MovieChat Forums > Blood Work (2002) Discussion > Anjelica Huston should've gotten more sc...

Anjelica Huston should've gotten more screen time

posted 21 years ago by audracaitlyn06
16 replies | jump to latest

I am a big fan of Huston, and that was the only reason i watched the movie (it truned out ot be a good movie). I thought her "a heart's a heart" scene was wonderful, but i think they could have used her character to thicken the plot.
i mean that scene had my friends thinking of her as a possible suspect: uncaring and totally devoted to her job. Could she have been desperate enough to commit murder in order to do her job successfully?
they could've extended the plot by putting in more scenes that made you think of her as the killer, scenes that made her seem coldhearted and made McCaleb suspect her.
a friend of mine also suggested this: she's in love with McCaleb before his transplant. maybe they knew each other before and had an affair or something (my friend is a hopeless romantic, she can't even see a murder movie w/out making up a whole days of our lives episode of it!!). she kills the woman to save his life, is mad that he's ungrateful, so she kills again to make him upset. or she's mad because he ended their affair, so she kills everyone else but she didn't kill the donor (she commits copycat murder to keep him busy).
either way, Anjelica Huston rocks, and i just wish that she could've had more time on the camera.........better luck next time.
to the people complaining about butchering the story: i just kind of butchered it more, sorry. in my defense: if hollywood went so far off, why not go a little further?

[–] 21 years ago

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[–] 21 years ago

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[–] svlax18 20 years ago

The scenes with Huston in it felt like scenes out of a low budget made-for-TV move. Then again, the whole movie kinda felt like that. At least she wasn't the worst actress in the film, Wanda De Jesus was horrendous.

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] craigbenting 20 years ago

Sorry, but I have to agree with others who pointed out her incredibly poor acting in this movie. Maybe it's just that she's a fairly monotone actress and most of her movies play to her shortcomings as an actess, but this is definitely not one of them.

Looking through her filmography, the only movies I saw off-hand that I thought were good (and she was good or decent in) were the Addams Family movies and The Royal Tenenbaums, and in both movies she played very monotone, dull characters. She seemed to be acting the same way as the doctor in Blood Work, but her performance comes across as little better than any movie-of-the-week I've ever seen.

Bottom line: if your acting style is dull, you can't play non-dull characters very well, especially if you have a very narrow acting range.

Can anyone name a decent movie where she put in a decent performance as a *lively* character?

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] obscure_note 18 years ago

Agnes Browne (1999) where she played a spirited warm Irish widow. But I won't be suprised if you say you haven't watched it. It was a commercial flop, yet it was a nice movie.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] bruce73 12 years ago

Talk about digging up an old thread, but... her best role, imo, was in "The Grifters." But, agreed, she's usually pretty bad (at least lately... "SMASH" anyone??, lol).

[–] recalcitrant44 18 years ago

I disagree. She was wooden and not believable. Her over-emotionalizing without showing it in her face contrasted with Eastwood's inability to react to her character was one of the low points of the movie.

She was given horrible dialogue that reeks of a first time screenwriter in a late evening Skinemax movie.

[–] themoviebuff2003 16 years ago

Ah, I'd still give her a good rim. I read somewhere that when she lived with Nicholson (who's a fellow pervert), she walked around the house all day and night with gater belts and nylons on. Woo-Hoo!!

[–] guyinnanaimo 12 years ago

Funny, but Huston SCARES me in almost all of her roles...LOL!
She always looks rather devilish..and I'd be terrified to see her walking around in black nylons and a garter belt all day long, NOWADAYS!
As far as I'm concerned, most of her career stems from having a famous father, and maybe living with Nicholson back then!
'You can't HANDLE the truth!'

[–] spookyrat1 11 years ago

Back to the op's original point, Anjelica as the doctor probably got more screen time in relation to the way her character was written in the original novel. The doctor was never a major player in the story and I think Clint's probably beefed it up a bit because of her profile.

IMO she did well in the role as did Wanda Dejesus as Graciella.

[–] 11 years ago

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[–] angiebolen 11 years ago

*SPOILER*

It's misdirection. She's there so the audience doesn't suspect Jeff Daniels casting, he's introduced right after her I think. Anjelica Huston's cameoing as a dr so it's like 'and oh, Jeff Daniels is the friendly neighbour, ok' lol