Whatever Happened To...?

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Too many actresses are treated like race horses. They're allowed to race for a certain period, and then they "age out" and are put out to pasture. Is this what's happened to Rene Russo? She was looking good during the Clinton years, gliding along there in the early to late '90s (In the Line of Fire, Get Shorty, Tin Cup, The Thomas Crown Affair). And then...?

The last beam-ups were costarring roles in two movies released three years ago -- Two for the Money with Al Pacino and Yours, Mine and Ours with Dennis Quaid -- and then she went poof. And now off the radar for three years and counting. Not fair, not right -- women of Russo's age (born in '54) are in their prime and very watchable.

Hey, what about Madeleine Stowe? I saw her at the Aero Theatre a few months ago with her husband and child, but she's been MIA for a good while also. Several years. I heard she wrote a good script a few years ago (a western?) that people liked and wanted to make, but they said no when she said "I have to star in it." She wouldn't budge, the interest faded and it went away. That's the story I was told.

comment #1

Seen K says ...

It's "Madeleine" Stowe, but close enough, I guess. I miss both her and Russo onscreen, and on the same note -- where's Bridget Fonda?

comment #2

PhilipGalasso says ...

I watched The Last of the Mohicans recently, and wondered the same of Stowe. The script you're talking about is a western, I believe. As for Russo, she's married to Tony Gilroy, whose profile (and quote) has risen over the past few years (the Bourne flicks, Michael Clayton,) so perhaps she's taking it easy for a bit, waiting for a good role to come along. No doubt she'll be involved in the upcoming Thomas Crowne sequel. Her chemistry with Brosnan is what makes that movie.

comment #3

Don Murphy says ...

again people speak without knowing
she is married to DAN GILROY

comment #4

Arran says ...

And Dan Gilroy DID write Freejack and Two For the Money, so they're probably taking it easy with the fat paycheques those brought in.

comment #5

clancy says ...

This women are not put out to pasture - they simply move to the new grazing ground of television-

Geena Davis- Commander in Chief
Sally Field- Brothers and Sisters
Glenn Close- Damages
Mary Louise Parker- Weeds
Teri Hatcher- Desperate Housewives.

You can be certain that Russo, Stowe, Fonda, and probably Linda Fiorintino are months away from playing a "strong female character" on the tube.

comment #6

TheVicuna says ...

It's that weird jaw of hers that only seems to get more pronounced as she gets older, in my opinion. This is not a slam on her being a "certain age," It's just that she is aging in a weird, freakish way that actually makes her look masculine -- it looks like she's morphing into Schwarzenneger. I don't know if she's had work done or not but looking at her for any extended period of time gives the same effect as looking at a badly photo-shopped magazine cover. She looks oddly not-human. Drew Barrymore has the same jaw, it's weird. And Reese WItherspoon's chin is starting to take on Leno-esque proportions. Agree with you and the above commenter that Madeleine Stowe and Bridget Fonda are deeply missed.

comment #7

insidah says ...

I know I may get flamed for saying this, but I thought Sharon Stone was a total movie star in Basic Instinct and Casino...seems like Hollywood never really capitalized on her potential...then she got older...it's sort of sad.

comment #8

PhilipGalasso says ...

Philip Galasso to Don Murphy: Sorry I "spoke without knowing," it was an honest mistake, nothing else. I agree that it's a shame that Russo doesn't work nearly as much as she should, and made a mistaken attempt to possibly explain why. I think it's obvious I have a little bit of film knowledge, seeing that I confused which Gilroy brother Rene Russo is married to. Not exactly an unforgivable gap in my knowledge. I suppose there's nothing more exhilarating than pointing out the shortcomings of others, is there?

comment #9

BurmaShave says ...

SHe's not in THOMAS CROWN 2, which is a fucking disgrace.

comment #10

Rev. Slappy says ...

Is it possible that some of these actresses are taking time off to have kids and be moms?

comment #11

The InSneider says ...

Don't forget Ransom, Jeff. She's great in that. I've never been big on Stowe although I would welcome her back for a General's Daughter sequel.

comment #12

nola says ...

wait a minute, why is she not in the sequel? If they cast some 20/30 something opposite Pierce, I'll pass.

comment #13

Discman says ...

Jeffrey, I don't know why Russo has dropped out of the scene, but as the right Rev. Slappy notes above, she's perhaps more traditional and has decided to step away from films for reasons other than not being able to find the right script.

