My Career Has Fallen But It Can Get Up
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Sunday, April 27, 2008
Who becomes a legend most?
In an age when fame can knock on any door, from a featureless suburban McMansion on "Supernanny" to the trailer of a supporting actor on a summer replacement sitcom, it's not hard to becom e a star. It's just hard to remain one. Think of our movie stars, the ones who once pulsed with so much promise, burned so hot and bright. They could make us laugh and then, on a dime, break our hearts.
But then, almost imperceptibly at first, the flawless veneer starts to cheapen and crack. So many of Hollywood's most venerated stars now seem unsure, either over-cautious or wildly overplaying as they try to steer their careers into dignified longevity only to wind up in obscurity or, heaven forfend, "Wild Hogs."
It doesn't have to be this way. It's possible, with talent, grit, good sense and steely determination, to craft a career that not only preserves one's stardom but vaults it into another realm entirely.
The finest role model in shrewd and ultimately triumphant self-reinvention is Katharine Hepburn, who virtually from her beginnings in Hollywood as an attractive starlet took firm control of her persona on and off the screen, always with an eye toward maximizing her chances of survival. It's easy to forget that in 1938, at the age of 31, she was declared "box-office poison" by theater owners. (And back then, 30 wasn't the new 20. It was the old 30.)
She went straight back to Broadway, where her career had begun, starred in "The Philadelphia Story," bought the film rights (with the help of Howard Hughes), hired George Cukor to direct and Cary Grant and James Stewart to co-star, and the rest is the Hollywood comeback story of the century.
And it wouldn't be Hepburn's first resurrection: Throughout a career that had its share of flops, she demonstrated a canny sense of what would bring the audience back in ever more adoring waves, from a series of romantic comedies with real-life lover Spencer Tracy to the middle-aged star turn in "The African Queen" and finally the symbolic farewell of "On Golden Pond." Not content to be an ingenue or a screen idol or even an icon, Hepburn never stopped exerting her indomitable will until she became nothing less than an American institution.
It's hard to think of any of today's stars being able to last that long, then leave such a formidable legacy. The key isn't to make consistently perfect choices, just to make strategic ones, so that the inevitable clunkers are remembered, if at all, as speed bumps in an otherwise remarkable career. It's an admittedly difficult needle to thread: Play to your strengths, but resist being typecast. Stretch, but don't overreach. Keep your dignity, but lose your vanity.
Consider Bill Murray: The guy who made America laugh on "Saturday Night Live" and "Ghostbusters" could so easily have become a parody of himself, saying yes to every pitch that began "It's 'Groundhog Day' meets . . . " Instead, he has maintained one of the classiest and most consistent careers in Hollywood, from fruitful collaborations with such indie auteurs as Jim Jarmusch and Wes Anderson to a role in Sofia Coppola's "Lost in Translation" that would qualify as a comeback if he had ever gone away.
So far, the Hollywood star who has adhered most faithfully to the What Would Kate Do? school of career management is Meryl Streep. Like Hepburn, Streep has had her share of wince-inducing moments: There was a time when you couldn't go into a bar in Manhattan without someone yelling "A dingo ate my baby" in a broad Australian twang. But "A Cry in the Dark" now seems like just a brief skid on the road somewhere between "Sophie's Choice" and "The Devil Wears Prada," Streep's quiet triumph of a Hepburnesque mini-comeback in which she graciously starred alongside a younger, much-hyped actress (what was her name again?) and tiptoed away with the comedy in her Prada stilettos. "Prada" launched her into what could potentially be a delicious second (and third and fourth) act. Her upcoming projects? The screen adaptation of the Broadway crowd-pleaser "Mamma Mia!," the adaptation of the highly regarded play "Doubt," and "Julie & Julia," in which Streep is slated to play that revered American institution, Julia Child.
Miss Hepburn, no doubt, would heartily approve.
THE ROAD TO STARDOM CAN BE TREACHEROUS: With talent and luck, an actor can hit the straight, smooth road, cruising along comfortably to classy retirement. A wrong choice here and there? Not fatal. But more than a few, and a once-promising career has suddenly derailed. (Yes, you, Al Pacino.)
