The Maura Tierney Website

FILMS

In Welcome to Mooseport (2004), a popular former U.S. president (Gene Hackman) moves to the small town of Mooseport and ends up running for mayor against a local handyman (Ray Romano). It seems like a lark until the beloved president also sets his sights on Handy's longtime, long-suffering girlfriend Sally Mannis (Maura Tierney) and both men pull out all the stops to win the race and the girl.

The core of Melvin Goes to Dinner (2003) is the dinner conversation between the four main characters, including Melvin (Michael Blieden), a guy stuck in a bad job and a bad relationship. Adapted from the play Phyro-Giants, the movie has fleshed out more of Melvin's backstory to accompany the dinner scenes. Maura Tierney appears in a small role as Melvin's understanding older sister.

The Nazi (2002, short film) played at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. Here's a summary: "It's 1987. Helen (Maura Tierney), dying of Leukemia, makes a pilgrimage to a prison in Israel to meet Franz (James Cromwell). But her intention is not to confront the nazi war criminal who worked in the concentration camp where her grandmother was murdered… it is to forgive him."

Rooftop Kisses (2002, short film) played at the 2002 Nantucket Film Festival. Here's the IMDB's plot summary for the short: "This is a film that tells the story of a twelve year old boy who has to come to terms with the death of his father as it relates to the selling of his boyhood home." Allison Janney and Anton Yelchin also star.

Insomnia (2002): More soon...

For more information on Mexico City (2002), please visit The Films of Richard Shepard. Maura Tierney can be heard in the film as Pam, the voice on the other end of a phone call made by the thriller's main character, Mitch Cobb (Stacy Edwards). Maura Tierney's friend Richard Shepard wrote and directed the film.

Scotland, P.A. (2001) is a darkly comic adaptation of Shakespeare's Macbeth set in a small town in the 1970s. Written and directed by Maura Tierney's husband Billy Morrissette, the film's kingdom is the fast-food restaurant where Joe (James LeGros) and Pat McBeth (Maura Tierney) work. When Joe gets passed over for a promotion in favour of the boss's rebellious son (Thomas Guiry), the couple starts a violent chain of events that lead to their rise and inevitable fall.

Scotland, P.A. was well-received at the Sundance Film Festival and had a limited theatrical release in the United States. Along with Madeline Foster in Oxygen, Pat McBeth ranks as one of her best roles and best performances.

Here's what Maura had to say on the subject of Pat McBeth vs. Lady MacBeth (Download the video clip of this soundbite here (Windows Media Player file, 3.2MB, Thanks to Sebastian):

"Lady MacBeth, especially in Billy's adaptation, is a bit more of a
different character than the other characters that I think are a little more
faithful. Because there's a lot more of Pat in this movie than there is of
Lady MacBeth in MacBeth. He sort of enlarged the role for me. So I'm sort of
around more so there was a lot more of stuff I had to fill in."

Instinct (1999) a film "suggested by" Daniel Quinn's book Ishmael, tells the story of Dr. Ethan Powell (Anthony Hopkins), an anthropologist whose two-year absence in the wilds of Africa ends in the murder of two park rangers. A therapist named Dr. Theo Caulder (Cuba Gooding Jr.) asks for the case and tries to get through to Dr. Powell by enlisting the help of the man's estranged daughter Lyn (Maura Tierney). More soon...

Forces of Nature (1999) stars Ben Affleck as Ben Holmes, a writer travelling from New York City to Savannah for his wedding to Bridget (Maura Tierney). Unfortunately, one disaster after another keeps Ben from reaching his destination, as does his growing attraction to (Sandra Bullock), an unpredictable and adventurous woman he finds himself stuck with along the way. Meanwhile, in Savannah, Bridget slowly becomes unhinged as she deals with the return of an old flame (the late David Strickland) and a surprising revelation from her parents. The film circumvents the typical romantic comedy route by allowing Bridget to be a fully realized and sympathetic character in her own right, creating a real sense of conflict in Ben and making the ending all the more meaningful.

The Thin Pink Line (1999, unreleased in North America) features a cameo by Maura Tierney, her husband Billy Morrissette, and their dog Rose Kennedy. MT does not, in fact, speak in the film. Go to the Images page to see a shot from the film (Thanks, Adrian!).

