Brittany Murphy remembered

[edward]

This thread is devoted to memories of Brittany Murphy by those who knew her.

[edward]

Frank Miller: Director of Sin City

On Brittany Murphy
posted 3.3.2010

Brittany Murphy died at Christmastime last year. She was 32.

At the time, the Turner Movie Classics channel was already broadcasting its heartfelt goodbyes to recently-deceased talent. I confess that I watched the channel more often than I had reason to, that week. I kept hoping they'd re-edit the segment to invite Ms. Murphy into their Hollywood Pantheon. It was a silly hope, and a purely selfish one: the young lady was a dear friend, and a frightfully good collaborator. I miss her as I would a sister.

She was as sweet a soul as I've ever encountered.

I only got to work with Ms. Murphy for a couple of weeks, though such a short period can feel like a lifetime in the creative cauldron of a movie set. One is, to say the least, tested by its minute-by-minute demands. We take each other's measure, learn each other's strengths and weaknesses. We get to know each other very well.

In the best cases, trust is earned. Friendships to last a lifetime form. As rewarding as my friendship with Brittany became, it always bristled with the desire to work together again.

She played my character Shellie in my and Robert Rodriguez' movie, SIN CITY. Whenever I spoke to her about her character, her brown-eyed glare mixed playfulness with rapt intensity. She loved her job, and she took it very seriously.

She never missed a chance to give every scene, every shot, her own, peculiar, laser-like focus. Nor did she ever lose her whimsy.

Whimsy, as any actor worth his salt would tell you, requires ruthless, sustained, psychic effort. Her whimsy was the product of an accelerated talent, driven hard by her own quest for catching the moment and squeezing every last value from it. Brittany was never lazy, not for a second, as she graced my Shellie with life. She brought to the screen what the finest actor does: a contribution far beyond that of the director or the writer, never betraying the intent of the scene or the script.

Actors are any movie's emotional capital. They are the sine qua non, the without which, not. Without the actor's eyes and voice and shoulder and hips, a movie does not function. And Brittany had it all, the telling wink, the lazy toss of her head, all the appeal, all the heartbreak, all the fear and humor and malice and triumph. That is what she gave us, every time we gave her the chance to show her stuff.

But none of these virtues makes for a convenient, trashy, media slug line. And we live in trashy times.

The coverage of Brittany Murphy's death has been disgraceful.

It's awful - it's utterly revolting - to see her legacy drowned in chatter about drug abuse.

I've lost a dear friend and an inspiring colleague. And now I read of her summed up as nothing but a tired sob-story cliche, lumped like a sack of shit atop other sacks of shit, dropped into a Hollywood dumpster, branded as a drug casualty. I am disgusted.

I testify that I never saw a hint of any such drug use on the set, nor anywhere else.

And I wouldn't give a damn if every last scurrilous rumor about her were true. Brittany Murphy was a superb actress. Nothing else about her is anybody's damn business.

She deserves better than the sort of shabby media portrayal she's received, whatever the coroner found in her corpse.

Yes, Brittany was given to extremes. Dedicated artists tend to be. From the near distance of friendship, I saw how she fretted over lines of dialogue another actress might've tossed away. How she'd glance about, frantic that she had failed to convey the exact intent of her performance.

And this excess of perfectionism spilled over into her life off-set. She was unmistakably vain, self-critical of her appearance, as are most women of uncommon beauty. I suspect she was, at heart, a Utopian, always seeking a better, fairer world. She was certainly a hopeless romantic, ever in love, frequently heartbroken.

A few quick glimpses at the woman I knew:

She desperately wanted to wear a white wig on the set of SIN CITY, to make the movie better and truer to its sources. Circumstances didn't allow this, but, though she proceeded without complaint, she never forgot it.

Months later, she responded to a fire-alarm threat in Europe by automatically assuming authority over the disorganized crowd of actors, producers, reporters, and at least one director, organizing the evacuation and making sure that everyone kept the pace up, all the while wagging a finger at any woman in six-inch stilettos who might slip and fall.

She never let anybody around her stay hungry. She could always find a sandwich somewhere.

