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HYPE: Taryn Manning AGE: 23. HOMETOWN: Tucson, Arizona. PROFESSION: "I'm a dancer who can sing, I'm a singer who can act, I'm an actress who can dance." WHY? "My mom, she raised me to do everything. She put me in dance classes, made me sing all the time in front of people...like, 'Sing for Grandma!' 'No!' 'C'mon!' 'All right.' And I sang." JAGGED LITTLE PILL: Since moving to L.A. four years ago, Manning's made a name for herself exploring the grittier side of young adulthood in such films as crazy/beautiful (as Kirsten Dunst's drug-addled best bud) and Crossroads (as a gruff but kindhearted high schooler with an unwanted pregnancy). WHAT'S NEXT? She'll appear as Eminem's ex-girlfriend in Curtis Hanson's hip-hop paean 8 Mile, and will play a punk rock singer in White Oleander ("one of my favorite books, ever") alongside Michelle Pfeiffer and Renee Zellweger. THE MILE FILES: Manning describes working on 8 Mile as a "surreal" experience. "Curtis was incredible, and ever since Eminem came out, I've just been crazy about his music and his lyrics and his whole...whole thing." CROSSING OVER: The performer's band, Boomkat--which includes Manning's brother Kellin--is releasing its first CD later this summer. EDGE GIVES HER AN EDGE: "I am a little different. I am a little rough around the edges. And in this town, if you stand out in a different way than just being beautiful, you have a better chance, I think." --Daniel Davis |
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But unlike many headline-grabbing actresses, Jolie is even more interesting on-screen than off. The dangerously screwed-up beauties she has played in George Wallace, Gia, Playing by Heart, Pushing Tin and Girl, Interrupted have all been tangible, believable creations. In her first big-budget thriller, The Bone Collector, she easily matched the skill and intensity of Denzel Washington. She's likely to stun audiences as the take-no-prisoners action heroine Lara Croft in Tomb Raider, a fantasy adventure adap from the video game by director Simon West (see story on p. 54). And who isn't looking forward to watching her later this summer when she plays the sex-obsessed femme fatale who enraptures Antonio Banderas in Original Sin? When Angelina Jolie greets me for this interview, she strikes me as someone fully capable of doing all that she has done offscreen and all that she's expected to do on-screen as Lara Croft. She's dressed in a black T-shirt and black leather jacket, and she looks like she might throw a mean right if provoked. "Call me Angie," she says, reaching out to shake my hand. I can tell she is indeed something like her father--intense, focused. And I have little doubt that, like her father, she'll be original in her thinking. For Lawrence Grobel's interview pick up the June issus of Movieline. PAGE 1 | 2 |