A FEW CASE STUDIES, AND SUGGESTIONS FOR CAREER RECOVERY:
AGE: 70
THE RIDE: After his explosive debut in "The Graduate" in 1967, Hoffman came to embody a new leading-man ideal, combining nebbishy anti-romanticism, diffidence, laserlike focus and sly, ferrety wit. He went on to deliver epochal performances in generational touchstones from "Midnight Cowboy" to "Tootsie." His first comeback, in "Rain Man," was over-praised. But Hoffman's second career resuscitation, in the 1997 political satire "Wag the Dog," was a thing of hilarious genius.
THE SLIDE: Hoffman (along with Barbra Streisand) was the best thing about the otherwise lamentable "Meet the Fockers"; of his recent appearance as a lisping, too-whimsical-by-half toy store owner in "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium," the less said, the better. His upcoming slate voicing animated features earns Hoffman two Robin Williams Career-in-Crisis Flares.
THE U-TURN: The actor needs to re-team with Barry Levinson, who helmed Hoffman's two big comebacks. And what have we here? Levinson has signed on to direct "A Walk in the Woods," based on Bill Bryson's bestseller about his comically ill-fated Appalachian trek with old friend Steve Katz. "All the President's Men" co-star Robert Redford is reportedly headlining as Bryson; Katz is so far un-cast. Come on, Woodstein, put those creative differences behind you and get the band back together!
AGE: 64
THE RIDE: From "Mean Streets" and "Taxi Driver" to "The King of Comedy" and "Goodfellas," De Niro's uncanny command, commitment and chameleon-like mutability rarely wobbled through the 1990s. And he proved he could operate comfortably outside his tough-guy wheelhouse in comedies both dark and light.
THE SLIDE: The "Analyze This" and "Meet the Parents" franchises have not worn well; De Niro's recent work for kids ("Shark Tale") feels forced and awkward. Upcoming projects include a cop drama with Al Pacino and a Michael Mann hit-man thriller, which inspire equal parts cautious optimism (he worked so well with both men in "Heat") and dread of a performance mired in mannerism and self-reference.
THE U-TURN: No more hit men, no more gangsters, no more cops and serial killers. No more Fockers, big or little. Astonish us. Drop the self-parody, the temptation to revert to rote gestures; disappear into a character we'd never think you could disappear into. Get a dye job and the right glasses, find your inner Vulcan and option "Angler," the Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post series about Dick Cheney by Barton Gellman and Jo Becker (or opt to play him in Oliver Stone's upcoming "W").
AGE: 54
THE RIDE: In his 1977 breakout performance in "Saturday Night Fever," Travolta strutted down a Brooklyn street to "Stayin' Alive," and he's been proving the song right ever since, with self-effacing wit, a contagious sense of ease and a surpassingly sexy way of busting a move. After big hits with "Grease" and "Urban Cowboy," his career sagged until he rose like a marble-mouthed phoenix in Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction," after which he earned a reservoir of goodwill in roles that exploited his humility and physical verve.
THE SLIDE: That reservoir? It's been lowered, inch by inch, by such Scientology propaganda as "Battlefield Earth" and cash-ins like "Wild Hogs." Next, look for Travolta co-starring with Robin Williams as friends who unexpectedly find themselves caring for 7-year-old twins. That sucking sound you hear is a reservoir finally draining away.
THE U-TURN: The man who danced his way into our hearts still has the moves. Pull the camera back and put him in a smart, small-canvas physical comedy a la "Big Night," where his body can communicate as much as his face and voice. (Think of Travolta silently cooking an egg alongside Stanley Tucci or Tony Shalhoub: heaven on a spatula.) Then, give him a great biopic, preferably of a song-and-dance man, which will do for Travolta what "Yankee Doodle Dandy" did for James Cagney, calling on all his talents as a singer, dancer and actor.
