brittany murphy, the misunderstood angel who deserved so much better. her story, her talents & her underrated legacy. a thread: 
who is brittany murphy? she was an actress from the early 90s and 2000s. this thread will focus on her career, talents and the underrated legacy she left behind instead of focusing on the mystery around her death.
we’re celebrating her life and legacy. hopefully— you’ll learn more about the real brittany by the end.
born in atlanta, ga and raised in edison, new jersey, brittany anne murphy was ready for stardom.
here in this clip, we have a young brittany doing an interview at her local county fair. you can tell she captures your attention on screen and already a natural as she starts to interview others.
by the time of her teens, brittany’s family moved in 1991 for her to pursue an acting career. it was her dream and her mother supported it.
she starred in 90s shows as recurring roles such as: party of five, sister, sister, boy meets world and the short-lived series ‘almost home’ as molly morgan.
she wouldn’t get her big break until the iconic 1995 classic clueless alongside alicia silverstone, paul rudd and stacey dash. she’d portray the character tai frasier — the shy girl who gets a makeover from her friends.
she had smaller roles in other films, freeway with reese witherspoon kiefer sutherland and an indie film bongwater.
in 1999, she’d be casted as daisy rondone in the critically acclaimed academy-award winning film: girl, interrupted with angelina jolie and soon to be best friend for life, winona ryder. brittany gave an oscar worthy performance as daisy, but wasn’t nominated.
TW//: mention of sexual abuse.
in this clip, you can see her range. the character being completely distinct from tai fraiser as she digs deeper and darker side of daisy, a character struggling with mental illness and craving the love for her father after being sexually abused.
in this clip, you can see her range. the character being completely distinct from tai fraiser as she digs deeper and darker side of daisy, a character struggling with mental illness and craving the love for her father after being sexually abused.
in 1999, she also starred in drop dead gorgeous with kirsten dunst and amy adams. although brittany starred in two classic films (clueless and girl, interrupted) it wouldn’t be until the 2000s where her career would really to take her off to mega stardom.
she’d also started voice-acting around this time on the hit series, king of the hill, as the character of luanne platter for all of the show’s run. brittany also voiced the young joseph gribble for the first three seasons of the show. the talent she possessed.
the film that would catapult her success further would be the film 8 mile, which she received critical acclaim and praises as the character alex, with co-star rapper eminem. this’d be the film where hollywood would see her talent shine through.
although the film gave her the acclaim, the media would focus more on her love life at the time. in this david letterman interview, you’d see them ask whether she and eminem had more than a working relationship going on.
it also was heavily focused on in late 2002 when she started dating ashton kutcher, her co-star in the romcom “just married”.
the year 2003 came and she would star with the IT girl childhood actress of the 2000s, dakota fanning in the cinematic masterpiece and my brand: uptown girls.
dakota in a recent interview reminisces on her time on-set with brittany. brittany would make every day on set fun for her. that’s how much of a sweetheart she was. she wanted the best days to be for dakota. “how can I make this experience fun for dakota?”
as we enter the mid-2000s, brittany would do many more films such as black book, the critically acclaimed sin city and a plethora of indie films like never was and the groomsmen. she also starred in an indie film called spun in 2001.
by the year ‘06, she dove back into voice acting in the critically acclaimed animated film, happy feet as gloria penguin. not only did she voice her, she sang for her character.
here’s a clip of her in the studio singing her cover of queen’s somebody to love. blew away the studio bc they didn’t know she could sing.
brittany commented on her singing abilities once: "My singing voice isn't like my speaking voice...I've just always kept it a secret and never taken credit because (cont.)
[...] “i wanted to learn how to work behind the microphone in a recording studio, and some of the singers don't even know it was me recording on their albums."
brit was in a band in the 1990s called blessed soul and provided vocals on the song faster kill pussycat with paul Oakenfold in ‘06. here’s a clip of the song:
however, even with brit being multitalented, the media and casting still placed her in a box of “dumb blonde” stereotype. there weren’t many scripts that would give her a chance to further push herself and show off her range more.
like stayed earlier in the thread, media & tabloids focused more on her personal life than her actual talent. by early 2000s, brittany had started losing weight. there would be body shaming and claims of her doing drugs (i.e. p***z h***ton).
brittany’s response in a magazine article in ‘05: “"No, just for the record I have never tried it in my entire life.”
in june ‘06, it was announced that brittany was gonna be the voice of the popular character tinkerbell, in her first solo animated film. this film was originally supposed to premiere in ‘07.
brittany became ultimately detached from the project and was replaced with mae whitman for the movie and rest of the Disney fairies series.
the final year of her life in 2009, brittany was deemed “difficult to work with onset” and dropped from the project; the caller. she denied those claims and defended herself that it was “creative differences.” she also starred in a lifetime TV movie tribute.
