This weekend was a lesson right out of Star Power 101…

The most quickly forgotten lesson is how quickly stardom comes.  And how easily it can go.  I go over the box office with a fine toothcomb every week and I find little surprises every time I start crunching numbers.  In analyzing the ascendance of Reese Witherspoon, I was not so much reminded of Julia Roberts (as Len Klady was in this week’s Weekend Report) as Drew Barrymore. 

Witherspoon is experiencing just her second big opening with this weekend’s estimated $37.5 million start for Sweet Home Alabama, which was sold almost completely based on Ms. Witherspoon’s star power, much like Legally Blonde ($20.4 million start).  These numbers are, indeed, Julia Roberts-like… but better.  $37.5 million is $2.5 million more than the opening of any Julia Roberts movie in history.  And only Erin Brockovich and Runaway Bride opened to significantly higher numbers than Legally Blonde’s $20.4 million.  But Roberts had an entire career’s worth of success before “coming back” with My Best Friend’s Wedding five years ago.

Looking back at Barrymore’s great 1998, which was much written about in this column, I was kind of shocked to be reminded that The Wedding Singer and Ever After were really the first major financial successes for Barrymore.  After all, they followed Barrymore’s iconic turn in Scream.  But Barrymore was an icon without portfolio at that time.  Her movie career as an adult lead actress consisted of Poison Ivy, Gun Crazy, The Amy Fisher Story (Made for TV), Bad Girls, Boys on the Side, Mad Love and the Woody Allen ensemble, Everybody Says I Love You.  The closest any of them came to being a hit was Boys on the Side with less than $25 million in domestic box office, despite the fact that it co-starred the still hot Whoopi Goldberg.  The other five theatrical releases didn’t total $30 million domestic combined. 

But the popular press embraced Barrymore and audiences felt a connection.  Scream grew beyond any expectations.  Then Barrymore became a movie star…. an $18.9 million start for The Wedding Singer - co-starring with Adam Sandler -  while Drew was arguably the bigger name – led to an $80 million gross.  A “nice” $8.6 million start for Ever After led to a surprisingly strong $66 million domestic total.  And an $11.8 million start for Never Been Kissed on the way to a $55.5 million gross put her on solid “opening” ground. 

Before Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon’s career kicked off, in terms of box office, with Fear, which co-starred box office iffy William Petersen and newcomer Mark Wahlberg opposite Reese, who played a vulnerable young sexual target.  The film did almost $21 million.  She was an important, but supporting, player in both Cruel Intentions and Pleasantville, which both came in around the $40 million mark.  But she was getting attention, stealing the show from Joan Allen and Tobey Maguire in Pleasantville and inspiring Fox Searchlight to pick up Best Laid Plans… which became primarily a video title.  But Election, despite lame box office, made Reese Witherspoon an icon.  As great as Matthew Broderick was, Witherspoon was a true sensation.  She continued to work on art films in small roles, but when she finally got a wide release again, more than two years after Election, audience attraction to Witherspoon translated directly into a major opening and a near-$100 million gross.  A year later, Witherspoon was drawing enough people to generate what will likely be a Top 15 Opening at year’s end with Legally Blonde. 

These numbers tell us that Witherspoon is a legitimate star.  But I still say she is in Drew Barrymore’s space more than Julia Roberts.   In Roberts’ first career, the box office was a very different place.  Pretty Woman was a sleeper, but it was a very buzzy sleeper.  People smelled it coming.  Yet, it started with only $11.3 million on it’s way to a $179 million domestic run.  Roberts had four $100 million movies in four years and not one opened to as much as $17 million.  Nowadays, spring releases like We Were Soldiers and John Q are tagged as flops when they open to “only” $20 million on their way to more than $70 million domestic.  In four years, 1997-2000, Roberts starred in four $100 million movies and not only opened to less than $21.5 million. 

