Patricia Arquette Looks Back on Her Oscar-Winning Career, From Stabbing Feet in 'True Romance' to Raising a Son in 'Boyhood'
Patricia Arquette won her first Oscar earlier this year, a well-deserved and years-in-the-making honor that recognized her incredible central performance in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. The 47-year-old actress was involved in that project for a whopping 12 years or about 41 percent of her time in Hollywood, a career that stretches back to 1987’s schlocky horror sequel, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.
Arquette, who stars in the upcoming mob film The Wannabe, looked back on her incredible career last month in a fun interview with Yahoo Movies, which you can watch above.
Most people first really noticed Arquette when she starred in the Quentin Tarantino-written, Tony Scott-directed crime caper True Romance. The part of Alabama, a sweet prostitute looking for a change, was a big breakout role for the then-25-year-old actress. She got to run across the country with Christian Slater, and stab James Gandolfini in the foot… though not as hard as the future Sopranos star wanted during her character’s big fight scene with Gandolfini’s vicious mob enforcer.
“At one point, we were shooting James’ close-up, for his reaction to when I stab him in the foot with the corkscrew,” she said. “He was like, 'Patricia, take this pen’ — and it had a cap on it — 'and jab it as hard as you can for my reaction.’”
Arquette gave it her all, but she just didn’t feel right about shoving a sharp object into a friend’s foot. Luckily, her stuntwoman was willing to do the dirty work, which helped Gandolfini react with real agony.
In other awkward stunts, Arquette also recalled the very strange moment she had with costar Josh Brolin while filming the famed armpit-licking scene in David O. Russell’s 1996 comedy Flirting With Disaster. Trying to be considerate, she put on deodorant, but that actually made the experience less pleasant for Brolin, who ended up with a mouth filled with chalk.
Patricia Arquette: Always trying to be nice in the most uncomfortable on-screen situations!
For more on her career — including the time she spent getting devoured by a Freddy Krueger snake on Nightmare on Elm Street 3— watch the video above.
