If you don't recognize her right away it's because she was only 14 when she debuted as the unfortunate teenager who lost her leg in the very popular movie The Horse Whisperer starring Robert Redford in 1998.
The novel by Nicholas Evans debuted in 1995 to mixed reviews.
She's the lovely Scarlette Johanssen, who lit up the big screen with her performance as Grace MacLean in the movie version of the novel.
To me this is a case where the movie turned out much better than the book. Not to diminish the nice work by Evans in the book. I just thought the the novel was a bit stale by comparison. Johanssen is the kind of actor that once you see one of her performances you want to see them all, which is the hallmark of a powerful actor. One that commands big bucks and lures in moviegoers with just their name. She did win a Young Star Award for her performance in the movie and deservedly so, and she hasn't looked back since.
Although, I liked the book too, but Grace comes across as a spoiled, privileged child in the novel, while all that changes because of Johanssesn's strong performance in the movie, which helped the popularity of the book.
Click on the title of this Post for the link to Google Books Excerpts and check out Nicholas Evans' opening chapter, I think it is among the best I've read in a long time.
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My Next Post: Alice Sebold's The Lovely Bones. Here's another good story that deserves a movie and the film is just as good or better than the book this time. How did this amazing story come about? Come on back for all the juicy details.
