Diane Lane keeps getting better with age.
At 14, she made an auspicious screen debut in the adolescent love story “A Little Romance” (1979) and landed on the cover of Time magazine. Despite some proverbial ups and downs along the way, the actress has been working steadily ever since.
Still, it’s only in the past 10 years or so that Lane, now 45, seems to have hit her stride. Among her more recent films, some are better than others — but the actress admits she’s “blessed” to be playing three-dimensional characters that aren’t simply someone else’s wife or mother: “A Walk on the Moon,” “Under the Tuscan Sun,” “Must Love Dogs,” “Hollywoodland,” “Nights in Rodanthe” and her Oscar-nominated turn in “Unfaithful.”
Lane’s latest, “Secretariat,” tells not only the true story of the racehorse that won the Triple Crown in 1973, but also that of Penny Chenery, the inexperienced new owner who guides him to victory.
Q: What’s your general process for choosing projects?
A: Generally, I look at what’s going on in my personal life. You can’t put a price on being away from that. Traveling for work is really hard when you’re a mom. There’s a ripple effect on the whole family when you’re not there. I hadn’t worked for two years before finally agreeing to “Secretariat,” because I wanted to be home for the tricky bits, at least until we got through that speed bump, that pothole or whatever you want to call it, when you’ve got teens at home. (She has a daughter by former husband Christopher Lambert, in addition to two stepchildren with current spouse Josh Brolin.) That’s such a necessary time, and I was grateful to be home. It’s hard to leave that, so it has to be a project I really care about.
Q: What drew you to “Secretariat,” in particular?
A: Partly because I remember the story and the phenomenon surrounding it, and partly because I related to Penny, who also sacrifices time at home with her family for what she considers a worthy cause. The stakes are higher when you’re telling a true story, and I liked how the script didn’t lean too heavily on just the horse racing. It dealt with other aspects of the story — emotionally, not just historically. You might know how it ends, but that doesn’t mean you’re not interested in what happens behind the scenes.
Q: Considering how few child actors make it in the business as adults, what’s the secret of your enduring career?
A: It probably has to do with the work ethic I got starting out in the theater as a child, which is a real team sport and a very humbling process. I’ve also tried not to bleed in the piranha tank of the media. It’s a whole cautionary universe that seems to have sprung up like mold. Be careful what you wish for, because celebrity can be a ball and chain you wind up having to feed. I can’t handle it, so I tend to just duck.
Q: As you get older, have you sensed any improvement in roles for women?
A: In real life, it’s at this age when people’s lives really begin to bloom. In terms of characters, they become much more interesting to play, but it’s also about the life experience an actor brings to a part. With age comes a richer perspective.
Q: Your career floundered a bit during the ’90s, but you’ve been on a real roll lately. Was your Oscar nomination for “Unfaithful” a turning point for you?
A: Actually, I think it was probably before that, with “The Perfect Storm,” because I was finally in a movie that a lot of people saw. (She laughs.) That counted for something in terms of finding more work and better scripts. It’s funny how that works. I guess I’m falling uphill. Sometimes it’s like, how did I pull that off? Since I’ve been promoting “Secretariat,” I’ve been reminded that both of us made the cover of Time magazine. Most people accomplish that because they’ve merited it. With me, I was only 14 at the time, a “new young acting sensation” or whatever. But it’s nice to feel like I’ve tried to live up to that and that I’m still here.
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