START WAGGING THOSE TAILS--TOMORROW'S STAR TODAY

Brittany Murphy is one of the most thrillingly versatile new American actresses to have emerged in the last few years. If her talent hasn't fully matured, her staggering range is evident to anyone who's seen both her brave, wretched Daisy in Girl, Interrupted and her sympathetic casino floozy--as feline as they get--in next month's Trixie, a serpentine comedy noir directed by Alan Rudolph. Hollywood should use Murphy shrewdly if it doesn't want her to be claimed by Broadway, where she debuted in Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge in 1997.

Breathy and infectious, Murphy, an only child raised by her mom in Edison, New Jersey, was in a bind the night we talked in a Manhattan apartment. She was juggling a castiron movie offer for a part she'd auditioned for that very day. Mom Sharon fielded the calls, as two hours turned into three and her daughter curled on the floor and whispered into my tape recorder in a voice that could melt stalactites--even without the Texan twang Murphy adds when she plays Luanne in Fox's animated show King of the Hill.

GRAHAM FULLER: Do you think not having a dad around when you were growing up contributed to your becoming an actress?

BRITTANY MURPHY: I did see my father from time to time. Without being psychoanalyzed, I wouldn't know how the absence of a specific father figure has manifested itself in my life. I do know my mom has been supportive of all the dreams I've ever had. Perhaps if I'd had brothers or sisters, we'd have stayed in New Jersey, though I'd have probably moved to New York and gotten my start in theater. I always wanted to entertain because I'm "show people"--and I always knew that. But I'd never have thought that at twenty-two I'd be talking about acting, because it was never, "I want to be an actor." It was always, "I want to perform!" I know my genes play into it. There are jazz musicians and opera singers on my father's side, and somewhere along the line I'm related to Gypsy Rose Lee. I grew up in an environment conducive to creating, and I thank my mom for that and my aunt for singing "Blues in the Night" to me instead of lullabies. [sings, sultrily] "My momma done told me, when I was in pigtails--" Weird, you know ? And I loved dance class, which my mom paid for even when she couldn't afford to pay the gas.

GF: Could she afford for you to have pets?

BM: I never had much luck with them. I had a goldfish that committed suicide--jumped out of the bowl--a kitten that died after a week, and a guinea pig that left presents all over the house, so I gave him away.

GF: Let's move quickly on. Did you rebel?

BM: No. It wasn't in me. I work all that out through different characters instead.

GF: Have you been in love?

BM: Yes. And I'm always yearning for that kind of feeling again, but it's so scary and wonderful you shouldn't be greedy for it.

GF: Was it excruciatingly painful playing Daisy in Girl, Interrupted?

BM: I don't know yet. I don't take my characters home, but they stay inside you. I'm not eloquent talking about acting and I never intellectualize a script. Sometimes I just know how to do a character, but I don't know why. It's as if you know what the spirit of the person is, though not consciously, and everything else floats into you.

GF: I saw you present Trixie with Alan Rudolph and your costars at Sundance, and I was shocked because[ldots]

BM: My hair was blonde? [laughs]

GF: Was that the naked truth?

BM: My hair's like Daisy's--Italian black.

GF: And you're petite, too, whereas Daisy is plumpish and Ruby in Trixie is curvy.

BM: In Girl, Interrupted, they had me in bulky sweaters and pointy '60s bras and short hair that made a box of my face. Someone said to me, "You were that fat girl in Girl, Interrupted?" But I was only five pounds heavier, tops.

GF: When Angelina Jolie's character gives Daisy that final insult, we see her crumble emotionally, though you don't register much outwardly. Do you remember what was going on inside you at that moment?

BM: I remember what song was in my head. Doing that wasn't any more draining than doing anything Ruby does in Trixie. Essentially, it all comes from the same source.

GF: Was it easy becoming Ruby?

BM: You know, a very important person in Hollywood said I wasn't f-able enough. He said I was huggable, but not f-able. So I got these extensions put in my hair and that made a big difference because it always does when you make a physical change like that. Ruby just came into me after that--jumped off the page into my heart. She was free and sexy and dainty. And hurt.

GF: Her being sexy contrasts with Trixie's innocence, right?

BM: Yes. And Ruby sees Trixie's naivete and wants it desperately for herself but knows it's already lost. There's a purity in both of them, but in Ruby it's been interrupted.

GF: What do you want from acting?

BM: The point of what I do is to touch people. And the more people I can possibly reach by spreading what I feel inside of me the better.

GF: Talking of touching people, what do you recall of the scene in the restaurant when you, um, relieve Nick Nolte's character?

BM: I actually bruised my hand! I was nervous at first, but Nick said, "You may want to take some time with this." You saw the edited version, but I saw a cut where there's a shot of my face from the side--terrible. I'm happy it didn't make it into the film.

GF: Maybe I should ask the studio to show that version to me.

BM: Maybe you shouldn't. [laughs]

Graham Fuller is film writer at large for Interview. Brittany Murphy, photographed with willow the Pomeranian, wears a dress by valentino.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Brant Publications, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group

Questions or comments? Mail me at: seareaver@aol.com

Please note: I am not Brittany Murphy, I just run this fan page.