Disarming You with a Smile
By Agent Bedhead | Posted Under Career Assessments | Comments (51)
Subject:Amanda Seyfried, 24-year-old American actress and Hollywood “It girl”
Date of Assessment: February 5, 2010
Positive Buzzwords: Driven, diverse, disarming, damn gorgeous
Negative Buzzwords: Nada, zilch, zippo
The Case: This impossibly pretty (in an almost alien-like way) blonde got her start in in soap operas and a supporting role in Mean Girls. Then, television came calling again, and Amanda Seyfried graced the small screen in a recurring role as a dead girl in “Veronica Mars” and, most recently, as the conflicted daughter of a polygamous Mormon in HBO’s “Big Love.” Finally, that inevitable breakthrough role arrived in an unlikely vehicle, the film adaptation of the Mamma Mia! musical (hey, the girl can sing), which launched her onto the global pop culture radar alongside the likes of Meryl Streep and Colin Firth. Now, Seyfried has decided to leave “Big Love” after the fourth season and gamble it all upon her budding film career.
Odds of continued success are favorable, to say the very least.
Everything depends upon Seyfried’s current arsenal of upcoming films. Dear John gives her a headlining role, along with the oft-shirtless Channing Tatum, which shall initiate her into the drivel of Nicholas Sparks adaptations. Letters to Juliet has generated a bit of buzz as a romanic dramedy. Chloe, which is perhaps the most anticipated of these three films, is a thriller that features Seyfried in the title role (and getting pretty damn naked) with co-stars Liam Neeson and Julianne Moore. With these three films, Seyfried continues to diversify her career and avoid typecasting herself as a token bubbly blonde romcom queen. So far, Seyfried seems made of teflon; in fact, her lone career mishap, Jennifer’s Body, was a box-office disaster, but its failure, despite nearly destroying the myth of Megan Fox, hasn’t affected Seyfried’s career path much at all. Of course, Seyfried also doesn’t greet the press with double entendres and otherwise shoot her mouth off in manner of you-know-who. Instead, this freakishly gorgeous blonde prefers to stay out of the tabloids, listen to her agents, and merely concentrate upon her acting career instead of squandering time and goodwill by dropping salacious quotes about sex.
Here’s what worries me about Miss Amanda. After a few decades of following a bit too much of her agents’ advice, she’ll start to age, and then she’ll start worrying about fading youth and whatnot. All it will take is a slight push (just like the one from her agent to do nudity in Chloe), and Amanda may very well allow some overbearing plastic surgeon to ruin her face. This might sound like a bit of a far-fetched scenario, but remember how cute Meg Ryan was until she got all botoxed-up, collagen-filled, and whatever else she’s had done to make herself look like the Joker? And so follows the frozen face, lost roles, and eventual claims of an ageist film industry. Even though, I assure you, if George Clooney froze his face, he’d lose plenty of role opportunities as well. Now, I’m about to go off on a mini-tangent, but ageism really does work both ways in Hollywood. Aside from Leonard DiCaprio, it’s pretty damn rare for a very young actor to achieve superstardom, sustain marketability after leaving the “heartthrob” phase, and, unbelievably, go on to receive critical acclaim. Most respectable actors don’t bloom until much later in their careers than the typical “teen idol” types; conversely, actresses tend to peak at a much younger age before, inevitably, embarrassing themselves by crying during their Academy Award speeches, following up with some self-serious movies that no one wants to see, and then overcompensating for their box office losses by hitting the botox. After these ladies have sufficiently insured that they can no longer move their faces and express emotion, which is what their job requires, they conclude that their failing career is all the fault of The Man. What I’m trying to say here is that, damn, I hope Amanda Seyfried doesn’t fuck up her career this way.
Prognosis: Seyfried is on the right path for continued success and career growth, but she should stick with films that also star established actors and actresses to learn their techniques. While she’s a slight pushover about doing nudity, we certainly don’t mind seeing the girl naked. Above all, Amanda Seyfried should be prohibited from co-starring with Megan Fox ever again.
Agent Bedhead lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She and her little black heart can be found at agentbedhead.com.
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Comments
Posted by: Spender at February 5, 2010 12:13 PM
A mere handful of actresses have avoided the pitfalls you have described - Jodie Foster, Sigourney Weaver and, of course, Meryl Streep come to mind immediately.
What all three have in common, aside from tremendous talent, is a strong sense of self-worth and determination not to succumb to pressure. My hope for the lovely Miss Seyfried is that she possesses same and looks to those women for inspiration.