Catherine Keener
By Scott Roesch
ATHERINE KEENER doesn't work all that often, but
when she does, she makes quite an impression. She first turned heads in 1992 with what
one reviewer called a "touchingly comic" performance as Brad
Pitt's girlfriend in
Johnny Suede. She impressed critics again as the put-upon leading lady in last
year's Living in Oblivion , another film from director
Tom DiCillo. And she's currently making waves in Walking
and Talking .
The fact that Keener's résumé is short and doesn't boast any seven-figure
movie deals doesn't bother her too much: stardom has never been her goal. "I went
through long periods of not working," admits the actress. "What was happening was that I
wasn't getting the jobs I wanted and I wasn't wanting the jobs I could get."
Walking and Talking was a job she wanted and got. The charming film
from first-time writer-director Nicole Holofcener is about a single woman named Amelia
(Keener) whose world falls apart when her lifelong friend Laura (Anne Heche) gets
engaged. "This movie took five years to get made," says Keener. "It didn't have a
hook, people didn't know what it was about. They'd say, 'It's just a women's movie?'"
Maybe so, but on the strength of two honest, on-the-money performances from Keener
and Heche, this women's movie became a hit at the Sundance Film Festival.
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