-- THE FUGITIVE (1993) Moore's doctor character was originally supposed to romance Harrison Ford; instead, the actress ended up in a bit part. Still, the performance caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who later cast her in The Lost World. ''I tested and got this [big] part. Right before I showed up, they called and told me they'd cut it. [Director] Andy Davis decided that they shouldn't have this love interest so soon after his wife died, blah blah. I was devastated. Harrison was so sweet about it. He was the only person who was like, 'Well, do you still want to do it?' I'm like, 'I have to! I need the money!'''
-- SHORT CUTS (1993) Robert Altman's ensemble drama includes the now-infamous scene in which Moore, nude from the waist down, argues with her husband (Matthew Modine). ''The movie that got me most excited about filmmaking was [Altman's] Three Women. Bob saw me on stage in Uncle Vanya. I can remember where I was when I picked up the phone and he said, 'This is Bob Altman. Do you know who I am?' I thought it was a friend playing a trick. It literally was one of the happiest moments of my life.... There was a very prurient interest [in the nude scene] from the press that I didn't expect. Because it was completely nonsexual.''
-- ASSASSINS (1995) It may be a forgettable Sylvester Stallone action vehicle, but it provided Moore, who played cat-loving target Electra, with her first $1 million payday. ''I was very happy about that. Sly was wonderful to me. I don't know that I'm so successful in the film. It's not one of my favorite performances, let's put it that way.''
-- SAFE (1995) Moore lost 10 pounds to play a housewife suffering from ''environmental illness.'' ''I'll never do that again. I made myself so sick. But I wanted her to look like you could barely see her -- like she was dying, which she is. I get more response to that movie. People come up and say, 'That was me.' And they start to cry. Safe, Vanya on 42nd Street, and Short Cuts were my serious introduction to film. I went from being a soap opera actress to a serious actress.''
-- THE LOST WORLD: JURASSIC PARK (1997) At 5 foot 5, Moore, who played Jeff Goldblum's scientist girlfriend, was dwarfed by her costars, 6-foot-5 Goldblum and 6-foot-4 Vince Vaughn. ''Steven [Spielberg] would say, 'Run! Run faster!' So Vince and Jeff would be running, and I'd be hopping along like a jackrabbit, trying to keep up. And looking ridiculous.''
-- THE MYTH OF FINGERPRINTS (1997) The New England family drama may have had a tiny theatrical release, but it's where Moore met writer-director Bart Freundlich, with whom she now has two children, Cal, 4, and 7-month-old Liv. ''We started to see each other about two weeks into it. It was casual. I don't think either of us was thinking that we were going to have two children!''
-- BOOGIE NIGHTS (1997) Moore earned her first Oscar nomination as a drug-addicted porn star in Paul Thomas Anderson's drama. ''I met Paul at a party. A friend said, 'I want you to meet this guy -- he's written this movie, and he wrote a part for you.' So I meet Paul and he's like, 'You're going to be in my movie, man!' And I said, 'Well, I'll read it.' It's interesting to explore characters who've been the cause of their own tragedies. I love the disparity between her intention and her reality. She's this maternal figure, but she can't be a mother.''
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