In private conversation, her advice was always plain and wise. I'm confident that I'm not the only pal who she steered away from doing something stupid. For all her cyclonic energy, her voice was calm as she kept me from losing my temper.

The chatterers and cheapeners be damned. We've lost a precious woman, and the world is now a slightly darker place.

Rest in peace, sweetheart. I'll always love you.

[edward]

Peter Bogdanovich appeared with Brittany in Abandoned

Bogdanovich: Murphy’s Final Performance ‘Intense’
By : Chris Tribbey | Posted: 13 Aug 2010

Famed director Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc?) had plans to do several films with late actress Brittany Murphy, after starring with his friend during her final film appearance. She died unexpectedly Dec. 20, 2009.

Both had the same manager, and after seeing the work she put in the drama/thriller Abandoned, Bogdanovich said he thought they could do more together.

“I was a little worried about her,” Bogdanovich said. “She was very thin but had fun doing the work. She was extremely professional, very prepared. It was an intense role, and she had so much tension to deal with. She was a very fine and dedicated actress.

“It’s tragic to think it’s her last picture. We lost a great actress.”

Anchor Bay Entertainment streets the film Aug. 24 on DVD ($26.97) and Blu-ray Disc ($34.98). Murphy stars as a young woman who brings her boyfriend to the hospital for a simple outpatient procedure. When she returns to take him home, he’s vanished without a trace. Bogdanovich plays a staff psychiatrist who pronounces the woman unstable, which doesn’t stop her, especially after a stranger comes asking for a ransom in exchange for the boyfriend’s whereabouts.

Bogdanovich said he was surprised at how quickly and efficiently director Michael Feifer (The Perfect Student) put the film together.

“He was very pleasant to work with, and the film is an unpretentious, exciting and suspenseful piece of work,” he said. “And Brittany is brilliant in it. She makes it a tight, well-wound thriller.”

A fan of DVD who’s just starting to look into Blu-ray, Bogdanovich said he’s excited Warner Home Video chose to give his 1972 comedy What’s Up, Doc? a high-def release this month, and he’d like to see his 1979 drama Saint Jack be the next to get a Blu-ray release.

While it’s been three years since he last sat in the director’s chair (2007’s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream), Bogdanovich said he has several films in the works and could start directing again as early as next spring.

“It takes forever to get something off the ground today,” he said.

[edward]

Robert Avrech wrote the screenplay for The Devil's Arithmetic

Brittany Murphy: To Remember
Posted by Robert J. Avrech at December 21, 2009 07:24 AM

In 1999, a few weeks before The Devil's Arithmetic went into production, I met with stars Kirsten Dunst, Brittany Murphy, and Mimi Rogers in Dustin Hoffman's Brentwood office. Dustin and Mimi had rescued my script from development hell—a seven year limbo—and were serving as Executive Producers. Mimi was doing double duty as actress and producer.

The Devil's Arithmetic is a Holocaust time travel drama based on the best selling book by Jane Yolen.

The script called for authentic Jewish characters and settings.

To aid the two young actresses I brought with me to the meeting Offspring #3, a knowledgeable and adorable eleven-year-old yeshiva student.

Offspring #3's job was to coach the actresses in, well, being Jewish. My daughter taught the actresses a few Jewish songs, and guided their Hebrew pronunciations.

I watched Kirsten and Brittany soak up Offspring #3's essence.

For a screenwriter—and this is my favorite part of the process—observing actors prepare their roles was a joy and a revelation.

Brittany and Kirsten laughed and poked fun at each other as they haltingly learned the difficult Hebrew words to a Passover song. But within a short time, their Hebrew was letter perfect.

Mimi, Brittany and Mimi were thorough professionals treating Offspring #3 with respect and sisterly affection.

During a break, Brittany Murphy took me aside and posed a series of questions about Rivkah, the character she was playing. Her questions went to the core, carefully probing the inner life of a pious and innocent young Jewish woman. I stumbled a bit because there were aspects of Rivkah I had not considered. Brittany Murphy, so young, so not-Jewish, was drilling to the foundation of the character. I was deeply impressed and humbled. After about fifteen minutes of discussion Brittany nodded, smiled brightly—her smile was always tinged with anxiety—and said:

“I got it.”

