Fifteen years ago the actress I am meeting for lunch in a low-key Los Angeles café would have arrived followed by a trail of paparazzi.

Back then she ticked all the celebrity boxes: she’d dated Brad Pitt; been nominated for an Oscar when just 17; done time in rehab; become a Scientologist …

But no one spills their latte as Juliette Lewis parks her SUV across the street, scurries across four lanes of highway and then tosses her keys on the table, breathlessly apologising for being late.

In an industry where fame is often the paramount objective it is hard to name another actress who willingly jumped off the A-list bus, exchanging the glamorous red-carpet lifestyle to toil in semi-obscurity in pursuit of a private dream.

‘I’ve never really cared if I was famous for my music. It was just something I had to do,’ explains Lewis, 37.

For the past seven years she has been fronting a punk-rock outfit called Juliette and the Licks, performing angry, energetic songs with names like Junkyard Heart and Suicide Dive Bombers in front of double-figure crowds.

Spending months shuttling between tiny venues on a beaten-up tour bus is quite a contrast to the years of luxury trailers and million-dollar pay cheques.

When we meet, Lewis has just returned home to Los Angeles, not 24 hours after performing at a party in Paris. Far from being jet-lagged, she radiates nervous energy.

She talks so fast that sentences spill over each other, punctuated by throaty laughter so raucous it rattles the cups and plates on our table. Frequently she concludes her excited speeches with an exclamation of ‘that was a long-ass way of saying it!’

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Michelle Monaghan reunites with her ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ co-star Robert Downey Jr and Juliette Lewis gets to team up again onscreen with Downey, her ‘Natural Born Killers’ cohort, in the comedy movie ‘Due Date,’ directed by Todd Phillips.

you can view video here

Since stunning movie audiences when she was barely 18 as Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake of “Cape Fear” (earning a supporting Oscar nomination), the Los Angeles native has tackled some of the edgiest characters out there, including a serial slayer in Oliver Stone’s “Natural Born Killers,” a psycho-killer’s girlfriend in Dominic Sena’s “Kalifornia,” a corrupt cop’s mistress in Peter Medak’s cult favorite “Romeo Is Bleeding,” a worldly-wise young drifter in Lasse Hallstrom’s “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” a mentally challenged woman in Garry Marshall’s “The Other Sister,” and a nine-months-pregnant kidnap victim in Christopher McQuarrie’s “The Way of the Gun.”

In 2003, Lewis took a break from acting to satisfy her musical urges, which were just as exotic as her dramatic appetites, forming a band called Juliette and the Licks, shaking up a punk-pop concoction that was equal parts Iggy Pop, P.J. Harvey and ’90s alt-rock, and filling two full-length albums with it (“You’re Speaking My Language,” “Four on the Floor”) in 2005-06.

In 2009, she went solo, expanding the colors of her musical palette — with a touch here and there of the blues — on “Terra Incognita,” before turning back to acting in earnest.

And earnest she is in Tony Goldwyn’s “Conviction,” the true story of working-class Massachusetts woman Betty Anne Waters (Hilary Swank) who put herself through law school and spent 18 years proving her imprisoned brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) innocent of murder.

Lewis is already drawing critical raves for her brief but indelible performance as an unprincipled, low-living woman whose testimony puts Kenny in jail.

She kicked off our recent phone interview by complimenting my “nice accent,” of all things, making me self-conscious about my Okie drawl. So, I asked about our mutual Oklahoma City acquaintance, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips.

A: Well, you know, I met him a couple of times at his shows so I don’t know him past that, other than I’m a big fan of his, and he seems like a real good guy.

Q: The reason I asked is because you actually appear in the Flaming Lips documentary “The Fearless Freaks.”

A: I know, I remember that show. Me and my sister went there, and we had our own animal suits that we rented. We didn’t know that they gave you suits, so we came with our own. And I got to be an animal onstage.

Q: What kind of animal were you?

A: I think I was a mouse.

Q: When was that?

A: Oh, that was like six years ago. It was before I was touring with my own band.

