The Official "Starlet" thread

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:26pm

Anyone else excited about this as much as me? I am hoping it may fill the void "Project Runway" left.

Fay Dunaway...Vivica A. Fox...wanna-be-actresses...REALITY GOLD!

Updated On: 3/4/05 at 03:26 PM

[ckeaton]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:33pm

I will probably not watch it, because Faye Dunaway gives me the creeps.

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 3:39pm

It actually got a pretty favorable review in todays NYT.

A Peek at the System in School for Starlets
By ALESSANDRA STANLEY

Published: March 4, 2005

"The Starlet," a WB reality show that applies the "American Idol" formula to would-be Hollywood actresses, begins with a cautionary face: the masklike visage of Faye Dunaway, eyes pulled so tight and jaw so taut that she can show expression only through her voice. Luckily, it is still a fine instrument. When Ms. Dunaway eliminates a contestant in the climactic "You're fired" moment of each episode, she lets the timbre fall into a smoky, menacing whisper. "Don't call us," she says. "We'll call you."

The fleeting nature of beauty and stardom is the subliminal lesson in a show that purports to groom young actresses for Hollywood: lilies that fester end up as talent judges on WB or the butt of Showtime's "Fat Actress" reality show.

The young women live together in a Hollywood mansionette that once was home to Marilyn Monroe; the winner of each round receives a gold statuette and the right to sleep in the "diva" room, an opulent master bedroom and boudoir. The last one standing after all the coaching and screen tests wins a management contract, a WB talent deal and a role on the WB series "One Tree Hill."

But the elimination process is the real role of a lifetime. The show's creators have skillfully fashioned a pedestrian talent show into a harrowing contest that blends the gauzy melodrama of "Stage Door" with the brutality of "Platoon."

Most shrewdly, the producers cast 10 young women who all bear a strong resemblance to well-known actresses. Mercedes, 24, is a delicate brunette who could pass for a young Teri Hatcher. Andria, 24, a perky blond former Miss Teen Texas, is a Reese Witherspoon wannabe, and spunky Courtney, also 24, has the short red hair and puffy lips of Molly Ringwald in her Brat Pack days. It's a handy Hollywood mnemonic device: agents hitch their unknown clients to the celebrities they look somewhat like.

The only person who looks like absolutely no one, not even her father, Robert Wagner, is the master of ceremonies, Katie Wagner, a television entertainment reporter with the stiff improbably blond hair, snow-white teeth and waxy, factory-cut features of a cosmetic makeover addict.

"Starlet" is not a cynical, malicious Fox show, however. WB is a cable network that caters to young people. The show casts the contestants' Eve Harrington fever as a universal quest - and even a noble one. In the introduction, as grainy images of a small child bowing onstage in a ballet tutu fill the screen, a narrator intones, "Every girl dreams of becoming a star." Suddenly, the images shift to movie stars like Scarlett Johansson and Uma Thurman sashaying down a red carpet as their fans scream with delight.

The young women express soaring ambition. Donna, a 20-year-old African-American model (the young Tyra Banks), tells the camera, "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind, and there never was, that I will be famous."

Cecile, 20, a tall South African blonde (the young Charlize Theron), is even bolder. "I've always thought of myself as larger than life," she says serenely. "I've always known I was going to be a legend."

Some of them also have poignant up-from-the-trailer-park stories. Michelynne, 18 (Keri Russell in the first season of "Felicity"), was raised in poverty by a single mother and recalls a childhood Christmas when her presents came from the Salvation Army.

Those painful memories come in handy when the contestants are sent to the Hollywood acting coach Bobbie Shaw Chance (a bosomy Konstantin Stanislavski) to learn the method for tapping into their emotions. She gets them started by pointing to a seat in her studio and saying, "By the way, you are sitting where Brad sat."

Ms. Shaw Chance urges students to focus on more than their looks. "Its very easy to be a road company Pamela Anderson," she says sternly. "If that's what you want."

But their acting skills are put to a preliminary test by having to recite two lines from a classic - a scene from "The Bodyguard." All of them have to mimic Whitney Houston berating Kevin Costner. "I do what I want when I want," is one line. The other is: " You work here. You work for me."

Ms. Dunaway has two other judges on her panel, Joseph Middleton, a casting director ("Legally Blonde"), and the actress Vivica A. Fox ("Independence Day"), and their deliberations provide a fascinating peek at the Hollywood system.

In front of the contestants, the judges talk a lot about craft and technique and hard work. When they are among themselves, they focus on other things to narrow the selection. "I would like to tone down that blue eye shadow," Ms. Fox says in disgust after one of the contestants recites her lines.

She lifts her hands to her eyelids. "Blend," she says. "Blend." The girl is unanimously eliminated.

Ms. Dunaway has higher standards, and is just as tough. "This is not the Paris Hilton school of acting," she tells one teary also-ran. But when a contestant turns defensive and talks back to Ms. Dunaway, Ms. Fox leaps to the star's defense and tears the upstart's impudence to shreds. "That is a legend you are speaking to," Ms. Fox says sharply. "Are you listening? You have talent, but there is an arrogance that comes from you that, boy, is such a turnoff to me."

"The Starlet" has been packaged as a vehicle for discovering the next Julia Roberts or Hilary Swank, but the real talent lurks behind the camera.

