Set in New York during the height of World War II, Focus recounts the unraveling of an American community when the identity of a man (William H. Macy) and his wife (Laura Dern) are mistaken. Slowly ostracized at home and work, they learn the value of self and solidarity as they struggle to maintain dignity and find happiness. Focus marks the directorial debut of award-winning photographer Neal Slavin, and is adapted by Kendrew Lascelles from the Arthur Miller novel of the same name. The film stars William H. Macy, Laura Dern, David Paymer and Meat Loaf Aday. (English)

John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Salma Hayek, Jared Leto and Laura Dern star in this crime-thriller, based on a true story.

Molly Shannon plays Peggy, a happy-go-lucky secretary who is a great friend, employee, and sister living alone with her beloved dog Pencil. But when Pencil unexpectedly dies, Peggy must find meaning in her life. John C. Reilly, Peter Sarsgaard, Regina King and Laura Dern turn in great comic performances as the significant people in Peggy's life who give her ill-fitting advice.

Bartlet makes a disparaging comment about a potential Republican nominee after a television interview, not realizing that he is still being recorded. For days, C.J. must control the scandal, and Sam recalls Republican White House legal counsel Ainsley Hayes (recurring guest star EMILY PROCTER) from vacation to help formulate the administration's official response. Meanwhile, Toby tries to dissuade the newly named U.S. poet laureate, Tabatha Fortis (LAURA DERN - "Jurassic Park"), from publicly objecting to the government's lack of support for a treaty on land mines. Bartlet ponders saving a failing computer company. And Josh is both repulsed and intrigued by the fact that there is a fan-based Web site devoted to him.

Laura Dern discusses the environmental effect on our children and promotes the extraordinary mission of "Healthy Child, Healthy World."

Produced for PBS' American Playhouse series, Smooth Talk was given a brief theatrical release before its official February 9, 1987 TV debut. Laura Dern plays a teenager anxious to experience the pleasures of sexual contact. Left alone in the family summer cottage when her mother (Mary Kay Place), father (Levon Helm) and sister (Elizabeth Berridge) go shopping, Dern decides to wander into town for male companionship. She makes the acquaintance of Treat Williams, a handsome if mildly psychotic type who identifies himself as A. Friend and behaves like James Dean. When she returns home, Dern is bewildered and dishevelled. We can only speculate as to whether or not she was raped by Williams; we do know that she isn't the same person we met at the beginning of the film. Smooth Talk was based on a 1970 short story by Joyce Carol Oates entitled Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.

Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern play a pair of lovers on the run in David Lynch's surrealist road movie Wild at Heart. Cage's Sailor Ripley is a violent ex-convict with an Elvis Presley fixation who falls in love with Dern's Lula Pace Fortune, the daughter of a rich, but mentally unstable, Southern belle named Marietta (Diane Ladd, Dern's real-life mother). Just after Sailor is released from prison, where he was jailed for brutally killing one of Marietta's thugs, he and Lula take off on a wild cross-country trip, pursued by his parole officer, her mother, criminals, bounty hunters, and detectives. Along the way, Sailor and Lula have a lot of sex, share their pasts, share their respective obsessions for Elvis and The Wizard of Oz, and meet a lot of bizarre characters, including a seedy ex-marine (Willem Dafoe) who persuades Sailor to participate in a bank robbery. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide.

This psychological drama was based on the novel by Ella Leffland. After the death of her husband, Rose Munck (Diane Ladd), needs a job and takes a position looking after local business tycoon Patrick Leary (Bruce Dern), who has grown old and infirm and can no longer care for himself. However, revenge is higher on Rose's list of priorities than tending to Leary or earning a living; years ago, when she was a teenager, Rose (played in flashbacks by Kelly Preston) was seduced by the married Leary, and when she became pregnant, he threatened to have the child taken away from her unless she had an abortion. Rose chose to have the child against Leary's wishes, but the baby was killed during an altercation between Rose and Leary, and she has never forgiven him for it. Now, with Leary abandoned by his family, Rose takes her opportunity to slowly torture the old man who ruined her life. Mrs. Munck was the directorial debut for Diane Ladd; she was once married to co-star Bruce Dern, and their daughter, Laura Dern, direc

May 14: The actress discusses playing Katherine Harris in HBO s new political drama and her amazingly talented co-stars.