Holly Hunter, Nine Lives

One of America's most honored and respected actresses, Holly Hunter once joked that she wished she could have a career like Isabelle Huppert. But Hunter easily ranks with France's hardest-working actress when it comes to first-rate work in offbeat projects. With her career reinvigorated by a disturbing independent drama (Thirteen), the Oscar-winning actress (The Piano) stars onscreen among an ensemble that includes Glenn Close and Robin Wright Penn in the female-dominated Nine Lives, from writer-director Rodrigo Garcia. What makes this Chekovian feature unusual is that each of the film's nine vignettes is shot in one continuous take. As the actress explains, she completed this complicated character in just one day. Finally, Hunter, divorced and pregnant with twins, is adamant about protecting her privacy no matter how innocuous the question.

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