LAURA LINNEY
Sister/X
Laura Linney tells Tom Dawson why she jumped at the chance to take on her most complex role to date, as Philip Seymour Hoffman's troubled sibling in The Savages
10 THE LIST 17-31 J3" .3335
t'ee/ing into a Soho hotel room on a satin} autumn morning dining the London l’ilm l'exti\al. a smiling lama Linne} e\ude\ a patrician charm and conlidence ()ne ol‘ her lingers is encased in a splint. the result ol a bathroom accident that \er} morning. hut shes not going to let this minor tnixltap get in the wa) ol' her promotional duties '\\'e'l| just ignore the pain.‘ she \a_\ s with a sell deprecator} laugh. l.inne_\\ eon\et'\ation is lull ol language like ‘wondert’ul'. ‘ahsolutely. ',\Hli het' and ‘l oned it‘. She praises London a\ the ‘onl_\ place other than Manhattan where I could li\e and he \er_\ happ}. l'xe \hot a couple or tilmx here. low xlellul/ll and [hiring Imwm and l alwa}\ jump at the chance to come o\er.'
In the past. inter\ie\\er\ ha\ e heen critical ol what the} consider to he l.inne§ \ prim manner. \ttgge\littg that her e\let'nal politeness is designed to keep questioners at arm's length. ()ne journalist descrihed meeting her ;t\ ‘rather like sitting down with a teacher to tll\L‘ll\\ _\otir essay. ’l’oda}. howe\er. her cheerlul optimism does not seem calculated: what comes itL‘l'()\\ is
inst how pit\\lt)lt;tle she is ahout her work.
Since her breakthrough role a decade ago in Jim (’arre}\ seemingl} perl'ect girllriend in '/‘/u' Truman Show. l.inne_\ has lllliit\\L‘tl an iinpt'esxne hod} ol' work. She has mo\ ed hetween more commercial projects including two llllth tor (‘lint liastwood lxl/MU/Hlt' I’zmer and .lltx/lt' Rii'erl. the Working 'l'itle romantic eotned} lmr xlcluu/[r and the hiopic ol' sex researcher .«\llred Kinse} tt‘or which she \\t1\ ()scar-niiminatedi and more independent tare. She excels at pla_\ing llaw ed women on the \erge ol‘ llitpltixltml think ot her sell-sen ing matriarch in The Squid and the Whale. or her emotionall} trouhled wile in the Ra} mond (‘ar\ ei' adaptation Jim/Miriam
Paired opposite Philip Se}mour llol'l’man in The .S'ui'uum. an Ullglitllinrnlh-lt)(lklllg Linne} deli\ers another outstanding naturalistic performance. Directed by Tamara Jenkins. [his amhling. tragi-comic lilm concerns two adult siblings. Wendy and John ll.inne) and llollmani. who. while struggling with their own unl‘ullilled