ELLE Flashback: 1989  Even before she became Oscar's reigning
queen, director Kathryn Bigelow, then 36, was making a name for
herself as a woman helming tough-guy pictures. Her first two
features, The Loveless and Near Dark, tackled bikers and
vampires, respectively, and her third, the then soon-to-be-
released Blue Steel was no less rough and tumble, featuring
Jamie Lee Curtis as the cop girlfriend of a rich and sudden
psychotic killer played by Ron Silver. What, back then, did
Bigelow feel her unorthodox film choices had in common? "I have
a hard time realizing there's a category for what I'm
doing—directing—because I still feel like I'm making something
and film just happens to be the means." (September)  By Johanna
Cox March 18, 2010   • 0   • Don't Miss