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In 1983, Betty Anne Waters’ brother, Kenny, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. So, Betty Anne did what any sister would do, she put herself through law school, became a lawyer and, with the assistance of the Innocence Project and newly-instituted DNA testing, finally got her brother exonerated after serving 18 years. Betty Anne knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Kenny was innocent and never gave up hope that he would finally be freed. And she was right, DNA testing proved that none of the blood found at the murder scene was his. Betty Anne’s remarkable story has been turned into an inspiring and profound motion picture called Conviction.

Two key sequences in the film involve Roseanna Perry as played by award winning actress Juliette Lewis. At the trial of Kenny Waters, Perry testifies that Kenny confessed to being a murderer, which helped to convict him. Years later, she was the first to admit that she was coerced into saying what she said on the stand. That second scene was one of the most powerful in the film and I relayed that to Lewis. “Thank you. Yeah, this was one of those things that I didn’t know how I was going to pull off. And those are the best things in art you could want for, is something that makes you a little bit nervous and scared. It’s the same performing on stage because it’s got twists and turns, and that’s a vivid memory for her, that really happened.”

“The majority of my dialogue, 98% of it, is taken from interviews this woman gave,” Lewis continued. “That’s the language she used and that’s the way she described things, but she was coerced by Nancy Taylor, she was given alcohol. She’s also a destructive personality, and she’s also vindictive, and self preserving, and conniving, and all those things. It was amazing to play that knot of contradiction. That’s something I’d never done before in this type of extreme fashion. I didn’t care how big or small the role was, I was happy to be involved with such a profound movie and a character that was so intense. It’s probably the most intense work I’ve done in the last 10 years. Also, ’cause 5 of those years I took off just making records and touring deliberately. So this is my re-emergence into film again.”

An accomplished actress, Juliette Lewis is also a serious musician, having released one album and several tracks to various film soundtracks. Sidetracking briefly, we got an update on her musical career. “I was writing just a few months ago while on the road. Sort of assembled what songs I want to make, starting to think about the next record. And I’ll probably do that in the winter months when I have a moment off. It’s one of the pleasures of being an independent musician, I can sort of make it up as I go. There’s no big machine behind me. I really worked diligently the last 5 years to find my audience, the people that were going to stick it out with me.”

Returning to talk about the movie, Ed asked what work went into playing Perry in two different time periods. Lewis obviously put a tremendous amount of work into portraying a woman who’s emotions and mental stability were all over the place, most especially in the later scene. “Basically I just wanted to be present,” she told us. “Without getting too esoteric, it’s an energy thing. It’s sort of like ‘What’s the energy of her at 25?’ on the witness stand, and seeing the seeds of that lying nature and sort of self-preserving woman, who’s also living on the outskirts of mainstream living. But it’s also the 80s, so you’ve got the acid wash skirt and the look and she’s young. But she’s lying there. She got coerced into believing a memory that didn’t happen.”

Getting further into how she submerged herself into the role, Lewis said, “Basically, it’s how to deaden your own joy behind your eyes, because people have different energy, or different vibes. There’s that scene when you first meet her, and you see an essence of what she could potentially become if she keeps at it. So then 18 years later, that was my favorite thing. They come into her world, they come into her trailer. If I just played an alcoholic who never left her trailer, that would be interesting, but I’m playing somebody who is faced with the person they’ve done the most wrong to. They’re disconnected from reality, but at the same time their past is coming to get them. They have to face the truth. And there are many different truths. So that’s why she sort of bounces off the walls.”

I noted that she plays Perry and sort of this rambling person, but at one point a change comes over her and the audience realizes she is now telling the truth. Lewis replied, “That was all taken directly from transcripts and actual real events. But then you make that – how does that person express all that? That’s where you get into drinking the 3 dollar wine in the afternoon, everyday, for the last decade. Also, there’s little colors in there, I don’t know if you pick up on it or not, but she doesn’t normally get guests. So there’s a little bit of ‘I’m sitting down and socializing.’ That’s, at least in my mind, the insanity of it.”

