Role Recall: Diane Lane Looks Back at 'Unfaithful' Bed Injury, 'Judge Dredd' Derrière Concerns
You know a former child star has had a healthy, thriving showbiz career when you forget the fact that he/she was a former child star in the first place. Diane Lane fits that bill.
Today the gorgeous 50-year-old actress is most closely associated with her diverse cache of mature recent work, including her roles in 2002’s fierce, Oscar-nominated Unfaithful, the sun-drenched romance Under the Tuscan Sun (2003), the neo-noir drama Hollywoodland (2006), the Superman reboot Man of Steel (2013), and Pixar’s latest masterpiece, Inside Out (2015).
But Lane actually got her start decades ago when she made her film debut at 13 opposite Laurence Olivier (who dubbed her “the next Grace Kelly”) in A Little Romance, starred in the future cult classic The Fabulous Stains at 15, and had appeared in two films directed by Francis Ford Coppola (The Outsiders and Rumble Fish) by the time she was 18.
In her latest film, Trumbo, Lane plays Cleo, full-time mom and recreational juggler who also happens to bethe very faithful wife to Bryan Cranston’s blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. (Lane’s juggling inspiration? Her Outsiders co-star Tom Cruise, who performed all that slick bottle-twirling in Cocktail.) And in our latest edition of Role Recall (above), Lane shared colorful stories from her impressive body of work, including the times she got in trouble for rehearsing on Stains and badly hurt her neck during a love scene on Unfaithful.
Related: Bryan Cranston Admits Dalton Trumbo Could Be Kind of an ‘Ass’
Some highlights:
A Little Romance (1979)
Lane wasn’t just making her screen debut at 13, she was making it opposite a living legend: Sir Laurence Olivier. He didn’t expect special treatment, and told her to call him “Larry,” though she would’ve preferred “Lord Larry” instead. “I had a hard time calling Laurence Oliver ‘Larry,’” she explains.
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982)
Paired with other young upstarts like Laura Dern, Lane did all of her own singing in this punk-rock favorite, and admits she was “awful.” But the filmmakers didn’t mind. In fact Lane and her bandmates were scolded after they were found rehearsing one night by director Lou Adler, who wanted their sound to be completely unpolished. “You’re supposed to suck,” he told them.
The Outsiders (1983)
Lane was the sole lead female among a gang of future male stars like Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Emilio Estevez, C. Thomas Howell, and Ralph Macchio. But she was all pop singer-turned actor, Leif Garrett, who played her boyfriend. “I had him on my walls from Tiger Beat magazine,” she said of her early crush. “It was such an awkward time.”
Judge Dredd (1995)
The actress had one major fear heading into this comic-book adaptation about futuristic cops: “I had this phobia that they were going to get my ass onscreen at the same time as Sylvester Stallone’s ass,” she says. “I’m like Judge Bone, and he’s got these cinder blocks for glutes. I cannot be on-camera the same time as him.”
Unfaithful (2002)
Lane earned a Best Actress Oscar nomination for this Adrian Lyne-directed steamy thriller, but it came at a cost: “I herniated my neck during the kissing scene [with Olivier Martinez],” she says. “We must’ve done like 50 takes. So my neck finally went out.” And the cost is ongoing: “I’m still getting work for that,” she adds.
Trumbo is now in select theaters. Watch the trailer: