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| Interview with Laura Linney'Gale' ForceBy Jeffrey M. Anderson Buy Laura Linney Movies on DVD
What's more, we witness her actual death scene, a harrowing demiseinvolving a plastic bag tied around her neck. Maybe someday with newer and fancier digital technology, this scenecould be faked, but Linney went through it for real. "It was a hard day," she said during a recent San Francisco visit. "Ihad a signal I could make with my foot if I got into trouble. Then theywould call cut and someone would rush in and tear the bag off." Aside from her unfortunate headwear, Linney's character ConstanceHallaway already has a tough life. She has devoted her entire being tofighting the death penalty in Texas, even to the detriment of heremotional and physical health. Her death supposedly comes at the hands of the title character (KevinSpacey), a friend and fellow activist, who gets sentenced to the chairfor rape and murder. A third character, reporter Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), enters theproceedings to try and sort out the truth. Despite appearing opposite these two flashier parts, Constanceemerges as the film's most interesting character and Linney rises to thechallenge with its richest performance. This should not be a shock to Linney's fans, who rallied around her2000 indie filmYou Can Count on Me, making it a hit and earningLinney an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The beautiful, tough actress has emerged slowly and deliberately overthe years. Her father, playwright Romulus Linney as well as her mothermostly supported her decision to work in theater. "They didn't encourage me, nor did they discourage me. I'm sure theywere terrified, as they should have been," she says. Trained at Julliard, Linney was originally convinced that she woulddo nothing but theater. She started working as a techie, but graduallymade her way onstage. She became enchanted with the theater world,though at the same time her agent began to get her small roles in movieslikeLorenzo's Oil andSearching for Bobby Fischer. "It wasn't that I was snobby toward film and television," Linneysays. "I was terrified by it. I didn't understand it and I wasintimidated. The whole 'be smaller' thing was not what I should haveheard, because I got too small. I was afraid to do anything. And that'sjust not right. It's more about how you're connecting with your otheractors; it's more intimate." The big turning point for her film and television career came in theSan Francisco-based mini-series "Tales of the City." "It was the firsttime I was on something from beginning to end, and I loved it," shesays. That led to a role inPrimal Fear, the Richard Gere courtroom dramain which Edward Norton made his debut. Clint Eastwood saw her in thatfilm, and cast her inAbsolute Power. "I had to really earn thePrimal Fear role," Linney says. "And thenfor someone to turn around and give me something, it was a shock." But her career kept growing. Her next film was the criticallyacclaimed 1998 box office smashThe Truman Show, playing Jim Carrey'stelevision wife. And that led to Terrence Davies' celebratedThe Houseof Mirth,You Can Count on Me and working with Richard Gere again inThe Mothman Prophecies. Eastwood has even invited her back for hisupcomingMystic River. The 39 year-old actress continues to work in the theater as well,having recently completed runs ofHonour,Uncle Vanya andTheCrucible. ForThe Life of David Gale, Linney found herself immersed in aworld of violence -- not just in the bag scene, but also the world ofdeath penalty justice in Texas. "There was a lot I didn't know. Theseissues are much deeper than people think they are. I realized how wildlyuneducated I was on this issue, and then I started thinking about allthe other issues I'm really uneducated about as well. We think we knowso much, but we really don't." Linney insists that, as a person, she did not necessarily need tobelieve in the film's issues in order to make the movie. "That's beingan actor," she says. "For me, it's usually just the role, and the peopleI'm working with -- of course I would never do anything like making apropaganda piece for the KKK." She does admit that most artistic people tend to lean toward liberalviewpoints. "We're dealing with human emotions that most people don't deal withon a daily basis. And what we learn kind of leads us in that direction.It takes an open mind to be artistic. You have to be open to all of it.Our job is to understand every opinion, every point of view." As a fiercely intelligent and dedicated actress, Linney hasaccomplished just that. But even as her roles get bigger and moreintricate, she's not ready to relax and skate through. The actingbusiness is just not that easy. "It's never easy," she says. "The best part of the business it thatyou have to relish the fact that it's not." February 17, 2003 Partial Laura Linney Filmography |
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