The wrong village

By Timothy Woodlock
West Times Staff

Before really getting into it, let me make myself clear – I like Shia LaBeouf. With the exception of adolescent girls, I agree with all of the praise he receives. He has the rare combination of looks, charm, and talent that is the stuff stars are made of. There’s one thing, however, I can’t yet be sure he has, and that’s range. My fear is that his career will fizzle before he gets to really develop his skills, and it will be no fault of his.

Last Monday as I glanced over the opening weekend numbers for LaBeouf’s latest flick, Eagle Eye, I shook my head at what a sadly familiar story is transpiring. Given, $29 million is a more than respectable September opening, especially for a film starring a popular but relatively new actor. Still, the mediocre reviews, coupled with the fact that even the biggest film’s numbers consistently drop more than 50 percent in the second week of release, tell me LaBeouf is in serious danger of suffering the same fate so many young stars of the last decade have.

A young actor or actress grabs attention, usually playing a small role among proven stars or in an ensemble cast of youngsters, and is suddenly starring in films that critics pan and theaters yank when the money doesn’t pile up – sound familiar? Do the names Josh Hartnett, Hayden Christensen, Rachel Leigh Cook, Jason Biggs, Wes Bentley, or Eliza Dushku sound familiar? The list goes on and on.

The producers and agents of Hollywood continually find these kids, stick them in starring roles – too often in films with budgets in the hundreds of millions – and then, when the film fails, kick ‘em to the curb. The thespian is left with either pumping out as many films as possible while he or she can still get jobs, or taking a supporting role in a franchise. Sometimes the kid can scrounge up a couple of sleeper hits before the inevitable, but for the most part these usually lousy roles only solidify the end of any successful commercial career. Remember Josie and the Pussycats?

Case in point – Kirsten Dunst. She started her career kissing Brad Pitt, and in her latest film she’s kissing the hilarious but, let’s be honest, ugly, Simon Pegg. What happened? Somebody told her Wimbledon and Elizabethtown were good ideas.

The problem is that these thespians are so young when they’re “discovered” that they don’t have time to earn it. And who can blame them? After all, millions-per-film and starring roles is the dream of every aspiring actor or actress. To turn down bigger roles in the interest of career longevity is unreasonable to ask of people who can’t even buy alcohol yet.

Someone like Daniel Radcliffe could be an exception, who took the controversial role in Equus to prove he could do more than wave a wand. It’s a smart move. Most stars his age, though, don’t have the luxury of three guaranteed blockbusters lined up afterward. For them, every film is sink or swim.

I could be an alarmist, but it’s telling that LeBeouf has nothing lined up after next summer’s Transformers sequel. That’s because Hollywood’s greenlighters have been waiting to see how well he fared without an anchor like Indiana Jones in the title. Let’s hope Eagle Eye can at least gross enough to cover its $100 million budget, or LeBeouf might find himself swimming in obscurity with Orlando Bloom.