WOT Favorites: Diane Lane

Men love Diane Lane. Must be the unbeatable combination of beauty, brains, and low-key sensuality. Anyone who saw "Under the Tuscan Sun" or "Unfaithful" and was not moved by Diane's performance is a total wonk. She routinely makes the other actors in her films look like high school theater geeks yet endears with her understated charm and sly intelligence. Men love Diane Lane because she is a gorgeous, perfect woman. I love Diane Lane for a different reason: she reminds me of my older sister.

My introduction to Diane Lane was in 1978. I was a 10 year old, skinny little white girl living in an all-black neighborhood in downtown Denver, Colorado. I had three loves: Sean Cassidy, the show Solid Gold, and Dance in all its glorious form. When not getting hassled and beat up at school for being a white kid in band and in the gifted/talented program, I choreographed disco dance routines for the easily-distracted kids in the apartment complex and played "Charlies Angels" with my friends Danielle and Sun-Ah, or got my hair conrowed by my older sister.

A movie came out that year called "A Little Romance"--my older sister read all about it in her teen magazines. She ran into my room one day with a Seventeen that featured 13-year old Diane Lane, the star of the movie. "You look just like her!" she said, jabbing the picture. I looked at Diane, looked at my phenomenally goofy face in the mirror, framed by the thickest, waviest hair you've ever seen and said (and probably snorted), "Yeah, right. And you are Brooke Shields." This earned me a whomp with the magazine, not because I disagreed with her but because I knew darn well she was feverishly crushing on Brooke's co-star in "Blue Lagoon", Christopher Atkins. Nevertheless, I kept looking at Diane's picture, made my sister take me to see "A Little Romance", and prayed I'd grow up to look like pretty Diane Lane.

Meanwhile, my older sister was the coolest kid at her school. Sure, she drove a total hoopty, but she was a tennis champ and most popular white girl, ever. She was always drawing perfect replicas of cartoons and groovy album cover art for her friend's book covers and the phone rang constantly with her billions of friends. Plus, she is beautiful has a Farrah Fawcett-wattage smile and had killer feathered hair at the time. Every boy, girl, man, woman and pet had an aching crush on her. My friends were in awe, wondering how we came from the same gene pool. She was never stuck-up or mean to anyone, unless that someone was mean first, then--watch out!

She remains fiercely loyal and protective of those she loves and habitually roots for the downtrodden, the underdog and the aggrieved. She has the best jokes, but will allow anyone to take credit for them, enjoying the laughs by proxy. She is creative, funny, kind, goofy, and worshipped by all. She is a goddess who won't allow you to call her a goddess. I am not alone in believing she could do any damn thing she wanted to if she chose, including ruling the world, but she keeps her ambitions hidden deep within.

Today she is a mom of three rowdy, sports-crazed boys and has a personal training business. I can just see her, stepping out of her minivan at the school with a bag of cleats and pads, stopping hearts for blocks with her unbelievable beauty and poise--in sweatpants, no make-up, and a ponytail. She brushes off the inevitable compliments and jealousy without a second thought, just as she always has. She does not allow people to hang their petty bullshit on her.

I see so much of my sister in Diane Lane, and vice versa. At least, how I imagine Diane Lane is in real life.

Except for a couple of tankers like "Must Love Dogs", Diane Lane's made mostly inspired choices in her film roles. She rarely makes the tabloids and always looks beautiful and elegant on the red carpet. Her personal life (marrying Tarzan Highlander Christopher Lambert and having a child, divorce, marrying younger man and son-in-law of Barbra Streisand) is usually discussed in interviews as an aside, rather than the point, as is usually the case with most young, beautiful actresses. Interviewers tend to fawn over her, which she tends to pooh-pooh.

Diane now co-stars in "Hollywoodland" and, despite the inclusion of Ben Affleck, I will certainly see it. Adrien Brody has no chance up against veteran scene-stealer Diane Lane, that's for sure. I'll have to call my older sister after I see it, see if she still thinks I look like Diane Lane.

Here's Diane's Wiki, for more information on her brilliant career.