the list of 9 for june 2, 2004:
NINE ONE-TIME SCREEN PAIRINGS THAT WOULD BE UNHEARD OF TODAY
You know how it is in show business: Fortunes can change seemingly overnight. One star rises whileanother one falls. And so on. This list was inspired by an earlier List of 9 where I mentioned1985's The Money Pit and remarked how, once upon a time, Tom Hanks and Shelley Long couldreceive equal billing in a motion picture. How times change. To wit:
- KEANU REEVES and PATRICK SWAYZE, Point Break (1991). Boy,that Patrick Swayze was once a huge star. Ghost! Dirty Dancing! Whathappened? The same thing that might have happened to Keanu Reeves before The Matrix savedhis career - and which still might happen now that the Wachowskis have soiled their ownMatrix legacy. Still, I doubt Reeves will sink to Swayze's level of obscurity.
- MICHELLE PFEIFFER and MAXWELL CAULFIELD, Grease 2 (1982).One of filmdom's legendary bombs, Grease 2 starred the two unknowns as watered-downversions of the then-still-hot John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. (I bet if the producers hadwaited two more years, they could have had their original stars for a steal.) Pfeiffer's latersuccess needs no elaboration; Caulfield, alas, remained a non-entity. You know you're in troublewhen "Dynasty" is the most notable thing you've ever done.
- JUSTINE BATEMAN and LIAM NEESON, Satisfaction (1988). Aclassic example of All About Eve-style Hollywood irony, this trite comedy about a girl bandwas meant as a vehicle for Justine Bateman, of "Family Ties". She fizzled on the big screen, butNeeson - as well as a young supporting actress named Julia Roberts - did not.
- DON JOHNSON and SUSAN SARANDON, Sweet Hearts Dance (1988).At the time, Johnson was still riding high on both his "Miami Vice" success and his marriage toMelanie Griffith (whose career has likewise cooled). This low-wattage jerk never sold many movietickets and wound up back where he belonged: on TV, doing lame cop shows ("Nash Bridges,"anyone?). Yet Sarandon endures.
- HARRISON FORD and ANNE HECHE, Six Days Seven Nights(1998). Wait! you say. Isn't it a little soon to call Anne Heche's career asa leading lady over? Answer: No.
- TOM CRUISE and DEMI MOORE, A Few Good Men (1992). TomCruise always likes to overshadow his leading ladies, which was easy with the likes of MiaSara and Kelly McGillis; less easy with actual good actresses such as Renee Zellweger and NicoleKidman. But Demi Moore? Inarguably, she was once a top star. Marriage and children(and, let's face it, poor acting in bad movies) stalled her career, and when shetried to make her comeback in 2003 with Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, nobody cared.
- SCOTT BAIO and JODIE FOSTER, Bugsy Malone (1976). This isa little unfair, as both were child actors then and typically one has no idea where child actorsare going to wind up after puberty. But considering that both Baio and Foster kept acting intoadulthood, it's not hard to note the gap in quality between Zapped! and The Silence ofthe Lambs.
- WILLIAM BALDWIN and SHARON STONE, Sliver (1993).Sliver was the kind of movie that can ruin careers. Stone's own floundered as a result, butshe seems to be treading water with films that at least get a theatrical release. But alas, poorBilly: despite early promise in Backdraft, he quickly belly-flopped into thestraight-to-video swamp.
- WINONA RYDER and BEN STILLER, Reality Bites (1993). Whocould have predicted? At the time, Ryder and Ethan Hawke were huge; Stiller, who directed, had asmall following and played the straight man. Today, Stiller is one of Hollywood's hottestcomedians. Hawke now does the odd low-budget drama. Janeane Garofalo became a name, briefly,before settling back into standup comedy and political rants. Steve Zahn is in everything, thoughhis career never truly skyrocketed. But Winona! Surely it's not just the shoplifting fiascothat scuttled her acting career. Could it also be... lack of talent?
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