You know she's a born-again Christian, right? This was all over the news when she did a movie -- was it 'The Thomas Crown Affair'? -- in which she had some nude scenes. That might have something to do with her recent career-related decisions, but that's just a hunch.

comment #14

moorish says ...

"again people speak without knowing" - is this from the same Don Murphy who said Iron Man wouldn't make it to £300m?

People make mistakes.

comment #15

Spacesheik says ...

You gotta accept some actresses just fade away, Hollywood really doesnt know what to do with them. There's a good documentary called something or other DEBRA WINGER ( SEARCHING FOR DEBRA WINGER?) - and many luminous, talented ladies are in that (Holly Hunter etc).

comment #16

Rich S. says ...

Russo looked good in Thomas Crown, but you could tell she had done....something....to maintain her looks. Sometimes, when an actress resorts to that stuff, it interferes with the natural aging process, at least as far as the camera's concerned. It's like using preservatives on some fruits and vegetables. You can stall the aging process for a little while, but when it starts in earnest, it seems accelerated. I don't know if this is what happened to Russo, but maybe.

It's a shame, too, because many of these women age gorgeously. I'm not naive enough to believe that the ones that do, like Diane Keaton, aren't using some chemical or surgical help as well. But some actresses seem to allow the process to work and it works for them.

Then again, it's Hollywood we're talking about. Bette Davis' speech in All About Eve is as true today as it was sixty years ago. In the eyes of the Dream Factory, men get distinguished. Women get old.

comment #17

snoop says ...

In looking at Russo's imdb it seems like she may have given up after realzing the good offers weren't coming in anymore. Although she's only done five movies during the 2000s, they're all pretty bad and so it's pretty possible that she just tossed her arms and the air and said forget it. Or perhaps, considering all these movies bombed, not even the bad movie offers are coming in (excluding, assumedly, the really bad, straight to dvd offers).

Same thing seems to have happened with Stowe. Gary Sinese even took a hit with Imposter, and Avenging Angelo... I mean come on.
Excluding We Were Soldiers (decent enough) she's done nothing worth mentioning this decade (although I admit, I didn't see Raines, but considering it wasn't on long, I'll assume it was mediocre at best).

comment #18

Mgmax says ...

Everyone who would rather watch Rene Russo in a movie than Jessica Alba or some other blankfaced youngster, raise your hand. I know I would.

And I'm surprised Mary McDonnell didn't come up in this. Dances With Wolves, next to nothing for nearly two decades then one of the most complex and interesting roles TV has offered. She's had some work, I'm sure, but she looks something like her age, too, and rightly so for the part.

comment #19

Don Murphy says ...

moorish douchebag

Please do not put fucking words in my fucking mouth when you do not fucking know anything.

Please show me where I said anything close to that or else hang your head and fucking leave.

comment #20

gruver1 says ...

What happened is that the good scripts weren't being offered to Russo, and she probably has too much taste to appear in crap. The reason she stopped getting the good scripts, I gather, is that she had "aged out." That's industry-ese, of course, for having gotten to the point in her biological evolution on this planet where she was deemed not as sexually intriguing as she once was. Under-25 guys may be into this or that MILF, but they mostly don't want to get down with women over 45 or so.

Crude animal thinking, yes, but it runs the business, and it's not a new story. It's really too bad. I just wish our culture was more appreciative of older women, and that the film industry could then understand and reflect this in the films it would then make and how it would cast them.

That said, I am just enough of an anti-Christian idealogue to understand that if I was the person deciding and it was a coin-toss between casting Russo and someone else who wasn't a born-again Christian, I could understand going with the non-Christian actress because it would kinda feel good in a deep-down way. We live in a better world because there are humanitarian Christian values being practiced, but the truth is that I've hated "Christians" -- the super-white-bread, ultra right-wing, poorly dressed, cash-obsessed, Republican-supporting, uptight, bigoted-against-blacks, anti-free-choice, rigid-mannered phony baloneys who live in the outlying areas and in Middle America -- all my life. These people have helped me to understand the myth about Christians having been thrown to the lions in ancient Rome. In fact, the next time I watch DeMille's Sign of the Cross, I'm going to cheer the lions.

