Blethyn enjoys acting in independent films

February 1, 2000
Web posted at: 12:04 p.m. EST (1704 GMT)

PARK CITY, Utah (CNN) -- This year's Sundance Film Festival marked British actress Brenda Blethyn's second appearance at the premier U.S. independent film forum. Her first movie to make the cut here was "Girl's Night" in 1998.

The 53-year-old actress returned to Park City last week to promote "Saving Grace," which Fine Line Cinema picked up in the first days of the event for a reported $4 million -- the highest purchase price during this year's Sundance. The film went on to win the World Cinema prize at the end of the festival.

In "Saving Grace," Blethyn plays the title role -- a very respectable British lady who finds herself in dire financial straits after her husband dies. So she turns her greenhouse -- where she had raised prize-winning orchids -- into a marijuana plantation to make some fast money and save her home from foreclosure.

"She totally disapproves of it," Blethyn says, laughing. "It's not something she would choose to do, it's only to get her out of her problems."

Blethyn in "Saving Grace"

Blethyn says she enjoys sitting in a theater watching her films with an audience. But she never sees herself on screen. "No, no absolutely not," she says emphathically, "I see the character. I'd never have made 'Little Voice' or 'Secrets & Lies' if I thought it was me up there."

She also loves doing independent films. "There's less interference from the accountants," she says, "and the director's integrity stays intact." Blethyn is best known to U.S. audiences for "Secrets & Lies" (1996), for which she received an Academy Award nomination, and "Little Voice" (1998), in which she co-starred with Michael Caine.

Both of her characters in those films were, in her words, very "down market," so she finds it a nice change to play a woman with a bit more class.

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"She's terribly respectable, a very nice lady. But in her marriage she takes a back seat and suddenly finds herself in the driving seat," she says, "and not being used to that, it presents all sorts of problems." Problems that propel the story and provide plenty of opportunities for humor.

Like many British actors of her generation, Blethyn was trained on the stage, and she has worked with many of the best theatrical directors in England. Those connections are apparent in "Saving Grace," which was directed by Nigel Cole -- a theater director making his feature film debut.

Blethyn's most recent role was for the highly independent-minded Billy Bob Thornton in a movie he wrote and directed, "Daddy and Them."

CNN Entertainment Correspondent Sherri Sylvester, CNN Entertainment Producer Eden Pontz and CNN Interactive Correspondent Paul Clinton contributed to this report.