Can Tabloid Stars Become Movie Stars?

April 2, 2008 — -- If you were trying to stage a Hollywood career comeback at the age of 21, you probably wouldn't choose a minor role in a dark, low-budget movie about the murder of John Lennon. But then you're not Lindsay Lohan.

The movie "Chapter 27" opened this weekend to dismal reviews and took in only about $13,000 at the box office — though, to be fair, it only screened in New York. Still, it's got some industry insiders scratching their heads about just where Lohan goes from here.

Bradley Jacobs of US Weekly gave the film just 1½ stars out of four. "I thought her role in it was totally disposable," he told ABCNews. Maybe she thought it would be cool to be in this film, but she just continues to choose these dark, off-beat movies and that's not her strength."

Nevertheless, Lohan announced this week that she has signed on to another film where murder and mayhem are the central themes. Lohan will play the part of Nancy Pitman, one of Charlie Manson's cult followers in an independent production called "Manson Girls."

"Manson Girls" it's safe to say, is a long way from the lead in "Mean Girls" — one of Lohan's biggest box office successes to date, having pulled in $86 million.

Wild Thing

"Between the poor movie choices and getting herself into the news in unseemly ways she has run her brand into the ground," says Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo, an online box office reporting service.

These "unseemly ways" include several stints in rehab and two 2007 arrests for suspected DUI and cocaine possession, which scored her a sentence of one day in jail, 10 days community service, hundreds of dollars in fines and probation. Not only did Lohan's extracurricular activities make her seem unreliable as a person, they made her unemployable as an actress, with film insurance underwriters declaring her temporarily uninsurable.

But that was then. Now, it seems, Lohan is trying to become one of Hollywood's comeback kids — the many stars who have put their troubles and mug shots behind them to go on to successful careers: Robert Downey Jr., Rob Lowe, and Drew Barrymore.

Can Lohan pull it off?

Time will tell, of course, but in today's 24/7 media culture it's not easy for those — like Lohan — who are cogs in the gossip media machine to transcend their Girls (or Boys) Gone Wild image. Downey Jr. and Barrymore never had their every move posted on TMZ.com or PerezHilton.com, or in tabloid magazines like Us Weekly, In Touch, and OK.

Audiences may have a tough time separating Lohan the actress from Lohan the media star, explains USA Today film critic Claudia Puig. "She played kind of a wild child in 'Georgia Rules' and you couldn't help but look at her antics on screen and see the kind of things she's been doing off screen. It's hard to transcend that," says Puig.

Ty Burr, film critic for the Boston Globe, believes that might make all the difference. Barrymore, he says, is "somebody who spun out, but righted herself, possibly because she had the space to be herself. That space is not afforded to this group. You become one of the tabloid evergreen girls and you are considered fair game. There's a prison of celebrity, and right now Lohan's real-life persona it at odds with her movie persona."

U-Turn?

Others involved in the movie and media businesses disagree.

"For the last month or so, it has definitely seemed like she has laid the groundwork for a comeback. She has seemed more serious. Whenever you see her out she is drinking water and behaving well," says US Weekly's Jacobs.

"She's not just some reality-show star, she has real talent," explains casting director Janet Hirshenson. "When you get down to who is going to be the lead in a movie, there's a real short list of people. Carrying a movie and being a movie star, there is a special thing in those people. It's not that easy to find."

And, whatever that "thing" is, Lohan's got it, says Hirshenson, who has cast roles for some of the biggest directors in the movies: Rob Reiner, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola.

Hirshenson's fellow casting director Jane Jenkins agrees that time can heal all things including derailed careers.

"The public has a short memory — who can even remember the names of all this year's Oscar winners?" asks Jenkins. "We're willing to forgive and help those who have admitted shortcomings and seem to be on the straight and narrow path again."

And tabloid exposure at this juncture in Lohan's comeback might actually work in her facor, explains Hirshenson. After all, those photos of her drinking water and looking healthy are a way for Hollywood producers and casting agents to track the actresses progress.

"The tabloids aren't the kiss of death anymore," she says.

As for the grim subject mutter of Lohan's recent career choices — murder victims, cult members — Hirshenson thinks that too could end up working in her favor: "There is an interesting dark side to her. She's not a cutesy-pie bimbo. She's got some demons and a lot of life experience already."

And, as the Globe's Burr puts it, "everything changes if the [next] movie is good."