Young Hollywood Revisited

Hollywood likes them young. It's always been that way in a town fueled by new blood reworking old ideas, but it's never been truer than now. Each season, Hollywood seems to require fresh hope in the form of a Matthew McConaughey, a Mira Sorvino, a Gretchen Mol, a Gwyneth Paltrow, a Hilary Swank, a Colin Farrell. Some of the chosen succeed brilliantly, and some last long enough to survive the hype. Others fade fast. For over a decade now, Movieline has featured one young actor on its cover to symbolize Young Hollywood. Here's a look at who some of them were back then and who they are now.

KEANU REEVES

When Keanu Reeves appeared on Movieline's first Young Hollywood cover in 1990, neither he nor anybody else seemed to agree with us that he would become a major star. As he put it, "It's not like I'm Robert De Niro in Raging Bull." No, but even in his raw youth--awkward, trippy, exotically handsome--he had an unforced, raw-boned naturalism De Niro never had. He'd already excelled as a lost soul in River's Edge and an imbecilic stoner in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure. Despite several movies in which he seemed like someone who'd learned emotions phonetically, he persevered and proved shrewd and lucky enough to become an uber-cool hero, first in Speed and then in The Matrix. Ever-mysterious in his choices and able to find merit in odd little projects, Reeves now wins good reviews for his acting while sustaining megastar heights with The Matrix franchise.

NICOLE KIDMAN

In 1994, Nicole Kidman's status as the female star of Movies like Days of Thunder, Far and Away, Malice and My Life didn't put her at the top of the A-list. It helped that she was married to Tom Cruise, but anyone who'd first caught sight of her in Phillip Noyce's 1989 film Dead Calm knew that she came armed with screen power that was bound to emerge. Director Gus Van Sant's little indie To Die For brought Hollywood up to speed on her, and Batman Forever brought her career up to speed with a big box-office hit. After making Jane Campion's film The Portrait of a Lady, which she was about to do when she appeared on Movieline's cover, Kidman became a sexy sensation on the West End stage in The Blue Room, then cut through the dramatically inert Eyes Wide Shut with a provocative and fearless performance. As such new projects as Moulin Rouge are likely to reaffirm, she's classy, gorgeous and a born risk taker. And these days she's as respected by smart directors as she is worshipped by connoisseurs of old Hollywood-style glamour.

ROBERT DOWNEY JR.

Even as they celebrate his prodigious talent, many in Hollywood marvel that Robert Downey Jr. still lives and breathes. His excesses and their consequences are by now all too familiar. In l991, the 25-year-old called himself "the Hunter [S.] Thompson of my peer group," and his gonzo actor mojo was already apparent in movies like Less Than Zero and True Believer. Even then, he was trying for personal and professional reinvention. He went on to win an Oscar nomination for Chaplin, but since 1996, Downey's offscreen life has been marked by hair-raising headlines. Yet after each bout of drugs and brush with the law, he is inevitably flooded with offers, and that is because he delivers riveting performances, whether in small indies like Two Girls and a Guy, in studio films like Wonder Boys or on TV in "Ally McBeal." Following his latest bust, Downey was awaiting sentencing that could take him out of the business for years, and still he got a standing ovation from his peers at the Golden Globes.

DREW BARRYMORE

Once the moppet miracle of E. T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Drew Barrymore was all but laughed out of the room by casting agents in the early '90s, when she'd racked up scary headlines with her drug-taking, partying and suicide attempt. Still only 17 in 1992, she said, "I swore to all those people who made me eat it: Someday you'll want me." We believed her. Although she'd grown into a spectacular-looking, supremely likable young woman, Barrymore was forced to inch her way up in a mixed bag of movies like Poison Ivy and Guncrazy. She landed herself on top again by proving herself bankable, hardworking, savvy and terrific. She got more mileage out of her cameo in Scream than most actors get out of lead roles, and she scored as the leading lady in films as diverse as Ever After and The Wedding Singer. Now, as star and mogul of the campy, fun-loving Charlie's Angels, Barrymore has proven that yesterday's throwaway can call the shots today.

CAMERON DIAZ

Twenty-four and immoderately beautiful, former model Cameron Diaz appeared on Movieline's cover in 1997, three years after emerging as a "wow" in the smash The Mask and quickly sidestepping typecasting by gravitating toward moody indies like The Last Supper and Head Above Water. Her upcoming movie at the time was My Best Friend's Wedding, in which she'd turn in an endearingly comic performance that would make her a critical as well as audience favorite. Like such classic predecessors as Carole Lombard, Diaz offset her looks with feistiness, sweetness and self-mocking charm. With a stated life plan "to just not make a complete asshole out of myself every time I go up for a part," she's had the guts to take on wild material like There's Something About Mary, and has been rewarded for her nerve. Diaz's roles in upcoming movies for directors Cameron Crowe (Vanilla Sky) and Martin Scorsese (Gangs of New York) speak volumes about her range and potential staying power.

BRAD PITT

In 1993 at age 29, Brad Pitt was already fully formed. His early Robert Redford, Golden Boy screen presence had announced itself when he played the hitchhiking, insolently sexy orgasm machine in Thelma & Louise. For a brief moment, there were some wobbly steps (Johnny Suede or Cool World, anyone?), but Pitt sealed the deal by using his edge and anger to slash a switchblade swath across all the elegiac BS of A River Runs Through It and Legends of the Fall. Nothing if not a chance taker, Pitt has made a point of regularly playing against type in everything from Se7en to Fight Club to Snatch to The Mexican. His movies are not always successful, but he's had the smarts to align himself with directors as brilliant as Steven Soderbergh (in the upcoming Ocean's Eleven) and as commercially crafty as Tony Scott. Today he stands as the movie star who's most likely to play against type and be liked for doing so.

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