Many big movies will tank or soar this summer, and the fortunes of their stars will fall or rise with them. The next three months can make a crucial difference in the careers of these five actors.
For most moviegoers, summer is the time of big, splashy flicks that are perfect accompaniments to popcorn-chomping and soda-guzzling. For the rising stars who appear in these movies, the stakes can be considerably higher. In the summer of 1998, Ben Affleck blasted himself out of the world of quirky independent-minded movies like Good Will Hunting and into major stardom with Armageddon. Early last summer, Russell Crowe, who had wowed critics in L.A. Confidential and The Insider, won over the masses with his performance in Gladiator. Now consider the case of Jason Patric in the summer of 1997. Having not yet achieved the stardom predicted back when he appeared in The Lost Boys, Patric had a chance to make up for lost time as star of the hugely expensive Speed 2: Cruise Control. But that film tanked and, overnight, the worthy Patric hit a career wall he has yet to find a way around. The five stars discussed here all have plenty on the line as the 2001 Summer Sweepstakes begins, and each one represents a case study in how any given move an actor makes can have repercussions far beyond what you might think a single film could do for a career.
Reese Witherspoon
As early as her debut in the lovely 1991 film The Man in the Moon, Reese Witherspoon stood out as a true actress possessed of something special that promised, if nurtured, to blossom into adult stardom. She has more recently come off as sharp and pretty in such teen hits as Cruel Intentions. In the cult and critical favorites Pleasantville and Election, her sunny '60s-pinup good looks are interestingly subverted by a sardonic self-awareness. But Witherspoon is much more knowing and accomplished than even these successes indicate. Still only in her twenties, she is already a professional who can nail a line precisely and play the subtext of any scene. If portraying the fiancee of the homicidal yuppie in American Psycho and costarring with Adam Sandier in Little Nicky seemed a waste of time, no matter. This summer, she has the chance to come off as endearing, adorable and truly sexy in a movie with genuine sleeper hit potential, Legally Blonde. If this comedy, in which she stars as a boy-crazy twit who defies expectations by becoming a brilliant and successful lawyer, turns out to be a solid winner, it could be for her what Clueless was for Alicia Silver-stone--only better, since Witherspoon comes into it with already earned credibility. With Legally Blonde as her breakthrough big hit, she'd be in an enviable position. It's a rare twentysomething blonde who can make us laugh, break our hearts and turn us on at the same time, and it's unlikely Hollywood wouldn't come up with plenty for such an actress to do.
Penélope Cruz
For some time now, the gorgeous, young Spanish actress Penelope Cruz has been treated by the press as if she were crowding Julia Roberts in the It Girl derby. She has appeared regularly on major magazine covers, even though few people outside the fashion and movie worlds know much about her. Not that anyone's complaining. She is, after all, an esteemed star in Europe and a very gifted actress. Moreover, she's singularly beautiful, so the royal treatment isn't totally unwarranted. But the big American movies she's been cast in--Stephen Frears's The Hi-Lo Country, Billy Bob Thornton's All the Pretty Horses and Ted Demme's Blow--have been disappointing Cruz has declared herself an actress, not a movie star, but if she is to succeed as what Sophia Loren once was--Hollywood's international va-va-va-voom girl who could really act--she needs a hit. Hence, she has a lot riding on this summer's Captain Corelli's Mandolin, a sun-dappled World War 11 romance directed by John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) in which she stars as a young Greek girl ardently wooed by an Italian commander played b) Nicolas Cage. If this movie wins over the hot-weather romantics, Cruz will back up all the hype in one fell swoop. If Captain Corelli's Mandolin tanks, she could turn into a talented but lesser light the way Lena Olin did. One thing, though, lightens the consequences that attach to Corelli's Mandolin. Cruz has a big, important film coming up by year's end, Vanilla Sky. There are plenty of good reasons to expect that with costars like Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and a director like Cameron Crowe, Cruz will be able to pull her career out of whatever fire has scorched it in the meantime.
