And then, nearly
thirty years later, Jennifer Jason Leigh appears, brilliant (if a
little too close to an audition set piece), as the
dour phone-sex provider in Short Cuts (93,
Altman).
It's natural to think that Leigh's grim pout
comes from Vic Morrow, one of the most
steadily blocked Method actors. But to judge
from photographs, she resembles her mother,
too. Hers has been a tough career, working in
many poor films, sometimes close to exploitation. As if from necessity, she has a long-suffering, wistful air that comes close to
depravity or sainthness. She was a blind-mute
in Eyes of a Stranger (81, Ken Wiederhorn);
catching the eye in Fast Times at Ridgemont
High (82, Amy Heckerling); Wrong Is Right
(82, Richard Brooks); Easy Money (83, James
Signorelli); Grandview, U.S.A. (84, Randal
Kleiser); Flesh + Blood (85, Paul Verhoeven);
The Hitcher (86, Robert Harmon); a dead-eyed call girl in The Men's Club (86, Peter Medak); Sister, Sister (87, Bill Condon);
Under Cover (87, John Stockwell); and Heart
of Midnight (88, Matthew Chapman).
She was very funny in The Big Picture (89,
Christopher Guest); wan, working-class, and
endlessly raped as Tralala in Last Exit to
Brooklyn (89, Uli Edel); authentically dumb
in Miami Blues (90, George Armitage); credibly a junkie in Rush (91, Lili Fini Zanuck);
beguiling and creepy in Single White Female
(92, Barbet Schroeder) in which her very
quietness was sinister; tense, mannered, and
even amateurish in The Hudsucker Proxy (94,
Joel Coen); and Dorothy in Mrs. Parker and
the Vicious Circle (94, Alan Rudolph).
Had a part filmed for Eyes Wide Shut. When Stanley Kubrick wanted to do re-shoots, she was unavailable and her entire part was redone with another actress.
