Juliette Lewis renews movie 'Conviction'
After five years or so away from movies to pursue a musical career, Academy Award nominee Juliette Lewis (Martin Scorsese's "Cape Fear") is back.
Trouble is, you might not recognize the former co-star of "Kalifornia," "Natural Born Killers" and, more recently, "Whip It" and "The Switch," who stopped off in Dallas recently to discuss her latest role.
In "Conviction," the based-on-real life drama starring Hilary Swank, Sam Rockwell and Minnie Driver, Lewis disappears behind thick makeup (including caked-over teeth) to portray Roseanna Perry, a key witness in the conviction of Kenny Waters (Rockwell) in the early 1980s. Kenny's sister Betty Anne (Swank) puts her life on hold for years to get a law degree with the sole intent of proving her brother's innocence.
While it's only a small role, Perry's testimony is pivotal to the case, and so is Lewis's acting to the intense drama.
QUESTION: Were you worried at all about all that makeup you had to do for that role?
ANSWER: Oh no, I loved it. It's what I sort of live for. I tell people I didn't start making movies to play myself. So this actually is a unique role for me in that I've never transformed so completely. There's absolutely nothing like me in the role.
I don't know why -- I guess my parents raised me in a nice way -- but I didn't grow up with a lot of vanity. It's projected on us a lot as women, and young men as well, in our consumer society to focus on what we look like all the time. I kind of rebel against all of that stuff. So, for me, it's a pleasure to do this.
Q: With only two scenes, you have to really express a lot.
A: It was funny to do a role so small, but have so much in both those scenes. That was my intention, anyway. I wanted to have a complete presence in both places. It's an 18-year lifespan. When you first meet her, it starts with the eyes, showing this kind of damaged soul and that she's vindictive. Then you meet her 18 years later in her trailer.
Q: Were you able to find out much about her?
A: Everything I say in the movie, about 98 percent of my dialogue, is from transcripts of interviews that she gave. Her bad grammar, the wrong use of phrases, that's all her speaking.
Q: It's good to see you back on a movie screen.
A: Yeah, I was making music for about five years. When I started, people were like, "What? What are you doing?" I always knew I was going to do it. I was always, in my heart of hearts, a songwriter, a singer. But that felt closer to myself, so it's actually something a bit more vulnerable to do.
Q: How big is your role in "Due Date" (opening Nov. 5)?
A: It's a cameo (as a single mom pot dealer). Basically, I've just been bouncing around in different films. I did "The Switch" with Jennifer Aniston. I played her best friend. The next roles that I can't talk about yet will be bigger parts. This has sort of just been my re-emergence into film.
Q: What do you remember about your role in "Kalifornia" (1993) at this point?
A: I remember a lot. It was such an important film for me in my development as a character actress. It's actually what I call my first official character in that I changed my voice a little bit. I talked higher. It tells in the story that she had a traumatic incident when she was younger. I feel like she's lost there in time; like the mentality of a 9-year-old. All these elements went into creating this really sweet character.
("Conviction" poster courtesy: Fox Searchlight Pictures/"Kalifornia" poster courtesy: Gramercy Pictures)
Hey Larry, I went to a midnight showing of the movie you refuse to name. Bottomline: unless you're a 9 year old boy who plays with action figures, you're most likely going to be disappointed. I tried to enjoy it as being dumb summer fun, but felt that I was just watching a live-action cartoon made for pre-teens. I dare say that even "Transformers 2" was slightly better! 1.2 stars out of 4.
P.S. I knew Stephen Sommers would let fans down, but I had no idea that he would be making the film for kids. I thought it would've been a litte more "movie-like".
Alex Ozuna