Hugh Jackman
Last summer, Hugh Jackman jump-started a Hollywood career with his sly, winning performance as Wolverine in the sci-fi hit X-Men. Even with the limited exposure afforded by playing in an ensemble film, and hampered by giant sideburns, Jackman showed he had the goods to be a screen presence as rugged, versatile, resourceful and hot as Sean Conner)' was in the '60s. This past spring, he showed in the comedy Someone Like You that his screen hero physicality was complemented by romantic quirk and comic dexterity. Without even having displayed the singing and dancing talent that won him acclaim in stage musicals in London, Jackman has demonstrated that he has what it takes to become indispensable to Hollywood. What he needs now is a big hit movie in which he really struts his stuff. This summer's Swordfish--a flashy, expensive thriller in which he's cast as a computer hacker drawn into cahoots with shady wheeler-dealer John Travolta--had the potential to be that movie. As of this writing, word was that Jackman pockets the movie, but whether the movie would pocket the big summer bucks was less clear. As a blockbuster, Swordfish will send Jackman many rungs up the ladder. As an also-ran, it will be relatively harmless to him (not so with Travolta), but a drag on momentum. The desired scenario was for Swordfish to solidify Jackman's action thriller credentials so that his next film, the time-travel love story Kate & Leopold, in which he stars with Meg Ryan, would position him as an actor who can do anything (like star as the Phantom of the Opera for director Shekhar Kapur?). Look at how its doing in theaters now, and you'll see how much work remains to be done to push him up to the A-list.
Jude Law
In our era of come-as-you-are, seat-of-the-pants moviemaking, how many actors ever get the opportunity to be as magnetic as Jude Law was in The Talented Mr. Ripley? Playing the seductive American expat drifter with a life so stylish Matt Damon wanted to kill for it, Law gave a performance of such complexity, ease and old movie-star voltage that he catapulted himself into an Oscar nomination. Groomed and photographed like a movie idol, he would have instantly become one if Ripley had been a smash hit. As it happened, the film fell short, and though Law's standing in Hollywood was lifted far beyond what movies like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and Wilde had earned him, he was going to need another vehicle to put him over as an A-list star. By almost any standard, his big follow-up, Enemy at the Gates, was a letdown. Regardless of the quality of his performance, his role as a World War II Russian sniper was nowhere near as compelling as what he'd had to work with in Ripley. Nor did this outing give him the opportunity to look as ravishing. Law is clearly not the sort of actor who calculates his career moves in this manner. Like such fellow Brits as Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet, he prefers pushing boundaries to building up a star persona, and he's understandably wary of the straitjacket effect of movie stardom. But even Law must now see how many great directors will start giving him first dibs on smart roles if A.I. Artificial Intelligence, the secrecy-shrouded Steven Spielberg-directed tale set in a world of thinking, feeling robots, turns out to be one of the summer 2001 blockbusters. Playing a gigolo robot in this dark, classy project originally developed by Stanley Kubrick, Law has just the showcase he needs to tentpole his career. If the movie underperforms or Law is perceived as underperforming in it, his phone will not stop ringing with plum assignments. He's too respected for that. But if he's decided that real movie stardom can bring advantages that balance out the constraints, here's his chance to study that equation.
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg's terrific performance in Boogie Nights wiped out any doubts Hollywood might have had about whether or not the former rapper could act. Deservedly, the guy hasn't stopped working since. His working-class charm, accessibility and undeniable charisma have played well in films ranging from the Hong Kong-flavored action comedy The Big Hit to the bold, flashy Persian Gulf War adventure Three Kings to the dark, intense little drama The Yards to the blockbuster disaster tragedy The Perfect Storm. But despite all those excellent performances, Wahlberg has never had the starring role that carried a big hit. This summer's mammoth Planet of the Apes, remade and reimagined by director Tim Burton, will be Wahlberg's first effort to front a big-budget, mainstream studio movie. Playing the equivalent of Charlton Heston's role in the original '60s film--the astronaut who crash-lands on a planet populated by intelligent, organized and often belligerent simians--Wahlberg will spend a lot of screen time doing cool, heroic things while displaying his famously ripped body. Audiences should flock to see the studly, charming actor brave a strange new species portrayed by such actors as Helena Bonham Carter and Michael Clarke Duncan in Rick Baker-designed ape gear. But the most crucial part of Wahlberg's assignment is to stamp his unique personality on what could otherwise be a mere orgy of great special effects, action sequences and production design. If the story works and Wahlberg gives it a personal shape, Planet of the Apes will go through the roof and Wahlberg will finally emerge as an A-level star. If not, it could be a long time before anybody asks the gifted ex-rapper to play the lead in a megabudget movie again.