Inside the Lives of Hollywood’s Next Generation of Actresses

Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Thanks to the American public’s intense fascination with A-List celebrity, it’s been getting harder than ever to find articles on Hollywood actresses who don’t have have the last names of Kidman, Jolie and Aniston. While debating this press disparity, I realized that most people would jump at the chance to learn about what life was life for Jolie prior to her cracking the most elite levels of Hollywood. And thus an article idea was born.

by Chris Neumer

Part 2: Boundaries

There were only two questions that I made a distinct point to pose to all of the women I interviewed. One of them was this, “Are there any boundaries that you’ve set for yourself?” For clarity, I would then rephrase the question, “Is there anything you won’t do? Work with a baby? Sign on to a movie with a talking dog? Or play the lead in a road trip movie involving strippers?” Interestingly, Steven Seagal’s name came up twice in response to this question. To put this in perspective, nobody specifically mentioned that they’d have a problem acting opposite a baby or a dog that talked.

HAYLIE DUFF: I don’t ever see myself doing nudity. I feel like a lot of times it gets gratuitous. Everything has been done in movies and people are like, “What can we do that people are going to talk about? How can we shock people one more time?” I just don’t feel like it’s necessary. There’s almost something ruined about a woman who exposes her body like that, especially over and over. If somebody is constantly doing that, it’s like, “Come on now.”

LAUREN BITTNER: I’m not going to just do one scene in a movie and show my booty. I don’t think I’m at a place where I’d be comfortable with that. I don’t like looking at myself without my clothes on, so why would I expect other people to want to? That’s number one. Number two: professionally I want to do some fun things I’m proud of before I start taking my clothes off. I did a scene where I bent over in The Thing About My Folks and that was really hard for me. I worried for a really long time about how my butt was going to look on camera and I was wearing clothes! I don’t want to have to worry about things like that.

JENNIFER HALL: I don’t want to do a film where the opening shot is me giving a dog a blowjob, although it could turn out to be a funny movie. It could be a really great movie, maybe I just read it wrong. Yeah, it’s real. I’m going to be so embarrassed if you write that and then the movie comes out and it’s the biggest hit ever [and I passed on it].

NORA ZEHETNER: There aren’t any real boundaries that I’ve set for myself. It all depends on what the project is. I’d probably say no to American Pie 6 or a road trip movie with strippers, but you never know, they might be funny. There are definitely things that I want to do and things that I don’t. I love cheesy movies, but I don’t really want to be in cheesy movies. There were a couple of things that I passed on when, now, I don’t think I should have passed on them. There are definitely things that I’ve done that turned out to be awful, but you can’t say, “God I wish I hadn’t done that,” because it’s a learning experience. They weren’t life-changing things that I passed on, like the lead in Lord of the Rings or anything, they were just supporting roles in big movies.

JENNIFER HALL: I don’t mind nudity, if it’s warranted, if it’s for the character, if it’s justified and not gratuitous. I think of that movie with Jennifer Connelly, Requiem for a Dream, where she and the girl were having sex with a double-headed dildo. I think about that. That’s borderline something I wouldn’t do, have sex with a double headed dildo. I’ve already humiliated my family, there’s nothing I can do now.

TIFFANY DUPONT: I can’t really find a way to justify nudity, so no. I don’t think showing my body is necessary to accomplish what I want to. I think there are a lot of incredible scripts out there. Some of them want nudity, a lot of them don’t. I don’t have to be a part of the ones that do. In our society we’re really opening up, in a good way, but often in a bad way, and I think a lot of times they’re trying to push the envelope as far as they can, and it’s almost becoming normal these days. And people can write it off, “Oh it’s art,” or “It wouldn’t have been as real without it,” “Art imitates life,” blah, blah, blah. For me personally, I’m not into it.

MARY ELIZABETH WINSTEAD: I won’t do nudity, that’s the one thing. It’s hard because there are a lot of really good roles out there that I really want to play, but the director thinks that nudity is really necessary. I’m fine with love scenes, I’m fine with sexual characters and things like that, but I feel that nudity isn’t really necessary. I still take meetings on scripts with nudity if I’m interested in the character. I just hope that maybe it can be discussed and negotiated. Typically if it is something that the writer or director feels is important, then it’s going to be a really tough sell. I don’t want to be in a film that I can’t show my family or my parents.