I did not know Brittany, I just knew that she was an astute and accomplished young actress—she made a big impression as Tai in Clueless—and I felt that the co-starring role of Rivkah was safe in this young woman's hands.

The Showtime production was shot in Lithuania. A former Soviet army barracks was converted into a Nazi concentration camp. It was freezing cold, and the conditions were primitive. Brittany and Kirsten were shivering and sick during most of the shoot.

Both performances are just amazing and as I watched dailies I knew that something very special was happening. Kirsten perfectly embodies bafflement yet gradual acceptance as Hannah, a modern suburban mall rat who is abruptly transported back in time to a small Jewish village in Poland and then to Auschwitz.

And Brittany, as her cousin Rivkah, gives a powerhouse performance as an Orthodox Jewish girl, on the cusp of adulthood, whose comfortable world is shattered by the Nazi onslaught. It's a deeply nuanced performance, that is, for me, the best, most unexpected, of Brittany's short career.

At the premier screening of The Devil's Arithmetic, the film received a standing ovation.

After the screening, I thanked all the actors for their work.

I said to Brittany: “You did stuff with my script that I never imagined.”

An understatement, to say the least.

Brittany smiled and said: “Aw, well, it was all there.”

But it wasn't all there.

It was inside her, as it is inside all great actors.

A magic, a G-d-given gift that is beyond the reach of most of us. An ability to become someone else for brief snippets of time. The ability to transform performance into hyper reality.

Last night, I learned that Brittany Murphy died at the age of 32.

I looked at my wife Karen and shook my head in despair.

An hour later we called Offspring #3, a newlywed living in New York, and told her the news.

“Oh nooo, that's so sad,” she cried.

No doubt Offspring #3 recalled how warmly Kirsten and Brittany hugged and thanked her for the lively Jewish tutorial.

In the middle of the night, I slipped out of bed, went downstairs and slipped a DVD into the player.

I watched The Devil's Arithmetic for a few minutes. And then I stopped because it was just too painful.

Brittany and I were not friends. We were, for a brief time, just movie co-workers.

But for me, the supremely talented Brittany Murphy lives on in the character of Rivkah, who at a crucial point in the script urges:

“To remember. To remember who we are...”

My deepest condolences to Brittany's family and friends.

[edward]

Paul Oakenfold: Brittany sang his Faster Kill Pussycat

Oakenfold: 'Murphy singing blew me away'
Monday, December 28 2009, 3:32pm EST
By Oli Simpson

Paul Oakenfold has said that he is convinced Brittany Murphy had untapped potential as a singer.

The DJ recruited the Clueless star to guest on his track 'Faster Kill Pussycat' in 2006, which eventually went on to top the US dance charts. However, despite the song's success, Oakenfold admitted that he had to persuade Murphy to release it under her own name.

He told People: "I said to her, 'Why hide behind something? You have a really great vocal. People are going to be shocked and pleasantly happy with what they're going to hear. You are not one of these actresses who are trying to sing and not doing a good job of it'.

"I demoed three other girls on that song and some of the girls were pretty big singers - and Brittany blew them away."

Oakenfold also revealed that the late actress was in the process of recording her own blues album and maintained that she had the talent to make it in the music industry.

He said: "Brittany trained as a singer before she did as an actress. She was a great actress but she had great vocal potential. She would have done well. She wanted to try (an album) with me, this smoky blues sound with electronic rhythms. She wanted to sound more traditional originally but I told her we should go more edgy.

"She was really excited by that and it's just a shame it never got as far as people thought it could. It's just a shame that the world is not going to hear more songs of Brittany Murphy."

Murphy died after suffering a cardiac arrest earlier this month.

[edward]

Country singer Chely Wright served on a USO tour with Brittany

Chely Wright Remembers 'Free Spirit' Brittany Murphy
Posted Dec 21st 2009 3:30PM by Stephen L. Betts

Fans of Brittany Murphy are reeling from the news of the young star's shocking death. The actress was pronounced dead on arrival at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, after suffering cardiac arrest. She was 32 years old.

