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The Jack Man Fetches a 19th Century Damsel

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (35)

Rachelweisz.jpg

Any of you old-timers remember Madeleine Stowe? She was semi-big as a leading lady back in the 90s — the sophisticated kind that often did period pieces. Sort of like the Rachel Weisz of her day, the less edgy version of Helena Bonham Carter. I think she’s most famous for her role in Last of the Mohicans. She more or less disappeared around the turn of the century, and she’s been hiding out in TV land periodically for the last 10 years. She’s one of the unfortunate actresses who got pushed out by younger stars and, from a few pictures I’ve seen recently, perhaps some bad plastic surgery.

Anyway, back in 1993, Stowe wrote a script, a script that Ridley Scott wanted to direct and that Russell Crowe was attached to. A studio offered her $5 million for it, but she turned it down because she wanted a guarantee that she’d play the female lead in the movie, which is about a woman whose husband is killed and her two children kidnapped by a Comanche war party in 1859. The woman is rescued by a frontiersman.

Fifteen years later, Stowe is too old to play the part, but now she’s decided to make the movie herself. Unbound Captives will be Stowe’s directorial debut, and she’s lined up her leads. Rachel Weisz will play the woman. Hugh Jackman will play the frontiersman hero, and I have no idea who Pattison will play. Probably an 1859 version of a twatwaffle.









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Comments

What I remember her most from is Bad Girls (hangs head in shame). It was my Mary Stuart Masterson phase, okay? At least she didn't suck as bad as Andie Macdowell. And Drew Barrymore as a cowgirl? Ha! I'm surprised Costner wasn't in it. I wonder how many guys netflix this thinking it's a porno?

Posted by: slower lower at May 13, 2009 9:53 AM

Jackman and Weisz killed in The Fountain. So this sounds cool.

Posted by: twig at May 13, 2009 9:55 AM

i assume you mean madeleine stowe? i loved her in 12 monkeys and the general's daughter, but was an instant fan when i saw her in blink.

Posted by: gp at May 13, 2009 9:59 AM

She projected what a true star should be, dark haired, smart, witty; hell she made The General's Daughter watchable. She was cast aside because she's not a bimbo.

Seriously doubt this will amount to anything though, Jackman can't open a movie were he don't have CGI claws sprouting out of his knuckles and that smelly Pattinson fella is bound to get stuck as a glowing vampire.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 13, 2009 10:00 AM

Rachel's picture up there made my Boss Man twitch.
Pattinson will be a brooding Comanche with a touch of rouge war paint applied to accentuate his cheekbones who will try to molest one of the kids. Then he will show up on set. Douche.

Posted by: Kballs at May 13, 2009 10:14 AM

I really liked Madeleine Stowe, back in the day! She was the only good actor in 12 Monkeys, and really good in Last of the Mohicans. Feels to me like she should have accepted the money - years later, she's not even in the starring role anymore, and she's got a bad cast. Pattinson, seriously. Still, it's good to have women directing films, so I won't complain too much.

Posted by: Caspar at May 13, 2009 10:22 AM

Stowe was a great actress that did seem to vanish. I think she got tired of losing roles to talent vacuum Andie McDowell. 12 Monkeys, Blink, and Last of the Mohicans were definitely her stand outs.

As for Unbound Captives it has Weisz in it so I will be there. As for the picture above, I'll be in my bunk.

Posted by: TylerDFC at May 13, 2009 10:25 AM

Wasn't Stowe married to Brian BenBen at one point? Does anyone remember his show "Dream On" on HBO where he related all of his life experiences to the shows he grew up watching on TV? It was a fantastic show. A forgotten classic.

Posted by: PaddyDog at May 13, 2009 10:47 AM

'Sort of like the Rachel Weisz of her day, the less edgy version of Helena Bonham Carter."

Sorry but Rachel has a hell of a lot more edgy that Helena Bonham Carter and is a much beter actress as well. As for this film, Rachel and Hugh Jackman were magic together in "The Fountain", so i can't wait to see this movie.

Posted by: Bobbie at May 13, 2009 10:52 AM

Maybe what killed her career was that home invasion movie with Ray Liotta.

Or maybe it was the western with the other three women. The "cat fights" buzz was enormous. I never did see the film.

But really, honestly, when it comes right down to it, here's what always kills the career of an enormously talented and gorgeous woman in Hollywood:

The combination of terrible script choices, bad management, shitty attitude (and those three things ARE preventable) -- and the inevitability of aging and replaceability. That final variable will kill you when combined with the third variable.

