Silver screen is sizzling with topnotch female roles It's not just about testosterone. Despite the slew of guys on screen these days � Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense," Pierce Brosnan in "The Thomas Crown Affair," the male-heavy "Blair Witch Project," the Richard Nixon-oriented "Dick" � plenty of new movies, including these, feature terrific roles for women. And in each instance, the actresses have shown they can easily hold their own against the big boys. In the process, they've also ratcheted up their careers to new levels. Rene Russo gets naked and is a sexy-as-all-get-out 45-year-old in the Brosnan caper flick. The formerly unknown Heather Donahue blasts her way into celebrity status playing the foul-mouthed, hyper director of a documentary in "Blair Witch." Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams prove they're more than just teen sexpots � they can act, they really can! � in the Watergate comedy "Dick." And Aussie performer Toni Collette, in what could have been a throwaway part, shows depth and range as the mother of a disturbed child in the psychic shocker "The Sixth Sense." Here's a look at the actresses behind this avalanche of topnotch female roles. Michelle Williams And what you probably think is that the 18-year-old with the bedroom eyes and pouty lips is just another Hollywood sex symbol. "I am not the breasty blond with the come-hither stare," she says. "And I hate that sexuality is perceived as a woman's only means to success. That's not what I'm about." To divert all the attention from her sexuality, Williams is looking for roles that don't just play on her looks. And in the new political spoof "Dick," she gets the perfect opportunity to do it. She and Kirsten Dunst play innocent and ditsy teens who accidentally become key figures in the Watergate scandal. Although the actress says no research was required for the role � because the girls were supposed to be naive � she already knew a lot about Watergate and the Republican Party. Her father is a Republican, she says, and even ran for state Senate twice in Montana, her home state. "I grew up in a political household... although I never imagined I would one day play a teenager with a crush on Richard Nixon." One of the reasons Williams (last seen in the horror flick "Halloween: H20") is having trouble shaking her sexy image is that she was legally emancipated from her parents at 15. When young actresses file for emancipation � usually to free themselves from the restrictions placed on child actors � some people assume they must be tough and mature beyond their years. In the case of Williams, that's not far off the mark. By the time she was 15, she had appeared in one film ("Lassie") and had earned enough money from other acting jobs to rent her own apartment in Burbank. She admits she was conflicted back then about being on her own � and much of that conflict is still there at 18. "It's that woman/child thing that I've got going on inside my head," she explains. "I have always felt older than I am. When I was 15, I felt mentally like I was 30, but I felt socially like I was still 8 years old. Those kinds of thoughts are still there."