Julia Ormond

I had never seen her until 'Inland Empire.' I thought she was awesome in 'Surveillance.' Watch the deleted scene with her and Bill Pullman.


Next time you see me, it won't be me

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You should see Captives with her and Tim Roth, it's worth seeing if you like her. They're really good together for the 1st 2/3's of it. Although the movie takes a turn in the end and I was disappointed I still like it.

I've always thought she was a very underrated actress. One of the top 10 out there, in my opinion.

The Constitution guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcome.

I've been a fan of Julia Ormond ever since she starred as Sabrina with Harrison Ford, but since then I've seen some of her earlier movies and now this Surveillance movie, and I'm more convinced than ever. She certainly rates in the Top 10, as another commentor said.

In addition to being a true beauty, she has a screen presence that dominates every scene even when she's not supposed to be the focus. It's partly her vibrant physical energy, partly her bearing and partly her strength of will and fearlessness.

And now I'm going to home in on what I think is her greatest single role: Smilla in Smilla's Sense of Snow. If you can find it and watch it you'll see why. (It's not a perfect movie, but stay with it.) For now, though I want to point up her personal courage. She does her own stunts in VERY dangerous situations, with a confidence in her own physical ability and a fearlessness that is overwhelming. She rides horses with reckless abandon in at least two films, for instance.

But above all that, in Smilla's Sense of Snow, she, herself, beautiful star that she is, rappelled down the side of a moving ship at sea onto an ice field!

Sounds impossible? I agree completely. Get the movie and watch it for yourself. I watched the scene a dozen times after I'd finished the movie. The thing she's rappelling down could, in theory, be some kind of a prop, but if so it's huge and way out of line with the kind of budget on which this film was made. And it's definitely moving as she comes down it. And the surface onto which she rappels may be fake ice and snow, too, but you can see broken pieces of it moving to the friction of the ship as it passes. You can see that it's really her as she comes down, and then the final proof comes when she disengages from the rope and turns fully toward the camera, all in one continuous shot without a cut. Then there's an uncut pan back up to the ship as it sails away, and it just couldn't look more real.

As for the cinematography of that scene itself, take a minute to think about the masterful expertise involved in getting all this in perfect focus, perfect framing and perfect timing. How many takes do you think they got, with that big moving ship as the setting of the action? One. You'll see what I mean.

I was so amazed and impressed by Julia Ormond's performance of this stunt, that I promoted her to a whole higher level of respect and admiration. She's athletic, she's skilled and she's courageous as hell. I always respected her as a great actress and as a visual treat to see in any scene, but WOW! She knocked my socks off in that film.