A few weeks ago, Blake Lively announced that she would be launching her own lifestyle/homemaking/whatever website, which just sounded like a budget version of Gwyneth Paltrow’s GOOP. According to Blake, however, her project was “without a genre,” something so new and unique that we would eat our peasanty words. At the time, I kind of thought this choice made sense. Blake finds herself in a weird position – she’s the queen of “uptrading” but her actual film/TV career is going nowhere.
We can debate whether that’s a conscious choice Blake has made – to spend more time on her side projects and to focus on being a newlywed wife and homemaker – but can we agree that her acting career is in the dumps? I personally think Hollywood could easily find a place for Blake if she only downgraded her expectations. If Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba and Megan Fox can have acting careers, so can Blake. But Blake thinks she’s better. Blake thinks she’s got enough hustle to be a major actress. She does have that hustle. But she doesn’t really have the talent. And that disparity is a factor in why she hasn’t worked on a film since 2011 (Savages) and why she’s probably been saying “no” to the films she has been offered.
But now she’s scored a new movie. So does she still have to pretend to care about lifestyle blogging?
The romantic drama The Age Of Adaline has been through a couple of incarnations, but it is now set to go into production in March as a co-production between Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Lakeshore Entertainment. The Town‘s Blake Lively is set to star with Ellen Burstyn, with Lee Toland Krieger directing. Lionsgate is set to release the film domestically.
Scripted by J. Mills Goodloe and Salvador Paskowitz, with revisions by Allison Burnett, The Age Of Adaline follows the miraculous life of the 29-year old title character, who stops aging after recovering from a near-fatal accident. Over the 20th century she embarks on an epic but isolated worldwide journey, keeping her secret, until she meets a man who forever alters her life.
“They’re extraordinarily talented and perfect for telling the beautiful and timeless tale of The Age Of Adaline,” Lakeshore CEO Rosenberg said of Lively and Burstyn. Added Lakeshore prexy Lucchesi: “Lee Toland Krieger is one of the most stylish young filmmakers working in Hollywood today. He is visually imaginative and possesses a strong narrative sense.”
Noting that the project took awhile to come together (Katherine Heigl once was attached), Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger said: “We searched for the ideal director and stars. We believe that we have found them with Lee Toland Krieger, Blake Lively and Ellen Burstyn, and together they will tell the story of Adaline in a way that audiences won’t forget.”
It sounds like an incredibly boring movie. I bet it will LOOK good, but it sounds sort of a like a budget version (with some tweaking) of Orlando (with Tilda!). Still, it’s a starring role and she gets to work with Oscar-winner Ellen Burstyn. That’s exciting. I guess babies will have to wait a while longer, Ryan Reynolds.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
I can’t take any movie seriously if she is starring in it… Sorry.
Considering this is the movie Katherine Heigl was attached to do for awhile, I imagine your instincts are correct. 😉
I wouldn’t trust Heigl’s taste. Maybe she rejected a good role while she was taking the bad ones that came with hefty paydays. Or maybe the producers got fed up with her, as rumour had it. I would trust Ellen Burstyn to know a good role when she sees it.
It’s not really about Burstyn (she works in everything) but more the fact that Heigl to Lively, without mention of Lawrence, Hathaway, Knightly, Mulligan, Scarlet, etc…does not inspire confidence.
@Mia4S
Some of those big names have been in some really bad movies, too, and some of them (like Hathaway) have their pick and still chose duds. Blake’s best roles by far have come in indies with lesser known writers and directors.
I’ll comment before everyone comes for her.
good for her. i like her and i respect her HUSTLE. something the noted “actresses” (Jessica Biel, Jessica Alba and Megan Fox) don’t have.
Did she ever complain that she is too beautiful like the Jessicas did?
I’ll give her credit: I don’t think she’s ever made that complaint. And she has clearly got an immense personal charisma because she’s made some fantastic connections within the industry. People like her enough to at least lether read for roles that shouldn’t even get near her.
Nope, never made that comment as far as I know.
She seems humble and may just like waiting for a project she actually likes.
Never. She’s not a complainer, and she doesn’t seem like the type to put up with a Timberlake for very long.
She’s had a major nose-job, maybe that’s why she didn’t complain. Then again, Biel has had much plastic surgery too….
She looks old in these photos. I didn’t even bother reading the article.
I agree, I think she did something to her face. She is beautiful, but she def did something to her face, nose job?
Interesting premise.
I loved Blake in the indie flick Elvis & Annabelle with Max Minghella. She did a good job
And Ellen Burstyn remains a goddess
I adore Elvis and Anabelle. It’s too bad crap like Gossip Girl gets a bigger audience than a sweet movie like that.
I feel like her whole career has been a series of rhetorical questions- who is she? How did she get here? What does she do? If Blake lively acted in a forrest and no one saw it, does it matter less?
Aw now, I bet she could act like a tree very well!
LOL
I like Blake. She is harmless.
+1.
And good for her on the movie role too.
Every time I see these photos of her I want to shout at her 5, 6, 7, 8!
LOL!!
Reminds me of Celine Dion in these pix.
She can’t act her way out of a bag. She was AWFUL on Gossip Girl, and I loved that show (at least the first 2 seasons of it). She’ll end up back on TV, because I don’t think anyone would pay money to see her in a movie.
PS – I wonder if Ryan is secretly controlling her career… hmmm.
