Analyzing Fear with Debra Kara Unger Anne Gilbert

You might have never heard of Deborah Kara Unger, but chances are good that you've seen her. A striking blonde, she has worked steadily over the years, in projects that range from high profile blockbusters (The Game, the current release White Noise) to smaller productions, like the upcoming Fear X. Despite not being a household name, Unger is quite content with her status. She has no publicist and still views interviews as "chats" about her movies, yet works steadily and has built up an impressively enviable resume.

Just in conversation with Unger, it is easy to see how much thought and analysis goes into her characters, for she is as articulate as she is enthusiastic. In Fear X, a man named Harry (John Turturro) is so obsessed with finding out the details of his wife's murder that it consumes him, causing him to follow the most tenuous of leads and to stumble dangerously close to the shady practices of some small town vigilante cops. Unger plays Kate, a wife and mother who is the unwitting link between Harry and his answers. She recalls that it was not Kate that drew her into Fear X, but the film itself.

"I was drawn to the world of the film before I was drawn to Kate. It's this sub-genre film, not quite a thriller and not really horror, but more of an existential dilemma -- it's like Memento or [Michelangelo Antonioni's] Blow-Up from years ago. And it's all viewed through the prism of these extraordinary people. I am a film fan first and foremost, so it is the world and the story that draws me in."

Unger's self-professed love of films has undoubtedly led her to working on projects that appeal to her as a filmgoer in addition to an actor. Her reflections on Fear X are of the film as a completed work, and sound almost more like the comments of an academic or an especially articulate fan, rather than a participant in its creation.

"Fear X doesn't have security in its narrative or plot. When I saw the film, I walked away very unsure. I had more questions than I had answers, and I wondered about what he [director Nicolas (Erik) Winding Refn] was asking -- which is good. I don't require more. It's more of an insult when it is buttoned up and you are told how to feel and the music is there to make you feel something you wouldn't. Erik doesn't tell you how to feel, he doesn't require one to like it. He is looking for a visceral reaction, anything from bewilderment to raging disdain, as long as you feel something."

Such cerebral views of her films carry over to her own role within them. A highly trained actress (Unger has the distinction of being the first Canadian to be admitted into Australia's prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Arts), it is evident that she views her performances as more than a job or a series of line reads.

"I'm a part of a puzzle -- in the case of Fear X, a hallucinogenic one," Unger states. "I [can't] throw out red herrings. I make choices that serve the text first and then the character."

It is this attitude of serving the text first that has allowed Unger to, in her words, "be under the radar" and yet still have amassed a career that, while in progress, reads like a veritable who's who of enviable collaborations and opportunities. Unger is modest about her impressive resume, declaring herself "so lucky to work with excellent people, wonderful people who are skilled and nice and who keep buoyant a love of storytelling." Though she is hesitant to list off any highlights of people she has worked with over the years, because lists present the inevitable danger of forgetting someone important, her resume speaks for itself.

Unger studied acting with Cate Blanchett and Catherine Martin at NIDA, made her feature debut in 1990 in an Australian film also featuring Russell Crowe, and has since played opposite Holly Hunter, Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Michael Douglas and James Spader, just to name a few. She has made films with, among many others, David Cronenberg, David Fincher and Norman Jewison. She credits the impressive nature of her career largely to luck and good fortune, but also mentions that much of her selection of projects is based on how, she says, she "likes to discover new people, new talent. I worked on one film where almost the entire crew was students, and it was wonderful to watch them be initiated into their very first film." And though Unger's career has encompassed both the blockbuster and the tiny indie feature, she insists that she has no preference between the two.

"For me, it is all about the story. There are definite advantages to big films, and smaller ones are often filled with obstacles. But a lot can be learned through overcoming the obstacles, a lot of creativity is involved. Both are incredibly satisfying."

She cites her upcoming film Emile as the perfect example. Shot in just 17 days -- a timeline compressed to accommodate co-star Sir Ian McKellen's shooting schedule -- she describes the experience as "very much like being onstage. We had limited film stock, so we got one or two rehearsals at best," a situation she describes as capturing the immediacy of theater for a film.

As for now, Unger is taking only the briefest of breaks. She describes her life as "nomadic," moving from place to place because of her consistently busy work schedule. She has several films lined up, including the comedy The Alibi, with Steve Coogan and Rebecca Romijn, and another film about a Texas lawyer whose husband was kidnapped, detained and killed by the US government. But discussing her as-yet-unfinished projects does not hold Unger's interest for long, and she is soon back to talking about something much more to her liking: "So, what movies are you going to see this weekend?"

As she says, she is a film fan first.

Fear X Opens in Theaters Friday.