Mike Fleiss, who cut his teeth on "The Bachelor" and, most recently, "The Will," teamed up with the comedian and producer Jamie Kennedy ("The Jamie Kennedy Experiment"). Together they have concocted the perfect reality show for the age of celebrity and instant gratification - the Schwab's overnight discovery myth as reality show.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:36pm

I know one of the girls! Katie Kneeland (she's dead center above the "the" of the title) did two shows at my theatre. She does not usually dress so trashy. She's a really sweetie - a totally unpretentious Midwestern ingenue, who obviously has been told to go for a sluttier look for the show.

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:40pm

Jon -

They must all have that directive...but the girl with her legs straddling the "t" takes the cake!

[Jon]

Posted: 3/4/05 at 4:47pm

Here she is.
Katie's bio Updated On: 3/4/05 at 04:47 PM

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/6/05 at 6:32pm

Reminder - starts tonight at 8!

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/7/05 at 10:39am

I can't believe I am the only one interested in this...

You gotta see loopy Faye delivering "Don't call us...we'll call you" as if she were reciting Shakespeare (or Joan Crawford).

[Jon]

Posted: 3/7/05 at 11:20am

Well, of course I'm interestred - my gal Katie survived the first cut. I'm looking forward to next week's lesbian kiss in the hot tub.

UPDATE: Katie squeaked through again. She'll do well next week when they do a shampoo commercial on the beach. She looks great in a bikini. I enjoyed the coming attractions when they showed Viveca telling last week's "diva", Mercedes, "You hea that bell? That's the gym calling! You need to spend some time there!"

I was happy to see Courtney - "a monkey on crack" get cut.
Updated On: 3/8/05 at 11:20 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 10:51pm

Bump this thread to the top!


...and I was not surprised that the other girls find Katie annoying. She talks a lot. A lot.

[~FloweryFriend~]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:53pm

It's too bad that I gave up reality television for Lent.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 3/8/05 at 11:54pm

no interest at al...I am "realitied" out

[mollyllom]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 1:57am

I watched this show tonight...mildly amusing, but it didn't seem to be really that much about good acting, you know?

[Jon]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 6:59am

It had nothing to do with acting. It was all about who could kiss a girl without freaking out.

I felt so sorry for the 18-year-old virgin who's never even kissed a guy!

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 8:04am

We watched it as a lark after Gilmore GIrls... Vivica Foxx annoys the hell out of me... she's the arbiter of good acting??? rrriiiiiggghhhhtttt..... too much drama in figuring out what to do with the lesbian kiss... it should have grown right out of the scene, but all of them except the south african girl were too caught up in the fact that it was another girl they were kissing... and the prize at the end is a spot on One Tree Hill???
Updated On: 3/9/05 at 08:04 AM

[Jon]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 9:54am

plus an agent and a WB development deal.

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/9/05 at 10:06am

So for me, the girls are secondary and annoying...

The real reason to watch is Faye!

I remember about 3 years ago Faye gave an interview to Premiere magazine where they asked her about Ellen "Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood," had recently been nominated for an Oscar for "Requiem for a Dream," and the re-release of "The Exorcist" had done very well. However, because Burstyn had also just finished two seasons on the CBS show "That's Life," Dunaway's response was something along the lines of, "she's a mom on a sitcom. What's so great about that?" For that reason alone, I love that Faye Dunaway is now reduced to being a judge on a WB reality show.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/15/05 at 11:22pm

Katie made it through to the next round!

I think it's funny that all the other girls seem to hate her - at least that's the way the show is edited. I can't believe that no one ever said anything negative about anyone else!

The whole thing was taped last year - one of the girls got to go to the premiere of Ocean's Twelve!

The girl who said the most negative stuff abouyt Katie was booted off tonight - maybe the producers of the show are up to something!

[Jimmcf]

Posted: 3/16/05 at 10:33am

I actually like your girl Katie Jon. The one I really like, though, is Mercedes. It really pissed me off that they commented on her body like that (especially Vivicas' comments). I don't know what they are talking about...she has a great body.

[MagicToDo82]

Posted: 3/16/05 at 10:56am

Not that I watch the show (Magic hangs her head in shame)....but if Mercedes doesn't win this, it's so not about talent. Some of those girls were horrible - like that Courtney chick:) I also like Cecile...not sure if she can act, but she's interesting.

[Jon]

Posted: 3/16/05 at 12:25pm

it all depends on what they are really looking for. Katie is not a "great dramatic actress" - she's perky, cute and charming in a "Legally Blonde" sort of way. She was terrific doing a commercial on the beach, and would be great in a sitcom. She would NOT be great doing heavy, angst-ridden soap opera.
Updated On: 3/16/05 at 12:25 PM

[Jon]

Posted: 3/22/05 at 11:17pm

Bumping this thread to the top...

Wow - they all HATE Katie - or at least, the bitch Lauren hates her, and does her best to get the other to hate her too... and guess who got booted tonight? Lauren!

Based ont he way the show is edited, I'm guessing it will come down to Katie and Mercedes.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 9:32pm

So - was anyone else as disappointed as I was that Michellyne won? I should have been Mercedes - Katie was such a supreme, self-centered beeyotch, I would have kicked her ass to the curb at the very beginning - Michellyne is cute and sweet but WAY too green...Mercedes was stunning in that black evening-gown, the epitome of class and grace...like a modern version of Audrey Hepburn (in looks, anyway).