sadly, in december 20, 2009, brittany murphy passed by pneumonia. there has been much controversy surrounding her death with her mother and her husband, but we’re not gonna focus on that. we’re talking about her life & achievements. perhaps another thread bc this one is positive.
now that I’ve given you a rundown of brittany’s life and career, let’s talk about the talent she possessed and the underrated legacy that she left behind in film.
brittany was a well rounded person. she attended the verne school of dance and theatre arts. she was already trained in singing, dancing and acting by the age of four before the official move to cali by 13.
she was even on broadway in 1997, arthur miller’s ‘a view from the bridge’. the New York Times called her “exceptional!”
brittany was meant to play in a janis joplin biopic, but it was sadly cancelled due to issues with the music rights. here’s a small clip of her performance of it:
she loved to sing. according to her peers and co-stars, she would be singing on-set all of the time. others would be shocked because they didn’t know she could. this is what I meant when she had the RANGE!
here’s a small clip we see of brittany singing in the film little black book:
brittany commented on her singing during an interview for happy feet: "oddly enough, of all the characters I've played, gloria is the most like me. And she's a penguin! george miller always wanted one person to do both [the speaking and the singing] (cont.)
[...] i said, 'I can sing,' and i asked him to give me a shot. i don't think he took me very seriously, because most actors say they can do most things.”
film critic roger elbert constantly gave praises to brittany’s talent and comedic timing. he would compare her to the likes of the iconic lucille ball (cont.)
he quoted “as for brittany murphy, for me, it goes back to the 2003 independent spirit awards [where] Murphy was assigned to present one of the awards. Her task was to read the names of the five nominees, open an envelope, and reveal the name of the winner.” (cont.)
[...] This she turned into an opportunity for screwball improvisational comedy, by pretending she could not follow this sequence, not even after the audience shouted instructions and the stage manager came to whisper in her ear not once but twice. (cont.)
[...] “there were those in the audience who were dumbfounded by her stupidity. i was dumbfounded by her brilliance.”
here are photos of brittany attending her ballet class in 2007. she was trained in ballet and there was also speculations she was supposed to have auditioned to be nina sayers in black swan. oh, how different that film would’ve been! i know she would’ve blown audiences away!
brittany was multitalented, but really was never given much of a chance to show the wide range talents she possessed.
what made brittany special is, just like heath ledger, you could’ve given her any character and she’d become that character. she had quite the range for an actress due to her being a theatre kid and trained since four years old.
what kind of person was brittany personally? well, let’s hear it from the people who knew her. her co-star, Taryn Manning from 8 mile remembered her as "free-spirited, whimsical and full of laughter".
here’s an interview from the cast of clueless and alicia silverstone giving memories of how they remember brit.
TW:// suicide. her best friend, winona ryder admitted in a magazine article in 2010 that she finds it difficult to watch Girl, interrupted. from total Film magazine, she quoted: “I can’t watch the movie now because of brittany murphy. she k*lls herself in the movie.(cont.)
[...] “i was very close to her before she died.”
brittany murphy once called winona ryder her “ultimate mentor” once. the two had such a tight-knit close friendship.
the director of zack and reba, nicole bettateur once said: “she just had an offbeat way of looking at the world and a sense of humor and sarcasm that was beyond her experience. because she lit up a room when she came in. she wasn’t jaded. she was an original.”
nicole bettateur and kathy najimy, a close friend of brittany’s who also played her aunt on the long-running animated series king of the hill, would go to karaoke bars.
they said that Brittany was a belter, somebody with shockingly impressive pipes, who would sing at the drop of a hat.
dakota fanning remembering her co-star “she was like such a ray of light”.
drew barrymore would share memories of brittany on her talk show. here’s a clip:
so, who was brittany murphy? she was a cultural figure. an open book with different layers and intriguingly knowledgeable.
she was very magnetic, with the rare ability to seem both completely approachable and disarmingly terrifying, personas she could switch on and off with remarkable ease.
when you remember brittany murphy, look beyond her untimely passing. she was more than just that. she was brittany anne murphy and her legacy shall forever live on. <3
thank you for the memories and the wonderful childhood, brittany! we’ll never forget you and continue to let your legacy live on. you deserved so much better, the world just wasn’t ready for you and your talents!
fun fact: she was considered for the role of mia thermopolis in the princess diaries.
also, i highly recommend this youtube video for more info on brittany that goes further into depth! check it out. <3
this thread is dedicated to the community of brittany fans, @cinemetery thank you so much for helping me and giving your opinion! i’m glad we met thru being fans of hers and also, @theselftitled, i love you girlie. also the kirsten dunst fans bc we’re basically besties. 😚✨
checkout my other thread and follow me please & thank you for reading!📖🍃
https://twitter.com/ninetiesrnb/status/1360691360806957058
bonus: other hit brit tweets. ✨
https://twitter.com/ninetiesrnb/status/1511854657861300238
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