One fan, singer-songwriter Chely Wright, fondly recalls meeting the bubbly star of such films as 'Clueless' and '8 Mile' six years ago, during a shared trip to war-torn Iraq.

"Brittany Murphy and I did a USO Tour to Iraq in 2003. She was really excited to see the troops to say thanks and even worked up a couple of songs to sing with the band. Her mom, Sharon, went with us on the trip. They were connected at the hip and proud to call one another "best friend."

"Brittany was a free spirit ... for sure," Chely continues. "Very nice, laughed a lot, and showed a genuine interest in others. Really sad news."

Although she had been out of the public eye recently, Murphy reportedly had five films in post-production for 2010.

[Lisa]

Thank you Edward for posting these remembrances!

I met Brittany back in 2005. My story is posted here:

lisavoorhees.com/2010/04/meeting-brittany-murphy-2/

[edward]

Michael Feifer directed Brittany's final film Abandoned.

Popeater

Brittany Murphy 'Was a Pro' On the Set of Final Movie
By PopEater Staff Posted Dec 23rd 2009 09:07AM

Pictures and video have surfaced of a painfully thin Brittany Murphy on the set of her last movie, a psychological thriller called 'Abandoned,' just months before her fatal cardiac arrest Sunday. Despite rumors that Murphy was disorganized or difficult to work with, director Michael Feifer told PEOPLE, "Brittany was a pro ... It hurts me to hear all this salacious stuff because my experience with Brittany was really one of my best experiences with an actress."

Feifer continued, "When she needed to turn it on, she just threw a switch and she was on. She didn't have to be all method. There was a moment where she needed to cry, and we were kidding around where she actually said she could cry out of one eye and you just had to pick which eye you wanted. She was that good at her craft. So playing frantic came really easy and playing sweet came really easy."

The director recalled meeting his star on the first day of shooting. "I went into her trailer," he said, "and she just came up to me with those Brittany Murphy eyes and just gave me a big hug and said, 'Thank you so much for having me' before I could say, 'Thank you for being a part of it.' It was the sweetest thing."

Though many have praised the star's enthusiasm and work ethic, it was a cause for concern in some of Murphy's colleagues. Scott Chambers, an executive producer of the thriller Murphy wrapped just before filming 'Abandoned,' said Murphy's hard work appeared to be at the expense of her health.

"She looked ill, as much as 10 pounds underweight, and she's a small person to begin with," Chambers reportedly told the Los Angeles Times (via NY Daily News). "She easily could have made an excuse not to come to work, but she didn't. She said, 'I've got to get better, but I want to do this part.' "

'Abandoned' co-stars Dean Cain, Mimi Rogers and Peter Bogdanovich. Murphy's starring role is a woman who believes her husband has vanished; she searches for her husband while battling threats to her safety and sanity. The actress also worked briefly on a movie shot in Puerto Rico after wrapping 'Abandoned' titled 'The Caller,' but left due to creative differences.

Murphy died on December 20. Her funeral is scheduled for Christmas Eve, December 24, according to RadarOnline.

[edward]

Winona Ryder starred in Girl, Interrupted in which Brittany's character hangs herself. Winona can no longer watch the movie.

IMDb

Ryder Can't Watch Girl, Interrupted After Murphy's Death
26 November 2010 12:11 AM, PST

Winona Ryder can't bring herself to watch her hit film Girl, Interrupted again - because she's haunted by Brittany Murphy's chilling onscreen suicide in the movie.

Ryder struck up a close friendship with the Clueless star after they both appeared in the 1999 film and she was devastated when Murphy passed away from a bout of pneumonia last December.

The actress is adamant she now can't face watching the emotional mental institution drama, which sees Murphy's character hang herself.

She tells Total Film, "I can't watch the movie now because of Brittany Murphy. She kills herself in the movie . I was very close to her before she died."

[dockmonkey2arizbay]

"Saying a prayer for Miss Brittany Murphy. It's a sad anniversary for a lovely soul."
- Rose McGowan on Twitter, on Dec. 20, 2010

[edward]

"That Man Ray" remembers Brittany in a blog.

