Career Advice for Young Hollywood

NICOLE KIDMAN Since nobody out there in box-office land would know Nicole Kidman from her films (_Dead Calm_, an undeserved flop; Days of Thunder, a major disappointment; Billy Bathgate, a bomb), it's obviously good for her career that she married Tom Cruise. Then again, if you were a producer or director or leading man, would you particularly want to work with an actress who won't necessarily help your film draw an audience but will, very likely, report your every perceived misstep to Tom Cruise, or, worse, bring him to the set to see for himself? Oh well, there's a cloud outside every silver lining. Luckily for Kidman, she's got the resources for a major career no matter whom she's married to. She's incredibly young (24) for the presence, sophistication and life experience she radiates on-screen (unless we were supposed to think of her as Doogie Howser in drag, Simpson and Bruckheimer clearly thought she read well beyond her years when they cast her as a neurosurgeon in Days of Thunder). Kidman showed in the overly badmouthed Billy Bathgate that she can play grown-up with a sheer take-no-prisoners style that no Hollywood-bred actress near her age can touch. And as a nice complement to these assets, Kidman is one of the few young actresses these days who doesn't telegraph a highly neurotic need to be liked. Like only a couple other young women on-screen, Kidman shows promise of being able to play the kind of roles that demand the guts of a Madonna without the gutter she comes with.

Our Advice: Too bad George Cukor can't be reincarnated, because then it would be easy to offer Kidman a helpful hint: Work only with that guy. Since there aren't any Cukor contenders around today, the best Kidman can do is avoid what the actress she's generally compared to (Sigourney Weaver) has been up to lately: playing masculine women heroes in action films. Kidman has already done this herself, very ably, in Dead Calm, but that's enough. She'd be an interesting Scarlett O'Hara if that project weren't doomed to be miniseries kitsch. Certainly, regardless of the outcome of Far and Away, she should not pair herself again with Tom till she's batted one out of the park on her own. Best advice: She should get ahold of the best script she can find and take it to fellow Australian Peter Weir and convince him to direct it--he doesn't make movies specifically about strong women, but his movies, as opposed to the movies of most Hollywood directors, have strong women in them.

CHRISTIAN SLATER might be having a great career if Hollywood weren't in a severe creative slump. After all, he's charismatic, he's a natural actor who seems to respect his own limits, and he's got "Do Not Underestimate" written all over him. Then again, since Slater has never starred in any kind of hit, and has made such mistakes as starring in the deadly stupid Kuffs, it's a wonder he has the career he has. Last summer's Mobsters was his big chance to break through by carrying a big studio film; it was just his luck that this ballyhooed project typified much of what's bugging the industry these days--it was too-high concept with no feet on the ground, and it was put in the hands of a television commercial director out of his depth. Slater didn't help--he proved as misdirectable here as he has been directable elsewhere--but he wasn't the problem either. Slater did appear in the hit Robin Hood, but it was an unfortunately, mysteriously abbreviated supporting role. He was, however, the only actor in Robin Hood who seemed to be acting in the movie Warner Bros. was trying to make (that's right, not Alan Rickman's movie or Morgan Freeman's movie, or even Kevin Costner's movie), and he quite definitely compared favorably to the phlegmatic Costner in the few scenes he was given. This just makes one ask, where are the starring parts the young man Christian Slater needs to launch a mature career from the platform of his impressive teen roles in the critically praised Heathers and Pump Up the Volume?

Our Advice: Despite the luck he had with first-timers Michael Lehmann and Allan Moyle (on Heathers and Pump Up the Volume), Slater should, after Mobsters and Kuffs, stay far away from first-time directors. Taking supporting parts in well-made, high profile pictures (that's the nicest way to describe Young Guns II) has been savvy, but he's going to need to step out again and show he can star. The ideal project would be something refreshingly medium-concept, tastefully erotic (one of his strong suits), emotionally direct (River Phoenix he isn't) and, here's the stickler, extremely well scripted (he's very honest with what he's given, and not all that inventive when he's given nothing). Beyond that, he should go with the best director who wants him--the worst that can happen if a few good directors take him on is that he becomes the new Matthew Modine.

Pages: 1 2 3 4