The Actress: Hollywood Acting and the Female Star

272 Pages·2006·2.98 MB·English

by  Karen Hollinger

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The Actress
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The Actress
Hollywood Acting
and the Female Star
Karen Hollinger
New York London
Routledge is an imprint of the
Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
RT7924X_Discl.fm Page 1 Monday, January 23, 2006 2:17 PM
Published in 2006 by Published in Great Britain by
Routledge Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group Taylor & Francis Group
270 Madison Avenue 2 Park Square
New York, NY 10016 Milton Park, Abingdon
Oxon OX14 4RN
© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-97792-4 (Softcover)
International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-97792-0 (Softcover)
Library of Congress Card Number 2005031057
No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers.
Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hollinger, Karen.
The actress : Hollywood acting and the female star / by Karen Hollinger.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-415-97791-6 (hb) -- ISBN 0-415-97792-4 (pb) 1. Motion picture actors and
actresses--United States--Biography. 2. Actresses--United States--Biography. 3. Motion picture
acting. I. Title.
PN1998.2.H627 2006
791.4302’8092273--dc22 2005031057
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
Taylor & Francis Group and the Routledge Web site at
is the Academic Division of Informa plc. http://www.routledge-ny.com
Contents
List of Illustrations vii
Preface ix
Th e Author xi
Part I Acting, Stardom, and the Hollywood Actress 1
Chapter 1 Th e Hollywood Star–Actress and Studies of Acting 3
Chapter 2 Th e Hollywood Star–Actress and Studies of Stardom 27
Chapter 3 Star Acting and the Hollywood Star–Actress 47
Part II Case Studies of Contemporary Star–Actresses 69
Chapter 4 “Magic Meryl”: Meryl Streep 71
Chapter 5 Susan the Siren: Susan Sarandon 101
Chapter 6 “A Perfect Acting Machine”: Jodie Foster 141
Chapter 7 Angela the Icon: Angela Bassett 165
Chapter 8 Th e First Lady of Miramax: Gwyneth Paltrow 191
Chapter 9 Conclusion 223
Bibliography 239
Index 245
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List of Illustrations
Figure 4.1 Meryl Streep and Renée Zellweger, One True Th ing 84
Figure 4.2 Meryl Streep and Alan J. Pakula, Sophie’s Choice 90
Figure 5.1 Susan Sarandon speaking at a prochoice rally 117
Figure 5.2 Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, and Tim Robbins,
Dead Man Walking 132
Figure 6.1 Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro, Taxi Driver 142
Figure 6.2 Jodie Foster and Andy Tennant, Anna and the King 160
Figure 7.1 Angela Bassett and Taye Diggs, How Stella
Got Her Groove Back 171
Figure 7.2 Angela Bassett, What’s Love Got to Do with It 180
Figure 8.1 Gwyneth Paltrow, Shakespeare in Love 198
Figure 8.2 Gwyneth Paltrow and Sydney Pollack 208
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Preface
Th e Actress: Hollywood Acting and the Female Star investigates the
c ontemporary fi lm actress as an artist and an ideological construct. Th e
book is divided into two sections: Part I looks at the major issues involved
in the study of fi lm acting, stardom, and the Hollywood actress. My inten-
tion is to point to the problematic nature of this study and to move the
analysis of the images and careers of major female Hollywood stars in a
new direction. My study of the star–actress breaks new ground by bringing
together theories of screen acting and fi lm stardom. Th e fi rst section of the
book fully discusses how these two areas of inquiry might be combined.
Of particular usefulness to the study of screen acting is the intertextual
approach so oft en advocated in star studies. According to this paradigm,
the star–actor is seen as an amalgam of complementary texts, including
performance, promotion, publicity, criticism, and commentaries. Th e
intertextual case studies of Meryl Streep, Susan Sarandon, Jodie Foster,
Angela Bassett, and Gwyneth Paltrow that compose Part II of the book
involve an analysis of the interaction among these stars’ career trajecto-
ries, the elements of their star images, their comments on their acting craft ,
and the ideological signifi cance of their star personas. In this way, many of
the insights of star studies can be brought to the study of star acting and
vice versa, and some light can be shed on the much neglected craft of the
H ollywood fi lm actress.
Before we turn to that study, however, a few acknowledgments of the
people and institutions that helped to bring this project to fruition are in
order. First of all, I would like to thank Judith Simon of Taylor & Francis,
William Germano and Frederick Veith of Routledge, the copy editing and
production staff , and the anonymous outside reader, who off ered extremely
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