Jennifer Garner’s a TV star trying to make a Bruce Willis-like leap to movies.
Scarlett Johansson throws herself into sharp and quirky independent offerings, hence avoiding trite teen comedies that can quickly kill promising careers.
Hilary Swank’s an Oscar winner still trying to live up to the expectations that come with being an overnight sensation.
These actresses all have films in or about to hit theaters that could greatly enhance their standing in Hollywood. But do these lovely ladies each possess the savvy to enjoy Julia Roberts-style success 10 years from now?
Jennifer Garner (Elektra)
Sure, Jennifer Garner throws a mean punch. She’s also pretty handy with a pair of three-prong daggers. But is there more to the sexy Alias super spy than saving the world week after week?
Hard to tell.
Yes, Garner tried her hand at comedy in last year’s Big-on-estrogen fairy tale, 13 Going On 30. Unfortunately, Garner proved more annoying than amusing as the gangly teen transformed overnight into a 30-year-old workaholic fashionista.
Now Garner, 32, returns as Marvel Comics heroine Elektra, reborn as an assassin after almost dying at the hands of Bullseye in Daredevil.
The risks are numerous. Elektra remains relatively obscure outside of the Marvel Universe. Unlike Spider-Man and X-Men, Daredevil never won over fans of the comic-book. So such a spin-off, like The Mummy Returns’ The Scorpion King, may not generate the same bucks at the box office. It also doesn’t help that audiences favor Batman and Superman to their feminine equals Catwoman and Supergirl.
Conversely, Garner’s an established action heroine with a loyal following. And she certainly left Ben Affleck bloody and blue in Daredevil. So the potential’s there for Elektra to do some serious damage at the box office.
Now, if Garner wants to be the action heroine that Angelina Jolie will never be, she’s making the right choices. But she’s going to have to take on more diverse roles to avoid ending up on the scrap heap when she’s too old to roundhouse kick her foes into submission.
Daredevil: $102.5 million
13 Going On 30 : $57.1 million
Scarlett Johansson (In Good Company, A Love Song for Bobby Long)
Scarlett Johansson’s accomplished so much in so little time.
Sure, there have been some errors in judgment. Eight Legged Freaks probably seemed like fun at the time, but The Perfect Score was always a losing proposition.
Otherwise, Johannson gravitates toward smartly written–if a little aloof–women who seem wiser their years. She stole Ghost World from Thora Birch with her deliciously acerbic wit. That drollness certainly allowed her to hold her own against Bill Murray in Lost in Translation. She also got to display great poise and, for the first time, exhibit her delicate beauty in Girl With a Pearl Earring.
Now she’s in two films that serve dual purposes.
The bright and mature workplace comedy In Good Company, costarring Dennis Quaid, represents the best opportunity since The Horse Whisperer for mainstream audiences to acquaint themselves with Johannson. She’s at her warmest and most accessible in a minor role as a student smittened with her father’s new and considerably younger boss (Topher Grace).
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A Love Song for Bobby Long again showcases Johansson’s ability to go one on one with a veteran superstar. In this Southern fried arthouse drama, Johansson bumps heads with John Travolta and emerges the winner with a subtle but heartfelt portrayal of a high-school dropout coping with her estranged mother’s death. Her reward: her third Golden Globe nomination in just two years.
Johansson seems to be making up for lost time after dropping out of sight for three years following The Horse Whisperer. She’s already toiled on A Good Woman, a costume drama opposite Helen Hunt; Thumbsucker, a dark farce costarring Keanu Reeves; and an untitled comedy by Woody Allen.
And you can’t blame Johansson for capitalizing on her newfound success by heading to The Island, director Michael Bay’s summer sci-fi thriller, and teaming up with Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible 3. These potential blockbusters–coupled with Brian De Palma’s rendering of The Black Dahlia–can only raise Johansson’s profile and allow her to keep taking challenging roles that match her poise, allure and intelligence.
The Horse Whisperer: $75.3 million
Lost in Translation: $44.5 million
Girl With a Pearl Earring: $11.6 million
Ghost World: $6.2 million
The Perfect Score: $10.3 million
Eight Legged Freaks: $17.3 million
Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby)
Mrs. Chad Lowe came out of nowhere to secure Oscar gold for her startling turn as the gender-confused Brandon Teena in Boys Don’t Cry.
Then, post-Oscar win, she all but disappeared.
Now, all of a sudden, Swank’s back again. And, thanks to Clint Eastwood, she may find herself clutching Oscar No. 2 come Feb. 27. She could KO the competition–which are a bunch of stiffs, truthfully told–with her dominating turn in Million Dollar Baby as a female boxer with a chip on her shoulder.
The buzz surrounding Million Dollar Baby offers Swank, 30, a second shot at going the distance in Hollywood. Unlike five years ago, when the relatively unknown TV staple enjoyed overnight success with Boys Don’t Cry, Swank’s older, wiser and able to learn from her past mistakes. Hopefully she realizes she’s too contemporary to stuff herself into a corset (The Affair of the Necklace), or that burrowing into The Core is the wrong direction to take to gain respect and admiration.
Even a nomination might help indie projects 11:14 and Red Dust secure distributors.
Swank’s smartest move is the one she’s about to take: vamping it up as a femme fatale in Brian De Palma’s 1940s’ film noir The Black Dahlia, costarring Johansson.
It’s about time Swank let her hair down.
Insomnia: $67.3 million
Boys Don’t Cry: $11.5 million
The Affair of the Necklace: $471,210
The Core: $31.1 million
The Bottom Line
Hilary Swank’s got the Oscar, but it’s taken an unanticipated bid for a second Academy Award to revive her flagging fortunes. Jennifer Garner’s got the moves, but Elektra may not make us forget just yet about Alias’ Sydney Bristow. Scarlett Johansson’s got the best resume, and she’s still not old enough to toast her success with a glass of champagne. Time is on Johansson’s side, and if she continues to make canny career choices, she will be one of the smartest pretty women in Hollywood a decade from now.
