Favorite Laura Linney performance?- Page 2

[degrassifan]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 3:14am

I loved her introductions for the Emma miniseries on Masterpiece Theater a couple of years ago. And of course, Love Actually!

[best12bars]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 7:19am

I thought her Abigail Adams was terrific. Probably my favorite.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:03am

RE: ads. I'm a Christian too, I just thought the ad was odd on a theater board.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 9:52pm

"Is it really in rights limbo? How sad? Is it cause Marcus D'Amico is still claiming he's straight? "

LOL no, I don't think an actor could hold it up--and its not a music issue since love to Love You Baby and other key songs were replaced already in the DVD that was released. I'm not sure what the issdue is--the DVD as released already got in some flack for being an edited version (they used the alternate print some PBSs aired with a few swear words gone--though really the issue was with the gay love scenes and male nudity which is why PBS, despite huge ratings, didn't co-fund the later series). It has been released on DVD and is still in print in the UK and Australia...

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:05pm

It amazes me that nobody has mentioned my favorite performance of hers in YOU CAN COUNT ON ME.

[AC126748]

Posted: 3/10/12 at 10:31pm

Or mine: The Savages.

On stage, she was extraordinary in The Crucible and Time Stands Still. All due respect to Viola Davis, but Linney was robbed of a Tony for the latter.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 1:17pm

Out of many, I'd have to say Bertha Dorset in Terrence Davies' beautiful and underrated The House of Mirth.

I always enjoy Linney's many warm and appealing characters (Mary Ann, Singleton, Cathy Jamison, Abigail Adams, etc.) as well as her more complex ones (Time Stand Still, The Crucible, etc.).

In House of Mirth, Linney unforgettably and against type plays a calculating, controlling and unpleasant narcissist with modulated restraint, elegance and a perfect sense of Wharton and her time. One of the finest performances on film in recent memory.



Updated On: 3/11/12 at 01:17 PM

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 4:15pm

Jordan, I mentioned You Can Count On Me in my original post - she was splendiferous.

Apart from Tales of the City, another one of the few I missed was The City of Your Final Destination, directed by James Ivory. It completely passed me by for some reason when it came out a couple of years ago...not a good sign, I suppose - anybody seen it?

[broadwaybaby086]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 10:30pm

I saw it, Jay, and did not care for it. I thought Laura did a fine job, as always, but I didn't find the material or the premise all that engaging.

Laura is one of my favorite actresses, so it's difficult to choose a favorite! I was introduced to her in "Love, Actually," to which I'll always return, but I really love her in "The Squid and the Whale," "Tales of the City," and her small but intense role in "Mystic River."

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/11/12 at 11:21pm

Yeah, I suspected she might be the only reason to watch it. Which I also feel about Love Actually, actually. Minority view, I know.

Updated On: 3/11/12 at 11:21 PM

[Gothampc]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 12:50pm

"Yeah, I suspected she might be the only reason to watch it. Which I also feel about Love Actually..."

You are forever banned from the human race! If you watch Emma Thompson in the gift opening/bedroom scene and don't realize what brilliant acting that is, then there is no hope for you.

The only reason to watch Love Actually is to see Emma Thompson in that specific scene, everything else is just filler.

Ok, I'll amend and say it's fun to see January Jones pre-Mad Men.

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 3/12/12 at 1:16pm

Eh. Emma Thompson is indeed marvellous, but even she is not worth sitting through it (for me).

Updated On: 2/14/14 at 01:16 PM

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/13/12 at 11:30am

Basically, any Laura Linney performance. She's among the best around. If put to it, I'd choose YOU CAN COUNT ON ME and her unforgettable Abigail Adams in the JOHN ADAMS miniseries. I'm glad to see someone mentioned her in HOUSE OF MIRTH, too.

I liked the first TALES OF THE CITY series, and her Mary Ann was, of course, excellent. The followups really declined in quality after that one, though.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 3/13/12 at 6:15pm

I struggled with Tales of the City once Chloe Webb and Marcus D'Amico were replaced. The chemistry was off and it wasn't the same. But Linney was the definitive Mary Ann. I just HATE what Maupin did with her character in the second trilogy. So much so that I haven't bothered to read the new books.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/13/12 at 6:36pm

The last book was pretty obviously an attempt to reclaim her character (she's only on one or two pages of the fairly skippable Michael Tolliver Lives).