AGE: 62
THE RIDE: We fell in love with Keaton for her loopy intelligence, her vulnerable strength, the watchful wisdom behind the fluttery tics and twitches. And such range: "Annie Hall," "Reds," "Baby Boom." Her star turn in "Something's Gotta Give" (2003), where she flirted and fought with Jack Nicholson, possessed moments of sheer brilliance, and the film shrewdly exploited the stars' off-screen personas, proving that over-50s can still put tushies in seats.
THE SLIDE: Ironically, it was Keaton's protracted crying jag in "Something's Gotta Give" that seems to have put her on her recent unsatisfying path, introducing a desperate edge that has hung over her like a toxic cloud ever since, from her domineering matriarch in "The Family Stone" to the neurotically enmeshed helicopter mom in "Because I Said So."
THE U-TURN: What Keaton needs is a smart, literate, slightly neurotic comedy of Manhattan manners from her generation's answer to Woody Allen: Tamara Jenkins, who wrote and directed last year's inky-black comedy "The Savages." And if Jenkins doesn't have a screenplay in her drawer, here's an idea: Adapt Shirley Abbott's just-published novel "The Future of Love," a romantic roundelay that has received mixed reviews, but swirls around a fabulous part: an adulterous former radical swept into a passionate affair. Buy it, Di!
AGE: 61
THE RIDE: For a while it seemed Cher could do it all: The erstwhile singer, variety show host and one-woman sartorial circus surprised everyone by delivering strong performances in good-to-great movies. Even the briefest glance back at "Mask," "Moonstruck" and "Silkwood" suggests her screen career had legs, but her last movie was Franco Zeffirelli's "Tea With Mussolini," way back in 1999.
THE SLIDE: It's churlish to suggest that Cher's cameo in the Farrelly brothers' forgettable "Stuck on You" represents a bad career move; even her ill-advised swerve into infomercials was survivable. No, Cher's only crime was disappearing too early ¿ prematurely adhering to the rule of always leaving the audience wanting more.
THE U-TURN: We want a one-two punch from Cher, something that capitalizes on her gift for delivering assured, observant performances, followed by a pure spectacle, where even as a diva she can display her singular self-deprecatory wink. First she should do "Live-In Maid," a remake of a sad-funny Argentine film about a wealthy woman and her fraught relationship with her longtime housekeeper. Bonus: It's on the to-do list of Rodrigo García ("Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her," "Nine Lives"), the best director of women working in Hollywood today. Then! Straight into a musical extravaganza (Baz Luhrmann, pick up!), where Cher can reign supreme as Queen of All Things Campy but Still Ultra-Hip. Some things that happen in Vegas should never stay in Vegas.
AGE: 49
THE RIDE: Pfeiffer rocked the sensuous bee-stung pout back when Angelina was tearing the heads off Barbies. But in short order she proved that she can also be funny ("Married to the Mob"), vulnerable ("The Age of Innocence") and tough as a red-lacquered fingernail ("Scarface"). At the height of her career, in the 1980s and early 1990s, it didn't seem possible that someone of such stunning physical beauty could possess the chops of a character actress. Her fearless performance in "The Fabulous Baker Boys" was a slinky triumph, and still her best work.
THE SLIDE: Pfeiffer ended a hiatus last year playing two witches, first as a venomous station manager in "Hairspray," then in the forgettable fantasy "Stardust." Her most recent film, the direct-to-video "I Could Never Be Your Woman," finds her delivering a tart and no doubt cathartic critique of Hollywood's hypocritical cruelty toward aging women. But it also threatens to put Pfeiffer on the Cougar Track, trapping her in an older woman/younger man romantic rut. To wit: Upcoming projects include a romance with Ashton Kutcher called "Personal Effects," as well as a drama set in the 1920s called "Cheri," which pairs her with 26-year-old Rupert Friend.
THE U-TURN: Sure, Pfeiffer is utterly believable as a hot older woman, but she deserves to play with others her own age. She has the pedigree and enduring air of above-it-all self-possession to be starring in sleek, sophisticated thrillers ¿ the kind that Faye Dunaway did in her mid-30s. How luscious it would be to see her work with such new Hollywood classicists as Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass," "Breach") or "Michael Clayton's" Tony Gilroy.
