Flickering Sound Waves

In her music video "Uh Huh" Juliette Lewis sashays around with a bouquet of colorful balloons, smiling radiantly. Her mood seems lighter than air. It's an incongruous musical moment in her rock grrrl career -- in the newest video "Terra Incognito" she's back to her old in-your-face provocations -- but the softer side was lovely to see.

And why shouldn't Juliette's mood be lighter these days? After years of touring to build a music career while doing thankless cameos in mainstream comedies, could it be that filmmakers are finally on the verge of rediscovering her unique gift?

Juliette Lewis has taken up more than her share of my actressy headspace ever since I first heard her inimitable voice in the opening frames of Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991). I don't even like narration -- in anything -- and I was instantly enamored.

I met with Juliette Lewis in October at the stylish Crosby Street Hotel in Soho, where she was holding court promoting the Oscar hopeful Conviction. The film is still playing around the country (check the listing for yours) and speaking of holding court, Juliette's role is minor but attention grabbing.

Juliette Takes the Stand.

You meet her character Roseanna Perry first as she takes the witness stand. Roseanna's testimony will make things hopeless for soon to be life-sentenced Terry (Sam Rockwell). Later his sister Betty Anne (Hilary Swank) will come calling hoping that she'll recant that damning testimony.

When you only have two scenes, you have to make them count. I wondered if she prepared any differently knowing it was such a minor role. "NO." Juliette replied emphatically, explaining that the smaller the role, the bigger the acting challenge in a way.


We continued talking about her research. Despite what some would deem a loud performance, Roseanna Perry offscreen sounds like an even bigger nightmare than the one Juliette dreamt up for us. I told Juliette that as a fan I'm always hoping she'll get bigger parts. "Someday," she replied with mock dreaminess. "We'll build it together!"

Nathaniel: One of the reasons I love your second scene is that you are suddenly the star of the movie. If you think about it all the characters are surrounding you and they're living or dying based on what you're about to do. Plus, the punchline is so great. It's like your holding court in the scene.

Juliette: That's amazing. That makes total sense, I love that; it's her show. At the same time there's this oddity that she's receiving guests. 'Oh, guests are at my place. Would you like some wine?'

Nathaniel: She probably doesn't get guests that often.

Juliette: That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking she talks to her TV.

Juliette went on to describe Roseanna's psyche, sounding almost sad in the process, indicating that as an actress she'd really dug down into the contradictions of someone who is self-serving, who feels a lot of guilt yet won't make amends.

Nathaniel: I imagine as an actor you have to always believe in the truth of your character,  even if they're a born liar?

Juliette: ABSOLUTELY. Human beings are so contradictory and colorful and a blend of so many things. She [Roseanna] turns up her own emotions to get affect but she also feels what she feels. 

Juliette Lewis as Roseanna Perry

As the conversation shifted away from Conviction, Juliette talked about her year's away from the movies touring to building her music career but despite the devotion to her music career she seemed genuinely happy to be back in the mix of the movies. "I don't know if I've changed or the movies have changed," she explained "but everything has been this sort of delicious experience." Yes, even small roles in Jennifer Aniston movies are deemed delicious  so you know Juliette Lewis means it when she says she's glad to be acting again.

When I asked if we could discuss the 90s, Juliette didn't hesitate though she did get a little contemplative about a retrospective "It's so funny when you don't have perspective at the time. You don't know what you're necessarily doing that's relevant or whatever. You sort of learn in hindsight." Nearly twenty years have passed since she first made a big mark on the screen, but her memory of the films seemed razor sharp.

We didn't peruse the films chronologically but jumped around in conversation beginning with Natural Born Killers (1994). It was the first time I'd heard her sing as she paced her prison cell singing "Naturally Born Bad." I theorized on what made that particular performance so special.

Nathaniel: Watching Mallory --- it's like she's hearing music in her head that you can't hear. A radio station that's JUST her frequency. So then when you start singing in that scene it's a natural fit, like the part is coalescing.

Juliette: I love that. That makes sense. That's funny -- for different parts I use music for brainwashing if that's what you want to call it. I was listening to Jimmy Hendrix. It's not so much his voice but the guitar playing. It had so much danger despair torment chaos if you listen to "Voodoo Child" it's everything of that journey, that character. I would listen to that over and over before filming so that was living inside.

We moved from talking about Oliver Stone who she called "brilliant" to Husbands and Wives (1992). One of my personal favorite scenes in Woody's filmography is her scene in the taxicab when her character Rain admits that she's lost Woody's book --- "his manuscript," Juliette corrected me, recalling the scene just as I'd begun to describe it. She had loved working with Woody Allen because he encouraged improvisation. I asked her if she was aware that he was going to leave the camera on her for practically the whole scene. He has most of the dialogue and yet we're watching her.

Juliette: That's crazy that he did that. What a nice director.

Nathaniel: Rain seems so amused by how much she's upset him.

Juliette as the precocious Rain in Husbands and Wives (1992)

Juliette: She is! Young girls... they just drive you nuts, that youthful arrogance, that superiority. I've had a 22 year old call me "honey" and I was just like 'WHAT? I don't think so!' Honestly she likes the attention of her mistake and she likes seeing him get all riled up. It's very flattering for her that he's asking her opinion. The more insecure he gets the more superior she feels -- classic younger girl and older guy. All those things I discover when playing it.

Nathaniel: But did you know it was your scene, that you would hold the camera?


One of Juliette's favorite directors is of course her own brother Lightfield Lewis who she has worked with numerous times. Juliette raved about their new collaboration (the video is below, it had just come out a couple of days before the interview) for "Terra Incognito". "It's really visual and has a lot of fighting in it -- for taking your licks and getting back up."



Terra Incognito

"Terra Incognito" is the most recent single from her latest record but I had to tell her how amused I was to see a subliminal insert of the famous thumbsucking scene from Cape Fear in the previous video to "Uh Huh." Did she know that was going to be there?

Juliette: No, I didn't know it. That's my brother. He loves all things pop culture. He's very cinematic. My brother is the movie buff, the filmmaker. All the things that influenced me were all musicals: All That Jazz, Hair, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grease.  No, I didn't know he was going to do that.

She had actually asked him to remove it, fearing that the music fans would be confused. Not all of them knew she was an actress. The conversation about these movie referencing videos sent her into thinking about her different worlds and where they did and did not merge comfortably "It's funny that i'm used to being this underdog in different dimensions." But she believed she was finally finding the balance and merging the two. Does this mean she'd be willing to make a musical?

Juliette: I'd love it. I want it to be super strange though like Terry Gilliam style or Bob Fosse.

Nathaniel: John Cameron Mitchell, maybe. Like a Hedwig sort of energy?

Juliette: YES. I actually met with him. He wanted me to play Hedwig somewhere.  Wouldn't that be neat? In the play. Wouldn't that be interesting?

When my time was up -- promotional rounds have tight time frames -- Juliette offered to keep chatting, holding the clockwatcher (i.e. publicist) at bay. "He has a million great questions!" We ended by chatting for a few minutes about Kathyrn Bigelow's Strange Days, her recent Oscar win (Juliette was "over the moon" about it) and the birth of Juliette's own music career by way of P.J. Harvey's songs.

I told her about the first time I saw Strange Days and being as thunderstruck watching her as Ralph Fiennes was from his crosswalk overlook. It was hard not to think of her as a fully formed rock star. This wasn't pretend. At first Juliette rejected the Faith/Juliette comparison and amusingly described her vision of her self with sing-song wit.