05.07 PulseFLICKS - An Open Letter To Scarlett Johansson
Hollywood’s Latest It Girl
Dear Scarlett,
Like any good twentysomething, I enjoyed your company at first. In films like Girl With A Pearl Earring and Lost In Translation, your roles were sparse but intimate, quiet but telling. You played the reserved yet intriguing young woman with an old soul. Plus, you weren’t all that bad to look at.
Then, somewhere between those two films and your first Woody Allen picture, “it” happened. Literally. You became the latest victim of Hollywood’s “It Girl” fanaticism.
Clara Bow was the first back in 1927. Though the term originally came from author Elinor Glyn, whose book It was made into a movie starring Bow. Glyn described “it” as, among other things, “…that strange magnetism which attracts both sexes,” while Dorothy Parker aptly narrowed things down to a certain physical feature: “It, hell. She had those.”
Like Bow, Scarlett, your open-mouth countenance and strategically-lifted bosom were soon plastered on the cover of every major entertainment magazine on the newsstand: Vanity Fair, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, New York, Interview, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, and Allure. Esquire featured you as the year’s sexiest woman alive. This isn’t to forget your television appearances hocking perfume for Calvin Klein and playing the lead in both a Bob Dylan and a Justin Timberlake music video.
As if that weren’t enough, there were all the movie roles. Whenever there was a part you were even remotely qualified for, your agent was sure to get a call. It’s par for the course in the entertainment industry and audiences thrive on this kind of lush overexposure. During the Grammys, there was even talk of you recording a pop album and doing a run on Broadway. It hardly matters that you’ve never sung a single note in your life. You’re the new thing, baby!
From 2004-2006, you had prominent roles in several major movies: In Good Company, Match Point, The Island, Scoop, The Black Dahlia, The Prestige, and even SpongeBob SquarePants. But despite all these lucrative offers, did you really have to say “yes” to so many? Even Jude Law must be shaking his head every time your name appears on yet another marquee.
I suppose it wouldn’t be quite so bad if you were simply a better actress. Recently, I’ve found myself imagining other actresses who could have done a much better job with your roles. Aren’t you even a little tired of playing the exact same character in every movie? Though you’ve certainly mastered that bit of Stanislavski magic known as staring blankly at another actor with your mouth open, it cheapens a film when a character who deserves actual depth simply receives the “Johansson stare” instead of an actual performance.
While it’s easy to blame Hollywood for this name brand casting, you are still to blame for electing to take the path of least resistance and accept roles for which you’re remarkably unsuited.
Michael Ventre calls this phenomenon of actors ignoring quality once they’ve become famous “Affleckization” after Ben Affleck’s terrible run of films following Good Will Hunting. However, the trend actually began much earlier and could equally be named “MacGregorization” or “Cageization.” At least with Hollywoodland, Affleck has rediscovered his potential. Sure, his acting’s still not much to look at, but he does have some sense of the error of his ways (ahem, Gigli) and may yet surprise audiences with a role he can pull off convincingly in the near future.
My only hope is that you eventually find your way as well, Scarlett ~ before it’s too late. Because if history is any indication, your It Girl bubble will burst worse than a dot com’s. And then what will you do? Clara Bow’s career ended with the arrival of talkies. Yours might end because frankly, my dear, we just won’t give a damn anymore.
Sincerely,
Len Sousa
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Hear hear! Good luck Scarlett. We all hope you can turn around this arresting slide. Take a page out of Natalie Portman’s book: after starring in a few turkeys (Star Wars, anyone?), lay low then come back with an Oscar nomination (Closer) to prove you can actually do this whole performing thing.
Comment by Lucas — July 6, 2007 @ 2:26 am
Honestly, this girl is just makeup, pushup bras and mouth-breathing.
I only ever liked her in Ghost World, I think a wooden dummy could have played her part in Lost in Translation or The Island
Comment by lambman — July 6, 2007 @ 2:41 am
First off, jerk, she’s the actress with the career. You just have an opinion. An opinion that you want to push on her. She decides what she wants to act in, not you. And do you know why she decides this? Because she does what she wants with HER career. No one gives a damn if you’re tired of seeing her name pop up in every movie you see. You’re obviously missing other movies. Movies that did without her because she didn’t really give much of a care for them. If she missed out on an Oscar or two, well then she’s aware. I don’t think she’s in any rush. She’s an actress because she wants to SAVOR and ENJOY her career. NOT because she’s concerned with an internet blogger who’s itching to see her have five more paragraphs of dialogue. You think she’s going to thank you when she takes that Oscar and establishes herself as an A-lister?