The ignorance and blight of all religions has made our planet a much darker place. I'm squarely with Bill Maher and Chris Hitchens on this one. Which is why if I was a producer or studio chief and a Christian actress was up for a part, I might just say to myself -- privately, keeping my deep-down thoughts to myself -- that someone else should get the part. Because it would feel quite good to stick it to a Christian. It might not be fair or professional, and it would be a dereliction of duty on my part for not focusing on what the actor or actress in question could bring to the role and to the film, but it would also feel good because Christians have shown themselves to be a repulsive social force in this country over the last, say, 40 or 50 years. And I would be, you know, doing my part to give them a taste of their own bigoted medicine. I remember the faces of two women (a mother and a daughter, if I correctly recall) who asked John Kerry an abortion question during one of the '04 debates. They were clearly anti-abortionists, and I remember the rigidity in their expressions and the hate in their eyes for all things liberal. God, would I love to make a Christian suffer as a symbolic way of making these women feel the wrath and the disdain of urban blue lefties! Go Blues!

That said, I'd still try to focus on whether Russo would be right for the role and whether she would add something special to the film. I'm just saying that I understand the motives of anyone who has a bad taste in their mouths about Christians.

comment #21

JChasse says ...

You know what stinks about the Internet? That one person can say ""again people speak without knowing" - is this from the same Don Murphy who said Iron Man wouldn't make it to £300m?

People make mistakes."

And another person can say... "Please do not put fucking words in my fucking mouth when you do not fucking know anything.

Please show me where I said anything close to that or else hang your head and fucking leave."

And ANOTHER person can click a few buttons and find... http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/04/why-iron-man-wi.html

Seems like you said something "close to that".

comment #22

JChasse says ...

Unless the whole pounds vs. dollars thing that Moorish did is what you want to fall back on.

comment #23

Howlingman says ...

Nicely inflammatory, Jeff. This is gonna be a fun thread.

comment #24

Howlingman says ...

JChasse, great link ... who else caught DZ's expert opinion on Iron Man's chances of success? I didn't know people "don't care about action heroes anymore," but now I guess I do.

comment #25

J. Huff says ...

Why is it that I come here again? Oh yeah, I forgot, for my religion to be disparaged and for politics. Gotta love that.

BTW, Jeff, bigoted? Pot calling kettle...

comment #26

lipranzer says ...

Mgmax, McDonnell is one of those actresses who's found a second life on TV, on Battlestar Galactica, so I'm sure she doesn't miss film. Nonetheless, I do agree with your basic point. I remember back in the 90's thinking while Russo was the best actress in mainstream movies, and that's not damning with faint praise. She was intelligent, sexy, and a grown-up (she was the main reason I preferred the remake of THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR to the original, because Faye Dunaway was made to act like a girl in the original, whereas Russo was allowed to be a woman). It's a shame Russo hasn't had much luck this decade; I remember suffering through BIG TROUBLE and moaning at how she was so ill-used in that movie, when in theory, it should have been the type of movie to play to her strengths. If she truly has dropped out of Hollywood, I hope she has peace in her life, but if not, I hope somebody gives her a good role.

comment #27

Rev. Slappy says ...

J. Huff, as a Christian myself I have to say that Jeff's comment doesn't disparage Christianity but rather goes after Christians and there is a distinct difference. As a Christian I would also agree that I think Jeff's sentiment about most Born Agains is probably spot on. Christians in American today are not a bastion of goodness and charity, they are a bastion of annoyance more than anything. They are obnoxious and usually deeply stupid. I agree with Jeff that in the past few decades Christians in this country have lost complete touch with the teachings of Jesus, who was mostly concerned with how we treated the poor as a measure of our greatness, not how many Rolls Royces we drove. And Jesus never once mentioned homosexuality, which most Christians today have taken on as their most important issue. I think this is due to a couple of big reasons. First is the political aspiration of the Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson types who believe if Jesus were alive today he would be a Republican. This would be the same Jesus who told people to sell all their possessions and give them to the poor. The same Jesus who was a pacifist. The same Jesus who spent time with whores and criticized the religious leaders of the day for their greed, lust for power and general hypocrisy. Falwell, Robinson and their ilk have marshaled Christians into a voting block for the GOP with complete disregard for the simple fact that much of the GOP platform is simply un-Christian. This leads to the second major problem with Christians, which is really a problem with the average American regardless of religious affiliation: Christians are willfully ignorant about the Bible just as most Americans are willfully ignorant of world events. Most Christians are unwilling to think critically for themselves or study the teachings of Jesus for themselves. They simply allow their pastor or whoever to tell them what to think. This way of intellectual laziness gives way to fundamentalism because fundamentalism is easy and requires no thought or answering hard questions. All you have to do is read (or in most cases have read for you) the Bible and never take into account any historical interpretation or perspective. This is why so many have embraced this nonsense that the world can only be 3,000 years old; it doesn't require them to think or reason about how science and religion could actually co-exist -- that science may give us insight into how God works. There are no tough questions with fundamentalism, only simple answers. If Christians today embraced the spirit of service Jesus set as an example and Mother Theresa or Bono have followed nobody would be wishing bad Karma on them. I think Max von Sydow said it best in Hannah and Her Sisters: "If Jesus were to come back today and see what was being done in His name, He wouldn't stop throwing up."