I actually grew to like the second Mouse in the miniseries--he fits the novel's Mouse better anyway, but Webb was the only decent Mona (though apparently, since she was still something of a name thanks to Sid and Nancy she demanded an outrageous price). The second two series were a step down from the first, though it was only Further Tales that I think really missed the mark (partly due to the new storyline Maupin did to bring back Mother Mucca, and shoving one of the more convulated books into only three hours instead of the 5 of the other two series).

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 1:12pm

^love Chloe, why isn't she working more??? Or is she and she's just off my radar?

The second Mouse wasn't bad and had a great look for the period but I missed D'Amico's charm, talent and the chemistry he had with everyone else, especially Linney.

[strummergirl]

Posted: 3/15/12 at 5:24pm

Chloe Webb has a recurring part on Shameless with her playing the mother of the Gallagher children, Monica, who appears and reappears much to the dismay of the oldest child and de facto parent, Fiona. Her recent episode was hysterical.

[SonofRobbieJ]

Posted: 3/16/12 at 10:48am

Didn't Webb not come back because she thought D'Amico was treated unfairly by the Powers that Be (Maupin, et al)? I seem to remember reading that Maupin would cast gay actors or straight actors in his gay roles, but what he wouldn't cast was a closeted actor. Apparently, D'Amico was enjoying the bathhouse culture of San Francisco during the shoot, but then started discussing his 'heterosexuality' publicly, which floored Maupin. Blowouts ensued. Sides were taken. I could be misremebering the bit about Webb's involvement, but the D'Amico stuff, not so much.

I agree that Webb and D'Amico were ideal...and that the magic created by the PBS/Channel 4 co-pro was never again achieved when Showtime came into the picture.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 4:52am

Maupin is a little too up in arms about outing people (IMHO), so I could see some truth there, but I believe it's pretty much on the record that in Webb's case she was the only one who asked for a large pay raise.

[Roscoe]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 2:31pm

As good as D'Amico was, the other guy looked more like the character I imagined as I read the book. But I much prefer D'Amico's take on the character -- he captured the innocence in the character in ways that the other guy never came near, just coming off as frankly rather sleazy.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 3/21/12 at 4:17pm

It's the mustache I thought the other guy (whose name I don't remember--I've seen him in other Canadian things) did come off a bit more sleazy but in a way I do think he fits the more confident portrayal of Mouse in the later books--and while I appreciate that they had to slash the budget for the other ones and did do a bit of San Francisco location shooting, having lived so much of my life in Montreal it was kinda disatracting in the later two series to see Montreal locations I knew--although I admit I kinda get used to seeing Montreal/Vancouver/Toronto wherever masquerade as American cities in film and TV, SF is such a big aspect of the books).

[Jay Lerner-Z]

Posted: 2/14/14 at 7:24pm

This month marks fifty years of Laura Linney.

So you're probably tired of 50th anniversaries (JFK, Doctor Who, The Beatles etc.) but here's one worth celebrating!

I think she's my favorite actress.

Also, speaking of Tales of the City (albeit two years ago), did y'all see that Laura called her newborn son Bennett Armistead last month?

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 2/14/14 at 7:27pm

Yeah Maupin hasn't stopped bragging about it (to be fair, it's my own fault for following him on Facebook...)

Apparently they're in talks to film one or some of the later books - I guess she'd be the right age.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 2/14/14 at 8:48pm

EDIT: Just realized this is a 2 year old thread that got bumped. Still...

Glad to see henrikegerman's love for The House of Mirth. I almost forgot that Linney was in the film because I was so blown away by Gillian Anderson and by Terence Davies' beautiful, sensitive direction. Linney was indeed excellent in the film as well. But I think my favorite role is her Lady Macbeth-ish wife to Sean Penn in Mystic River. She just gave me chills in that film.