Rock and a hard place

Tony Clayton-Lea finds actress turned singer Juliette Lewis in a fragile state on the Irish leg of her European tour

Looking very much in need of a Lemsip and a good night's sleep, Hollywood actress Juliette Lewis trills "We're so excited to be in Ireland - I was here a million years ago . . . " Long time no see.

It's Sunday, and Lewis is in Ireland again as part of the European tour that she and her garage rock band, The Licks, are undertaking. Dublin venue the Voodoo Lounge is the first stop-off for a three-date Irish tour; the venue is a fine one, custom built, it would seem, to withstand the swish of lengthy black leather coats and the stomping of size nine metallic-adorned boots.

But Lewis is in a fragile state - not, to this writer's eyes, something of a euphemism for typical rock'n'roll debauchery, but rather the kind that a few days off from the toil of touring would benefit. But Lewis is a true-blue trouper - the show must go on and all of that, even if it's through bleary eyes and a bad cough.

"The easy way out is to give up when things get hard," she says, as she dunks a slice of lemon into her teacup. As we speak, a movie crew is filming her very move - what strange lives even less-than-A-list movie stars must lead these days. The Green Room of the Voodoo Lounge is full of aspiring rock star types - guitarists and drummers lounge about eating pizza; Lewis's younger sister, Brandy, acts as willing factotum; the atmosphere is desultory and uneventful.

"Today, I just wanted to lay in bed, but I can't," Lewis continues. "Working in movies, oddly enough, has created a strong work ethic, because you're working with a group of people in an environment that isn't about you. The dichotomy is that you occasionally have the diva syndrome, but in my experience that doesn't happen any more. You can't have a sick day."

Thirty-one-year-old Lewis is one of Hollywood's more interesting younger actresses; the daughter of Geoffrey Lewis (a jobbing character actor who has appeared in movies such as Thunderbolt And Lightfoot, Every Which Way But Loose, The Lawnmower Man and Maverick) and graphic designer Glenis Batley, Juliette graduated from the rank-and-file of US television comedy shows (Home Fires, Wonder Years, I Married Dora) to the frontline of award-winning telefilms such as Too Young To Die (where she co-starred with Brad Pitt, subsequently embarking on a relationship with him), Cape Fear and Natural Born Killers.

"You don't get much overt glory being a jobbing actor, but you get a sense of accomplishment. Acting is a line of work, as opposed to some fantasy land with all this sense of privilege, which is what people read about in magazines."

Her career has been one to watch, certainly. Described by writer David Thomson (in his Biographical Dictionary of Film) as "a fidgety, pouting, perfect example of what appeals to voyeurism . . . an image animated by the wicked thrill of being seen, looked at . . . a breed of illicit spectacle", Lewis's promise in movies such as Cape Fear, Husbands And Wives, Kalifornia, Natural Born Killers and Strange Days has all but disappeared in fluff such as Enough, Cold Creek Manor and Old School. An interim period in rehab in the mid/late 1990s has cleared her system of what apparently made her edge out from the mainstream in the first place.

Lewis has a few low-key films in line for release in 2005 (Darwin Awards, with Joseph Fiennes and Winona Ryder; Daltry Calhoun, with Johnny Knoxville; Grilled, with Ray Romano), but they don't appear to excite her half as much as her burgeoning music career.

"It's what I always wanted to do," she claims. "I see it as an extension of what I do in movies. I like the whole idea of drama and moving people emotionally, and I feel I can do that much more with music. I put the band together two years ago, and I get to guide everything - what it should sound like, what I'm feeling, how to inspire, sing what I want to sing about.

"What people have responded to me as an actress is that they have an emotional connection, albeit one that is wrapped up in a character created by a writer and the story that's told by them and/or the director. The fact of me being the writer/director of my music and the fact that music as an art form is a more visceral experience makes choosing to work in music more relevant. Music is straight up in how it impacts on you, whereas I feel film is more cerebral or intellectual. Well, it can be . . . "

Lewis's cough is worsening; what was scheduled to be a 45-minute chat has now turned into 20. The minutes tick by slowly. "Are we done yet?" she asks at the 15-minute mark. A request to ask a couple of more questions is reluctantly agreed.

She seems concerned that the chat will drift off the topic of music; that, God forbid, she will have to answer yet again questions relating to the hunk triumvirate of Brad Pitt/Johnny Depp/ Leonardo DiCaprio or her failed marriage to skateborder Steve Berra.

She realises she is defined to a degree by her roles in Cape Fear, Kalifornia, Natural Born Killers, The Basketball Diaries and From Dusk Till Dawn as something of a "guilty pleasure" (David Thomson again). In relation to her music she seems, unlike other actors-turned-singers, to have her heart in the right place. She does not, for instance, look upon her album releases as "projects".

"That's exactly what I'm not! I'm already thinking of the next record, and I want it to hopefully reach a lot of people, to be successful in order to give us more time and freedom in the studio. I never do something half-assed; there's too much work and energy and sleeplessness for it to be a hobby. Time will tell, of course. I might do a couple of movies this year but that will take up no longer than a month of my schedule. My goal this year is to tour and then to make another record."

Movies, however, are her livelihood, and what she has been primarily known for. She still has goals in that area, too, she says. "It's always the film-maker that creates the unique experience, and there are more and more film-makers coming out every couple of years that I find very interesting. I'd like to work with those I've worked with before - Scorsese, Stone, and others - and newer people like Alexander Payne and Wes Anderson. I need to align myself with interesting people."

What does Lewis ultimately aspire to? Looking at her on a cold Sunday evening, a couple of hours before a sold-out gig, you'd guess her answer would be something along the lines of a warm bed and a hot whiskey. Not so.

"Change," she says, almost indistinct through the flu. "Songwriting allows that. I don't have anyone to answer to, which is a bonus. It's so much better and more fulfilling when you have the wherewithal to get the job done by yourself, rather than waiting for other people to do it. I just want to keep continuing. It's as simple as that."

Juliette Lewis & The Licks play Dolan's Warehouse, Limerick, tonight. The band also performs live at the Meteor Awards, at the Point, Dublin, on Thursday February 24th.

Juliette Lewis & The Licks mini-album, Like A Bolt Of Lightning, is released on March 4th