Piper Laurie died the other day at the age of 91. She'll always have a special place in my heart for her thrilling, over-the-top performance as Carrie's mother in *Carrie.* Entertainment Weekly did an article in 2001 on the movie when it celebrated its 25th anniversary. They interviewed key members of the cast and production team - - John Travolta was notably absent, I guess he felt he was above that. Piper Laurie said that director Brian de Palma encouraged her to keep going further, to be more grand, more exaggerated, more ridiculous. She said every time he would say "Cut!" she would break out in laughter because she thought was she was doing was so absurd. The results are stunning!
*Carrie* is one of those rare movies that gets better every time you see it. The performances of Sissy Spacek and Laurie are central to its success. Here are three key scenes (spoiler alert):
I wanted to include Margaret's death scene, one of the greatest deaths in any movie ever, but it's age-restricted on YouTube. You have to go find it yourself. In the book Carrie kills her mother by telekinetically causing her heart to stop beating. That works well in the book but the St. Sebastian death in the movie is genius.
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