Music
5 times Juliette Lewis blew our minds
Get pumped ahead of the Red Bull TV premiere of the Juliette Lewis documentary Hard Lovin’ Woman.
Juliette And The Licks
© Getty Images / Mark Venema / WireImage
The line between Juliette Lewis the actor and Juliette Lewis the punk rocker is a blurry one. LA's own Hard Lovin' Woman – which just happens to be the name of a brand-new documentary about Lewis' services to rock 'n' roll – always brought Hollywood razmatazz to the stage when performing with her balls-out garage-punk outfit The Licks. And on the flipside she brought FU rock 'n' roll swagger to her most memorable on-screen roles. A sign that Lewis, who took up with her band at the height of her acting career, was always born to rock.
To get us pumped up ahead of the Red Bull TV premiere on April 23 of Hard Lovin' Woman, a documentary about Juliette Lewis the punk rocker, we pay tribute to the times Juliette Lewis rocked our world.
Natural Born Killers (1994) In which Juliette Lewis was one-half of an establishment-irking, media-savvy, serial-killing duo with Woody Harrelson. In spite of all the blood on their hands there was something admirably free-spirited about their rampage across the US, which is perhaps what made Oliver Stone's film so controversial. Lewis' own role had something of the '60s hippy-gone-feral vibe to it and apparently Stone primed her for chaotic scenes by blaring out industrial noise music between takes.
Strange Days (1995) When The Licks were still just a pipedream – they were seven years away at this stage – Lewis had a starring role opposite Ralph Fiennes in Kathryn Bigelow's cyberpunk sci-fi epic, Strange Days. Lewis played a conniving, two-faced, snake-hipped rock 'n' roll singer and seductress called Faith Austin. It was a precursor to Lewis' future onstage personality – minus all the violence and back-stabbing, of course.
Juliette And The Licks are born (2003) The story goes that Juliette Lewis was at a Blondie concert with Hole drummer Patty Schemel, herself the star of an award-winning, warts-and-all documentary about her life called Hit So Hard, when the idea struck: she should form a band. Lewis reached out to everyone and anyone in LA and Juliette And The Licks were born. We'll let Hard Lovin' Woman tell you more, but they came careering out of the blocks with bratty punk-rock anthems such as You're Speaking My Language.
Dave Grohl joins The Licks (2006) The Licks' drummer Jason Morris left the band after the release of their debut album, You're Speaking My Language. So, if you're a hard-living, hard-rocking outfit with connections who are you going to call in as your drums-pulverising replacement? Only Nirvana and Foo Fighters man Dave Grohl. You can hear him drumming all over The Licks' second record Four To The Floor, which featured stone-cold classic Hot Kiss.
Whip It (2009) The Licks disbanded in 2009 (boo!) – they're now back together (yay!) – so Lewis got back on the acting trail in Drew Barrymore's breakneck tribute to roller-derby culture, Whip It. The misunderstood agitator with a heart was back as Lewis returned to kick some ass and bring some bruising punk-rock vigour to a film that also starred Kristen Wiig and Ellen Page.
Hard Lovin' Woman premieres on Red Bull TV on April 23.
Juliette Lewis is on Facebook.
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