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)

August: Osage County (2013)

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