged performance, and I can’t take my eyes off it.

From Dusk till Dawn (1996)
Kate Fuller
I love From Dusk till Dawn. Always have. One of the coolest things about the film is that if you show it to a person who has no idea what it’s about, watching their reaction to the big reveal is crazy fun. About a year ago, I convinced my girlfriend to watch From Dusk till Dawn, describing it only as a “bank robbers-on-the-run flick written by Quentin Tarantino.” She had no clue what was coming, but the moment the seemingly young and innocent Kate Fuller looked into the camera and asked, “Richie, would you do me a favor and eat my pussy for me... please?” My girlfriend knew something was... off. It’s one of my favorite moments of Lewis’ career, a baffling and hilarious line delivery that only Tarantino (and a dedicated actress) could pull off convincingly.

The Best of the Best
Cape Fear (1991)
Danielle Bowden
It’s all about the auditorium scene. A scene of simultaneous mystery, danger, eroticism and terror. After mad man Max Cady (Robert De Niro) discovers that cute little school girl, Danielle, is the daughter of Max’s archenemy, Max pretends to be a drama teacher in order to get closer to her. The two meet in the school auditorium where Max playfully, slowly charms the impressionable Danielle. Watch Lewis here. I mean watch her. She has the anxious mannerisms of an awkward teenager down to perfection. By this point in the film, we know that Max is insane, and thereby have no idea what he’s going to do, which is disturbing enough. But the fact that Danielle seems open to whatever Max asks of her is infinity more upsetting.

After a while, Max asks if he can put his arm around Danielle. She hesitantly agrees, and what happens next is electrifying. Max walks up to her and gently eases his thumb into Danielle’s mouth. She resists at first, but quickly, welcomingly concedes. In researching this post, I discovered that the thumb bit was entirely improvised by De Niro. Lewis had no idea he was going to do it, which makes her reaction so much more authentic. They shot the scene a few times with two cameras, but director Martin Scorsese used the first take. After all, if you’re lucky enough to capture lightning in a bottle, rarely are you able to seize it more than once.

Other Notable Roles
in August: Osage County
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Too Young to Die? (1990)
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
Mixed Nuts (1994)
The Basketball Diaries (1995)
Strange Days (1995)
The Evening Star (1996)
The Other Sister (1999)
The Way of the Gun (2000)
Hysterical Blindness (2002)
Enough (2002)
Old School (2003)
Starsky & Hutch (2004)
Whip It (2009)
Conviction (2010)
Due Date (2010)
The Switch (2010)
Hick (2011)
The Firm (2012)

30 comments:

  1. Unfortunately, I haven't seen many films of Juliette Lewis. My personal favourite performance of hers is in Natural Born Killers, where she is just so utterly fearless, it's captivating and horrifying at the same time, you know? Her electric chemistry with Woody Harrelson also helps a lot. I used to think she was really bad in Cape Fear, and I had no idea why she was nominated for an Oscar. After rewatching Cape Fear a few weeks back, I think she gave the best performance in the category after Mercedes Ruehl's in The Fisher King. Jessica Lange is also fantastic in Cape Fear.

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    1. I love hearing that you came around on her performance in Cape Fear. I think because she's so awkward, it can come off as bad acting. But it's actually so painfully accurate and real, you know? Also love that you're a fan of her NBK's performance.

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  2. Thanks for doing this one! She is the best part of everything I see her in. I didn't know Cape Fear and Husbands and Wives were only a year apart, that really is surprising. She perfectly embodies both characters.

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    1. Thank YOU for the push! Sometimes I think it's really important to take context into performance, which is way I mentioned the year difference between Cape and Husbands. So I'm glad you appreciated that! Thanks again for encouraging me to cover her.

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  3. I know her and yet, I don't really know her work which is weird. Well, but that Cape Fear thing is freaking me out at the moment.

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    1. Ha, that's a freaky ass scene isn't it? Lewis and De Niro are so ace there.

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  4. God, I love her in Natural Born Killers. Especially in her singing of "Born Bad". She is so insane but also a full-on badass. She is incredible and extremely underrated. I also love her in Whip It. She deserves more than be the second banana to J-Lo and Jennifer Aniston.

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    1. That's a great, great scene. Love her interactions with Tom Sizemore in that movie. So priceless. "I'LL CUT HER FUCKIN' TITS OFF!" Vicious shit.

      I actually haven't seen Whip It. I should give it a go.

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    2. She is great in that film as this rival to Ellen Page in the world of skating derbies.

      Sizemore was great in that film. "Do you still like me now Jack?" I still have my VHS copy of the director's cut of that film. Only because it has the NIN video for "Burn". It's not on the DVD. Probably because of rights or whatever kind of bullshit.

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    3. I still have a few VHS' too. Just can't seem to let them go. Good shit man.

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  5. She's definitely one of those actresses I don't know well, but the little work of hers I do know is tremendous. Great work!

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    1. Thanks! So glad you appreciate her work. She's a fierce talent.

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  6. "Are you flirtin' with me?"

    Lewis is so good in NBK. I am really glad you picked Becky from Gilbert Grape as one of her best performances. It's such a contrast to what she does in NBK a year later.

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    1. It's crazy when you look at how different her characters were in 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994. I mean really, they aren't alike in any way. Love it.

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  7. Juliette Lewis is amazing. Chalk up another vote for Natural Born Killers as her best work, though. I really love that movie and her performance in it as just great. Sadly, I've never seen Cape Fear.

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    1. Amazing indeed. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts on her Cape Fear work. So utterly different from her amazing turn in NBK.

