Hers is not the most spoken name in Hollywood, but “Brittany Murphy” is now definitely on more lips than ever. After making her mark portraying a psychologically disturbed young woman in the Oscar-winning film Girl, Interrupted, the 24-year-old Californian has had no problem getting noticed by Hollywood’s best directors.
This year, she appears in another twisted role in Don’t Say a Word, as a near-catatonic patient who helps psychiatrist Nathan Conrad (Michael Douglas) find his daughter, who was kidnapped by a ruthless jewel thief. The yuppyish Dr. Conrad must diagnose Murphy’s character in an impossibly short time, allowing her to divulge a set of numbers essential to tracking down his daughter.
Many actors wait years to work alongside veterans like Douglas, but the Atlanta-born Murphy, raised in Edison, New Jersey, doesn’t find it a daunting task. Before she became the celebrity she is today, Murphy paid her dues as a preteen in regional theater stints, something that led her to her first television role on the ’90s sitcom Blossom.
Commercial gigs and other small screen roles followed shortly after, and she finally got her break as one of Alicia Silverstone’s bubble-headed friends in Clueless and a part in the Red-Riding-Hood-turned-horror-story, Freeway.
“I think of my parts as more of a challenge. When a role is challenging, it makes the experience more interesting. I mean, who wants to be doing something that isn’t? That makes no sense, and I think it’s kind of a waste of time,” she says.
She didn’t perform much research for Girl, Interrupted, but she visited Bellevue Hospital in New York City to prepare for Don’t Say a Word. Along with other cast members, she met Dr. Berger, a doctor in the ward for the criminally insane. It was a day she considers an important life lesson.
“It was an amazing experience meeting those people,” Murphy says. “And I found the atmosphere really interesting. After being there, I really can’t say what makes people crazy or not.”
This summer, she also appeared in the Freddie Prinze Jr. flick Summer Catch, and alongside Drew Barrymore in Riding in Cars with Boys. Being in these softer movies are a definite switch from those edge-of-your-seat roles, and she says she has her own ways to discover which characters she’d like to play next.
“It’s something that just happens. I have my own little ways of looking for my roles…but I wanted to do Summer Catch because I thought it would be a fun experience. I wanted a little break and to be in the South. It was just fun and kind of cheesy, and I got to play a tarty girl in Massachusetts.”
For Murphy, working on film sets helps her grow as an individual, and she’s always ready to embrace new projects. Many in Tinseltown know she has a bright future ahead of her, and she has every intention of proving them right.
“Every time I’m working in a different location with a whole new group of people, I always learn new things. Just being in different places all the time gives me new perspectives on who I am, and that totally changes me as a human and a person.”
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