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Gretchen Mol will soon experience "Life on Mars"The gorgeous Gretchen Mol has joined the cast of ABC’s Life On Mars, playing the lead female role of feminist cop Annie Norris. Mol, who wowed critics with her performance in The Notorious Life of Bettie Page, first made waves as a fashion model in the mid-1990s, but it was her goal to be an actress. In fact, Mol moved to New York after high school to study acting. (It’s hardly her fault a modeling scout took notice along the way, right?)
Mol is not alone — some of Hollywood’s most popular actresses were first noticed for their beauty, landing in the pages of fashion magazines before they made it to the silver screen. When you consider that Hollywood legends like Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe modeled before they acted, you realize the model-turned-actress is practically a Tinsel Town tradition. Of course, not all models belong on the silver screen. Mol and a handful of others, including Academy Award winners Charlize Theron and Halle Berry, always had acting as their goal; but take, for example, women like Cindy Crawford and Christie Brinkley. They've made it clear that acting requires much more than a pretty face. (To Brinkley’s credit, she never ventured beyond her esteemed work in the role of Red Ferarri Girl in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies.) With all this in mind, here are lists of the five best and worst MTAs (model-turned-actresses). Top Five Best MTAs 1. Angelina Jolie, winner of the Academy Award (Girl Interrupted) Golden Globe award (George Wallace) and Screen Actors Guild Award (Gia).
2. Charlize Theron, winner of the Academy Award, Sag Award and Golden Globe award for Monster. 3. Halle Berry, winner of the Academy Award for Monster Ball and the Emmy and Golden Globe awards for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. 4. Vanessa Williams, nominated for the Tony Award for her role in Into The Woods and multiple Emmys for Ugly Betty. 5. Uma Thurman, nominated for the Academy Award for Pulp Fiction and the Golden Globe award for both Kill Bill movies. Runners up: Golden Globe winner Cybil Shepherd, Golden Globe nominee Brooke Shields and the beautiful Amber Valetta, because she was my dream girl in the 1990s and I have a soft spot for her.
Top Five Worst MTAs 1. Paris Hilton, who won a Razzie in 2005 for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance in House of Wax. 2. Cindy Crawford, universally panned by critics for her breakout role in Fair Game. 3. Elizabeth Hurley, always on the critics’ hit list. One meanie called Hurley’s acting “a notch above pornography.”
4. Andie McDowell, whose acting (and Southern accent) was so bad in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan Lord of the Apes, she had to be dubbed over by Glenn Close. 5. Jenny Shimizu, in Itty Bitty Titty Committee. Was that method acting she was doing? Was she playing herself? I loves me some Jenny, but maybe the next time she and Angelina get together, she can ask for acting tips. There are plenty more models-turned-actresses out there: Shalom Harlow, Milla Jovovich, Rene Russo spring to mind. Who’s got real acting chops? Who should step away from the screen and return to the magazines? Give me your votes. Submitted by on July 31, 2008 - 5:00pm. |
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Awww, I like Andie McDowell.
I thought she was the best thing in St. Elmo's Fire.
Sex, Lies and Videotape.
I couldn't blame Hugh Grant for lusting after her and then falling in love with her in Four Weddings and A Funeral.
And I would put Cameron Diaz under the category of a model who has done well as an actress...from There's Something About Mary...to Being John Malkovich...to Gangs Of New York...to In Her Shoes...all great stuff.
me too
I really like Andie McDowell, she's done great movies
No
I agree! I understand the
You wanna see Mol shine...
watch Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things. She's brilliant in it. Another treat of the movie is Rachel Wiesz. I think it's the best work of both.
It might be a good thing
It might be a good thing that so few models try to become actresses. The list of successful ones is small. I like them better in music videos. The best one is Freedom by George Michael. His video has Linda Evangelista (my profile picture), Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, and Tatjana Patitz. It is one hot video and Linda and Christy look very cute together.
Don't knock on Milla. I love the Resident Evil movies. I will take her gun wielding over Angelina's any day. She was pretty good in The Messegner, and Fifth Element.
One bit of embarrassment, I have a VHS copy of Cindy Crawford's Fair Game. I bought it the day it came out.
I'm listening to the song!!!
Yes the video of Freedom 90 is EPIC!!!!!!!!! I have a thing for the supermodels of the 90s. I don't really have a favorite but favorites it's like picking children you know, I don't like to do it.
Angelina in Gia, yay.
MY 2 CENTS
Andie McDowell has skills.
I liked Fair Game because Cindy Crawford looked sooo damn hot, I wasn't thinking about her acting chops back then, I was blinded by her hotness :-P
Elizabeth Hurley gets by because she hasn't done any dramatic roles that require much talent.
I predict
that the US version of Life On Mars will be an early cancellation. American audiences will not get it, the show won't have any subtlety, Annie will not be a product of the 70s and be amazing for it (she'll be indecipherable from any other female cop) and Gene Hunt won't have the charisma that only Phil Glenister could ever bring to the role.
Despite how adorable Gretchen Mol was in Betty Page, I will not watch one moment of this show. And what's up with that picture of her? Talk about Photoshop! Gah!
Rene Russo!
