Oookay, crazies of the media, let’s calm down for a second, take a breather, and start behaving a little more rationally. The Hollywood Reporter recently did an interview with Alice Englert, the 18-year old star of the upcoming Beautiful Creatures. The movie revolves around a family of witches and is based on a young adult series. It comes out tomorrow, on Valentine’s Day, and it’s being billed as the next big franchise, like Twilight and Harry Potter before it. But before it’s even come out, Alice is already being asked to defend her choice to star in a franchise movie instead of a trendy little indie film. Here’s an excerpt from the first couple sentences of THR‘s interview:
“Englert, who starred in one of her mother’s short films at the age of 12, could have easily made a life working in independent film, the realm where her mother rules. Instead, she took on the lead role in Beautiful Creatures, a romance drama film based on the extremely popular young adult books of the same name.”
There’s only the tiniest hint of tone in that, but Alice quickly makes a point of distancing herself from the terrible, horrifying, disgusting world of popular blockbusters that potentially edgy actresses like Kristen Stewart have gotten sucked into.
“I just think that that sort of attention is actually unhealthy. I think that sometimes they like you, sometimes they don’t like you, it doesn’t have that much to do with you. I personally have no interest in it simply out of a selfish want to be happy as opposed to being seen. I don’t think being seen makes you happy. I would never want to do something just for the sake of being independent or for the sake of doing big films.”
Yeah god forbid. Why would a young actress want the guaranteed paycheck that sequels provide? I can’t understand what would possibly be alluring about a popular movie versus an edgy indie…other than money. Let’s cut these people a break for a second and remember that acting is their job. If they want to take a job purely for the money provides, that is absolutely their prerogative. That’s the main reason that humans take jobs, so why are we not allowed to talk about it when it involves movie actors? Celebrity is so fleeting and luck-based, so why shouldn’t someone like Alice Englert cash in on every opportunity? There’s so much competition and such a small window when actresses are cast-able, let’s let the girl do her thing, yeah? We’re all gonna go give them a shit ton of our money to see the movie, so why shouldn’t she let them give her a shit ton of their money to do the movie, am I right?
And regardless, she can do whatever she wants after this. Just look at Emma Watson. Eight films of a movie franchise, and straight into looking edgy with a pixie cut. Game, set, match.
(Image: The Hollywood Reporter via Warner Bros Pictures)