BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) SHOPGIRL
This Steve Martin movie is really underrated. It’s a dramatic rom-com indie thing, but it’s a good one. Claire plays the title character… the “shop girl”. She is the object of affection of a guy her own age who is trying to get his shit together and an older man who can offer her anything she wants. It’s a back and forth Woody Allen-like struggle and is well done.
(THREE) MY SO-CALLED LIFE
It was only on for 19 episodes, but there are people out there who idolize this show in creepy ways. Nerds have “Firefly” and “Jericho” and emotionally unstable girls (and boys) latched on to “My So-Called Life”. Claire Danes became an over-night success with this one. She was in movies before, but this put her in the vernacular of teenagers in the 90’s.
(TWO) ROMEO + JULIET
Riding high from the My So-Called Life run, she landed herself in one of the better Shakespeare adaptations of recent movie history. She played opposite of Leonardo DiCaprio here as part of one of the “greatest love stories ever told”. It works. The style of the movie is often the main focus, but you don’t have a movie unless you have a solid Juliet.
(ONE) HOMELAND
This is a new show, but one of the best new shows. In this she gets to display her action skills, her dramatic skills, and there is some pretty racy scenes as well. She just owns this character. This show didn’t seem like it would be my cup of tea, but the writing and casting was really great. Danes carries it and I don’t see why this show won’t reach cable TV icon status before long. The first season, and specifically her performance, was THAT strong.
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