November 3, 2006

Adrienne Shelly, 1966 - 2006.

Adrienne Shelly
Adrienne Shelly, the petite actress best known for her roles in the Hal Hartley films Trust and The Unbelievable Truth, has been found dead in her office by her husband, her agent said Thursday.

Colleen Long for the AP.

A true original in the world of American independent film, she projected a fascinating, low-key charisma on screen and, in Hartley's work in particular, captured the essence of a brainy and slightly lost young generation trying its hardest to figure out the mysteries of life. She went on to act in many other movies, including this summer's Factotum, and as well as to direct two features.

Scott Macaulay, Filmmaker.

Updated through 11/7.

She was the personification of the "indie-film muse" during the beginning of the 1990s. She set the standard that half-a-dozen other actresses (Parker Posey, Joey Lauren Adams, Julie Delpy, Uma Thurman, etc) would soon follow and bring to Hollywood.... Adrienne Shelly's latest endeavor in the world of film directing (a feature called Waitress) is in the can, and awaiting festival premiere dates. That will be a very sad and emotional premiere, indeed.

Matt Dentler.

Updates, 11/5: Richard Harland Smith: "It's an actor's craft to develop backstory for a character, to fill in details and history that the audience will never know but which inform the author's text with a subtext and give the drama wholeness and weight. Of course, all real people have backstory and subtext... and that we can never know anyone's full story is what makes life so hard and what drives us to the movies where, even if it all ends tragically, we are left with some understanding of why it had to be."

Anthony Kaufman recalls a talk he had with Shelly in 1999 and writes, "When someone in the independent film community dies suddenly and unexpectedly, when someone who moved us through their art (whether Sarah Jacobson or Katrin Cartlidge or Garrett Scott), I remember how small and close-knit our little film family is. I think about all the people I know who must be devastated by her demise, and how shocking it feels to have someone so talented no longer with us."

"I also must admit to equal measures of aching melancholy and wistful nostalgia, as I think of the eternally waifish actress as the poster girl for a specific period in indie cinema - call it Early Sundance, late 80s to the early 90s - that now seems almost as distant as the Hollywood renaissance of the 1970s," writes Joe Leydon.

MovieMaker: Adrienne Shelly MovieMaker's only just launched its blog, and now this. Tim Rhys, who interviewed Adrienne Shelly for Issue #20 in 1996, writes, "I'd spent a couple of days with her that spring, getting to know her a bit for that piece. She struck me as so different from most actresses I'd met. She was focused on her career, yes, but not driven to do anything that didn't fall in line with her definition of creative fulfillment. It was obvious that Adrienne walked to the beat of her own drummer."

11/7. A gruesome, saddening and infuriating update. It was murder. CBS reports.

Posted by dwhudson at November 3, 2006 1:23 AM

Comments

This news is quite a shock. I was impressed by her from the start, in the early Hal Hartley films. ("The Unbelievable Truth" was filmed in the Long Island neighborhood I once lived in; and the Hartley family lived a block away from me.) I lost track of Ms. Shelly's career along the way, but I intend to check out her later work, especially the films she directed.

Posted by: Flickhead at November 3, 2006 3:49 AM

Very sad.

Posted by: William at November 3, 2006 5:02 AM

I was very shocked and saddened by this. I dug through my stuff today and found postcards for "The Unbelievable Truth" and "Trust." It's really because of her that I fell for Hal Hartley films.

I know I have tapes of the two of them somewhere from interviews I did back when "The Unbelievable Truth" came out. I met them before the film was screened and I remember seeing her walking in the parking lot not knowing she was in the film and thinking she looked frail and small, but it was different when I finally talked with her.

Posted by: Jerry Lentz at November 3, 2006 6:05 AM

No. No more death. I can't take it. jmac and I went to see Shelly's debut feature "Sudden Manhattan" way back in 96-97. And I used to watch "Trust" on every second-tier American holiday. I am so sorry for her family.

Posted by: cinetrix at November 3, 2006 7:31 AM

Oh my god. I'm devastated. "The Unbelievable Truth" is one of my favorite films. What a terrible, terrible loss.

Posted by: badMike at November 3, 2006 7:58 AM

This is horrible. I didn't know just how much her work has meant to me until today....

Posted by: Derek at November 3, 2006 9:52 AM

She was wonderful.

Posted by: Ray Pride at November 3, 2006 1:38 PM

Wow, that's sad. I, too, watch "Trust" on a very regular basis (and wish I could replace my crappy VHS tape with a DVD). Long live Adrienne!

Posted by: tb at November 3, 2006 3:41 PM

The bad news gets worst: The NY Post now reports the death was suicide.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/11032006/news/regionalnews/indie_film_star_suicide_stunner_regionalnews_philip_messing__mark_bulliet_and_dan_mangan.htm

Posted by: Joe Leydon at November 3, 2006 4:03 PM

Oh, God, no.

