Monday Morning Quarterback Part II

By BOP Staff

November 27, 2013

We play two halves in this league, defense!

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Kim Hollis: Do you think Jennifer Lawrence is the most popular actress working right now? Why or why not?

Matthew Huntley: I think it's still too early to tell. True, Jennifer Lawrence does have The Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook under her belt, but both of these came out at a time when her popularity was still being formed. In order for us to really gauge her influence with ticket buyers, I think she would have to headline an original film on her own and see how it performs. It'd be interesting, for example, if The House at the End of the Street was released now. I'm definitely not condoning that, but it could tell us something.

If I had to pick which Hollywood actress is most popular, I'd go with the safe choice of Sandra Bullock, who definitely has proven herself across a wide range of films.




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Bruce Hall: Today, yesterday and for the next few weeks? Absolutely. But fame is a fickle beast, and in the entertainment business it's especially fickle toward female artists. Kristen Stewart never quite took off the way she was apparently supposed to, but I think most would agree she's not quite the same caliber actress as Jennifer Lawrence. And I think that's what it'll boil down to, what kind of actress Lawrence is. People like Meryl Streep, Jodie Foster, Sandra Bullock and Natalie Portman have enjoyed extended staying power because they have the ability to consistently connect with audiences in leading roles, and in in a variety of material. If Lawrence can do that, she might join those women. Otherwise, I can easily see her having a long and successful career largely associated with supporting roles, in the same vein as Julianne Moore or Scarlett Johansson.

Either way, Jennifer Lawrence is talented, attractive, and she acquits herself well offscreen. Wherever her career takes her, she's definitely not going away.

Edwin Davies: She's undeniably huge, but I think we have too little data to determine just how huge she is outside of The Hunger Games franchise. As Katniss, she's undoubtedly one of the most well-known figures in popular culture, and she was a key factor in the success of Silver Linings Playbook, but her name alone wasn't enough to make The House at the End of the Street anything other than a middling horror film. Basically, she's made too few non-Hunger Games related films for us to accurately say if she is a huge star outside of her franchise (though, if I had to bet money on it, I say that she probably is).

To my mind, she's the female equivalent of Robert Downey, Jr. or Johnny Depp, who are the two biggest stars in the world as long as they are playing Tony Stark and Jack Sparrow. She's ridiculously talented and charming, has already got an Oscar, and has reached a place where she can cherry pick her projects, so I have no doubt that she will remain one of the most popular, if not the most popular, actresses for several more years, and it won't be long until she's headlining huge hits that don't require her to run around a forest with a bow.


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