That Man Ray

Monday, December 20, 2010
Brittany Murphy: Remembering My Friend and Our Time at the Ambassador Hotel

It's truly hard to believe that a year has passed since Brittany Murphy left us. It's really still hard for me to believe that she's really gone. Yes, she was such a major talent, she could do the heavy acting thing (Girl Interrupted, Don't Say a Word, 8 Mile) she was in incredible comedian (Clueless, King of the Hill, Just Married) and she was also an amazing singer... incredible set of pipes, the way she belted out the classic, The Queen song "Someone to Love" in the animated film Happy Feet (she also sang on the hit club single "Faster Kill Pussycat.") But, with all her talent and accomplishments, to me she was just really this incredible person who breezed into my life for brief magical moment.

Brittany and I became friends in 2004, when I was helping run the film department at the now demolished Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles. The Ambassador was the number film, television and still shoot location in the city. Brittany had filmed one scene from her comedy, Just Married at the Ambassador, the scene where she and Ashton Kutcher spend the night in a European hotel with disastrous results. The funny thing was I didn't work on day of filming (I had worked the week of preparation days before, but had made a run that Friday to Vegas.)

Brittany did come back not long after to do a photo shoot. I had mentioned to the gal who was doing the catering that I had a poster from Just Married in my office (we often were sent the posters from movies that had filmed at the hotel) the catering gal said "I'll tell Brittany, she's a sweetheart, I'm sure she'll run up to your office and sign it for you." Well come the end of the day, guess who pokes her head into my office? "Where's Ray?" Little Brittany (all alone, there she is with a beautiful smile and a moment later, I was completely taken with her. Now mind you, I hadn't really seen any of her movies (Girl Interrupted, but I don't realize it at that time?) I mostly knew her from those commercials from that film; Don't Say a Word, where she played that spooky looking waif who creepily said "I'll never tell." She was so sweet and loving, with in a few minutes she was having fun playfully hugging and kissing me (and if she was having fun, I was really having fun!) She must have been hanging in my office with my pal Hector (who was taking our picture) and I, for at least a half in hour (most celebs are usually gone the minute they're finished shooting.) Brittany really liked my black & white photographs that I had taken of the Ambassador. I thought she was so sweet I took one right off the wall and gave it to her as a gift.

After she left I figure well that fun memory, but I was sure that I'd never see her again. A couple week later I get a call from a photographer who asked for "Ray." I said it was me on the phone, she wanted to know if she can come to the Ambassador and do a photo shoot? I said sure, and told her but it cost this amount, she said thank you and I thought that was that. About five minutes passed and my phone rang again. It was same photographer. She said, "I forgot to tell you that I was calling on behalf of Brittany Murphy." "Why didn't you tell me that?" I said to her. Well I said that yes, she could come down on Saturday with Brittany and they could do their little photo shoot, but I said, that since Brittany was at the hotel, I'd like to take a few shots of her myself. She said that she was sure that would be fine with Brittany. Well, that was a real enjoyable day for all of us. As Brittany and the photographer did their thing up on the hotel floors, I was doing my own little photo shoot in the lobby with some friends who were dressed in vintage outfits (we actually had an old Ambassador Bellman uniform.) I even dressed in a trench coat in my homage to my movie hero, Robert Mitchum. When Brittany was finished with her shoot, she honored her promise and let me photographer her. I must say that I was a little nervous; I didn't want to screw it up opportunity up. I had the front desk all set up the way I wanted i. I added a couple pieces at the front desk to give it a classic old Hollywood look (a beautiful little painting of Louise Brooks, by my friend Ana Rosa was a great touch.) Brittany really had a love for the old Hollywood, that's why she liked the Ambassador (and I think the fact we clicked together.) So I'm revisiting and sharing some of the photos of that day (very few, if anyone has ever seen.)