Ed suggested that it was possible that Perry was enjoying the attention she was getting, even years later, to which Lewis agreed. “I head that from Betty Anne a great deal after the fact, because she wasn’t there when I was there, that this character did like the attention. You find elements of people you’ve known in your life. There’s people who tell stories for attention, they create drama, they’re destructive people. So you take that element, and then you blow it up times 20 or 30 times or something. This is how you piece together a personality. Anyway, it’s been really amazing that people are getting it [and] they’re seeing it. You know, so often in this business you think things, and you don’t expect to be appreciated necessarily and sometimes you make movies that no one even sees. So it’s really gratifying that people are noticing the work.”

And then our time with Juliette Lewis and the Conviction press tour was finished. It was amazing talking to Betty Anne Waters, Tony Goldwyn and Juliette Lewis and to see how passionate they all were about this film. Check your local theaters for show times for Conviction as I urge you to see it as soon as possible. It tells a story you won’t soon forget.

Featured star Lewis and Director Goldwyn were in Chicago recently to promote the film. HollywoodChicago.com sat down for interviews with both of them, talking about the general themes of Conviction and their expansive careers.

Juliette Lewis is a familiar presence in the Hollywood canon of the last twenty years. Beginning her career as a teenager in the 1980s, she had a transcendent breakthrough as Danielle Bowden in Martin Scorsese’s remake of “Cape Fear” (1991). From that point to the end of the decade, Lewis worked with directors as diverse as Woody Allen (”Husbands and Wives”), Lasse Hallstrom (”What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?”) and Oliver Stone (unforgettable as Mallory in “Natural Born Killers”).

Recently, Lewis has also become a working rock musician, first with her band Juliette and the Licks, and then as a solo artist. She has released four albums.

HollywoodChicago.com: You’ve always been a character actor, even when you were younger. What attracts you to playing different types of character humanity, and what attracted you to the challenge of playing the character you play in Conviction?

Juliette Lewis: As I get older, as I process things differently, I’m very much my father’s daughter, and he’s a character actor [Geoffrey Lewis]. I think what he passed down to me was the belief that I could play it all. I could be a princess or a bag lady or a wacky cousin or best friend. It lives in my blood, I love diversity. I didn’t get into film to play one type or be limited by desirability.
I started a completely different career about six years ago, with my band. And I meant it. I set out on a journey similar to my film life, but to make records and tour the world. And it started happening, as an independent musician I was making a living. That’s been my bread and butter, and I didn’t make movies during that time.

In the last year, there has been a reemergence in film for me and this role has been has been the most intense, complex thing I’ve done in the last ten years, dramatically speaking. And even though it’s small, it’s about serving the story, and as a character it gave me the opportunity to completely lose myself. I wanted you to see this person, and not see me at all in it. That complexity of energy was really exciting to me, to make it real.

HC: What motivates your character in Conviction, in your estimation and after having played her, and why do you think she was so manipulated by the situation? What do you admire about her?

JL: She’s the kind of person that lived so many lies and had destructive behavior, that she justified by lies upon lies. You mix that with drugs and alcohol, that can destroy your benevolent energy. It’s like a spiritual thing – how do you know when you see a person walking down the street, that you intuitively know to move to the other side of the walk? That person’s energy is rattled, damaged and unpredictable. I wanted to give off that in the character.

READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW HERE

Jennifer Aniston may not have the best luck when it comes to finding Mr. Right, but her co-star in the upcoming comedy “The Switch”, Juliette Lewis, seems to think the 41-year-old starlet is pretty close to perfect.

“Jen was simply a piece of heaven,” Lewis recently told Pop Tarts while stripping down to her underwear and busily trying on the new Fall/winter 2010 collection at the G-Star Raw showroom in Los Angeles. “Just a real girls’ girl – really down to earth, funny and absolutely wonderful. I play her best friend and I am kind of daffy, but we just had a natural affinity for each other.” But Aniston’s not Lewis’ only co-star with whom she remains friendly. She opened up about her co-stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp, with whom she starred in the 1993 hit “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.”

