Oscar-nominated actor Juliette Lewis stars in the new indie film
"Kelly & Cal." She plays Kelly, a 40-something punk-rocker-turned
suburban mom who's having a hard time dealing with her new baby and who
thinks she finds solace in her 17-year-old neighbor Cal, who's
frustrated at his lack of control over the hand he's been dealt. "She's rediscovering who she is, what she lost. Where she's going and she finds a strange companion and friendship from the kid who lives across the street. It toes the line of being slightly inappropriate but she learns things about herself and then becomes ultimately grateful for the present and what she has."
While she's made a name playing over the top characters in films like "Cape Fear" and "Natural Born Killers," Lewis says Kelly is probably the character that's closest to herself in her demeanor.
"What I love about this movie - she's so quiet. There's such an intimacy there. I'd never put that on screen before and I found it insanely challenging to show the person I am when I'm at home and thinking and how do you capture that on screen and Kelly very much has those moments, those moments of breathing and being alone with yourself. There's a lot of that on camera."
Lewis acknowledges that Kelly is not an immediately likable person but adds that she sees some of herself in the character.....
"When I read the script I was getting mad at her. I'm like, this person's so irresponsible and I loved that I was feeling for her in judging her but I felt that it was honest because there are those people, there's an amorality or you want to shake her or wake her up or do something and I actually - it's scary to do that as an actress. I wanted to toe that line. There's some people you could not like or you could think she's a bit selfish or lazy or being ignorant but ultimately she is a good person. I don't know I like that - you know why it pissed me off? There's been times I've been like that and I should know better."
The film co-stars Jonny Weston as Cal. Lewis says even though Weston is a relative newcomer he's got the chops to hold his own opposite her in the film. "I was very much a part of the casting process and I told Jen (McGowan), my director, I was like I have to be in there because - to see if this is going to work and when Jonny Weston came and he had that X-factor that I'd seen it in my friends like Leo (DiCaprio) and Brad Pitt in the younger days. He just had that something that's all his own thing."
"Kelly & Cal" premieres in theaters Friday, September 5 in the United States. It opens in the UK on 9 October.
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