AFTER HER FIRST big film, The Rocketeer, Jennifer Connelly was all set to take a blockbusting action heroine route. But, despite its Indiana Jones charm, the 1991 film underperformed and relegated her to a career in dramas.
Since then, the actress has generally eschewed glossy roles in favour of challenging parts in movies such as Requiem for a Dream, A Beautiful Mind and House of Sand and Fog. Connelly's latest film Dark Water - a remake of Ring director Hideo Nakata's Japanese horror hit - is also a cut above the usual Hollywood fare. Directed by The Motorcycle Diaries' Walter Salles, it's a tough psychodrama that occasionally evokes the suburban terror of Roman Polanski's classic, the malicious Rosemary's Baby.
Dark Water is a moody, rainy film that has some realistic characters and a good plot. It's the kind of movie that makes the supernatural seem eminently reasonable, and that's one of the things Connelly was attracted to.
The 35-year-old actress, who says she doesn't know much about supernatural films, appeared in a horror movie in 1985 - Creepers, directed by Italian suspense maestro Dario Argento. In it, she plays a sleepwalking student who communicates with insects to solve a murder.
Her performance as a depressed single mother in Dark Water is a lot more down to earth. In fact, she took the part only because it had more dramatic possibilities than the usual slasher or spooker.
'I'm loath to call it a horror film, as I think it's more of a psychological thriller and a ghost story,' she says. 'I associate horror films with gore and splatter, and there's none of that in Dark Water. Although there's a supernatural presence, most of the suspense is psychological. I think it's pretty poignant. That's what's special about it. It's a sophisticated story about a woman whose only refuge from the outside world comes from her small family. Everything else in her life has been blown apart. She wants to cling to her daughter even though she recognises that she's going to have to let go sometime. It's a very deep theme for entertainment.'
