A new Morning for Judd
From Sara Hall

NEW YORK—A few years ago, Ashley Judd was the queen of female-driven thrillers thanks to big hits like “Kiss the Girls” and “Double Jeopardy.” While a talented actress, Ms. Judd went to that well a few too many times as the bombs “High Crimes” and “Twisted” pushed her off the A-list. What many moviegoers don’t know is that Judd got her first big break in the 1993 Sundance Film Festival favourite “Ruby in Paradise.” Returning to her indie drama roots, Judd is now starring in another Sundance favourite, this year’s “Come Early Morning.”
Directed by Joey Lauren Adams, better known as the actress with the distinctive voice from “Chasing Amy,” Judd’s new flick is a character study of an Arkansas woman who can’t open herself to more than a one-night-stand. Some might think her character Lucy is a slut, sleeping with random men weekend after weekend, but Judd sees her as a woman just looking for a different result, even if she doesn’t know how to find it.
“My friend Samantha, her mom will talk about boyfriends like the tester pancake. ‘Well, that was a pretty good pancake, but not the best one. There’s going to be something further in the batch that’s really the better pancake for me,’” Judd says. “I think it’s that way with relationships as well, but Lucy is in that rut where she can’t get past doing the same tester pancake, over and over and over again.”
Lucy’s choices lead to, in particular, one very intimate sex scene. Judd has shied away from those moments in the past, so how did she muster up the courage to do this one?
“Willingness. Just being willing,” Judd says. “And thinking, ‘I did sign a contract, so I’ll get fired if I don’t.’”
Besides a role in William Friedkin’s new thriller “Bug” (uh oh, not one of those again), Judd is taking her career into her own hands by developing her own material. She’s optioned the rights to the novel “The Burning Time” by Robin Morgan about Dame Alyce Kyteler, a 14th century Irish noblewoman who was at the centre of a conflict between the pagan Irish religion and the Catholic Church. As Adams did with “Morning,” Judd is going to attempt to adapt the historical novel into a screenplay herself.
“I may fail spectacularly, or succeed modestly. I don’t know,” Judd says. “But, I’m certainly looking forward to sitting down and taking a try at it.”