There was one photo that really stood out for me; I knew it when I heard the camera "click." I shot her off center, she's sitting at the famous Ambassador front desk giving me her little waif look. It was the only image that I blew up; I made one print for Brittany and one for me. I gave it to her when she insisted on coming to back to the Ambassador to do a photo shoot for Maxim Magazine and her poster for the then upcoming film Sin City. I'll never forget when I showed her the 16 x 20 black & white image. Her eyes became full of tears; she hugged me and started giving my kisses. Though, I have to say, since the first time we met in my office, she'd hug me tight like a boa constrictor and just give me a barrage of kisses. We had another great day, she was so excited; we talked about her upcoming movie, Sin City. I had just seen a trailer of and it had just blew me away. Even though, my time at the Ambassador was running out; the Los Angeles School District had finally rolled all over everyone and was soon going to close us down, and eventually demolish the historical L.A. landmark, that day we had fun. My little niece Aly came by to meet her and get her autograph, which Brittany was happy to do. After that day, I felt that Brittany and I, would always in some way or another always be friends. She told me that the photo that I gave her that day in my office proudly hung in her home. That was the last day that I ever saw her in person again.

I did speak to her one over the phone. I had called her office (in her home actually) to invite her to a friends comedy short that was screening at the Director Guild of America on Sunset. The phone rang and her assistant picked up, a British girl who was very, very polite, she kept on saying "thank you" to everything I seemed to say. When I was winding down the conversation, I mentioned who I was and to give Brittany my best. I heard a little mischievous giggle that I recognized; "Ray, it's me, Brittany." I laughed "What are you doing? Boy, I thought I was talking to the most polite assistant in Hollywood." She explained that she was in between assistants and she had been answering her own phones. She was sorry that she was unable to attend my friends screening, but we had a nice ten minute chat; I had actually heard from my friend's wife that Brittany was getting married? ( I had met this fella Joe at the hotel once) so I felt that I should congratulate her before we hung up. To my surprise, Brittany laughed. "Oh Ray you're too funny, engaged is a long way from being married." I must admit that I didn't understand that at the moment until I heard that night somewhere, that her engagement was over (boy, I felt like a dummy!) It turned out that Brittany broke off her engagement on August 22, 2006 (my birthday of all days!)
Well that unfortunately that was the last time I spoke to Brittany. and a couple years went by. Brittany went on to marry some other guy, whose name I won't mention. I really don't know how things ended the way they did for my little friend.

A friend of mine had been a producer on a one of her last films; a movie for the Si Fi Channel called Mega Fault (I wondered, Brittany was one of the hottest actress in movies a couple years before, why now was she making cable film?) But, at first I was excited that they were working together, but soon I could tell that something was amiss. When he finished the movie, I could tell that it wasn't a nice experience for him. He didn't speak too much about it, and I didn't press the issue. I'm sure that he didn't want to say anything to make me feel bad. Never the less I was excited to see the film when it aired that summer. I was alarmed on how thin she looked in the picture and she was thin to begin with! I was a little worried; I would have loved to have called her, but by then her phone number had been changed.

A few months past and December came. I received a voice mail from my friend who had made the film with Brittany. I could tell that something was wrong, by the way his voice cracked when he spoke. His message said, he had he just heard that Brittany had died. He knew how fond I was of her, and just thought I should know. It meant a lot to me that he called before I heard it somewhere else. And that was a year ago today. As the days and weeks past, and the more information came out on her death, it was hard, not think about it. It was really hard to feel very Christmassy last year. It really upset me; in my mind her life didn't have to end that way, alone unconscious in the shower. I had a girlfriend for many years, and I always took care of her, whether she was sick or whatever she what was going on with her, neglected she wasn't. So I don't understand how someone who has a husband (living in the same house with her) dies alone like that? I suppose it will always bother me. I'll always have great memories of Brittany, though they will always be bittersweet. I was finally able to put her picture up on my wall, the picture that she loved and rewarded me with the big hug and all those sweet kisses. But it's so strange that the Ambassador and now Brittany are both now gone... It was just like yesterday we were all there, having fun and taking pictures. I would have never have guessed that's how the script was going to end.

[Lisa]

I love this story. So sad though. We're finding out, through various stories people are telling, on what a lovely kind-hearted person she was. She so didnt deserve what happened to her.