Director: Matt Williams
Cast: Ashley Judd, Stockard Channing, James Frain, Sally
Field, Joan Cusack...
US Release Date: April 28, 2000
Filmed: during the summer of 1999 in Texas (Austin,
Lockhart, Taylor & Baylor University).
Natalie's Character: Novalee Nation
Plot Summary: Novalee Nation is a pregnant 17-year-old
from Tennessee heading to California with her boyfriend
Willie Jack, but is abandoned by him at a Wal-Mart store
in Sequoyah, Oklahoma. Novalee has no job, no skills and
only $5.55 in her pocket, so she secretly lives in the
Wal-Mart until her daughter Americus is born six weeks
later. Novalee decides to raise her daughter and rebuild
her life in Sequoyah, with the help of eccentric but
kind strangers. and then things go to hell.
Notes: This film marks many firsts for Natalie. it was
the first movie she filmed as an adult without her
parents on the set. it was her first leading role. and
it was her first love scene which she found difficult:
"That was probably like my worst day on the set. I had a
really really hard time. That kind of thing is so
personal."
