To look into the large saucer shaped eyes of Brittany Murphy, the 32 year old actress who died, suddenly on December 20th, just five days before Christmas day, you couldn't help but see a vulnerability, a sensitivity and a happy kind and loving person. She seemed to be a very normal girl, with a unique spin, and a very normal girl in a very abnormal culture: Hollywood.
If you really looked at an image of Brittany, you could see that there was a sort of desperation in her eyes. The kind of desperation that comes with the pressures of being a hollywood actress. She wanted to be a perfect little doll.
THE TRAILOR FOR THE MOVIE CLUELESS, STARRING, ALICIA SILVERSTONE, STACEY DASH, BRITTANY MURPHY ( 1995 )
BRITTANY CHANGED IN A MASSIVE WAY OVER THE YEARS. BRITTANY WENT FROM A BUBBLY ADORABLE TALKATIVE GIRL, TO A SOLEMN QUIET AND LOST PERSON IN THE LAST DAYS OF HER LIFE, WHO SEEMED VERY UNFOCUSED IN HER LAST INTERVIEW:
BRITANNY PLAYS A SOCIAL LITE WHO MUST GET A JOB AND LIVE LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, WHEN HER RICHES GO MISSING, AND ENDS UP LOOKING AFTER A KNOW IT ALL TEN YEAR OLD WITH A BOSSY ATTITUDE.
Brittany first came to my attention, on a summer afternoon in a local movie theatre. My ex-friend, D , had mentioned it, and since she had been fair enough to actually pay for herself for once, I figured at least maybe the actresses wardrobe would be awsome, and a little humor would do me good after my last break up. Just out of high school, I could feel the that life was open wide to me. I was on the cusp of freedom and womanhood. Much like Brittany Murphy, and her costar Alicia Silverstone, we grew up in the same generation.
The actors in Clueless, Stacey Dash and Alicia Silverstone were favorites of mine, so I thought this had to be at the very least a mildly funny teen flick. Was I wrong? Yes! It was hilarious!
The movie was full of tongue in cheek humor, about a beautiful rich blonde high school student, Cher, who's idea of charity is helping an ugly duckling girl, named Ty,( Brittany Murphy) become apart of the in crowd, and help her move up in the social ladder, only to see her newly cute friend, steal some of her glory.
The awkward teen with a nervously shaky-voice and thick eyebrows, made so many of us young woman feel her embarrassing need to be accepted by any actions or means necessary. Ty was the funniest, and most sweetly and expertly played geek of all time in my book. Her role proved that the best actors in Hollywood, don't come in a perfect skinny packages. Brittany stole our hearts, and in many of her movies, big budget and small, she played each charector with professional natural emotion, as if it was as natural as breathing for her.
Brittany, a sometimes quirky and naturally sensitive human being, didn't seem to need much method acting. She may have researched her roles, but she drew out her stories from a source that we may never know. It could be speculated, that emotionally, and physically these roles and the amount of work she was doing recently took it's toll on her fragile state. The recent pictures above show Brittany beyond thin, and in her last interview she struggled to answer questions about her latest Movie Across The Hall. It was painful for me to watch. It made me cry.
There are many speculations of how and why she died.Being extremely exhausted, having diabetes, and most controversial being on many different prescription drugs and then being possibly anorexic. The pressure and the media's obsession on weight and body fat woman and girls have are openly published with no shame. We as consumers buy it. As I read the issue of In Touch week ending December 21st issue, Brittany was only a few days away from her untimely death. I saw her pictured in a black beautiful dress, collarbone sticking out and arms like a child. Her eyes seemed sad, startled, expressionless almost, when Brittany's eyes were her expression to the world. Those large round sensual eyes were how we could see if Brittany was ok...
Brittany pressed on. She gave one hundred percent to every film she had been in, and her energy and emotion in many of them were enough to make a person cry, laugh out loud, become shocked, be warmly and fully satisfied with her work. I know this is how I felt. Where Brittany got her stregnth from working such a grueling schedule, I have no idea.
God and Brittany only know what she pulled out of herself to play the many multifacated woman which made the roles all so seriously fragile, and somehow tragic, and many all so hilariously funny with a delicate charm. Brittany seemingly cared, loved and appreciated her craft, like Heath Ledger, she did not take her roles lightly. Both had recently seemed to come into thier own as actors, and people. Talent didn't make Brittany valuable. Her value as a human being and her unique spirit made her the most valuable of all, though there is no excaping the talent.
With all of life's fragility, it seems our lesson to be learned is that the creative and artistic individuals are the most vulnerable and infectious among us, in my eyes. They create beauty thru art, film, music and writings. That takes alot of human energy and emotion. This is what Brittany brought. She stole everyone's heart, and Brittany worked hard for her roles, created them, and never cared whether they were the largest big screen roles or not. She simply was a gift from God, a shiny happy, loving little thing, and you could get the sense of that from just looking into her eyes on screen or in photo's or hearing her speak.
