SCREEN GODDESSES
drunks. l)affy ingenues. Lolitas. kooks. sex starved spinsters. psychotics. Icebergs. loinbies and ballbr'eakers. 'l'hat's what little girls of the o()s and 7().s are made of.’ Arguably things have stayed the same ever since.
All of which brings us to llalle Berry. Salrna llayek and Audrey 'l‘autou. 'l'hree beautiful bona lide film stars whose reputations are certainly bigger than their surprisingly slim bodies of work. 'l'heir trajectories tell a different fascinating story of just what it takes to be an international film demi-gtxldess in a culture that seems to prefer its celebrities mildly retarded. usually having graduated from a reality TV show.
All three women face milestones this year. llayek and Berry both turn 40. while Tautou. at the age of 28. has said she will retire from acting alter the release of the The Da Villt'i ('ot/e —— her lirst appearance in an American blockbuster. In a few weeks Hayek can be seen in Robert Towne's big screen adaptation of .lolm l"ante‘s stunning l‘B‘) book Ask the Dust. playing (of course) a beautiftrl btrt fiery Mexicano barmaid. (‘amilla l.opu. As for Berry. she returns for the third time to the supporting role of Storm in the third (and possibly linal) instalment of the X-Men franchise. before taking the lead role in James Foley's internet dating thriller Perfect Stranger.
None of these women's resumes follow the classic rags to riches template. but seeing as both Hayek and 'fautou grew tip in well-to-do households it is to Berry‘s tale that we will lirst turn. Born in Who in Cleveland. Ohio to an African American father and a (‘aucasian British mum. Berry quickly graduated from beauty pageants to television. standing out from the usual rising starlets. For one. this beauty queen could act and. for two. she took it very seriously. In her breakthrough role on nausea-inducing
Nb") sitcom Living Dolls. Berry made a point of
remaining in character when the cameras stopped rolling. Later she reportedly refused to bathe for several days before starting work on her role as a crack addict in Spike Lee‘s Jungle Fever (19‘)! ). Yet. even back then there were signs that. despite her many talents. picking a good script was not one of them. Look at this list of films and convince me there‘s a decent film there — Boomerang. The Flintstones. Iireetaive Decision and [lulu-(nth. However many times Berry tired her agent in those years it was clearly not enough. In fact it was not until Martha Coolidge‘s TV film Intrmlueing Dorothy Dam/ridge. in which she played the much sinned against 50s black film actress (best known for her performance in ('armen Jones) that people began remembering what a fine actress she was. Berry went on to win a (iolden (ilobe for her performance. As she entered her thirties. she hit a golden period. both commercially and creatively. with X-Men and X2. Die Another Day and of cottrse her Oscar
18 THE LIST 1 1—25 Mav 2006
winning performance in Monster's Ball (it's best to draw a veil over .S'ivord/islt. (iothika and Cant-omen). Berry had become the highest paid black actress in Hollywood and had walked away with more gongs and gifts than her heroes
Dandridge and Whoopi Goldberg could ever
imagine. A star was bom and one. unusually. who had both integrity and humour (Berry showed incredibly good grace when she received a Razzie award in 200-1 for her performance in ('ativoman and has claimed she inherited her sense of irony from her linglish mother).
Like Berry. Salrna Hayek had the blessing of
mixed parentage. Born in (‘oatzacoalcos. Mexico. also in 1966 to a Lebanese-Mexican father and a Mexican opera singer mother. Hayek moved from finishing school to small roles on Mexican TV with relative ease (her father‘s business connections helped a lot). By the early l9‘)()s she had decided to leave her loyal fan base in Mexico to pursue a career in Hollywood. only to discover that Latino actresses were about as in demand on the West (‘oast as steam pudding tins. Luckily. rising Tex Mex filmmaker Robert Rodriguez had seen her on TV and cast her in 1995's Desperado. The world fell in love with Hayek and the actress has not really looked back since. Despite some truly cretinous career advice. Hayek has been in enough interesting oddities over the last decade (From Dusk 771/ Dawn. Hit/a. Once upon a Time in Mexico) to make her the most beloved US-based Latina actress since the l93()s when the wonderful Dolores Del Rio and Rita Moreno rocked. all too briefly. in the free world.
Who would you rather watch. Salma Hayek in Ask the Dust (below). or Whoopi Goldberg
or Rita Moreno (bottom)?
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EVEN BACK THEN THERE WERE SIGNS THAT PICKING A GOOD SCRIPT WAS NOT ONE OF BERRY'S TALENTS
Finally. there's Audrey 'l'autou from Beaumont. lirance. l’rivate acting lessons ensured that by the time she was 2”. her early interest in comedy had won her the best young actress award in the .leune (‘omedien de ('inema festival in IWS. A series of terrible l-‘rench comedies and TV show s followed until 2000 when Delicatessen director Jean l’ier're-leunet saved her from mediocrity. casting her in the huge international sleeper hit that was Amelie (the film cost L'om but made £90m). lrnmediately hailed as the stunted 6‘3": Audrey Hepburn of her generation. 'l‘autou seemed almost immediately to recede from the public glare. While everyone in the world wanted to look and dress like her. she was lending her acting skills to a variety of extremely poor. or mildly interesting but negligible tilms (He loves Me. He loves Me Not. l’ot Lia/t. /)irt\ I’reltv Things. l’as sur la Hora/1e). Hollywood was calling as loud as it could btrt ’l’autou said ‘non’. Subsequently. in what can only be seen as an act of career suicide. she decided to accept Ron Howard's offer of the role of l’rench cry ptologist Sophie Neveu in the lilrn version of Dan Brown's risible novel The Da Vinci (‘or/e. It‘s the gamble of a mad women for sure. and one that could either send her down in a bla/e of glory or turn her into the biggest reluctant star since (iarbo.
So there you have it. three women who are modem screen legends. .\le'.’ I‘d rather spend an evening with the dug tip remains ol Bette Davis. Joan ('rawford. (‘lara Bow and Ida Lupino than actually watch any of their films ItiHl'L than once. Btrt to misquote Mark Twain: "lo arrive at a just estimate of a renowned lady ~s character one must judge it by the standards of her time. not ours.‘
The Da Vinci Code is out Fri 19 May, X- Men: The Last Stand is out from Thu 25 May and Ask the Dust is out on Fri 6 June, all general release.