At age 21, Uma Thurman has appeared in more than half a dozen films, including such critically acclaimed-and in some cases little seen-pictures as ”The Adventures of Baron Munchausen,” ”Dangerous Liaisons,” ”Where the Heart Is” and ”Henry & June.”
Thanks to such European productions and an international following, Uma Thurman is a household, if somewhat unusual, name on the other side of the Atlantic. At home, however, the actress is still largely an unknown quantity. But that may change after the release of her latest film, ”Final Analysis,” which opens Friday in Chicago. A psychological thriller directed by Phil Joanou (”State of Grace”) that stars Richard Gere and Kim Basinger, it tells the twisted tale of a San Francisco psychiatrist (Gere) who is treating the beautiful but troubled Diana Baylor (Thurman).
When Baylor, who has a recurring nightmare that appears linked to a history of sexual abuse as a child, introduces the psychiatrist to her sexy, older sister (Basinger), events quickly spin out of control, culminating in murder.
The role marks Thurman`s debut in a mainstream Hollywood production, the kind of film the outspoken actress has professed no great interest in doing. What changed her mind?
”Well, it seemed to me that for a mainstream thriller the script was quite tight,” she said. ”It seemed quite well-conceived and somewhat original, though partially borrowed from `Vertigo` and other films like that. But for a modern audience it`s quite a novel approach to a thriller. For instance, until the end there`s no shooting and there are lots of plot twists and turns.”
What particularly attracted Thurman were ”the scenes with the shrink. I like Richard, I liked the scenes, and I knew how to do them. When you read something, it`s very clear to you what you can do sometimes. It`s
instinctive.”
Because ”Final Analysis” is so plot driven, it contains few scenes between the sisters, something Thurman misses. ”I thought it would have been good if the two sisters could have had a stronger relationship, and I argued for that.”
Thurman says the amount of research she does for a role ”depends on the piece. On `Henry & June` I did a lot of research and legwork. On this I also did a lot, because I was interested.”
Thurman was raised in the college town of Amherst, Mass. Her mother is a psychotherapist, her father a professor of Indo-Asian studies. ”That`s how I got the name Uma; it`s a Hindi name,” she explains.
”Relatively speaking I had a great upbringing,” says Thurman, who has three brothers and whose parents recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. ”They are all very strong individuals. My parents are very educated people, basically very kind, who love their children and love each other.”
Thurman says she was ”a little bit of an odd character as a younger kid” and that ”theater groups and drama people of whatever school I was thrown into tended to be a little more accepting. It was a place where I could express myself. School is a horrible place, and children can be nasty.”
After attending the Professional Children`s School in New York and then modeling, Thurman landed parts in several small films, including the forgettable ”Kiss Daddy Goodbye” and ”Johnny Be Good.” It was when she appeared in Terry Gilliam`s ”The Adventures of Baron Munchausen” and Stephen Frears` ”Dangerous Liaisons” that she first gained some attention.
Thurman`s next film is ”Mad Dog and Glory,” in which she stars opposite Robert De Niro and Bill Murray. ”It was shot in Chicago,” she says, ”and it`s about a timid forensics investigator (De Niro) who winds up saving the life of this total crook (Murray). . . . It`s kind of odd and funny.”
Thurman has used her sense of ”oddity” to great advantage and has made continually interesting film choices, though she maintains that ”the films have found me, not vice versa.”
She says she`s grateful that ”I haven`t really been categorized, and I`d hope it doesn`t happen. And the movies I`ve done have all been very different types.
”I haven`t tried to forge myself as a name in Hollywood. I haven`t sought that and I still don`t want it. So I`ve had the good fortune of making films in Europe and making films with European directors and different qualities and set in different eras, so I`m just a little more of an oddity. I haven`t gotten into line yet.”