Britney became someone who Hollywood could use up and spit out, in other words she'd gotten the stamp of approval that she could enter the Hollywood players club if only on a small level and only for a moment in time.... She lost tons of weight from her less than skinny body, in other words, her very normal sized body. She straigtened her brown curly hair, and dyed it blonde, and posed for Maxim at the age of 23, in her new sexy petite frame. No more Clueless dork. Brittany had arrived.
Thru all of it, she was still the cute happy and hyper Brittany Murphy. She soon came out in Movies like Girl Interrupted, DOn't Say A Word, 8 Mile, LITTLE BLACK BOOK, ALMOST MARRIED, with Ashton Kutcher ( That 70's Show), another person, who liked to live life on the cusp of hilarity and spontinaity, and the host of MTV's Punked for many years, and the sweet and warm Uptown Girls in which she played the role of an Heirass who has her fortune ripped off from her only to become a slave and then a big sister figure to Dakata Fanning's charector. On this movie she even worked opposite her Clueless co-star, Donald Faison who played a hip hop loving boyfriend to Alicia Silverstone's charactor, Cher's best friend.
Countless other movies such as Ramen Girl, Love and Other Disasters, The Dead Girl, Sidewalks of New York, Deadline, are also awsome movies starring Brittany Murphy.
Brittany's romantic life consisted of the fame and publicity seeking Ashton Kutcher. The two soon began to date. Ashton this tall, handsome yet silly and funny guy was already a success in That 70s Show, and Punk'd. Brittany was this tiny beautiful little ball of practical jokes, and the tow were so fun and happy together. The two were young and taking advantage of thier successes, in the most positive way, laughter and happiness. This was a seemingly dreamlike time in her life. Living life Hollywood style had made Brittany want to keep up, so she could stay in Hollywood's inner circle, it so seemed.
BRITTANY ON THE COVER OF HER MOVIE, LITTLE BLACKBOOK:
I remember seeing a photo of Brittany and Ashton on MTV. His mouth wide open with a burst of laughter and arms around Brittany, with her tiny petite body in the air, as her animated large eyes bulged delicately and her smile large and beautiful lit the glossy page.I remember thinking that she must be bipolar. Nobody is that damn happy, lol!
Ashton was carrying her in the air. She had the little girlness still inside her. She had joy that I rarely see in people. A joyful energy, that is both extreme, and delicate, both full of happy life, and also frail.
Although Brittany and Ashton didn't last, Brittany's light kept shining incredibly bright. She had been featured in major movies, but soon began doing her Indi films. She wasn't doing large films, or what Hollywood would consider a succession of Blockbusters or female leads in Blockbusters, but she sure was the lead in the many wonderful Indi films she was in.
Britney made more than 30 films, grasping on maybe fifty, and she didn't require the large blockbuster films to advance herself, because she made her own career. I don't believe Britney could have failed even if she wanted to. She was just a go getter, someone who made herself. She was a girl I always considered unique. I had never seen anyone like her. In the Movie Love and Other Disasters, she reminded me of the tiny and fragile Edie Segdewick of Andy Worhol fame. Her unique beauty stuck in time, never to age. It was an eery feeling that Brittany would not live to be old. She was too special, forever young in her heart.
Nobody else could make or break this young woman professionally despite reports of recent firings from a film, and every Indi film I have of her, I keep like they are treasures, because as an Indi film lover, I truly would rather watch her many small budget treasures than her large bugdet commercial films. There is just so much magic and freedom that Brittany gave back to those films. She had so much more freedom. She was a British temptress in Love and other Disasters, and a 39 year old married man's 19 year old mistress in Edward Burns Sidewalks of New York, and for living only 32 years, A chubby dork with literally NO CLUE, in Clueless, and a sexy news reporter in Sin City. She was a singer with a deep throaty voice. In 2006, the beautiful young starlet released her club hit Faster Kill Pussycat. A sexy sensual soul stirring dance tune. She had A voice that deserved a music contract, and plenty of respect. Her music video courtesy youtube below, show's the sexy and diverse Brittany working her multi talented skills.
FASTER KILL PUSSYCAT, OAKENFOLD, BRITTANY MURPHY VOCALS, 2006
(feat. Brittany Murphy)
Brittany achieved more than many actresses twice her age. Like Elvis would say, Brittany did it her way!
whatever took that shining light from her dearest mother and husband and her many other family, friends and fans, Brittany was too strong a light to just fade. Look at a star tonight, and you just might see one flicker from our little darling......REST IN PEACE BEATIFUL DOLL.
The End
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