Wahooo! 10 DAYS TILL TAKE OFF!!! Alrighty then there are only ten days (10days-10days-10days-10days) left (BAH! 10days!!) until the summer ends and the next school year begins! Already I’ve been researching summer internships for NEXT SUMMER! My life is just heating up just as the weather is starting to cool down. So the new edition of the book is planned to come out within the next 10 cuz otherwise I won’t be able to converse with my editor on stylistic points (whose working furiously, btw, thank you). And with that comes some new tidbits and background information.
I’ve been thinking about movies lately and how characters can really rise up and exceed expectations (even generally growing can be tough, sometimes shedding the past and filling your own shoes is hard enough, forget ascending into a role people look up to for hope). And while I was thinking about this, I looked at the actors and actresses playing those roles and how they themselves have risen up much like their characters. The three people I’m looking at are Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, and Anne Hathaway.
Three large box office hits and they all step up to the plate and knocked my socks off.
Let’s start with Johansson, I remember seeing her in the Nanny Diaries, The Prestige, The Other Boleyn Girl, He’s Just Not That Into You, and she played characters who seemed pretty docile, the kind that if they were a kid on the playground and they got pushed by a bully, they would be mad back, but would end up getting knocked to the ground anyway, and another kid would have to defend them. So when I heard she would be playing a significant part I was dubious to say the least. But as soon as she swipped the Russian with the chair, I was sold. No longer did I see this the clip where she was intimidated by her first client at lunch, but a person who wasn’t going to let some alien army/demigod, much less a hoity toity, boss her around. Holy cow she was AMAZING!!! She bossed that roll, especially when it came to adding a human element among all these superheros who were larger than life characters. While it was still most definitely a “comic book” movie, the moment when it came to talking about personal struggles, she nailed it and created a depth of character for whom I would like to see an independent movie be made. Especially since keeping Black Widow in the minds of the viewers could have easily been lost amongst the capes, shiny armor, and muscles of the other super heroes. Scarlett Johansson, I am looking foward to you as an actress and can’t wait to see what you do next. I underestimated you, but I will never do so again.
Anne Hathaway…what can I say, it was a tough struggle to convince my family that she would do a good job in The Dark Knight Rises, mostly cuz (much like Johansson) they only remembered her as the cutsie Princess Diaries “Mia”. However I saw a little side to Hathaway in The Devil Wears Prada that had bite in it, which made me anticipate her role as Cat Woman. It’s the scene where she tells Christian Thompson “I’m not your baby”. In that small subtle moment teeth are bared and a dry coldness overcomes her tone. And it was that small moment that blossomed into the Cat Woman everyone always wanted (especially since it’s been a laughable almost a stigma of a character now) and I loved every moment of it. During the entire movie, I was like “I want to be you when I grow up!” She just does it all so fantastically and it’s nice to see other people understand her potential to go from one side of the spectrum to another.
Ahh, now to the boy of the group Jeremy Renner. What, can I say, he goes from being on the sidelines for so long (Mission Impossible 4, Avengers, and a few other actions flicks) and now he finally got his chance for his own hard hitting action movie and…well…I wasn’t exactly missing Damon (though I was reminded of him throughout the movie ::spoilers::). Renner became the Legacy, he hit every right note in not being a copy cat of Damon (which was a worry of mine), but an incredible continuation. He swells up the screen. I can’t wait to see the next one in the Legacy series, and I can’t wait to see what role Renner takes up next independently. He carried the movie as a main character, when I was bit hesitant if he could (since he’s been in the shadow of some large stars) and he’s grown into his own. I’m anticipating him being the new face of action movies, I hope he produces many more.
juneposte 