The Phone Call

[Marge_Innavera]

Interesting.  That "where's my parka?" scene has always given the impression that Lureen knew Jack's fishing trips were bogus but that her suspicions were way off: she believed that Jack had a girlfriend somewhere, or maybe that he and his friend spent their time together drinking, gambling and chasing women.

[BlueJeanDarlin]

Not sure if this has been discussed in the thread or not, but a member of BetterMost posted this, thought you may want to see it.


In a November 2010 interview on the National Public Radio program "Fresh Air," Anne Hathaway told interviewer Terry Gross that she actually has no idea whether or not her character, Lureen, tells the truth in the phone conversation in which Lureen tells Ennis how Jack died. Hathaway said that she shot two takes of the scene: one in which Lureen "knew what was going on with Jake's character Jack and that he'd been cheating on me with men and that I knew about the gay bashing," and one in which Lureen "had no idea... you know, it was a terrible accident with a car tire." Hathaway told Gross that instead of using all of either take, there were shots from both takes edited into the final movie, so she doesn't know what the director's or the editor's intentions for her character or for the truth about Jack's death really were. She also said that she has never asked director Ang Lee what he thinks the truth is because "Ang knows the truth in his head, and it's not important to me. I actually think I get to be a part of the film as an audience member because I don't know, because I think the ambiguity is what is the strength of that scene and what's heartbreaking about it."

I found a link on Google to a Terry Gross interview with Anne, but I haven't listened to it, and can't because I'm at work, so I'm not 100% sure this is valid, but I'm putting it here just in case it is.

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/24/131566903/anne-hathaway-from-princesses-to-passion

Chuck, thanks for posting this link. The interview plays fine, even over here in The Netherlands! Oh, the joys of the internet... 

[kathy]

Umm ... I read at the same time just the opposite.  In this interview A. Hathaway indicated that Ang Lee instructed her to play the scene with the assumption that she knew Jack was killed by the thugs with the tire irons.  So she went on to play it as if she was telling it by "rote" - repeating a story she knew was not true (the tire blowout) over & over again.   

She also said something about the suggestion she "knew" about Ennis & Jack's relationship; however, I just can't recall the words re that one, nor anything of AL's direction of it.

kathy