comment #28

George Prager says ...

Pardon me if I don't give a shit.

comment #29

George Prager says ...

She probably can't get work because her hands and feet are much larger than most actors working today.

comment #30

moorish says ...

JChasse - cheers for the back up. That link again:

http://weblogs.variety.com/thompsononhollywood/2008/04/why-iron-man-wi.html

Pounds versus dollars was my bad - I am English! Mental/cultural slip not noticing the typo I suppose. I did indeed mean dollars and was recalling the Thompson blog.

Don - nice attitude. I said "people make mistakes", I didn't insult you, as you obviously feel the need to do to everyone else. I'm sure you're a swell guy in real life.

comment #31

George Prager says ...

What classic film is this still from? She's made so many great movies.

comment #32

CinemaPhreek says ...

4 hours later and Murphy still hasn't acknowledged he said IRON MAN wouldn't even get past $200M (you really shouldn't have put the qualifier "close to that" in there, but then again writing/scripts have never been your strong suite).

comment #33

PerfectTommy says ...

Who should I vote come for in the upcoming election?
Obama is a Christian so one would think that should rule him out(McCain says he is as well, but he seems much more secular. Barak's Christian faith seems quite important to him.)
And Obama smokes. Yuck.
On the other hand, Obama is thin.
There are so many issues to consider...

comment #34

Mjs says ...

Murphy and DZ are very similar. They can only bullshit for so long. DZ also hasn't commented on it.

comment #35

George Prager says ...

Whatever happened to...
Flat Chunkys?
Dutch Apple Pop-Tarts?
Yummy Mummy cereal?
Chuck Woolery?

comment #36

TedM says ...

Frankly, I was never that impressed by her. Did you see her in the remake of Magnificent Ambersons? She was miscast badly in that.

And back in the days when I did interviews (in the late 90s), I was told "off the record" by a director that Madeleine Stowe was one of several actresses who had a reputation for being somewhat "difficult". I took it with a grain of salt, but I also know from experience that once someone is tarnished with that reputation -- whether it is deserved or not -- the offer start to dry up.

comment #37

Chris Baumgardt says ...

Rev. Slappy is my new hero. Very well put.

comment #38

Arizona Joe says ...

Rev. Slappy has the right idea. It's not Christianity that is the problem, it's the born again right wingers. As he said, "If Christians today embraced the spirit of service Jesus set as an example .........nobody would be wishing bad Karma on them."

That is it.

I am not with Wells, Bill Maher and Chris Hitchens on this one. Christianity has not made the world a darker place. The compassion of Christ, the atonement or at-one-ment with mankind , giving an example of men and women to be at-one with each other surely made the world a better place.

And let's not forget, Christ was a Jew. There used to be something called Judeo-Christian values in this country, and I think that was good thing.

Bill Maher, the product of Catholic and Jewish parents, scoffs at religion. But he says he likes to give car rides to illegal immigrant domestics who slog up and down the Hollywood Hills neighborhood where he lives, while others pass them by.

So when Maher provides transportation to one of these poor souls, he is acting as Christ. And that's the point of Christian religions, or it's supposed to be. I really don't think Maher gainsays the love of Christ. He just does not like institutions that bastardize religion for power or money or other things unChristian.

Wells might feel good sticking it to a bigoted, Bible thumping fundamentalist from a Red State. But sticking it to someone who tries to express the love of Christ is a hateful, destructive thing.

comment #39

Mgmax says ...

