Leelee Sobieski Movies
Born Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta Sobieski on June 10, 1982, Leelee Sobieski has shot to ingénue stardom in the time it takes to say "Helen Hunt's spitting image." The young actress, who does indeed bear a striking resemblance to Hunt, first came to the attention of art house audiences with her role in A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998). Thanks to her participation in two high-profile projects, Deep Impact and Eyes Wide Shut, Sobieski has garnered both widespread recognition and the distinction of being one of the most promising actresses of her generation.Born and bred in New York City, Sobieski, the eldest of two children, was raised by her father, a French painter, and her mother, a freelance writer. She was "discovered," rather unexpectedly, in her school's cafeteria by Woody Allen's casting director. With the encouragement of her parents, Sobieski began auditioning, trying out at one point for the part that went to Kirsten Dunst in Interview With the Vampire. She landed her first screen role in the 1997 Tim Allen comedy Jungle 2 Jungle, and then was cast as Channe in Merchant/Ivory's A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries (1998). Sobieski drew raves for the depth and intelligence of her performance and was further rewarded with another leading role, that of Joan of Arc in the 1999 TV miniseries Joan of Arc. Sobieski then turned her back on typical ingénue roles with her portrayal of a geek queen in the Drew Barrymore comedy Never Been Kissed. The film's producers had originally wanted Sobieski for the role of the most popular girl in school, but the actress had insisted on that of her antithesis, a choice that reflected her desire to take on more unconventional roles. This choice was made further apparent with her casting in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, in which Sobieski had a brief but memorable appearance as the silent, flirtatious daughter of a costume-shop owner.
In 2000 Sobieski returned to more conventional fare with Here on Earth, a romantic drama in which she starred as a young woman coping with first love and terminal illness. That same year, she could be seen in the teen thriller Squelch and My First Mister, a romantic comedy that featured her as a recent high-school grad who develops a crush on her much older boss (Albert Brooks). Gaining notice for her increasing ability to carry a movie, Sobieski earned her first million-dollar salary that same year for her role in the thriller The Glass House, followed shortly thereafter by another prominent role in the throwback CB thriller Joy Ride. A Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 2001 World War II drama Uprising served well to balance out such lukewarm efforts as the 2001 thriller The Glass House and the 2003 literary adaptation Dangerous Liaisons, and on the heels of a fairly forgettable 2005 Sobieski took a trip to a neo-pagan island where nothing is really as it seems in the Neil LaBute-directed remake The Wicker Man. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide
- 1998
- R
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James Ivory directed this drama adapted from Kaylie Jones's 1990 autobiographical novel in which the character Bill Willis is based on her father, James Jones, author of From Here to Eternity and A Thin Red Line. Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's screenplay about expatriate Americans in Paris during the 1960s/1970s offers a portrait of a normal family (as opposed to the dysfunctional families of The Ice Storm and many other 1990s films), seen from the point of view of daughter Channe. Her father is Bill Willis (Kris Kristofferson), a successful novelist and WWII veteran who's married to enthusiastic poker-player Marcella (Barbara Hershey). Divided like the sections of a novel, the story's first chapter is titled, "Billy," in which French orphan Benoit (Samuel Gruen) is brought to the Willis household for adoption, while his unmarried biological mother (Virginie Ledoyen) writes about him in her diary. Six-year-old Benoit has been shipped through so many orphanages and foster homes that he doesn't unpack his suitcase. Benoit's presence prompts the young Channe (Luisa Conlon) to turn to her protective Portuguese nanny Candida (Dominique Blanc). After Benoit becomes acclimated to his new family, he asks that his name be changed to Billy. In the second segment "Francis" a strong friendship develops between Channe (Leelee Sobieski) and fatherless Francis Fortescue (Anthony Roth Costanzo). Obsessed with opera, Francis lives with his expatriate British mother (Jane Birkin). The family's French idyll is disrupted when Bill Willis plans a return to the United States because he wants American doctors to treat his bad heart. The closing act "Daddy" takes place in North Carolina during the 1970s as Bill's health worsens, Billy (Jesse Bradford) grows up, and an alienated Channe seeks acceptance through sex. A bedridden Bill dictates his fiction to Channe, who transcribes tapes and types his manuscript pages. During intimate conversations about boys and sex, Willis helps his daughter find her footing on the path of life. This movie arrived only 14 weeks prior to the release of Terrence Malick's 1998 adaptation of the elder Jones' The Thin Red Line. Shown at 1998 film fests (Venice, Toronto). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kris Kristofferson, Barbara Hershey, (more)
A man finds the son he never knew he had, and a boy discovers a city he never knew existed, in this comedy. Michael Cromwell (Tim Allen) is a commodities broker who deals in coffee beans; while on a trip to Brazil, Michael is abandoned by his wife, Patricia (JoBeth Williams), an anthropologist who decides to stay behind to study the indigenous tribespeople of the area. Fourteen years later, Michael has decided to marry his new girlfriend, Charlotte (Lolita Davidovich), but since he never formally divorced Patricia, he must go to Brazil, find her, and get her to sign a divorce agreement. Once he arrives, he discovers that there's a bit of a complication -- Patricia was pregnant at the time she left Michael, and she is now the mother of a 13-year-old son, Mimi-Siku (Sam Huntington). Mimi-Siku is about to undergo the manhood rituals of the tribe that adopted Patricia and himself, and when the leader discovers that the boy's father has arrived, he insists that Mimi-Siku should return to the "Stone Island" of Manhattan to get to know his dad. Arriving in New York City with a loincloth and a blowgun, Mimi-Siku has a lot to learn about living in contemporary America. Charlotte is not too happy about discovering that she's about to be a stepmother, while Richard (Martin Short), Michael's business partner, wishes the boy wouldn't eat the tropical fish from his aquarium. Jungle 2 Jungle is an Americanized remake of the French comedy Un Indien Dans la Ville. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Allen, Martin Short, (more)
The heartwarming direct-to-video family drama A Horse for Danny stars a very young Leelee Sobieski (Joan of Arc, My First Mister) as the precocious 11-year-old title character, and Robert Urich (Spenser: For Hire) as Eddie, her horse-trainer uncle. Danny may be young, but she is also a race-track veteran -- who knows how scam-artists fix the races, and how to determine when a scam is being pulled. When Uncle Eddie espouses his dreams of riding into glory on the back of a stallion, Danny finds the perfect mare for him -- Tom Thumb. Raising her cash by careful betting, and pooling her money with a friend, Gerald, Danny purchases the horse for Eddie and it turns him into a champion racer. But a number of quick-draw racetrack con artists, including Noel Ferguson, see dollar signs and threaten to steal Eddie's thunder -- first with a botched attempt to purchase the horse, then through more shady means. Directed by Dick Lowry (Smokey and the Bandit 3), the film also stars country singer Ed Bruce. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Urich, Leelee Sobieski, (more)
