Academy Award-winning actress Sissy Spacek has had a cinematic connection with the big screen for more than 40 years. She won an Oscar for Best Actress in her portrayal of country star Loretta Lynn in the Coal Miner’s Daughter, a biographical film about the singer’s life. Spacek also has 60 acting credits, 85 nominations, 40 wins and six Oscar nominations under her belt.
The Florida Film Festival invited Spacek to be one of their celebrity guests and asked her which movie she would like to screen during the festival’s 25-year anniversary at the Enzian Theater in Maitland, Fla. Spacek selected the 1973 classic, independent film Badlands. She received her acting career break with the film, which is based on a modern day Bonnie and Clyde and their reckless exploits, co-starring Martin Sheen and directed by Terrence Malick.
Spacek answered Enzian Theater president Henry Maldonado’s questions during his film introduction while sitting at a table in the audience.
Spacek shared anecdotes about making Badlands during her question-and-answer session after the movie. One of those accounts was when she had told Malick that she was a majorette in high school. He bought her a Star Line Baton at a music store on Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles and asked her to demonstrate her baton-twirling skills. He loved her baton-twirling performance and decided to incorporate her majorette skills in the scene where Kit (Sheen) and Holly (Spacek) meet for the first time. The baton-twirling routine in the movie was the same one that she used to try out for a majorette in high school.
She also told the sold-out film’s audience that her voice-over narration in the movie was recorded in a tiny bedroom with blankets nailed to the walls.
Badlands gave Spacek her first real taste for film making and she’ll always cherish creating the movie. She also met her husband and production designer Jack Fisk during the filming of the movie. They just celebrated their 43-year wedding anniversary.
Spacek received an Academy-Award nomination for her telekinetic prom-queen role in the 1976 supernatural horror film Carrie, based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name.
She’s currently portraying Sally Rayburn, the matriarch of a Florida Keys family that has dark secrets in the Netflix dramatic thriller series Bloodline.
I had an opportunity to ask Spacek about what appeals to her when reviewing a script and selecting a movie role. “It’s really a director’s medium, so the director is first and foremost. It’s also the overall project and the connection and understanding of a character.”
Learn more about Spacek’s career on imdb.com.
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