Legally Blonde and Sweet Home Alabama are Reese Witherspoon’s Ever After and Never Been Kissed.  (As mentioned before, Ever After and Sweet Home Alabama even share the same director.)  Unlike Drew Barrymore’s situation, one of her films is ripe for a sequel.  Red, White & Blonde is pretty much a $40 million opening lock.  But then what? 

Witherspoon has done well with a first-time director and a hack.  But where does she go from here?

Barrymore has seen her value as a star slide as she has futzed around in cameos while making two films in the two years since Never Been Kissed.  One she co-produced, but found everything except for her bosom outshined by Cameron Diaz, Bill Murray and Lucy Liu’s hair.  Very generous as a producer, but not very career-helpful.  And in Riding In Cars With Boys, she went away from her youthful sex appeal and tried a turn as a buoyant, but harried, single parent… not a Drew role.  Brittany Murphy had the Drew role as “crazy best friend.”   And how much had a $10.4 million opening changed in significance since the days of Never Been Kissed and Every After?  The film came in second to From Hell, a film that is remembered as a disastrous failure. 

Drew has three films coming, at least two of which have to work at the box office for her to maintain her presumed position in the industry.  The third to be released will be the Charlie’s Angels sequel, which will be seen as a disappointment if it doesn’t open at $50 million and total at least $150 million domestic.  In the meanwhile, she has two high pedigree shots  – George Clooney’s directorial debut, Confessions of A Dangerous Mind and the Danny DeVito directed, Duplex, co-staring Ben Stiller and being released by Miramax next spring. 

But the thing that jumps right off the page about Barrymore’s adult career is that she has never worked with an A-list director at the top of their game.   With due respect to DeVito and Penny Marshall, Barrymore needs to find her way into a Spielberg or a Scorsese or a Fincher or a Zemeckis or a Burton or a Aronofsky or a Soderbergh or a Ridley Scott or a Neil Jordan or an Oz or a Luhrmann or a Wes Anderson or so on and so on and so on… someone who pushes the envelope… someone who Ed Norton would work with, whether commercial or crazy… someone who is going to raise her game, not the other way around.  (Again, due respect to Danny D., who I think of as an innovative and daring director.  I hope Duplex is great.  For that matter, I hope Clooney is brilliant behind the camera)

How did Julia Roberts handle sudden fame?   After Sleeping with the Enemy and Dying Young, Roberts became a true commodity… in other words, the deals around her became more important than the films.  She took an “I am a superstar” role for Steven Spielberg (Hook).  Charles Shyer couldn’t make a good idea work (I Love Trouble).  Lasse Hallstrom couldn’t make a script that never seemed to stop being re-written work (Something To Talk About).  And the accented Mary Reilly and Michael Collins were disastrous dirges for an All-American girl with a mega-watt smile. 

She came back with a great, hip director (PJ Hogan) and the perfect “Julia” role in My Best Friend’s Wedding followed by a Dick Donner thriller, followed by a disappointing drama, but then came back with two strong comedies of two different schools and then her first big risk… carrying a straight drama that demanded a truly great performance that would make her look really terrible if she failed.  Bur she succeeded and Erin Brockovich has proved to be the apex of her career. 

And now, she is strong enough to not only open, but to survive The Mexican and America’s Sweethearts.   Passing fancies like Ocean’s Eleven and Full Frontal are nice.  And Roberts will have a part in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (with Drew… it’s a small world after all).  But just in time to remind everyone that she is a superstar, Roberts will head Mike Newell’s Mona Lisa Smile, teaching (literally) the next generation of female stars (led by Julia Stiles, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Ginnifer Goodwin) how to do it. 

I guess the ultimate answer is that Witherspoon’s career feels like Barrymore’s to me at this point… but I wish Julia Roberts’ choices on her.  To me, she is the best of her generation so far, brimming with potential to work to all fields. 

