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by Gary Strauss, USA TODAY, posted on May 8, 2008, 1:56 PM, updated on May 8, 2008 9:23 PM Viewers looking for a warm, cuddly matriarch as a Mother's Day icon might be hard-pressed to warm up to Catherine Keener's portrayal of a deranged housewife in new Showtime movie An American Crime (Saturday, 9 ET/PT). Keener (Capote, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) stars as Crime's cold, twisted Gertrude Baniszewski, one of Hollywood's most disturbing portraits of motherhood since Faye Dunaway's over-the-top turn as a psychotic Joan Crawford in 1981's Mommie Dearest. Keener, now in South Carolina filming the David O. Russell comedy Nailed, says she was unaware of Crime's Mother's Day eve release. "Actually, it may be a good reminder of what were not supposed to be and how we're supposed to treat children," she says. The two-time Oscar nominee says she initially declined the part, given the subject matter and intensity. But she eventually changed her mind about the darkest role of her three-decade career. "I said absolutely no way. I didn't think I could do this," says Keener, 49. "But I couldn't stop thinking about it." Baniszewski was a destitute mother of seven who orchestrated the heartbreaking torture and eventual murder of Indiana teen Sylvia Likens in 1965 — a real-life event described at the time by prosecutors as the most terrible crime committed in the state. Likens (played by a pre-Juno Ellen Page) and a younger sister were taken in as boarders by Baniszewski after the girls' parents went on the road to work the carnival circuit. The Likens' relationship with the Baniszewski clan quickly soured. Over the next several months, Sylvia was frequently locked in a basement, where she was physically tormented as punishment for perceived slights against Baniszewski and her daughters. Inexplicably, some of Baniszewski's children and friends participated in Sylvia's demise. More than 40 years later, it's still unclear what led Baniszewski, her kids and others to torment Likens. "Maybe (Likens)served as a focal point for her own frustrations," says director/writer Tommy O'Haver. "Gertie had so little control over her own life. She had no money, no place she could turn to and all those kids. Maybe the one place she did have control was her household." O'Haver became interested in the story as an Indianapolis high school student in the late 1980s, when Baniszewski was paroled after serving 20 years in prison for first-degree murder. "The fact that this actually happened, and people knew about what was going on and did nothing, makes it all the more frightening and horrific," says O'Haver (Ella Enchanted) "That's part of the point of the film — to make people angry and upset that these things can happen." Page took on the tortured Likens role after playing a teen who torments an adult in 2005's Hard Candy. "This was a story that needed to be told. It's so frightening and terrifying," says Page, now 21. "An authoritative figure taking out their aggression and fear on a child is a lot more common than we think." Crime was shot in sequence. Playing Likens in increasing stages of duress was physically and mentally draining, says Page, who heavily researched the role and lost weight to portray the emaciated teen. "The hardest thing was understanding how this could happen," Page says. "The woman who was supposed to take care of her completely destroyed her — she was starved and dehumanized and viciously tortured. It was insane." Source: www.usatoday.com |
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© 2006-2010 Dominik Keppner
© 2006-2010 Dominik Keppner