TINA MAJORINO: I won’t do nudity. Nudity is the biggest thing. I just won’t do that and that extends forever. I just won’t do it. The reason that I won’t do nudity is because there’s going to be a time when I’m older and will have children. I don’t want my kids coming home from school one day and saying that their friend brought in a video tape on which they saw my bare ass. I just don’t want to put out that message for my kids. I don’t want my kids to be seeing that. Film is definitely forever.

MEAGAN GOOD: I don’t think I would do nudity, but if it was the type of project where it was necessary to bring the whole point of the movie across and it was for a greater purpose than me just showing my body, then there’s a possibility I’d do it. Really, the only thing I won’t do is say the lord’s name in vain. I did a scary movie called Venom about a year ago and my character was supposed to be a voodoo priestess’ daughter. I didn’t mind that because of the character, but I just didn’t want to refer to God in a particular way. I’m a Christian, but not a religious Christian. I’m just very spiritual. I have my belief system and anything I feel would be disappointing to God I don’t do. When I do photo shoots for men’s magazines, I don’t do lingerie, I don’t do skimpy bikinis because I want to set the standard for young women that ‘you can be sexy as hell, and you don’t have to have your ass hanging out.’

HAYLIE DUFF: Horror movies are one thing I don’t like relating to that much. I mean I’m not really interested in doing them. They always send me horror movies, but [I’m just not that interested].

LAUREN BITTNER: There’s a big difference between agents and friends. My agents help me pick and choose projects. My friends and family are like, “Do everything you can, just be on TV!” I remember a couple weeks ago there was some sort of audition for a soap opera. I was talking to my father over dinner, just telling him what was going on and it came up and I said, “You know, I’m not going in for it.” And he said, “Why not? ” I said, “I don’t go in for soaps anymore.” And he got so mad at me. He got mad and wouldn’t talk to me because, to him, that was a job. It was like, “Who do you think you are? What do you mean you won’t go in for a soap? Isn’t that a job, and wouldn’t you be making money?”

TIFFANY DUPONT: There are definitely things I’ve turned down because I just didn’t think they were good or I didn’t want to be a part of them. I remember there was a script where in the first two pages, these two girls walk into the woods and they get pulled up by the trees, and the trees are devouring them and their skin’s getting ripped off. It was just ridiculously bad and terrible. I was talking to my managers and was like, “Did you guys read this? My character doesn’t get eaten by trees, but I don’t need to be in a movie where someone else does.”

NORA ZEHETNER: I’ve been trying to [steer clear] of high school movies. But then they send me something amazing and I’ll reconsider. I’ll look at the script and it’s great and then I say, “I’m too old.” I have gone out for a couple of high school movies that have been amazing. There was this movie with Michael Douglas that was good and funny, so I went and I read with him. There were a couple of other girls there to read with him as well. My reading went horribly, but the other girls who were reading with him were actually 16 years old. They were born in 1990. I went and looked in up on IMDb later and was like, “Oh my god, this person was actually born in 1990!

TINA MAJORINO: I couldn’t do a Steven Seagal movie. I definitely wouldn’t do a Steven Seagal movie. Yeah, that would be one that I would just be like, “No.” Nothing against Steven Seagal, because I’ve never met the guy, just, you know…

MEAGAN GOOD: There was one particular project that I can remember that my agents and managers were like, flat out, “Don’t do it,” but it wasn’t for me anyway. It was a Steven Seagal movie. Most of the time they try and direct me but I know what I want to do and I know what my goals are. To have someone to back up my feelings or agree with me is good, but at the end of the day, I know what’s in my heart.

LAURA RAMSEY: I’m not going to say ‘No’ right now to opportunity. There could be a great independent film with a great script and a great cast that needs me to do nudity and if it’s there for a point and has artistic value, then I will do it. I’m not going to say no to anything on spec because that means I’d be turning down potentially good opportunities.