The movie is available on video in certain countries, though not in North America. On the poster to the right, Maura is in the bottom right-hand corner, while Billy is two spots above.

The movie Primary Colors (1997) is adapted from the bestselling novel of the same name. It's a fictional account of a presidential campaign, though many of the characters were easily identifiable as real political players. John Travolta plays a Bill Clinton-type, Emma Thompson his Hillary, and a host of other notable actors fill in the supporting roles of his staff. Maura Tierney plays Daisy Green, an intelligent and assertive media specialist reportedly modeled after politico Mandy Grunwald. Daisy enters into a relationship with Henry Burton (Adrian Lester), the idealistic new campaigner from whose point of view the story is told, but she drops out of sight about halfway through the film and doesn't resurface until the very end.

In Liar Liar (1997), lawyer Fletcher Reede (Jim Carrey) finds himself unable to speak anything but the truth for one full day when his disappointed son Max (Justin Cooper) makes a birthday wish that comes true. Maura Tierney portrays Audrey, Fletcher's frustrated ex-wife. When Audrey reveals that she is prepared to marry her new boyfriend (Cary Elwes) and move away with Max, Fletcher desperately tries to reconcile with her and stop them from leaving, which becomes complicated, of course, by his inability to lie.

Maura Tierney attains leading lady status and provides the perfect contrast to Jim Carrey's broadly comedic antics with a more understated performance.

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For more information on Mercy (1996), please visit The Films of Richard Shepard. Maura Tierney makes a brief appearance in this thriller written and directed by friend Richard Shepard. She plays Simonet, assistant to the film's main character, Frank Kramer (John Rubinstein).

Primal Fear (1996) is best known as the movie that put Edward Norton on the map, and indeed, he is very compelling as an altar boy being defended by a morally bankrupt lawyer named Martin Vail (Richard Gere).

Maura Tierney portrays Naomi Chance, one of Martin Vail's legal assistants.

In Fly By Night (1993) a fledging rapper (Jeffrey D. Sams) navigates the treacherous waters of the music industry and attracts the attention of Denise, a gorgeous groupie. More soon...

The Temp (1993) is Kris Bolin (Lara Flynn Boyle), a seemingly perfect assistant to Peter Derns (Timothy Hutton), a cookie-company executive recovering from a breakdown. An average entry in the psycho-thriller genre, the film features Maura Tierney in the smaller but significant role of Sharon Derns, Peter's patient and sweet estranged wife. Peter, of course, wants a reconciliation, but Kris has other ideas...

In White Sands (1992), a lawman (Willem Dafoe) finds a corpse and a large sum of money in the middle of nowhere. He decides to pose as the dead man and follows the money into the dangerous underworld of the drug and weapon trade.

Maura Tierney co-stars as Noreen, a young woman with a close connection to the deceased. She appears in two scenes, and unfortunately, her appearance is short-lived in more way than one...

The Linguini Incident (1991) is a quirky romantic comedy starring Rosanna Arquette as a wannabe escape artist and David Bowie as a bartender with a gambling problem. The two of them work at an ultra-stylized restaurant called Dali's and . Maura Tierney has a small role as one of Dali's fabulous waitresses, Cecelia.

The film's writer and director, Richard Shepard, is a close friend of Maura Tierney's; the two met while attending New York University. Visit The Films of Richard Shepard for more on The Linguini Incident and their other projects together.

Dead Women in Lingerie (1991) is an odd little movie that attempts to combine humour, suspense, and a serious message about illegal immigration. Maura Tierney stars as Molly Field, a lingerie designer whose illegal immigrant models are being murdered while wearing her creations. When the cops aren't tackling the case with as much dedication as she'd hoped, Molly hires a private investigator (John Romo) to find the killer. Naturally, the two fall in love while the killer is at large. June Lockhart co-stars as Molly's mother and Jerry Orbach plays her boss.

Maura Tierney has less-than-fond feelings towards this film, at one point calling it the "biggest mistake of my life." It's actually quite tame, considering the title, but it's also an incredibly lousy movie.

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