Juliette Lewis was left open-mouthed when she saw a photo of herself in her latest big screen role.

The 37-year-old actress is barely recognisable playing a struggling woman in new movie Conviction.

“It’s the biggest transformation I’ve ever made on screen. It was a really intense role,” she told US chat show host Jimmy Fallon.

“I think that I just scared myself,” she added after the TV presenter showed a photo of her playing Roseanna Perry.

Lewis, who also fronts rock band The New Romantiques, said she was shocked when reporters started asking her about her teeth after seeing the movie at the Toronto Film Festival.

“I had just gotten a root canal a couple of days before and I’m in pain and I have to promote the movie,” she explained.

“The journalists who just saw the movie kept saying ‘So how’s your teeth?’ I thought ‘Oh my gosh, how did they know about my root canal?’”

Conviction, which also stars Hilary Swank and Sam Rockwell, is being shown at US cinemas now.

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“‘Terra Incognita’ was my avant-garde record,” she says. “My next album, just because it’s where I’m at, it’s much more catchy: Catchy choruses, simple riffs. I want to stack electronic sounds onto natural drumming. It’ll still be rock music. There’s a song called ‘Rockaway’ that we’ve been playing live. That song’s been killing it. It has a real simple ‘ooh ooh’ chorus. There’s another song called ‘Kick Drum Song,’ which is called that because I play kick drum on it. That’s all weird and contagious.”

“I always have contrasts,” she adds. “I may write something that’s really simple and catchy, and then write something the opposite of that.”

There’s no word yet regarding who Lewis plans on working with. For ‘Terra,’ she teamed with Mars Volta prog-head Omar Rodriquez-Lopez, but our conversation revealed that these days, she’s committed to her live show more than ever, where she feels liberated more than on a film set.

“People have to dig your live show. That was my first objective before selling CDs,” she explains. “I wanted that connection. I started music to feel less alone. I always felt like an outsider and alienated. Working in movies and getting famous very young only exacerbated that feeling of alienation. Doing rock ‘n’ roll, I wanted to get off that pedestal that someone else put me on. I have an audience from film who will show up initially. I’m good for a 100 tickets but that’s not what’s going to keep them. It’s a kick-ass live show and the music.”

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Juliette Lewis enjoys being treated like Elvis Presley.

The 37-year-old actress admits the passion of her fans sometimes brings tears to her eyes, and reminds her of the fervour shown towards the American singing legend. Juliette believes she has such a large fan base due to her ability to emotionally tap into her audience.

“I have this connection with my audience that has been so powerful over the years. I run into people in airports and on the streets and they treat me like I’m Elvis,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It brings me to tears because all I ever wanted to do in life is move people emotionally. If I can serve as a catalyst in some little way by playing these parts, then that’s exciting for me.”

Juliette, who is also a solo singer, is currently recovering after a car accident last week left her with bruising and pain in her back and neck.

She is now enjoying spending some time at home, which is the place she loves the most.

“I’m an L.A. girl, born and raised there, but now I live in an uncool part of town with beautiful trees,” she admitted. “I love suburbia because it’s quiet. I don’t even get cell phone reception and I love it. All I want to do is live a quiet, peaceful life with my family in California.”

In her new film Conviction, Juliette plays a woman who gets her former boyfriend sent to jail.

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Juliette Lewis was lucky to escape a hit-and-run crash in California with minor injuries, according to police. The Cape Fear actress and singer was in the back of her car when a driver went through a red light and smashed into the vehicle. The damage caused was enough to see the car written off.

Lewis has since been discharged from hospital following complaints of pain in her head, back and neck.

Her spokesman described Lewis as being a “bit banged-up and sore, but otherwise thankfully OK”.

Police are still searching for the other driver.

Lewis was on her way home after promoting her forthcoming movie Conviction at an event.

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Actress/singer Juliette Lewis has thanked her fans for their love and support as she recovers at home from a hit-and-run accident in California on Wednesday night.

The “Natural Born Killers” star was traveling home from a promotional event for her new film “Conviction” when a Honda slammed into the side of her Lincoln Town Car at an intersection in Burbank.

She was admitted to a nearby medical center where she was treated for minor injuries and discharged hours later.

A friend took to the star’s Twitter page on Thursday to reassure anxious fans that the actress is okay following the accident.

The post states, “I’m speaking on Juliette’s behalf. She thanks you for all the love and well wishes. She’s okay, resting at home. Thank you for the love!”