“Leo I’ve seen from time to time, it’s funny because when you share an experience with people like that – I feel like we went to boot camp together or high school, like we grew up together,” Lewis said. “I remember working on ‘Gilbert Grape,’ and I was older than him by like, one year but it was such a big deal, like I was so grown-up. Johnny Depp I haven’t seen in a long time, and then Brad (Pitt, ex-fiancee and co-star in ‘Kalifornia’) and I run into each other on and off and we say hello and that is really nice.”

The 36-year-old Oscar nominee has certainly explored an array of wild and troublesome behaviors over the years (she was arrested for driving illegally at 15 and again at 16 for sneaking into clubs, wore cornrows in her hair to the Academy Awards, went to rehab in her early twenties to kick a drug and alcohol addiction in which she turned to Scientology for help and even groped new mom Cate Blanchett at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008).

But in spite of all that, Lewis felt it most important to clear up any misconceptions that she has a short fuse.

“I don’t have an explosive temper, people seem to think that – maybe somewhere lives the lion in my cage,” she continued. “But I’m actually kind of goofy.”

And while not many celebs would consciously choose to step away from Hollywood (not to mention give interviews in their underwear), this self-confessed “freak” is certainly a rare exception.

“I’m doing movies again, I hadn’t done a movie in 5 years, which was a really big deal for me and it was very deliberate,” Lewis added. “Because when I started music I meant it so it wasn’t just ‘Oh let me do a show on the weekend.’ For me it was embarking on this spiritual rock and roll journey, I didn’t know if I would succeed or not. I’m still an underground artist, a little freak artist – but music is my livelihood now, so I only make for the sheer love and obsession of the projects. I’m not making movies to cultivate a career which is a very liberating.”

Source: FOXNews.com

UNIQUE: “I … like something that’s always a little amiss,” Juliette Lewis says. (Stuart Pettican)

LA Times bring us with an amazing interview with Juliette, done on backstage at the Greek Theatre. Read some excerpts:

Backstage at the Greek Theatre, Juliette Lewis is one hot mess. After opening for the Pretenders and Cat Power, the singer-actress’ dark, choppy hair clings damply to her neck; smeared glitter eye shadow sparkles on her cheeks; and the toe of one boot (black with vaguely Victorian gold buttons up the sides) is held together with tape. The centerpiece of her ensemble — a red, single-sleeved romper made of metallic Lycra and sequins with a regal plume of feathers at one shoulder — looks like the result of a collision between Mötley Crüe and the Moulin Rouge.

It’s hard to say who, exactly, she most resembles: the pout and smudged eyeliner are pure Mick Jagger, the feathers are a bit Brian Eno and Lewis herself name-checks Mad Max. One thing for sure: She looks like a rock star should.

“I finally got a real stylist!”

You can read the full interview here at LA Times

Captures are on the way, as too pictures of last Juliette’s appearances.

Captures added:

Television » Talk Shows: The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson – September 07, 2009 – Screencaptures

On a sweltering summer evening at New York’s Central Park SummerStage, actress turned musician Juliette Lewis bounces onto the stage dripping in multicolored sequins and issues a strict order: “I’m going to give you energy, you’re going to give some back, and then we’re going to double it, triple it!”

The star of Natural Born Killers and Cape Fear (which earned her an Oscar nomination) seems to approach music with the same fearlessness she brings to the screen, unleashing stage performances that are raw, kinetic, frenzied, possessed. She currently shares a touring bill with Cat Power and The Pretenders, and opens each show by riling up the audience, even if it takes jumping into the crowd or taunting the quiet ones in the bleachers. In contrast to the long line of famous Hollywood actors who have tackled music careers only to end up limping away in humiliated defeat, Ms. Lewis has been going strong for six years—touring relentlessly during that time—and she fully intends to stay.

Not that she’s abandoning Hollywood, mind you. Lewis has wrapped two films this year, including Whip It, directed by Drew Barrymore, and Mark Ruffalo’s directorial debut, Sympathy for Delicious. She is also set to star alongside Hilary Swank in the drama Betty Anne Waters, and with Jennifer Aniston in the romantic comedy The Baster. Her sophomore album, Terra Incognita, comes out on September 1, and she plans to promote it by taking her own solo show on the road.