And when you can't pick terrific scripts at least two times out of three -- and for that you really, really need great management -- and you don't have the good will of the industry because you have a bitchy fucking attitude (and Madeleine Stowe was RENOWNED for being a grade A cunt), you may have a great run for a few years if you score a few hits. But god help you if two of them tank in a row. And if you get a REAL stinker? Like Bad Girls turned out to be? And BOY, was it a stinker...

I mean, they put that one up on a pedestal. It got major magazine covers: Premiere magazine, Vanity Fair... I remember that year. And then the bad buzz started, and the "cat fights" talk built and built. The crew was leaking like a sieve about the sheer loathing between the women.

Does anyone remember -- off the top of your head -- the four women in that film? It was Stowe, Mary Stuart Masterson, Drew Barrymore and Andie McDowell. Of the four of them, only Barrymore's film career has thrived. And some -- snobs, of course -- might say that while she is a roaring success, she doesn't exactly have a... Barrymoresque resumé.

There are many, many lessons to be learned from the downfall of Madeleine Stowe. One of them is, you can have every benefit there is in Hollywood, including stunning beauty and talent and all the chances to succeed for which any aspiring actress could ever hope -- and it still might not be enough to sustain a long and fulfilling and artistically fulfilling career.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at May 13, 2009 10:56 AM

Paddydog I remember "Dream On". Damn, I loved that show! A few months ago I was flipping channels and actually stopped on Private Practice for a few minutes because Brian BenBen was on the show. I was all "Hey, it's the guy from Dream On!" and my husband was all "who in the what now?". I was rather disappointed that he had no idea what show I was talking about and questioned my decision to marry him. Also, didn't Dream On star that chick "Nina" from, oh what the heck was the name of that half hour comedy about a magazine? It also starred David Spade....

Posted by: Kelly at May 13, 2009 11:06 AM

Kelly,
Just Shoot Me, and yes she was on both shows.
Dream On was one of the first original HBO shows I remember enjoying. But I'm notorious for being wrong.

Posted by: Kballs at May 13, 2009 11:12 AM

Kelly:

You're thinking of Wendy Malick. She played his ex-wife on Dream On.

Posted by: PaddyDog at May 13, 2009 11:12 AM

I loved Don't Shoot Me. Wendie Malick was a scream as Nina, and Enrico Colantoni was great as Elliot. I especially remember the episodes where his brother, maybe, was pretending to be brain damaged? Wow, off the way back bus now.

Posted by: slower lower at May 13, 2009 11:14 AM

Madeline and Rachel team-up, huh?
I'm so there...

Posted by: Rykker at May 13, 2009 11:15 AM

I think Stowe and BenBen are still married...I remember watching an episode of Dream On as a kid and being FLOORED by all of the nudity and sex (I remember him doing a woman on a rocking chair). Then my mom walked in. It got ugly after that.

Posted by: Julie at May 13, 2009 11:15 AM

Slower Lower, did you ever see the Just Shoot Me episode where they gave Nina the fake Word of the Day calendar, and then she went on a radio show and used all the made up words trying to appear smart? That was way too funny.

Posted by: Julie at May 13, 2009 11:17 AM

Julie:

You're right. I looked it up just now and they have been married for 25 years. Shit! Who needs a film career if you can be married to a really funny guy for that long.
I think Dream On was the first sit-com to feature a lot of nudity and bad language and sort of shocked everybody but it was hilarious.

Posted by: PaddyDog at May 13, 2009 11:18 AM

I vaguely remember that one. The one's that stick out in my mind are the one's mentioned above (with Elliott's brother), the one where Nina donated her bikini to a bar to display and they sold it to a Japenese guy. They showed him wearing it and dancing at the end. Also one where Dennis and Elliot were involved with the same woman and she locked one of them in a cage and left him. Mr. Lower still occasionally will spout, out of nowhere, "You're calling from the cage, aren't you?"

Posted by: slower lower at May 13, 2009 11:23 AM

I only knew that Paddy because recently I was bored and home sick and watching Blink, that terrible movie where's she's kind of blind and witnesses a murder and spends most of the movie yelling at/fucking Aidan Quinn. So I imdb'd her to see what she was up to. :)

Is Dream On on dvd? I'd love to watch it as an adult, where I can appreciate the jokes instead of naively wondering "Why would he want to kiss her THERE??"