Cops have launched an investigation into the hit-and-run after the driver of the Honda sped off after the incident.

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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

Source: www.contactmusic.com

The Hollywood actress-turned-singer, who was frontwoman of Juliette And The Licks, will unveil her new solo album on August 31.

“Because this album is so sonically different than anything I’ve done before and captures many flavours of my emotional life and voice, it needed an entirely new name,” Juliette said in a statement.

“Terra Incognita means unknown territory – and that’s where I wanted to go musically. The guitars are more wild and atmospheric. The groove is dark and deep and allow for a lot of sonic contrasts.”

She added: “It took me five years to really cut my teeth both as a performer and as a songwriter and I wanted to break all the habits I’d gotten used to and let songs develop out of a groove or simple piano notes and melody. It’s been a truly liberating and radical experience.”

Source: musicnews.virginmedia.com

As Rock Daily previously reported, Lewis shifted from the Licks to new moniker the New Romantiques because “this album is so sonically different than anything I’ve done before… it needed an entirely new name.” That change in sound—from the riff-heavy Licks to the atmospheric Romantiques—can be heard on the other cut Lewis performed in our studio, the bluesy “Hard Lovin’ Woman.” Rolling Stone also talked with Lewis about her new project backstage at this year’s SXSW festival, with the Kalifornia actress telling RS that Rodriguez-Lopez got involved after the two met at a music festival and bonded over their love of Federico Fellini films.

Lewis and her band are currently on tour in Europe, but the band will return stateside for a month’s worth of dates during a joint tour with Cat Power and the Pretenders starting August 7th with a show in Wallingford, Connecticut. Two more songs off Terra Incognito—the album’s title track and “Fantasy Bar,” are currently streaming on the singer’s new Licks-less MySpace page.

Click on the links below to watch Juliette Perform.

Juliette Lewis Performing: “Suicide Dive Bombers”
Juliette Lewis Performing: “Hard Lovin’ Woman”

Source: www.rollingstone.com

Earlier this spring, you announced the end of Juliette Lewis and the Licks and a new start as simply “Juliette Lewis.” What prompted the switch?

When I got the Licks off the ground five years ago, I allowed myself to not over-think music, to not be precious, but spit out what I was feeling at the time. The music was very no-nonsense and guitar-driven. And then I stopped and asked myself, “Am I ready to be more revealing, and to discover melody?” I wanted to write songs that were more dynamic and didn’t hang on guitar riffs all the time. It’s an evolution.

I come from a place of discontentment and hunger as an artist, so I’m rarely satisfied. Also, I’m an independent artist. I’m not a radio artist, I’m not on a major label, and all the odds are stacked against me anyway. So I’ve got nothing to lose if I explore my own musical hunger and journey.

What can listeners expect on this record, versus your past work? Where have you taken your style?

Well, it’s not some vast departure of the groove and rock and roll I’ve brought to the equation before. That’s all there, and it’s definitely in our live show, but the sound and the groove has expanded. There’s more drama. I also finally wrote a blues song, which I’ve always wanted to write. I guess you could expect more peaks and valleys, and a really killer band. And some sparkly pants here and there.

You’re starting a tour in August with The Pretenders and Cat Power. How did you get hooked up into that lineup?

How amazing is that? I am so excited and beside myself. You submit yourself as an opener and the band checks it out and then they approve you. It was a real organic thing. I don’t know either of those artists personally, and I just couldn’t be happier. I think it’s going to be a killer lineup, and the type where people should come out and be ready for a whole night’s experience. This is a lineup you want to come real early for…and then you can see my band. [Laughs]

Maybe this isn’t a fair question to ask, but what do you find yourself more passionate about – movies or music?

Anything I’m doing at the time, I’m willing to shed my skin for. So if I’m in a movie, I want to give the most in that moment. It’s about total surrender for me, making things as honest as possible. When I’m writing and performing live, it’s the same way. But I had done movies for 15 years and because I wasn’t exploring the passion of songwriting and performing live, it was building in me like a volcano. So now that I’ve done music for a good five years, I can do movies with relish and a new love. Maybe what’s more personal is the music because I have a part in everything: the merch design, the track listings, the songwriting, the live shows. So it’s all an extension of me. It’s a different experience.

For more info on Lewis’ film and music endeavors, check out her MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/juliettelewis

Source: www.filter-mag.com