The Roberts Road – PJ Hogan, Richard Donner, Roger Michell (who has proved to be in the same quality arena as his set-up man, Mike Newell, with Changing Lanes), Garry Marshall, Steven Soderbergh. Gore Verbinski, Joe Roth, Soderbergh, George Clooney, Mike Newell (the original).   A few chances taken, but interesting risks. 

Witherspoon’s next film, after the Legally Blonde sequel, should be a drama.  And it should be made with a great director.  She should have her agents set up meetings with Coppola and Zemeckis and Fincher and Todd Haynes and Phil Kaufman and Pedro Almodovar and PT Anderson and Phillip Noyce and Curtis Hanson and Neil Jordan and Stephen Frears and others I’m not thinking of right now.  (I’m sure that she’s already met Spielberg.)  She ought to go to her Election director, Alexander Payne, and get him and Jim Taylor to develop a film as gentle and nuanced as About Schmidt for her.  She ought to fly in City of God director Fernando Meirelles for a meeting.  She ought to consider an outing with John Stockwell.  She should pick someone off of Julia’s List.  She ought to find out what Diane Keaton is thinking is interesting.  She ought to conspire with Carrie Fisher.

I saw Lawrence of Arabia on Saturday night (coincidentally, along with directors Richard Donner and Kimberly Pierce and once-and-forever exec Bill Mechanic).  Near the end of the film, there is this bit of near-accurate dialogue:

Allenby:  You are a hard man.
Prince Feisal:  You… are just a General.  I… must be a king.

Be hard, Reese.  You can be a queen.  Be hard.

KICKING IN:  Part Two of this lesson in stardom is much easier to dissect.  Jackie Chan has starred in just five made-for-America feature films.  He’s had a dozen films in domestic distribution since New Line started printing money with his face on it with Rumble in the Bronx.  But The Tuxedo is only the fifth original.  And it has suffered the worst start of those five films. 

The sad news on The Tuxedo is that it’s going to hurt Jennifer Love Hewitt a lot more than it will hurt Jackie Chan.  Chan has Shanghai Knights in the can and he’s about to start shooting Around The World In 80 Days with he best of the Adam Sandler directors, Frank Coraci.  As far as I can tell, Ms. Hewitt has nothing set right now except for an in-the-can disaster that is being peddled by its completion bond company.  And while Chan is on the downslope of an amazing career, Hewitt has not yet become defined as a star… except by the constant interest in her cleavage.  And while it may seem patronizing to say it, she is more than just a pretty face/bust/tush… she has a singular charm… she can become.  She just hasn’t yet.  And with The Tuxedo, she is stuck being a pair of very attractive brown shoes.

SICK OF BEING SICK:  I made notes on two entertainment media stories that I wanted to write about today, but I’m just not cranky enough to make myself crankier by mulling them over anymore tonight.  If you wish to investigate them before tomorrow’s column, take a look at Tom King’s overwrought, under thought, all-but-plagiarized Friday column taking Paramount to task, and then check out the current state of the “Ain’t It Cool That JJ Abrams Has My Number News” stories on the Superman project. 

I’m not quite sure what Ain’t It Cool’s position on Superman will be by the time I write more about their “Consistency… we don’t need no stinkin’ consistency” coverage, but here’s a brief sneak peek at the position du jour: 

“So… How is this first draft?

By no means is this in the league of BATMAN & ROBIN or BATMAN FOREVER. Right now, I’d say this has similar problems with SUPERMAN 2…

It has problems, but in my book there’s far far faaaar more good than bad, and as of now, most of the bad is being addressed by J.J. – so he says – and we’ll keep our eyes on this one. It’s SUPERMAN, we’ll keep ya updated.”

Just hours ago, the site was not-too-subtly suggesting physical confrontations with JJ Abrams at an Alias book signing in L.A. next week.

If only we could get Harry interested in Middle Eastern politics!!!

