Oscar Actors: Debuts Stunning, Kate Winslet, “Heavenly Creatures” (1994)

heavenly-creatures

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Heavenly Creatures tells the story of two teenage girls, Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme, who form an intense and obsessive friendship in 1950s New Zealand. As they retreat into a rich fantasy world of their own creation, their bond grows increasingly unbreakable and defiant against the outside world. When their parents attempt to separate them, the girls hatch a plan to stay together, leading to a shocking and tragic crime.

Juliet and Pauline holding hands and staring ahead of them in Heavenly Creatures© Provided by CBR

Kate Winslet’s stunning debut, at age 18, was in Peter Jackson’s highly acclaimed, fact-inspired drama, Heavenly Creatures.

The film details the friendship between two young girls, which results in murdering one of their mothers. Winslet played one of the girls, Juliet Hulme.

Winslet gave an unsettling depiction of her character, while making her utterly believable. Her visible connection with Pauline is hard to turn away from, as they progressively fall into an intense friendship that Winslet helped to bring to life.

Winslet has gone on to star in numerous big movies, including Titanic, The Holiday and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but her debut is still memorable three decades later.

Credits:

Director Peter Jackson

Release Date: October 15, 1994 (world premiere, Toronto Film Fest, 1994)

Cast Clive Merrison, Sarah Peirse, Diana Kent, Kate Winslet, Melanie Lynskey

Writers Fran Walsh, Peter Jackson

Rating R

Runtime 109 Minutes

Budget $5 Million

Studios: Fontana Productions, New Zealand Film Commission, WingNut Films

Distributor: Miramax Films