If it weren't for directors such as the 35-year-old Anderson, who has earned Huston's respect like the masters she's worked with, including Woody Allen, Paul Mazursky, Steven Frears and her father, John Huston, she'd do a few cameos a year and stick to directing projects. But Anderson is an anomaly of his generation, in that he is not the type of young male director who writes parts in his movies for the beautiful women of his fantasies. Instead, he creates characters based on his mother, and then he gets Huston, who is just barely old enough to fit the part, to play them.

"I've never met his mother, but I have a feeling she's strong," says Huston, who also starred, along with Murray and Wilson, in Anderson's The Royal Tenenbaums. "Wes understands the dilemma, that when women become too forceful, they get accused of being masculine. If they state their opinions, or if they assert themselves, they won't be thought of as lovable or feminine. We all want to be loved by our daddies ‑- it's a pattern we develop."