On the surface, similarities abound between teenage actress Juliette Lewis and Amanda Sue Bradley, the teenage murderer she plays in Too Young to Die, an NBC-TV movie airing at tonight at 8 p.m. on Ch. 2.
Both girls started living on their own at 14, neither was interested in formal schooling, both are frequently disappointed by people they meet.But the similarities are strictly surface. Where Amanda was cast out and abandoned by parents who abused and beat her, Juliette couldn't wait to be legally emancipated and live on her own.
While Amanda didn't go to school because she was coerced into a life of striptease, drugs and prostitution, Juliette was simply bored and frustrated.
And while Amanda was exploited by virtually every man she met, starting with a vicious stepfather, Juliette is determined that no one will take advantage of her.
In fact, Juliette saw the real-life Amanda as so different from herself that even though the role was in many ways her dream come true, she almost turned it down.
"At first, I didn't want to do it," Juliette said in an interview on the set of "A Family for Joe," a new NBC sitcom in which she will play one of Robert Mitchum's grandchildren. "I'm not into abuse, but as a teenage actress, the characters you play will be either battered or really simple and interested only in boys, fashion and school.
"I was pretty much mad every day of the filming, with all the degenerate situations. And I didn't want to be all sexy and trashy. In my own life, I would choose a suit rather than a tight dress that shows off my body."
For Juliette, who manages her own money and lives in an apartment with an 18-year-old female friend, the most difficult part of playing Amanda was "being naive and getting in situations only a confused, abused, naive person would. I had to wipe out half my brain to play that part."
She especially hated the striptease scenes, even though she never bared more of herself than what's shown off by a string bikini.
"I didn't really pay much attention to the stripping scenes until the day came to do it. When that time came, it was really rough. I don't like being sexy and stuff," she said, vowing to never appear topless.