To put Jeanne Tripplehorn’s career into perspective one might be able to say that it’s been moderate, as in she hasn’t really stood out in any huge way, but she’s been present when she needs to be and has been consistent more often than not. In terms of being the woman that uses sex appeal in a movie, and there are plenty that do simply because this is one of the things that gets people to watch, she’s not exactly a woman that plays heavily upon her looks, but will bring strength of character to her various roles as well that’s empowering and rather encouraging to see since she doesn’t play the vapid, ditzy character that some women have been thrust into over the years. Quite often she plays a very intelligent and strong individual that is able to match her costars for skill and passion when it comes to a role, which is something that makes her unique in the business. Too often it’s seen that some people will play heavily upon the stereotypes that they’re asked to use in their performance, and while she can do this just as well as anyone, she does tend to bring her own level of inner strength to a role that’s hard to ignore and definitely fun to see.
It’s hard to imagine that Basic Instinct was her first film role, but given that she was working off-Broadway to start her career it’s easy to think that she was at least somewhat prepared walking into the movie and made the best of it that she could and to be honest she did quite well. The movie itself is still a benchmark in cinematic history when it comes to certain moments, and it’s one of those that a lot of men still remember for obvious reasons since some of the scenes became a bit racy but fit into the movie in their own way. But while Jeanne ended up being implicated as the killer in the story, a revelation that was obviously false, she played her part well and create a type of cinematic legend that a lot of people still remember to this day, and have even referenced more than once in a few ways. The movie was, as some people might want to say, something of an adolescent or romantic fantasy that was built upon sex and deception, but it still stands out as something that people have remembered in one way or another.
Another role that she’s played in the past that has stuck with some folks is that of Helen from the big-budget movie titled Waterworld. At one time it was considered to be the most expensive movie around, and while the story was sound it definitely failed in a few ways that might not have been entirely preventable since it was a very ambitious project. The casting appeared a bit off in some ways, but Jeanne’s role was probably one of the most solid in the movie simply because she played a woman that had been living on the sea for her entire life in a world where the open ocean was all that anyone knew about. Just imagining living on the water in such a manner is kind of tough since humans are meant to be terrestrial creatures, but again, the story was interesting since the fact that the polar ice caps had melted kind of makes one think that the earth might be far more covered by water, but not entirely. Still, the movie was interesting enough to take a look at, and a lot of people still think it’s a worthwhile project after so long. Whether it will ever be rebooted or even mentioned in terms of a remake is hard to say, but if it was it would be nice to see Jeanne be considered for a role once again.
Over the course of her career, she’s been moving from one movie to another and appearing on various TV shows such as Big Love and Criminal Minds, where she was a main character for a while and found herself nominated a couple of times thanks to her performance. One great thing about Jeanne is that she is a very forthright actress and is able to turn that quality on and off, meaning she can appear timid and uncertain but then turn around and be every bit as confident as she needs to be and throw whatever attitude is required right back at any man on the set. I don’t know about you, but that’s not intimidating so much as challenging and it’s a great bit of fun to see it since those that love a challenge find it invigorating and even uplifting at times since it means she doesn’t wilt and she doesn’t back down. That’s a quality that’s highly attractive in anyone, no matter how frustrated it might make anyone.