SPEAKING OF THE FLIP SIDE:  There has been some excellent coverage on some interesting stories that I plan on going over tomorrow.  First, there is the very competitive battle between the L.A Times and the L.A. Daily News over the story of the EIDC, an organization set up to promote film production in Los Angeles that has been a swirl of controversy, not only over runaway production, but in the valley secession movement as well (thus, the Daily News interest). 

Also, Hollywood is continuing its version of E-Bay, as studio conglomerates seem eager to sell off a new group of assets each and every day.  Me?  I’ve already put in a $30 bid to pick up the Terminator 3-D ride, which I think might be a little too big to fit in my kitchen, but what the heck?!?!  And I’ve got my eye on this cute little director of development… under 30 years old and her brain has barely been used.

JUST WONDERING:  I caught a few minutes of the WB’s Charmed on Sunday.  Is it me or is the greatest directing challenge on the show making sure that every frame of the three females leads includes both their faces and their breasts?  Where’s Simon West when we need him?

JUST FOR FUN:  I can’t really describe this to you.  All I can tell you is that it isn’t dirty, it’s very pop-y and it made me laugh… more than once.  Click here to get goofy.

READER OF THE DAY:  PEDRO’S COUSIN writes:  “Mr. Poland, I could not agree with you more regarding the lazy pictures that Andy Tennant has thrust upon a (now) suspecting audience.  And while I digested and understood most of the points you made regarding directors who might have done the material justice, I am amazed that you included Don Petrie among them.  Miss Congeniality??? That is a dreadful film, clumsy from the first frame and inept in its attempt at an semblance of "real life." When you watch the movie, you are fully aware of the sets, the camera set-ups, and the actors.  You never "forget" that you watching a movie.  The ONLY quality that carried the picture to its box office success was the balls-out performance of Bullock. She's a natural at screwball comedy, but even with her performance, Petrie allowed us to see just how hard she was working.  Not good.  Not a good film at all.  I'm not certain about Jonathan Lynn either; while My Cousin Vinny was classic and Trial & Error was a pleasant diversion,

I cannot stump for The Distinguished Gentlemen or the rancid Sgt. Bilko.  However, I'd sit through any Lynn film before subjecting myself to a work of Petrie's again.”

DAVID REPLIES:  I thought that Miss Congeniality was a well-oiled machine that worked for every one of its actors.  And anyone who can hit the home run, which Lynn can, deserves a shot.  It’s a very small group.

NOT THE PITT MOVIE writes:  “As a Reese fan, you should check her out in her very first movie when she was only 15--"Man in the Moon."  The whole drama revolves around her character.  Her very first film, and already, she was able to support a whole movie on her own.  Incredible show of what was to come...  Try to rent it; you'll be glad you did.”

Finally, MINK MAN writes:  “I had to email you today to clear up the bogus "urban legend" about Pacino and Deniro not appearing together on camera for Heat in 1995. This is simply not true. I don't know where this rumor started, but I do know for a fact that both Pacino and Deniro were at Kate Mantellini in Beverly Hills during the diner shoot, and I've always felt that Michael Mann framed this scene with great thought. To me, a major theme in the film is that the two characters, one a criminal and the other a cop, are mirror personalities of each other, and it's ironic that these two men, whose surface appearances make them seem so different, are in fact so similar.

Notice during the scene that they understand each other's motivations and dreams, and you'd think that based on their conversation they are more than mere strangers, and that dialogue like "There's a flip side to that coin" and "I don't want to do anything else either" is used, which furthers along this metaphor.  When Mann shot the scene he did in fact use medium shots of both men sitting at the table, but he just didn't use it in the final film.  Take a look at these shots from the scene that was shot, and tell me that the actors weren't there together; it's a nice fairy tale, but that's all it is. I also saw the bullet festival that follows the bank robbery gone awry being shot, and both actors were present at the same time during filming.”

E ME:  What career advice would you give Reese or Love or Jackie Chan or anyone else you feel like smacking around today?