Jackass.
Comment by Adrian M — July 6, 2007 @ 2:59 am
Under the guise of calm sophistication, this is a mean-spirited, unconstructive rant. It certainly should not have been plugged on IMDb’s front page.
Give the girl a break. She clearly has talent, which you alluded to in the opening paragraph, so why not aim your criticism on someone who actually deserves it?
Comment by jt — July 6, 2007 @ 3:45 am
I can only assume, Sir, you decided to write this letter before thinking it out, and were so far through and so devoid of anything else to write, that you decided to push ahead regardless.
An actress who has reason to prominence taking prominent roles in movies? Heaven forfend! Directors offered a choice of actress for the roles they are casting actually picking the one they think best suits the role?!? Egads, surely such evil has never been perpetrated before in this business!
Personally, I have enjoyed all of Scarlett’s performances (the only exmaple given above I have not yet seen is Scoop!), and where you find much to criticise, I find much to praise. In Good Company and The Prestige feature some extremely delicate moments, The Island some well played comedy (”Two-Delta…”) and The Black Dahlia is a stunning performance.
Frankly, I disagree with you, Sir, and I think that Messrs Allen, Weitz, Bay, De Palma and Nolan (not to mention Ms Coppola, Mr Zwigoff and The Coen Brothers), people in a far better position to judge then yourself, would disagree with you also.
And really, a Gone With The Wind pun - did you stay up all night working on that?
Comment by Simon Underwood — July 6, 2007 @ 4:46 am
Finally, someone who understands my own frustrations. I fell in love with her for films like Lost in Translation & Girl with a Pearl Earring (rare films that I saw more than once in the theaters). I also enjoyed her earlier work like Manny & Lo, The Horse Whisperer, Ghost World, An American Rhapsody, and The Man Who Wasn’t There.
Things did change and not for the better. I didn’t mind In Good Company, SpongeBob or A Love Song for Bobby Long. A Good Woman was decent though she had to act with Helen Hunt (who sucks).
When she did The Island. I was pissed. Working with Michael Bay to me is a career low. Her performance, sucked. Everything (except Steve Buscemi) about that movie sucked.
In Match Point, I thought her performance was very uneven. She started out as being this insecure, beautiful woman. Then she becomes this nagging, annoying bitch who needed to be whacked. In Scoop, she was alright and funny. Yet, it was just average. The Black Dahlia, she was OK but it wasn’t like I imagined in reading the book in which, the character was darker and more complex.
The Prestige was a film I liked yet I felt her character was unnecessary. The worst thing I think she was done was being in that goddamn Justin Timberlake video. It was awful beyond awful.
Her doing an album. Oh… I’m not up for it. An album of Tom Waits covers. I heard her cover of Billie Holiday’s “Summertime” and she’s got an OK voice but the song was just boring and overproduced. Her vocals on Coachella singing backup for the Jesus & Mary Chain weren’t very good. I think she can sing but it shouldn’t be a career option. Leave that to Jena Malone, a very underrated actress, who is making more interesting music that isn’t commercial.
While I don’t mind her seeing her as a sex symbol. My feelings are mixed because I don’t think she’s being taken seriously as an actress. I saw her TV Guide Close-Up recently and I found the whole program to be generic and too much mention that her films didn’t make that much money and all that crap.
I have worries for her next features. The Nanny Diaries looks more like a commercial feature than something different from the people who did American Splendor. The Other Boleyn Girl with Natalie Portman is a film I’m highly anticipating. Yet, the test screening report scared me over the fact that she’s being out acted by Portman.
I’m scared for her that she’ll end up being this once gifted actress who then has lost any sense of credibility and such.
Comment by Steven Flores — July 6, 2007 @ 12:55 pm
Well, it’s definitely official. I’ll never be sleeping with Scarlett Johansson. Unless she’s really into self-loathing — which would just be kinda creepy.
Comment by Len Sousa — July 6, 2007 @ 2:03 pm