The Agency's Posts

Forbes: Spanx inventor is youngest self-made female billionaire: Spanx inventor Sara Blakely is now a billionaire at 41 years old, making her the youngest woman....
Read More>

Teens not abandoning television for Internet: Fear not television executives: Teenagers are not abandoning the tube for the Internet and....
Read More>

A Stand-Up Joke Is Born: The night after Christmas, the comedian Myq Kaplan did something most people would find....
Read More>

Lindsay Lohan on 'Saturday Night Live': Fans rip hosting job: Looks like the Lindsay Lohan comeback train is stuck at the station, after her roundly panned....
Read More>

'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax:' Five lessons from its box-office success: Even for a season that has seen surprisingly strong box office, "Dr. Seuss' The Lorax&quo
Read More>

'Game Change': Five craziest scenes in HBO Sarah Palin film: Unless you've been holed up in the Alaskan wilderness for the past year, you've heard about &q
Read More>

Jean Dujardin's Villain Auditions: Jean Dujardin's Villain Auditions from Jean Dujardin
Read More>

Friday Fun: Cat Wins Shell Game - watch more funny videos
Read More>

HBO: Michael Mann's War Journalists Documentary: Having taken a deep dive into the world of hardened gamblers for the HBO drama“Luck,”t
Read More>

Movie review: 'Gone': Amanda Seyfried stars in a listless would-be thriller that never generates any suspense or....
Read More>

Oscar's aging audience: Time to shake up the academy?: The 84th Academy Awards really looked their age on Sunday night. The painfully cobwebby....
Read More>

'Artist' win is a tribute to Harvey Weinstein's tenacity, vision: "The Artist"has won the Oscar for best picture and I'm speechless. It's not lack....
Read More>
Kristen Stewart: Actress or cipher?
Posted on: 06/05/12
Share/Save/Bookmark
 

She's the same in everything. This is the charge you hear from people who do not like, for example, Kristen Stewart. The"Twilight" star portrays a medieval warrior-princess in"Snow White and the Huntsman," opening Friday.

Owing mostly to the "Twilight" juggernaut, whose global success set a sudden-star like Stewart on the defensive, the actress has provoked a significant chorus of naysayers along with the fans. Predictability — sameness — is the most common knock against any actor, has been since Francis X. Bushmanand Theda Bara ruled the silent screen. Audiences revere versatility in their screen performers. Yet they also love consistency — a relatable, human-scaled touch.

One filmgoer's notion of the right sort of familiarity is another's idea of she's the same in everything.
 

Stewart is an intriguing example of this cinematic Rorschach test. Since she played the enigmatic free spirit in "Into the Wild,"and especially in little-seen (and really good) pictures like "Adventureland"and"The Runaways,"Stewart has been more of a concealer than a revealer. It's a different story in the forthcoming "On the Road,"which premiered in competition last month at the Cannes Film Festival. Stewart's uninhibited turn as Marylou seemed to me truer, less studied and pose-y, than the work of her male counterparts. Certainly Stewart tends to become more alive and alert outside the "Twilight" universe, although her performance in the first "Twilight" was the thing, I think, that made that franchise go. She's honest. She doesn't force anything.

An odd but worthwhile fantasy in many ways, "Snow White and the Huntsman" represents a stretch for Stewart: a period film, with an English accent, for starters. The excellent Slate film critic Dana Stevens takes issue with "Stewart's whole manner, her slouchy bearing and general aura of sulky passivity, (which) make her ill-suited to play a deposed princess whose irresistible charisma enables her to lead a peasant revolt ... the image of her leading a castle siege in full battle armor is so incongruous it might come from one of those parody trailers that opened Ben Stiller's 'Tropic Thunder.'"

So be it; Stevens feels about Stewart the way I do about Stewart's "Twilight" co-star Taylor Lautner, who strikes me as a strange quirk of celebrity fate more than an actor, and certainly more than a star. Stewart's range is not wide. But you know what? People made the sameness charge against Jesse Eisenberg, her "Adventureland" co-star. (I love that movie.) And then came"The Social Network,"which allowed Eisenberg to rise to the occasion of meeting a trickier, more ambiguous character than he'd met on screen before. And a lot of people realized he was on the right path all along.

Seeming yourself, comfortably and effectively, in more than one kind of picture: That's not easy. The risk is the charge that you're the same in everything, even if you're not.

Movies on the radio: Michael talks about "Snow White and the Huntsman" and"Moonrise Kingdom"with Bill Leff at 7:45 a.m. Friday on WGN-AM 720.

mjphillips@tribune.com
COMMENTS
Be the first to post a comment!


Post A Comment:




  • It's 2020! Start booking roles in commercials, fashion, films, theater and more with The Agency Online!

  • NEW WORKSHOP with Barbara Barna & Sean De Simone!

    Hi Everyone and Happy Summer! Sean at Sean De Simone casting and Barbara Barna are teaming up for a super informative and fun Hosting for Home Shopping workshop. A great opportunity for established or experienced TV Hosts and Experts interested in learning how to get noticed and how to get in....
  • MASTERCLASS W. Robin Carus & David John Madore

    A Special Offer for the Agency Community, from one of our favorite NYC Casting Directors! EMAIL FacetheMusicWithUs@gmail.com Or Eventbrite To Sign Up! Class Size is Limited.
  • Don't Fall Into The Comparison Trap

    Hi Everyone! As the second installment in an ongoing series of features by the Agency's amazing community, here's some sage advice from our own Regina Rockensies; a humble (& awesome)veteran we've had the pleasure of working with for a long time. Have an excellent week! : ) - The Agency....
  • One Model's Agreement

    Hi Everyone! As the first piece in an ongoing series of original articles by the Agency community, here's a short reflection on some of the values of professional acting & modeling that we can all keep in mind for our next casting. Good luck on your castings &shoots this week! : ) -....




 
home       castings&news       privacy policy       terms and conditions      contact us      browser tips
Official PayPal Seal