Sorry - just getting around to this. So my wife has gotten into The Good Wife, which given all the positive reviews, is not suprising. I got to watch the one from this week with her this time. Turns out Leelee Sobieski had a guest starring role as the across-the-tracks girlfriend of a rich boy that TGW’s law firm is defending.
Really?
I thought LS was part of the Evan Rachel Wood, Jenna Moran, I dunno, Dakota Fanning (she’s in her late teens by now, right?) crowd of up-and-coming actresses? This wasn’t a cool, showcase-y featured role; she had a small part, hit her marks and it was done.
Did something specific happen to her career? Was there a fade I missed? Am I misreading the situation?
I don’t know any details on her, but I’ve always thought for an actor/actress “work is work.” A guest spot like this wouldn’t pay much, but it would keep her face out there. Possibly, though, she’s took the guest spot because it wouldn’t be a big time investment as she recently had a little one. In other words: I got nuthin’, but it’s a free bump.
Well, she was born in 1983 so she’s a little older than late teens.
And work is work, as my actor friends say. If you’ve got a hole in your schedule you might as well fill it with something that will generate a check.
It’s also not like she’s been in a ton of things lately. IMDB lists six in 2006, three in 2007, none in 2008, three in 2009, and two in 2010 if you include her appearance in a TV show once.
By the same token, I was surprised to see Jennifer Connelly and Winona Ryder in The Dilemma. From Oscars to playing the wives of Vince Vaughn and Kevin James in a buddy comedy.
The Good Wife is a critic’s darling, a show that makes of a lot of top ten lists. (Though I think it’s slipped a bit this year.) Most actors love playing parts on those shows and love having them on their resumes. The Good Wife gets a name guest star just about every week these days.
But Leelee Sobieski? Is she even a C-list actor? Has she had a single part in a major movie in a decade? I can’t picture her and I don’t associate her with any role. She’d be better off in a quiz about how minor an actress can be yet still have her name recognized.
I’m prepared to have a dozen people come in and tell about her great role in That Movie or That Other Movie. She’s still barely C-list.
But that’s a big-ticket, Ron Howard comedy - I just assumed they are following a “one for the money/broad appeal, one for the art/acting cred” type of plan and this one is for the money/broad appeal.
And granted, Ryder is still ramping back up from her shoplifting wig-out…
…and **kapri **- wha?! She was in a movie I remember some references to, but…really?
…and yes, Michael Caine will act in any darn job, as will most Brit actors, etc…but this feels a bit more of a stretch down for Sobieski…
ETA: **Exapno **- her unofficial nickname is “junior Helen Hunt” - they look alike, 20 years apart. LS was in a few movies a few years ago that were reasonbly high visibility. No, I am not arguing that she is down-list, but she was known…
Off the top of my head, I only know her from Deep Impact, Joan of Arc, and some weepy in which she dies - maybe starring with Tobey Maguire, maybe not, maybe not even a real movie.
So I’m not surprised she’ll take what she can get.
Sobieski had some flops (Wicker Man, The Glass House, 88 Minutes), and she grew out of the jailbait appeal she had going for a while. Basically, she had some buzz for a bit, but it didn’t translate to Box Office numbers, and that’s what really counts.
Yes, what you’re saying is true. And I’ll add the obvious - Ryder is 39 and Connelly is 40 and it’s difficult for any actress of that age to find good roles.
But still these are respected actresses and now they’re reduced to competing with Malin Ackerman and Maria Bello to play Mrs Vaughn and Mrs James.
Jane Leeves had a guest starring role on Deperate Housewives last season that only lasted two or three episodes, and even then she was only on for a few minutes each time.
This. She was the latest It Girl back in 1999-2000 with the Joan of Arc miniseries, Joy Ride, My First Mister and Eyes Wide Shut. Then she was in a bunch of movies that did pretty terribly (see Dio’s list) and she stopped being an It Girl, but still recognized by a lot of people.
But if you look at her IMDB page you can see that she never stopped working regularly. She just stopped being in big movies.
Pretty much every designated “It Girl” drops off a cliff shortly after her ascending celebrity is announced. (See Gretchen Mol, Terri Polo, Ashley Judd, and Charlize Theron as examples thereof). This isn’t necessarily backlash; a lot of actors and actresses, upon being “discovered”, seem to decide that they don’t really like the trappings of celebrity and all the garbage that goes with it (promotional tours, award ceremonies, paparazzi mobbings, et cetera) and use their newfound celebrity to secure smaller and less showy but artistically satisfying roles that provide a reliable, steady income without the headaches of starring roles. And many hop back and forth between big staring roles and small arthouse pictures (Naomi Watts comes to mind as an example) allowing them to pick and choose good roles while maintaining a reasonably high profile. There are some damned fine actors on the fringes of movies who have great talent and little or no arrogance about their craft; they’re just on-set to work like everyone else.
BTW, Sobieski looks like Helen Hunt’s younger, healthier-looking sister who smiles less but has soul-piercing pale blue eyes.
I finally saw the episode and I was amazed at how closely she resembles Helen Hunt. That kept taking me out of the episode. I would have had absolutely no idea who she was if it weren’t for this thread. Pure WAG, but could it be that producers don’t want to hire her because people concentrate on that rather than on her acting?
Has anybody seen the 2009 indie flick *Finding Bliss *? (Sobieski played the lead.) According to IMDB, it was made for $1.5m and ended up grossing less than $9000 in the U.S… so my guess is “no”.
I’d argue that Charlize Theron is still as popular as ever.
And I don’t know if I’d say that Leelee Sobieski fell off a cliff, but she picked a lot of stinkers after her breakout roles. Even now, when she shows up in a big movie (like Pacino’s 88 Minutes or Nic Cage’s Wicker Man), they’re pretty hated. So even though she never stopped working, she never had a chance to stay an It Girl with her resume.
It’s difficult to remember more than a few of her movies, but even tougher to recall any scandals, stars she dated or details about her personal life. She didn’t play the game. She had a kid with her partner instead of getting drunk and flashing her bits. Gossip column exposure may be less important as she ages, if she continue to has a career, but is pretty crucial for an actress in her early 20s.