The original British
The original British version was classic in my eyes, so I never really understood the reasons for remaking the show 'American style' (just as I couldn't understand why they changed the Office for American audiences). I'm not a Brit, yet I believe that I understood the show just fine, accents and all. Why wouldn't an American?
So it's bad enough that the networks felt that they had to remake the show, but their casting choices are even worse. Gretchen Mol in 'Puccini' was so dry and robotic, and unless she takes some acting classes and adds about 10 kilos a la Jewel Staite for Firefly, she will never fit the part. I guess making a show 'American' means replacing realistic-looking actors that have talent with pretty faces.
Like Penny Winterr said above me, this show will die an early death. What a pity.
Accents and all
Your post made me giggle. It's true, producers think we are a nation of idiots - but honestly, maybe we are. Half of what is on network television in the country is idiotic, to me.
Your post reminds me of that time during the 1990s when some American TV execs were trying to figure out a way redo "Absolutely Fabulous" for an American audience. My friends and I were appalled. I would hate to see the American versions of Edina and Patsy. They would be from LA and insipid. And our TV is so sanitized when it comes to debauchery - we can show eight people in a row getting shot, but the censors here would never allow Patsy to say so much as "tit" and NEVER depict them with drugs and they, I think, are phasing out smoking on television here. Those things were central to their characters and those girls were great parodies (hell, great people!) but, still, would not fly in the United States.
Thank god that never happened.
Plenty of American shows on British TV
In the UK, we watch plenty of American TV shows without the need to make a British remake. I mean, imagine a British Friends or a British Desperate Housewives?!?!
So why can't Americans watch and enjoy a British show, without the need for a remake? This trend is crazy, and, seen from abroad, rather arrogant.
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LoM remake
I'm neither American nor British, and I don't care much about the model turned actress topic but I feel the need to comment on the LoM remake controversy.
I love the original show, it's the first Brit show I got on DVD. And I'm not opposed to an American remake. I see a lot of potential (high production value, more episodes to a season). Unfortunately for those viewers who have seen the original, the mystery ("Am I mad, in a coma, or back in time?") won't really be one unless it's taken in a different direction (granted, in the British version, one could really also know from very early on - a flaw in my eyes...). And making Annie an outspoken feminist could be great, because then the dynamics would change and the show would have its own American twist which it needs to succeed. I'm willing to bet that New York in the seventies in some aspects was very different from Manchester. I've just read that Harvey Keitel is playing Gene Hunt which I think is great. If the writing is good (which might be a problem), he could be a fabulous version of a very iconic character. They didn't get rid of Jason O'Mara which is a pity. I've a feeling that he won't be able to pull it off.
The big problem that I see with this remake though is that it's on ABC. How are the producers going to get away with the smoking, drinking, cursing and basically politically very incorrect (sexist, racist, homophobic) and violent behaviour/language of cops in the seventies? I really hope they don't clean it up too much. (For those who don't know the show: don't worry, today's attitude is reflected through the main character's disapproval.) But it's ABC!
I agree with those who say that when given the opportunity to remake a British show/ movie American producers very often seem to mess it up. But nevertheless, I have high hopes for this show and especially for Bad Girls (which I hope will turn out less soapy). Who knows, they might be crushed but I'm gonna give them a chance anyway.
Don't get hung up on the word "feminist"
Guys, I'm sorry if I misled you by saying Gretchen Mol will play a feminist cop. I don't mean to imply that Annie is going to be burning bras and marching in the street.
I only mean to let people know she's a female cop -yes, in 1973, in New York - who is facing a lot of struggles because of her gender and handling those struggle very deftly.
Issues of feminism and gender inequity are raised all the time in the BBC version. Who was it who thought of the future and guaranteed England will never have a female prime minister? These were issues in 1973. If I've learned anything from American cop dramas, the networks love illustrating a lady cop's multifaceted dilemmas.(Cagney & Lacey, Law & Order, Police Woman).
A feminist can be any strong woman who is facing the challenges the world throws her way, especially challenges based on her gender.
I actually recall reading an
*Sigh*
"I actually recall reading an interview with one of the show's helmers talking about how Annie's feminism would be made more "obvious" because she's an American woman living in NYC in the 70s."
This is another indicator of how they're going to do Annie's character totally wrong. I mean, not only is she being played by a skinny model-turned-actress when origionally she was cute and dimply and just a tiny bit chubby and also totally sexy, but it seems like they're scewing with her character. Because, the wonderful thing about Annie was that she was simultaneously sweet as pie and tough as nails, and both parts of her were completely genuine. She wasn't one of these obnoxious caricatures with chips on their shoulders and daddy issues, or worse, some sachriney-sweet flirt who moons over the male lead the entire time. Annie was sweet, smart, and sensible; she had a crush on Sam, but wasn't annoying about it and she could just as easily hold your hand and bake you muffins as she could kick your ass (but only if you deserved it).
That was really long, but seriously, I was really fond of Annie and I'm sad that they're messing her up.
Denise Huxtable joins "Life on Mars" Cast
This just in from Michael Ausiello:Denise HuxtableLisa Bonet will join Gretchen Mol on "Life on Mars."I'm definitely watching this show now.
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"The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure that it is right..." - Judge Learned Hand, The Spirit of Liberty
Lisa Bonet!
Lisa Bonet.