Perhaps the biggest breakout star from Once and Again was Evan Rachel Wood. Her character Jessie’s stories dealt with some groundbreaking issues at the time—including her eating disorder and her realization she might be a lesbian. When asked about Wood, Herskovitz is quick to praise the young actress. “Evan was one of those people who is an utter natural and reminded us of Claire Danes. They both just came out of the box with everything you needed to become an actor. They were geniuses who had it all.”
So what was it about Wood that made Herskovitz and Zwick cast her as sensitive Jessie Sammler? As Herskovitz tells it, “Evan had this fragility in her character that is not in her person. In the way she played that child, she just broke your heart. Evan is the only actor who has ever made me cry while I was directing her—during a scene where she reveals to her father (Billy Campbell) just how painful her parents’ divorce had been for her.”