Posted by: Julie at May 13, 2009 11:24 AM

Sorry, I always thought Madeleine Stowe was boring and only borderline attractive. Combined with her cunty attitude it's no wonder she disappeared.

Posted by: Sasha at May 13, 2009 11:24 AM

"The combination of terrible script choices, bad management, shitty attitude (and those three things ARE preventable)..."

See: Linda Fiorentino

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 13, 2009 11:24 AM

I especially remember the episodes where his brother, maybe, was pretending to be brain damaged?

slower - the brother in question was played by David Cross.

I periodically still say, in a sing-song voice, a la that character:

Chicken pot, chicken pot, chicken pot piiiieee!

Posted by: tamatha at May 13, 2009 11:58 AM

Ahh right, Just Shoot Me... thanks KBalls. And Julie, I swear to God, the exact same thing happened to me - I'm a kid, watching Dream On thinking it's kind of funny when holy shit - there are naked boobs on the screen! Boobs!! Then my mom walked in....

The brain damaged brother episode in Just Shoot Me was one of my favourites, as was the episode where the two guys are auditioning for the magazine, one is ugly yet really funny and the other is handsome but completely brain dead. The daughter tells the ugly one she can't go out with him because she doesn't date people she works with but then dates the handsome one all the while hating herself for being so shallow. Does anyone remember that episode? The "ugly" guy went on to star in Alias.

Posted by: Kelly at May 13, 2009 11:59 AM

Madeleine Stowe was my second flowering not yet sexual attraction right after Charlotte Lew of the Golden Child. I was just a kid. I think my next two were Jesse Spano and Linda Fiorentino. Yeah, I still get the odd mix.

Dream On is completely on Hulu.com I am happy to report.

Posted by: Jackseppelin at May 13, 2009 12:56 PM

Stowe gets a lifetime pass for Revenge, a totally underrated little movie.

I would watch Rachel Weisz fold laundry. Paint a fence. I would watch her darn socks, for Christ's sake.

Posted by: TK at May 13, 2009 1:16 PM

I'm going to Fandango my ticket right now.

Posted by: wsapnin at May 13, 2009 1:21 PM

Her "beatific smile" at the end of 12 Monkeys made me gasp. Absolutely heartbreaking, I thought. And I loved the one shot from Mohicans where she's firing that pistol into the camera lens. Rrrowwwrrr...
Shame what happened. It's gotta be tough though, even trying to pick a project without it's getting bastardized. Let alone for a decent movie for women. Let alone a woman "of age".
Hollywood is an asshole. And so are we for demanding younger and prettier, that makes women like Stowe and Meg Ryan, and countless others, butcher their faces to try to stay yong pretty and relevant.

Posted by: Odnon at May 13, 2009 1:44 PM

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Posted by: gate green at May 13, 2009 2:31 PM

Stowe gets a lifetime pass for Revenge, a totally underrated little movie.


Posted by: TK at May 13, 2009 1:16 PM

----------------------------------------------
Damn I think this was the first time I saw her.
Kevin Costner retired Navy pilot plows Anthony Quinn's girlfriend.

Nice reference, you get to live a bit longer.

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 13, 2009 3:30 PM

See: Linda Fiorentino

Seriously, what's the deal with her? She was fucking awesome in The Last Seduction, and then.... complete fucking mess in almost everything afterwards. Although, if the Dogma rumors hold true, she's apparently a nightmare to work with.

Posted by: I Love Beets at May 13, 2009 3:51 PM

Although, if the Dogma rumors hold true, she's apparently a nightmare to work with.

Posted by: I Love Beets at May 13, 2009 3:51 PM

--------------------------------------------------

She started sabotaging her career WAAAAAY back during Vision Quest when she was STARTING out. She even refused to promote fucking thing if you can believe that. (that movie was awesome BTW and she was smokin' hot in it) The rest is well, where is she now?

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 13, 2009 4:20 PM

Slim, You are fucking right about "Vision Quest." That's one of the best scenes ever in a movie where the old guy is describing seeing Pele do the reverse somersault goal.

FWIW, isn't that Madonna's movie debut?

Only problem is, I know wrestling and the scoring in the final match doesn't make any fucking sense.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at May 14, 2009 1:17 AM

It featured a Madonna song. She wasn't actually in the film. I believe it was Live to Tell.

Posted by: Maryscott O'Connor at May 14, 2009 2:12 AM

You be wrong madam!

Madonna made a cameo appearance: she was the singer at the bar, the song was "Crazy for You."

Posted by: BarbadoSlim at May 14, 2009 7:30 AM