Her hair is dark brown and wrapped in a tight bun. Her clothes are dowdy. Her face, makeup-free, is etched in sadness; even her forced smiles betray pain.
"Isabelle is clearly uncomfortable in her own skin. She's very uptight," said Elisabeth Shue of Isabelle Goodrow, the lonely, hard-working, single mother she portrays in "Amy and Isabelle." The latest "Oprah Winfrey Presents" movie is based on Elizabeth Strout's best-selling novel.
Actress Elisabeth Shue plays a troubled mom on "Oprah Winfrey Presents: Amy and Isabelle," but she says it's not a case of art imitating life. Shue, who's pregnant with her second child, says she has nothing in common with the mother she plays in the TV movie, which airs tonight on ABC.
This latest role is not the type Shue's known for. Her Oscar-nominated role as a hooker in "Leaving Las Vegas" was gritty but sexy. And glamour was an important part of her recent turns in "The Saint" and "Hollow Man."
"I'm so glad I got such a complicated mother to play," Shue said by phone from her California home last week. "Usually it's such a one-dimensional mother role. I feel so happy this is so rich."
It's a role she wanted, but one she took with trepidation.
"I read the book straight through on a plane trip to Japan," Shue said. "It was such an emotional journey. I knew the second I closed the book, I had to play the part. ...
"I was concerned if I could play the part."
Without a hint of vanity, she worried people wouldn't believe her as such a repressed, plain woman.
"Fear dominates at first," Shue said. "But then you realize they are superficial fears: how I look, can I do it. Then the fears get you excited, you become undaunted, and you want to do it even more."
"Amy and Isabelle" is the story of a mother-daughter relationship and the secrets that threaten to tear it apart. Set in 1971 in Shirley Falls, a nondescript New England mill town, the film stays true to the book.
Isabelle works hard at the mill's accounting office, secretly pines for the attention of its married owner, and purposely keeps herself distanced from the prattle and gossip of the other women in the office.
Amy, her teen-age daughter, is bright but lonely and uncomfortable in social situations. She sneaks cigarettes at lunchtime with her only friend, Stacy, who has a boyfriend and dreams of ditching school. Played by Hanna Hall ("Virgin Suicides" and the young Jenny in "Forrest Gump"), Amy quickly becomes enthralled with the new high school math teacher, Mr. Robertson (Martin Donovan).
Innocent infatuation progresses to adult passion. When Amy's secret is discovered, Isabelle's pent-up fury explodes in the movie's most powerful scene. She attacks her daughter, harming her physically and emotionally.
"I was nervous about the violence," Shue said. "But as violent as it was, it was also a catharsis. Isabelle had to come to grips with what she had just done. If it was less violent, Isabelle would have somehow been able to stay in denial about how she had hurt her daughter."
There's a chance Shue won't be able to watch "Amy and Isabelle" when it airs tonight. She's due with her second child; she has a 3 1/2-year-old son, Myles, with husband, director Davis Guggenheim.
She was three months pregnant during filming, which, she said, helped her with the role. "It was really easy to not have to worry about looks."
Shue plans to take a break from acting to spend time "being a mom." She'll also check in on her brother, Andrew Shue ("Melrose Place"), who's stepped away from acting to start a company.
"He's created Club Mom, which is like an AARP for mothers," she said. "It'll bring millions of mothers together. Based on the power of their numbers, they will be able to get discounts on products they need to buy, negotiate deals with different companies, and hopefully one day become a political force."
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