Bijou Phillips

Phillips made her film debut in a brief role of the independent drama Sugar Town (1999). Her first major film role came the same year, as an Upper East Side girl trying to fit in with the black hip-hop crowd, in James Toback's drama Black and White, opposite Robert Downey Jr., Jared Leto, Brooke Shields and Elijah Wood. The film received mixed reviews and found a limited audience in theaters,^[8] but AllMovie remarked: "[The film] starts off strong with a provocative performance by newcomer Bijou Phillips as the most unapologetic seeker of approval from her hip-hop-loving friends. Phillips eventually fades into the background, and the film becomes hampered by Toback's insistence upon grafting a standard crime-drama plot".^[9]

Acting breakthrough (2000–2005)

Phillips appeared with

In Bully, based on the 1993 murder of Bobby Kent, she played one of several young adults in South Florida who plotted to murder a mutual friend that had emotionally, physically and sexually abused them for years. The film received a mixed critical response, but famed critic Roger Ebert was a notable admirer who gave it four out of four stars.^[11] Her performance in the film led The Hollywood Reporter to name her one of 2002's "Shooting Stars of Tomorrow".

In 2003, Phillips starred alongside Mischa Barton as a member of a bizarre cult of young criminals in the thriller Octane, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2004, she played the nanny of an author's young daughter, with Jeff Bridges and Kim Basinger, in The Door in the Floor (2004), a drama with heavy sexual themes adapted from the novel A Widow for One Year by John Irving.^[12] Phillips starred with Anne Hathaway in the drama Havoc (2005) as a spoiled socialite.^[13] ViewLondon wrote that the "supporting cast are superb, particularly Bijou Phillips" as the "trashy best friend",^[14] while Variety asserted: "As played by Hathaway and Phillips, the friendship between [their characters] rings girlish and true, and comes complete with tantalizing, lesbian-flavored moments".^[15] Havoc was not released in theaters in the United States due to unfavorable critical reception.^[16] She appeared as an ill-fated high school senior in the slasher film Venom (also 2005), produced by Kevin Williamson.

Horror films (2006–2009)

In 2007, Phillips starred in the independent horror film The Wizard of Gore, as the girlfriend of a magic magazine's publisher. She also collaborated with actress Lauren German in three films, the first of which was the comedy drama Spin, about seven people at a popular Los Angeles nightclub. In Hostel: Part II, which served as a sequel to Hostel (2005), Phillips starred as one of three American female art students in Rome who are directed to a Slovak village, where they are kidnapped and taken to a facility in which rich clients pay to torture and kill people. She claimed that her torture sequence, which entails her being scalped by a power saw, required around forty-five setups. "I don't think I could do something like this again", she stated in a 2007 interview. "I'm glad that I had the experience, and I love my job, but we went into places that I didn't know existed, and I don't need to do that again."^[17] Banned from theatrical release in several countries, Hostel: Part II was released theatrically in the United States, to lackluster box office returns.^[18]

The biographical film What We Do Is Secret featured Phillips as Lorna Doom, the Germs' bassist and a close friend of singer Darby Crash. Director Rodger Grossman cast Phillips when she was 17 years old, and she stayed committed to the project for almost a decade as he worked to bring the film into production.^[19] She received critical acclaim for her portrayal; Phil Gallo for Variety found her performance to be "striking" and stated that her character "lights up in a unique way whenever she's in Crash's company or simply talking about him".^[20] In 2008, Phillips appeared in a documentary about the Hotel Chelsea called Chelsea on the Rocks, directed by Abel Ferrara.^[3] She also starred, opposite Sam Rockwell and Anjelica Huston, as a milkmaid in the well-received black comedy Choke, based on the Chuck Palahniuk's novel of the same name. In her last film of 2008, Dark Streets, Phillips played the alluring star singer of a club in 1930s New York City.

In 2009, Phillips had starring roles in four independent feature films, three of which were opposite Danny Masterson. Her first release in the year was the romantic comedy Wake, in which she played an emotionally isolated modern woman who meets a man mourning his fiancée at a funeral. The horror film It's Alive, a remake of the 1974 film of the same name written and directed by Larry Cohen, saw Phillips star as the mother of a murderous baby. Dread Central, in its review for the film, noted: "Bijou Philips is undoubtedly the star here, jumping into her role in what is admittedly just a piece of schlock cinema with great aplomb".^[21] In the comedy Made for Each Other, Phillips reunited with Lauren German to play a woman whose husband decides the only way to morally rectify his cheating is to get his wife to cheat on him. Her last 2009 film was the crime drama The Bridge to Nowhere, portraying a sex worker.

Television and hiatus (2010–present)

In FOX's sitcom Raising Hope (2010–2014), Phillips played the title character's biological mother, a serial killer sentenced to death.^[22] She appeared in a total of seven episodes of the series. In 2010 and 2012, she guest-starred in episodes of the police procedural television series Hawaii Five-0 and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and in 2011 she appeared in the video for Broken Social Scene's song "Sweetest Kill".^[23] Phillips has not acted since her last appearance in Raising Hope, opting to focus on her family and health.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Phillips dated Sean Lennon in the mid-2000s and became the subject matter of his 2006 album Friendly Fire.^[24]

In 2004, Phillips began dating actor

Phillips has defended both her father and her husband (the former accused of rape and incest by Phillips's half-sister Mackenzie; the latter convicted of the rape and sexual assault of multiple women) in the face of allegations of their sexual abuse.

Of Mackenzie's allegations of sexual assault against their father, Phillips said in 2009, "I'm 29 now, I've talked to everyone who was around during that time, I've asked the hard questions. I do not believe my sister. Our father [was] many things. This is not one of them."^[32] Phillips also stated that Mackenzie told her about their incestuous relationship, and that the news was "confusing and scary" and that she was "heartbroken" to think that her family left her alone with her father.^[33] In a 2000 interview with Bruce LaBruce, she discussed a song she had written about her father with the refrain, "He touched me wrong", but did not go into detail about whether the lyrics referred to herself or someone else.^[34]

In May 2023, Phillips’ husband Masterson was convicted of raping two women in 2003; charges from a third woman resulted in a hung jury. In September 2023, Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison.^[35] Later that month, she filed for divorce.^[36]

Allegations of physical and emotional abuse

In November 2017, actor Daniel Franzese alleged that Phillips had "ridiculed" him about his sexuality and weight, and physically assaulted him on the set of Bully. Phillips subsequently apologized for her behavior.^[37][38] The same month, actress Heather Matarazzo claimed that Phillips had held her against a wall and choked her shortly before filming for Hostel: Part II began.^[39]

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Discography

Albums

• I'd Rather Eat Glass (1999)^[40]

Singles

Promotional singles

• "Hawaii" (1999)

References