The reality is all you pinkos are much closer to Christians than you realize. Romans were stoic. They served the state, they knew the meaning of honor and duty, they did what their families expected of them and upheld their names. Then Christians come along and it's all about them, worshipping Jesus, saving my soul, rescuing my inner child, rejecting your parents and chasing salvation in the desert, yadda yadda, . The goddam Roman Empire got soft as a result and in no time barbarians overran it. All those new agey California types are very Christian in their outlook, while it's the good god-fearing suffering-in-silence Christians of the heartland who'd fit right in in Cincinnatus' world.

comment #40

George Prager says ...

It's all there in "What's the Matter with Kansas." Mgmax describes what happened to Kansas to a T. Corporations in cahoots with the State Legislature are the barbarians in this case.

comment #41

Mgmax says ...

I'm from Kansas, I know a lot about Kansas history and demography and economics, and Thomas Frank has his snooty academic liberal head up his ass about Kansas, thank you very much.

comment #42

Don Murphy says ...

cinemaphreek

I never gave any box office estimate ever. Neither you nor moorish douche can change that. I merely reminded people, over and over, that IRON MAN was directed by the guy who directed ZATHURA... an inept movie on every level. I haven't seen Iron Man. I likely never will. But it is directed by the guy who did ZATHURA. That is a guy who should be noted with the scarlet letter at every turn IMO.

comment #43

Mjs says ...

Don,

How sad that a guy your age and with your life experience can't admit when he was wrong, and when he was an asshole.

comment #44

moorish says ...

Sad indeed.

comment #45

Rain says ...

I'm just a bit curious.The Magazine HOLLYWOOD GOSSIP reported her profiles were found on the famous wealthy dating club R I C H L O V I N G.C O M last week and she was seeking her new guy there now! BTW, The girls there are really hot!

comment #46

Mgmax says ...

Not that anyone's reading this except the users of Richassholes.com, but I feel like my passing smear on Thomas Frank deserves some explication.

Basically, if you think a group is consistently voting against their interests and getting hoodwinked, you're not trying hard enough to understand them and what they want from government. You're looking at what you want from government and seeing how they could get the same thing if they did X. But they don't want what YOU want from government.

The simplest way to see this is to flip it. There are many things about a conservative viewpoint and Republican administrations that blacks should like. Bush II appointed more blacks to higher positions than Clinton did; policies like school vouchers have the potential to help blacks who are abandoned in the worst schools by a Democratic party in thrall to teachers' unions and big city education bureaucracies; a tougher stand on immigration would benefit blacks in the work force; they share a large base of socially conservative churchgoing older folks; so why can't blacks see that their interests lie with the Republican party?

Because culture matters, and the Republican party has too often made it clear that its culture winks at racism or simply doesn't care about black voters. You don't vote for the party that shows you contempt, because you don't trust that what you share with them today will still be there tomorrow.

Well, same thing in the reverse direction. When the Democratic party shows contempt for so many of the core values of Kansans, the promise of a few extra handouts is not enough to win them over, especially when they don't share the ideal that government's main job is to reward its favorites and, thus, the citizen's job is to try to be one of them.

comment #47

Don Murphy says ...

mjs
and how equally said that an anonymous buttmunch thinks he can write something untrue and be listened to.

1- show me where I made ANY box office predictions
2- show me where I was assholic about something (not just in your weakass opinion)

or
leave. And I'll ask gruver to help here because banning a few lying piece of shit accounts will only mean less people leaving the comments section.

comment #48

Mjs says ...

Don Murphy,

I'm not going to wade through all the archives to find them. They are there, and you know them. AS for an example of you being an asshole, refer to your first post in this thread.

As for you threatening to tattle on me and try to get me banned, grow the fuck up you piece of shit, childish, insecure, baby. You sound like a child telling the neighborhood bully he's gonna get his dad.

Made me laugh. Made me a little more sad foryou. Then I just laughed some more. You truly are the most pathetic adult I've ever come across.

comment #49

vp19 says ...

If Christians today embraced the spirit of service Jesus set as an example and Mother Theresa or Bono have followed nobody would be wishing bad Karma on them. I think Max von Sydow said it best in Hannah and Her Sisters: "If Jesus were to come back today and see what was being done in His name, He wouldn't stop throwing up."

And since von Sydow played Jesus (in :The Greatest Story Ever Told"), that quote has considerable poignancy...even if it came via Woody Allen.

comment #50

George Prager says ...

If you had read the book, Mgmax, you'd see that Frank covers all that. Except for vouchers. I think that the govt should give people voucers to buy more expensive cars.

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