Why Laura?

Technically this area of the site is just explaining my reasons for making this site and describing why Laura Linney deserves more recognition than she is getting.

Firstly, I think I'll start of by explaining a little bit about my first encounter with her.

       In September of 2000, I heard that Gillian Anderson, another one of my favourite actresses (at the time), was coming to town for the premiere of 'House of Mirth' at the Toronto International Film Festival. This time, instead of being stupid and going downtown an hour before the premiere, I went striaght from school at 3:20 for the 5:30 show. I was surprised, considering I was less than 3 hours before hand and there was only a handful of people there. This was when the warning bell in my head went off: Big stars mean big crowds...therefore, no crowd means no stars. I expected a lot more people if Gillian had really been coming down. But I waited anyway, on the other side this time with the few other fans that were there. At 5 or whatever time it was, a limo pulls up and out steps Terence Davies, the director. Thinking back to the year before and my wasted pictures of everyone at the 'Anywhere But Here' premiere, I decided to take no pictures of him and just wait for Gillian. Following him came Eric Stoltz and Laura Linney. At this point, I had no idea who either of them were. I assumed her name was Laura Linney since I had read a little blurb about the movie beforehand. She came over to us, as did Eric, and chatted with some fans and signed autographs. I watched as Laura stood mere inches away and signed some lady's autograph book. She was all smiles and politeness. I remember looking her over and thinking that she was quite pretty and I *really* liked her hair. My friend who was with me was really into her hair and started saying how she wanted Laura's hairstyle for prom. I decided at this point as Laura moved away, I might take a few pictures just for reference. I once again remembered the last year when I wasted pictures on other actresses and actors (and directors) so I swore not to waste film on people I didn't really know. So I only took 2 pictures of Laura(click here to see them) as she moved away, still under the dellusion that Gillian Anderson was coming. By the time Laura and Eric made it inside and the limos pulled away, I seriously began to doubt that she was going to show up.I chatted with the news reporter beside me and she said that Gillian was supposed to show up but it didn't look taht way anymore. The reporter talked to one of the women in charge who said that the actors were done arriving and to go home. As the reporters and cameramen started packing up, fans started leaving and me and my friend were left standing on the deserted red carpet. Here's a pic from the festival that I'm actually in (the rest of them just show my arm or something).

That was the first time I had heard of Laura Linney and I know kick myself for not asking for her autograph and actually chatting with her since she was so sociable and friendly to the fans.

After that, I never really paid much attention to her as Gillian Anderson was still my favourite actress. My friend and I did discuss her hair once in a while and she actually did that hairdo for the prom the next year. However, this January (2002), that all changed.

I can't claim to be a fan since the beginning of her career and I won't even try to claim that. A lot of people base your "fan-ness" on the amount of time you've liked the celebrity for. I personally think that's a bunch of crap. I absolutely adore her and I've only really *known* about her for just over 2 months now (as of March 3 2002). Moving on, this site is an expression of how much I respect and admire her.

In early January, my friends and I decided to go see a movie. I wasn't really sure which one so I asked one of my friends for her suggestion. She said "The Mothman Prophecies", I was just like, "Erm, ok sure. Whatever you say." I had no idea what the Mothman Prophecies was even about. So we lined up on a busy Saturaday night (There's not much else to do in this town if you're not drinking ;)) and bought tickets for the movie. I was quite pleased Richard Gere was in it and I have now adopted a deep-seated *love* for him ...*drool* (And no I don't need anyone else telling me how he's older than my dad ;P ) As soon as Laura came on screen I was sure she'd be my new favourite actress. It has been a long time since I've felt the level of attachment to film characters as I did with that movie. For the first time in a very, very long time, I actually got antsy at teh climax and at one point even hid my face. I was so worried about the characters since they were played with such conviction and realism. After seeing it, we've went to the theatres 5 times more to see that movie (much to the discontent of my friends who didn't particularly like it) until I finally found another way to enjoy it. Soon after, I did some research on Laura and came to know quite a bit about her quite quickly and as a a gift one of my friends bought me Primal Fear which I, needless to say, watched over and over and over, much to the chagrin of my roommate. Over the Spring Break, I rented many of her movies just to catch up. I immediately saw what other fans of hers see in her. As I trapised around downtown Toronto, I stopped in at a poster shop and picked up a 'Mothman Prophecies' poster and a 'Primal Fear' one. That when I asked themf they had any Laura Linney stills. Unfortunately they didn't at that time so I asked if they had a poster for 'You Can Count On Me'. Luckily they did. The employee asked if I was a big fan, to which I replied 'Yeah.' and he said "That's great. She's great." I nodded as he showed me a Truman Show poster but I had a limited budget for buying "useless little nik-naks to feed my newest obsession" (as my mom says). I left with a wonderful feeling of buying three new posters. When I got home I pulled down the literal hundreds of S Club 7 clippings (er, yeah...I'm ashamed too) replacing them with my new posters. My mom was beyond dismayed and told me off once again about "getting into some new obsession".

To me, Laura Linney is the epitome of a true actress: grounded, charismatic, articulate, friendly, extremely talented, beautiful, intelligent and possesses that certain something that goes beyond description. There aren't very many people that can talk about being a wonderful stage, television, and film actress and still have their head on straight and be as completely friendly to fans as she is. Maybe it has to do with still being fairly new to fame and not getting preoccupied with the financial aspect of acting, but whatever the reason, I admire her. She deserved that Oscar, not horse-toothed Julia Roberts (I'm soz, I really don't like her).

This May will hopefully be a fruitful one for me as I plan to travel to New York and see Laura in 'The Crucible'. Wish me luck and enjoy the site!