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  8. I think you couldn't have possibly used a better adjective for Juliette Lewis as an actress: fearless. Easily one of the most fearless actresses of her generation. And I love, absolutely LOVE when I watch an actor being that fearless. It's one of the reasons I worship actors like Marion Cotillard, Michael Shannon, Naomi Watts and Eva Green that much. I love it when someone is so cuckoo (in the best way possible) in regards to their choices. A career has to be reinvented all the time and taking the risks those tremendous artists have taken is really something that leaves you in awe. Juliette Lewis has always been an exceptional actress and she really had a chance to shine in numerous film and a wide variety or roles. Cape Fear has really been the highlight of her career and I absolutely adore her in everything, from Natural Born Killers to August: Osage County. To me, she deserved at least an Oscar nomination for the latter (but hell, the whole cast did deserve that in that film). There was something incredibly and also refreshingly genuine in the way she approached her character. Karen could look so caricaturesque as a character if played a little over-the-top. And she avoided that so cleverly. And obviously, what can I say for the tour de force of a performance she pulled out for Stone's Natural Born Killers? "It is an actor fully giving herself over to the material." God, I love reading things like that! It really is man. She gave her all there, body and soul. Acting at its best (and rawest as well). Great post man. It should definitely be ranked among the best In Character posts you made thus far.

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    1. Thanks Stergios! Really appreciate all the kind words. I had no idea you were such a Lewis fan, but I'm certainly not surprised. So fearless indeed. I like the way you described her August: Osage County work. She really stood out in that film to me. I mean, it was just so nice to see her again in a really good movie! Thanks again for the comment.

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  9. Oh, great choices. i never saw Cape Fear but I'm gonna have to do that one of those days. I also really wanna see Kalifornia, seems like the kind of movie I'd dig. Loved her on Natural Born Killers, even though for me Harrelson and RDJ are the best, Jesus, RDJ never fails to make me laugh in that one and I do adore the movie too, it's somewhere in my top 30 of all time. I love that scene you mentioned from H&W - it's even better when Allen gets angry right after and by trying to make her look like immature kid HE is the one acting like an immature kid and Lewis' just has this great smile on her face during all of this.

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    1. I do think you'd dig Kalifornia, only because it lives in the same world as Natural Born Killers. Granted, a MUCH tamer world, but they're in the same realm. RDJ is priceless in NBK. That fuckin' accent, Jesus. And I always crack up at that short promo video of his show, where he pushes the cop out of the way and kicks the door in. So good.

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    2. My favorite is when he is inside the prison and he is shooting the footage of himself with a camera 'I'm an acclaimed journalist!' - this film really is hilarious. Harrelson is golden too but then again he always delivers, even in biggest shit.

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    3. I think I need to do one of my "No One Else Talks About" lists on that movie :)

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    4. YES, do that! One of my favorite things is when they mention to Tommy Lee Jones how, I think, one of the main cops is dead and he just shrugs right in the middle of his panic tantrum. So many golden moments in that film.

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    5. Haha I love that too. Okay, I'm gonna do it next! More people need to see that movie.

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  10. I think she's an inconsistent actress, but I find her very watchable. The most recent film I've seen her in is August: Osage County, and I'm glad you gave her a mention for that. Her character didn’t get explored much, but I really felt for Juliette Lewis’ character. She talks of little else but her own happiness even after her father’s funeral, and chooses to lie to herself about her shady fiancé rather than face the reality of not getting a happy ending. I found her very relatable due to her knowing what she wanted – a happy ending. The fact she ran off with her fiancé, even though he’s a total creep is really sad. She tells her sisters how close she feels to them, only to be shut down by both of them who remind her how rarely they see her. She was relatable in the sense that she knew what she wanted. It was sad to see that she had lost the relationship with her family in doing so. All thanks to a natural and sharp performance from Lewis, especially during her impressive final scene.

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    1. I'd agree that some of her role choices haven't been the best. But I can honestly say that of almost any actor who has worked for more than 20 years, you know? I too liked her work in A:OC, and I wish her character had been given a little more to do. Either way, you summed up her character arc beautifully. I fully agree.

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  11. Excellent list. She was brilliant in all of these, though I still need to see Kalifornia. It's fitting that she received an Oscar nod for her best performance, but it's too bad she hasn't been recognized ever since.

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    1. I agree, she's definitely deserved more acclaim for some of her post-Cape Hear films. Glad you're a fan of her work.

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  12. I love her in Cape Fear. Since your post, I've seen Husbands and Wives, Natural Born Killers (today), Strange Days and From Dusk till Dawn. The continuity Husbands and Wives was off, but I enjoyed it, definitely the best Woody Allen film that I've seen, and Lewis was on fire "crushing a grown man’s dreams with just a few words". Natural Born Killers is fucked-up at the best/worst way, I loved it. And her performance (as well as the rest of the cast) was nuts. I love her in Natural Born Killers even more then in Cape Fear. Strange Days was great, and she is definitely one of the many highlights (and also the recordings shot in one take, my favorite part). Sadly From Dusk till Dawn was just good. I truly, truly love the first half (so Tarantinonian), but the second half didn't worked so well for me, maybe in another film, 'cause the first half was just amazing and the second half was something else, less good. But her line was amazing and her performance, no question.I want to see Kalifornia, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and The Basketball Diaries (and re-watch Natural Born Killers).

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    1. Keep in mind that the continuity in Husbands and Wives is off on purpose. Woody consciously tossed out all the conventions of filmmaking and tried to make a raw and honest love story. I love that film and I love Lewis in it.

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