This Day in Movie History: February 5

15 years ago Today in Movie History – February 5 – the crime thriller Payback starring Mel Gibson opened and topped the box office charts with a solid $21 million gross. It would end up with $81 million domestically. The film was based on the same source material as 1967’s genre classic Point Blank with Lee Marvin. The hard-edged thriller drew a mixed reaction from critics with 54% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Two actresses with extensive and impressive filmographies celebrate birthdays today. Jennifer Jason Leigh is 52. She became known to moviegoers when she barely out of her teens in 1982’s Fast Times at Ridgemont High. She would move onto a mix of indie critical hits and mainstream fare that includes Last Exit to Brooklyn, Miami Blues, Backdraft, Rush, Single White Female, Short Cuts, The Hudsucker Proxy, Dolores Claiborne, Road to Perdition, Greenberg, and The Spectacular Now.

Laura Linney is 50 today. One of her first high-profile roles was in the costly 1995 dud Congo. However, Linney would soon begin juggling the same kinds of independent prestige projects along with bigger pictures. They include Primal Fear, The Truman Show, You Can Count on Me, Mystic River, Kinsey, The Squid and the Whale, The Savages, and Hyde Park on Hudson. Her TV resume includes the Showtime series “The Big C” and as Abigail Adams in HBO’s “John Adams” miniseries.

As for Six Degrees of Separation between the accomplished performers:

Jennifer Jason Leigh was in Fast Times at Ridgemont High with Sean Penn

Sean Penn was in Mystic River with Laura Linney

And that’s today – February 5 – in Movie History!