Posted by: David Hudson at November 3, 2006 4:07 PM

God, this just keeps getting sadder and sadder. I was sort of wondering, given how young she was and wasn't ill with anything... and either way it would be tragic. But this just leaves me with a sick feeling in my stomach. My heart goes out to her husband and family...

Posted by: Craig P at November 3, 2006 4:32 PM

I am one of those people who has had a private crush on Adrienne since seeing her in THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH. As part of the programming team at Telluride I was excited when we screened I'LL TAKE YOU THERE, a really wonderful piece that she wrote, directed and co-starred in. We invited the film and Shelly to be part of the Telluride Film Festival. She was delightful and very generous with her fans (many new ones after seeing the movie), becoming friends with many.

I recently screened her newest, WAITRESS and can report that she once again had triumphed in all three creative areas. And this should have been her breakthrough film.

The mysteries of life and death will never make sense. We will miss her and sadly never know what we might have missed in the future.

Posted by: Gary Meyer at November 4, 2006 12:49 AM

Nov 8 and 9 FACTOTUM is playing with DRUGSTORE COWBOY at the New Beverly Cinema in Los Angeles, I was wondering if anyone would be interested in something like a candlelight vigil, or just to meet and talk about Adrienne Shelly's work? Might be kind of healing and nice to meet other fans... Maybe?

Please contact me if interested!

Posted by: Jerry Lentz at November 4, 2006 6:03 AM

I've felt there's been a connection between me and Adrienne Shelly ever since seeing Trust (and then The Unbelievable Truth) and falling in love with her some years ago. I'm horribly sad to see her go at this time in this way, and even more so for her three-year-old daughter. This is devastating.

Posted by: Goran at November 4, 2006 5:02 PM

Another vibrant light has gone out. RIP

Posted by: Jeremiah at November 4, 2006 5:36 PM

I have been a fan of hartley for many years and also of Adrienne Shelly. I was terribly shocked to hear of her death. Terribly shocked. I read an interview she had done with someone and she had said her father just died one day, never having been sick in his life, just died.

Posted by: jill at November 4, 2006 7:54 PM

I too was devastated by the news, which now seems to have taken a turn for the worse since intial reports. What a terrible loss, for film, but moreso for her family. Here is my tribute to her, if anyone wishes to read it. http://swankyspinster.blogspot.com/2006/11/adrienne-shelly-rip.html

Posted by: SwankySpinster at November 4, 2006 10:09 PM

I too was fascinated and inspired by her in The Unbelievable Truth and Trust. She was very much a "muse" for me as I struggled as an aspiring filmmaker years ago. And what an immense joy and life experience it was when I decided to become a film distributor and launch my company with her directorial debut SUDDEN MANHATTAN.

She was even more fascinating in person, truly inspiring. We will miss her.....

Posted by: Gregory Hatanaka at November 5, 2006 9:41 PM

The plot thickens. CNN reports that a construction worker has been arrested in connection with her death.

Posted by: acquarello at November 7, 2006 8:25 AM

... and I stumbled on some blogger using the fact that her murderer was an illegal immigrant to rail against illegal immigrants. Sick, pathetic, and I can't imagine Ms. Shelly would approve.

Anyway, thanks to all you bloggers who have more properly mourned her and honored her memory.

Posted by: Craig P at November 7, 2006 3:20 PM

Her idiot neighbor today got arrested for her murder. He killed her because she complained about the noise he made in his apartment. Someone who is contributing to society gets killed by an useless loser. It's so shameful and disgusting. My condolences to her family.

Posted by: at November 7, 2006 4:35 PM

I am extreamly sad over the lost of Adrienne Shelly. I looked forwarded to seeing any new films that came out with her when I was nineteen. I am thirty now. I loved her style in trust (I seen that hundreds of times). I also loved Hexed, sleeping with strangers, Grind, the unbelievible truth and Road killers. I was checking her films out on half.com about a year ago and was excited that there was other work I had not seen from the pretty actress. I kept her films but lost track of her career lately. I loved her style and how she shined on the screen. I adored her work and I know If I would had seen a new movie of hers at the video store I would have rented it. It is a big lost!

Posted by: Samantha at November 7, 2006 7:34 PM

She was definitely a muse of 90's indie cinema, even to those of us filmmakers who don't happen to be men. In fact, I wrote a screenplay a few years ago with the female lead named Adrienne and designed as a tribute to her. Haven't thought about the project much lately, as "independent" film has changed so much and this script is not easily "categorizable." But now it really seems like it might be fitting if it could be done by someone -- as different people need different means to burn off their grief. Anyone interested in perhaps helping to get it out to her fans can contact me through exit15e.com. RIP, Adrienne.

Posted by: LKN at November 7, 2006 9:08 PM

I had a feeling this wasn't suicide as soon as I read the bit in the first news story about the other set of shoeprints. Not, mind you, that I'm happy to have been proven right.

Posted by: James Russell at November 9, 2006 1:06 AM

i love her so much. i was introduced to her films when i was 18 back in 1992 and since then she was always "my girl". i will never get over this. what a loss to cinema.

Posted by: cellophane at November 12, 2006 8:45 PM