In Character: Laura Dern

Laura Dern was born to act. The daughter of two accomplished thespians (Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd), Dern was cast in her first movie at age 6 and has more or less been killing it ever since. An initial (and some might argue, continued) muse of David Lynch, Dern has made a name for herself in nearly every genre, allowing her to forever step out of the shadow of her parents. Choosing six roles to highlight certainly wasn’t easy here – she’s simply that good in everything, always.

Five Essential Roles

Blue Velvet (1986)

Sandy Williams

David Lynch is a master of juxtaposition, and Blue Velvet is the most obvious use of that technique in his entire filmography. There are two worlds within Blue Velvet: the calm, white picket fenced idyllic version of Middle America, and the darkness that lurks directly beneath it. If Dennis Hopper’s Frank Book nails the darkness, then the antithesis is Laura Dern’s Sandy Williams. Sandy is the girl next door. The daughter of local police detective who wears sundresses, drinks sodas in diners, dates the varsity athlete – Sandy shouldn’t fit into Lynch’s warped vision, but somehow, she makes it her own. Which is all made possible by Dern’s appropriately relaxed, confused, and intrigued performance.

Think about this: Dern was all of 18 years old when Blue Velvet was made. Now, think about the crop of 18 year olds we have appearing in movies today, and compare them to Dern’s captivating work in this film. My how times have changed.

Wild at Heart (1990)

Lula Fortune

I have no proof of this, but watching Blue Velvet and Wild at Heart back to back, it’s almost as if Dern begged Lynch for a chance to try something new. To step away from the ditzy blonde prototype (however effective she might have been), and go for something raw. And raw certainly is the word to describe Lula Fortune, a woman so engulfed in love, that she’ll do anything to keep that particular romance alive. If you’ve seen Wild at Heart, you know how batshit crazy it is, and you may appreciate the no-looking-back effort of everyone involved to pull it off. As Lula, Dern had to scream and shout and let it all out. She played angry, abused, hot and hot tempered with equal magnetism. A career-shifting role if there ever was one.

Rambling Rose (1991)

Rose

Rambling Rose is a great example of a mediocre film propelled by stellar performances. As a drifter who takes a job as a maid in Depression-era Georgia, Rose is a kind gal who appears harmless, but evolves as anything but. She’s manic, depressive, manipulative and overly sexualized, but, most importantly, completely unaware of her behavior. Sure, Rose doesn’t necessarily make the best decisions, but her intentions are always good. It’s that conflict within Rose that drives Dern’s work here. Playing off Robert Duvall and her own mother, Diane Ladd, only heightens Dern’s dexterity. Rambling Rose is a bit of an aimless, sentimental mess, so it speaks highly of that trio of performances that the film is ultimately rewarding.

We Don’t Live Here Anymore (2004)

Terry Linden

After churning out a handful of fantastic performances early in her career, it’s almost as if post-Jurassic Park, Dern elected to step into the background. Don’t get me wrong, I love her work in the decade following Jurassic Park, but she didn’t really blow me away again until the domestic drama indie, We Don’t Live Here Anymore.

We Don’t Live Here Anymore was released amidst a plague of misfortunes – crappy distribution, forgettable marketing and ill-timed with the similarly themed Closer released just three months later. But despite some bad luck, We Don’t Live Here Anymore is a film that deserves to be discovered. The movie tells the story of two married couples (Mark Ruffalo/Laura Dern and Naomi Watts/Peter Krause), and how husbands and wives are swapped and disregarded during a few months of universal adultery. As Terry, Dern fills the vindictive role. The resentful wife who drinks too much, screams too loud and is motivated by years of guilt and neglect. Literally from scene one, you know Terry is a forced to be reckoned with. Seek this film out if you can, it really is something.

Enlightened (2011-present)

Amy Jellicoe

I hadn’t seen HBO’s Enlightened before researching this post. I was going to write it off and throw another Dern role up here, but damn am I glad I checked it out. I watched the entire first season last weekend, and I feel safe in calling it Dern’s career sawn song. That’s not to say she doesn’t have anything left, but Amy Jellicoe is a meaty character equipped with brazen charm and hellacious anger, the type of role that, quite frankly, is difficult for women Dern’s age to come by. It’s one of the best roles Dern has ever played, and the fact that she worked so hard to make it possible, only adds to my appreciation.

The show, created, written, produced and starring Dern, chronicles the ongoing battle of a woman with herself. After suffering a public mental breakdown at work, Amy retreats to Hawaii to get her life together. But when she returns to the hustle bustle of LA, she quickly realizes that her newly acquired holistic life philosophies may occasionally be ignored. Witty, cunning and heavy at the right times, Enlightened is a great dramedy that boasts the best qualities of one of our finest actresses. (I also need to quickly note of how well Dern and her mother work together. They co-star in four of the six projects I discuss in this post, including Enlightened, and they make for, perhaps, the finest on-screen mother/daughter pair I’ve ever seen.)

The Best of the Best

Inland Empire (2006)

Nikki Grace/Sue Blue

This is simply inarguable. Not only is Laura Dern’s dual role in Inland Empire the best of her career, but it is, in my humble opinion, one of the best, most fearless film performances of all time. And this is a tricky game, because if you’ve seen David Lynch’s fever dream of a film, you know that much of its three hour running time does not make sense. Hell, Dern and her Inland Empire costar, Justin Theroux, have admitted they have no idea what the film is about. But that doesn’t really matter. In order to enjoy the world of David Lynch, disbelief must be suspended. You have to be open and accept the mood, and find solace in the fact that reality is a rabbit hole.

My point is, like Lynch’s films or not, it’s impossible to deny the power of Dern’s work here. What starts off as a rather straightforward film about an actress landing her huge comeback role, inexplicably shifts to something so much more. Something only the mind of David Lynch can fully decipher. As Nikki/Sue, Dern was pushed to do everything. She had to play it straight, play it open, and play it convincingly, for every frame of every second. Dern herself may not have known what her director was doing, but damn if it didn’t generate haunting results. For fans of Dern’s that are unaware of Inland Empire, I highly recommend tracking the film down. The movie itself might not make sense, but when the acting is this unprecedented, it’s hard to go wrong.

Other Notable Roles

In Jurassic Park

Mask (1985)

Smooth Talk (1985)

Afterburn (1992)

Jurassic Park (1993)

A Perfect Woman (1993)

Citizen Ruth (1996)

October Sky (1999)

Dr. T & the Women (2000)

I Am Sam (2001)

Happy Endings (2005)

Recount (2008)

Everything Must Go (2011)

The Master (2012)

Previous installments of In Character include:
Steve Buscemi
John Cazale
Don Cheadle
Patricia Clarkson
Cliff Curtis
Jeff Daniels
Viola Davis
the Cast of Django Unchained
Michael Clarke Duncan
Chiwetel Ejiofor
William Fichtner
Ralph Fiennes

Brendan Gleeson
Bruce Greenwood
Philip Baker Hall
Woody Harrelson
John Hawkes
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Richard Jenkins
Erland Josephson
Elias Koteas
Heath Ledger
the Cast of Lincoln
Delroy Lindo
William H. Macy
Margo Martindale
Christopher McDonald
Alfred Molina
David Morse
Emily Mortimer
Gary Oldman
Jason Patric
Guy Pearce
Kevin Pollak
Joe Pantoliano
John C. Reilly
Sam Rockwell
Campbell Scott
Michael Shannon
Peter Stormare
David Strathairn
Tilda Swinton
Danny Trejo
Stanley Tucci
Emily Watson
Shea Whigham
Ray Winstone
Jeffrey Wright
Steve Zahn