VF Daily caught up with Lewis backstage at Central Park to discuss footlights and spotlight, Bowie and Barrymore, and more.

There are so many famous Hollywood actors who have gone into music unsuccessfully. What sets you apart?

I am independent to the core. I started this by finding a group, putting it together. There was no management conglomerate, no major label. I put my own money into it initially. For two years you don’t make any money! It was a really scary time because I was pulling the plug on my main source of income … all I’ve known for 15 years. That’s also the “terra incognita,” going into the land of the unknown. The only way I was going to know if the music was going to succeed was if I went for broke. I’ve got to tour as hard and as completely as any young band would.

Were you worried about what people were going to think?

No. I was so focused on the practicality of making this happen, and taking care of myself. I can’t afford to cancel a show—there is a magnifying glass, they’ll think you’re a diva. I’ve canceled one show in six years and that was because I had bronchitis. I always knew I’d cut my teeth by going out into the Wild West, the unknown, to find my believers. I didn’t think about naysayers … being an actress and playing the roles I’ve done, I’ve always been an outsider, the odd one.

How do you transition between singing for large audiences and acting on intimate sets? Does one influence the other?

I hadn’t done movies in four years [when I started], but because of being on the road I feel more vital as an artist, that I have more to offer, more vigor. I feel more adventurous and out of my head.

How much did your singing in Natural Born Killers and Strange Days influence your choice to go into rock ’n’ roll?

Any time I had to sing, I felt very precious about it. I knew I was keeping this secret. When singing a capella in the jail cell in Natural Born Killers, I was very nervous because I was letting the bird out of the cage. Strange Days reminded me, “You better get to it. You’re ignoring something.”

Which musicians inspired you to go for it?

I’m drawn to unique forces like Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger. There was a time, like in the late 70s, when you could mix mediums all the time. I’m drawn to artists that I feel I have a kinship with. Grace Jones, she’s one of the biggest, and Tina Turner, Patti Smith—the people who understand sound and vision and the whole relationship to it.

Speaking of strong female voices, you just finished filming Whip It, which features a predominantly female cast and a female director [Drew Barrymore]. What was that like?

It was amazing. There are not many female stories [being told]. We all trained really hard—a month to two months. We would wake up and do yoga, strength training, and then four hours of roller derby. There was such gorgeous camaraderie on the set. That’s the spirit of Drew. She creates that environment. I play a baddie in the film, which was difficult because I’m not a bully.

What’s it like right now working on an all-female tour?

It’s been a love fest all around. The first night of the tour, I was watching Chrissie [Hynde of The Pretenders] from the side of the stage just beaming like a kid on Christmas! She gives me a future. You look at her, and you see an artist in all her power. I don’t see age or sex. I see an artist that is a force of nature.

Would you ever want to merge your two professions by playing a famous musician on film?

I have this idea … I want to do a Fellini-esque or Terry Gilliam style surrealistic rock ’n’ roll fantasy. That would be my ideal.

What about, say, playing Janis Joplin?

It’s tricky playing a real person. The thing about film is it’s a very technical medium, it hinges on a good script, an amazing filmmaker, money … I don’t have a dying necessity to mix the two. Of all the people I’d want to play, sure Janis, or Patti Smith, but Patti Smith is not into that idea. I met her.

Did you run that idea by her?

Yeah, she’s not, uh, you know … that’s very hard …

O.K., since you have a lot of films coming out, was there any particular character that you related to in the same way you relate to your music?

No, that’s just me. [Music] has nothing to do with any roles I’ve done.

So you never have any crossover when you go into a role?

Music I do! Not mine. I can tell you every kind of music I was listening to during roles … Natural Born Killers, I was listening to Jimi Hendrix, [the songs] “Killing Floor” and “Voodoo Child.” For Cape Fear I listened to all of the torch singers, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday, women full of longing and torment. I did a play in London, [Sam Shepard's] Fool for Love, and I would listen to Pink Floyd and Chet Baker, anything to make me full of sobbing.

If you could bring your album to life in a few words, who or what is it?

It’s a little pixie in a Mad Max world. Contradictions!

Source: Vanity Fair
By: Andi Teran