PPS – One positive thing I can say about her though… she has great legs.
Wow can’t wait to watch her mumble and mouth breath her way through this with her one facial expression. Seriously WHY is she still trying to happen? Ugh she’s the worst.
Considering she mentioned a new film in the same interview where she talked about her other venture (whatever it is), I’d say yes, she’s still interested.
Her career is going “nowhere” but you expect it to go somewhere if she only aspires to Megan Fox’s roles? I don’t see how that works. Six seasons of Gossip Girl was enough bad material for a young career. I’d wait for something better, too. A chance to work with Ellen Burstyn trumps Ninja Turtles anyday.
yep! they don’t even try to make an effort to get their facts right… she announced not one, but two movies back then when she announced the lifestyle thing… so why are they acting as if the movies happened after it?
So before the next inaccurate post comes, she has a second movie also scheduled for the winter…
No, she isn’t a good actress, but I will agree with everyone here…..the girl has HUSTLE. mrs. timberlake wishes she had that much hustle.
Oh my god she is scary skinny.
I was thinking that too- her face in the header pic was alarming.
I don’t get the Blake-hate?!? She’s a pretty decent actress….better than many. I loved her in ‘The Town’ and I thought her performance in ‘The Private Lives of Pippa Lee’ playing Robin Wright’s younger character was great. She’s an ‘It Girl’ who never offended me. *ducks for cover
I agree Raised Brow. And I liked her in THE TOWN and PRIVATE LIFE OF PIPPA LEE too.
She was good in The Town and The Private Lives of Pippa Lee!
The best part about Pippa Lee though? Keanu!
Robin Wright, Alan Arkin, Julianne Moore… Not a bad performance in the bunch.
It comes from the overreaching. For a while there her name was bandied about for some of the biggest roles: Selina Kyle, Daisy Buchanan, the female astronaut in Gravity. Roles that were absurdly out of her depth. When someone gets the hype that she very briefly did there tends to be a backlash when the talent level doesn’t follow through. I saw Savages – that was supposed to make her career, the role that she really got to show what she could do – and she was not only terrible, but almost universally reviewed as terrible. It was supposed to be her calling card, and instead she’s (very smartly) taken a step back, enjoyed her personal life, and re-booted.
Lively is okay in certain roles she’s just doesn’t have an interesting enough screen presence to be a lead actress is all. Her performance in Savages was dismal though and I think it hurt her. You don’t have to always be good but you can’t be as bad as that.
It’s odd that everyone seems to have a bone to pick with her – I really like Blake Lively! She definitely has hustle. She has a good personality and legit confidence that seems to come from having a great upbringing, she’s very family oriented. Though I definitely side-eyed when she took up with Leo, but that ended in a hurry thankfully. Am I the only one who doesn’t believe all the Ben Affleck affair stuff?
Everyone talks about gossip girl – but really the role of Serena is depth-less, there’s not much more life she could have breathed into that character.
Even when her films were flops, her acting was praised – Hick, Savages, etc. She’s no oscar-winner, but this could be good.
I was reading the new EW magazine out today, and there is a new interview she did with the traveling pants girls and Blake says she’s doing a “secret” movie in December….why is a movie “secret” ?
Maybe it’s supposed to be a surprise walk-on, like all the cameos in This is the End or Ted (which turned out to be the best part of the movie.)
@Mia4S: Absolutely…that’s just what I was thinking.
True!
I like Blake. Is she a great actress? No. But she’s not terrible either. If male actors with the range of a chair are allowed to repeatedly offend me with their acting (hello timberlake) why can’t an OK actor like Blake. The majority of A,B,C list actors in hwood are just OK & there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t know why people are acting that she was starving for a role when she repeatedly said she was on a break. And now that it’s over, she’s got 2 movies lined up.
I like her hustle – she does seem nice and charming as folks seem to really like her. She’s harmless imo – she’s just making the most of her opportunity. So unless she starts talking like Biel/Alba; I can say I’m a fan.
Regarding Affleck. I don’t buy it – the rumour only started due to Lainey’s photo assumption and a mag interview. Plus I’ve never heard any gossip about Blake & Jennifer when they have been in the same place.
There were Ted blinds too. Def not just Lainey.
I like Blake a lot, but I do think something hinky went on with Ben. The same week her nude photos came out, Ben was photographed with an obvious black eye. That was some very odd timing.
Is she even capable of standing with her head straight? She looks like a dog with an ear infection.
I have to admit, I’m curious about her website… will it really be GOOP.2? She’s aware of GOOP right? Anyway, I am in lust with that jumpsuit she’s wearing. And her height…
Good for Blake. I think people are very quick to write off actors or actresses, without realizing that there is room for them in B or C list indies or smaller films. Once an actor has a certain level of being “known,” they can usually continue to find work…e.g., Orlando Bloom, etc. She also was decent in several indies she did before Savages…Anyway, my point is that not every actress has to be a blockbuster star or win awards.
I like her OK, but she’s lost weight again – she looks so much better at a higher weight (maybe 10-15 lbs?) – this isn’t a good or healthy weight for her.
Blake is not the greatest actress or near it, far from it but not everyone in film ought to be. I just say let her act and prove herself, just no more $200 track suits.
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Lively can act. She was a surprise to me in Ben Affleck’s “The Town.”
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