Movie Score Card

August, 1998

Portraying wives in crises seems to be the specialty of Joan Allen, 41. She was an Oscar nominee (for best actress) in two consecutive years--first for Nixon (as First Lady Pat), then for The Crucible (as Daniel Day-Lewis' wife on trial for witchcraft). Last year she was Kevin Kline's betrayed mate in The Ice Storm and done wrong again in Face-Off. This fall she'll enjoy a change of pace in a comedy called Pleasantville, co-starring Jeff Daniels and William H. Macy: "I'm the ideal Fifties m...