What the Hell Happened to Kim Basinger?

She’s been a Bond girl, Batman’s girlfriend and a corpse in a Tom Petty video.  Most recently, she played Zach Effron’s mom.  What the hell happened?  The easy answer is that Kim Basinger was a sex symbol who got old.  But the story of Basinger’s career is far more interesting than the easy answer would lead you to believe.

Like a lot of the actresses, Basinger got her start as a model.  She then transitioned on to TV shows like Starskey and Hutch and Charlie’s Angels.  Following that, she broke into films with films like Hard Country and Mother Lode.

basinger - never say never

Basinger’s breakout role was opposite Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again.

After Diamonds are Forever, Connery had vowed never to play James Bond again.  However, he reconsidered.  And in 1983 he returned to the role.  The title is a winking nod to Connery’s earlier comments.

Never Say Never Again is an odd entry in the Bond franchise.  It was not produced by Eon Productions like most of the Bond films.  Instead, it was a remake of Thunderball based on a settlement deal surrounding Fleming’s original novel.

In the summer of 1983, Connery and Roger Moore had dueling James Bond films as a result.

As it turns out, there was room for two James Bond movies that summer.  Although Roger Moore’s Octopussy outperformed Never Say Never Again, both films were hits.

basinger - playboy

To promote Never Say Never Again, Basinger posed nude for Playboy.  Basinger actually credits the Playboy shoot with helping her land the role in Barry Levinson’s baseball film, The Natural.

Basinger - The Man Who Loved Women

But first, let me make a passing mention that in 1983 Basinger also appeared in the Blake Edwards comedy, The Man Who Loved Women starring Burt Reynolds.

Kim Basinger - The Natural - 1984
Kim Basinger – The Natural – 1984

Never Say Never Again, the Playboy shoot (and maybe even the Burt Reynolds movie) caught the attention of Barry Levinson.  When he was looking for a femme fatale to seduce Robert Redford in The Natural, he called upon Basinger.

Basinger was perfect for the role conveying the glamour of the era as well as the necessary sex appeal.  She was rewarded with her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Kim Basinger - Fool For Love - 1985
Kim Basinger – Fool For Love – 1985

Up to this point, Basinger has worked with an impressive collection of directors.  Never Say Never Again was directed by Irvin Kirshner (director of The Empire Strikes Back), The Man Who Loves Women was directed by Blake Edwards and The Natural was directed by Barry Levinson.  But her next film, Fool for Love, was directed by none other than Robert Altman!

I haven’t done the research, but I venture to guess that no other actress has gone from Bond and Playboy to Altman in three films or less.

Fool For Love was not a box office hit.  But it got very positive reviews and helped to legitimize Basinger as an actress and not just a pretty face.

basinger - 912 weeks

In 1986, Basinger worked with another visionary director, Adrian Lyne, in the erotic drama, 9 1/2 Weeks.  Basinger and co-star Mickey Rourke played a couple who push their sexual boundaries until Basinger’s character reaches her limit.  The sex scenes were artfully done, but the film was scandalous at the time.

Reviews for 9 1/2 Weeks were mixed.  Some critics considered it borderline soft core porn.  But most praised the genuine performances by Rourke and Basinger.

At the time of its release, 9 1/2 Weeks bombed at the box office.  But it became very popular overseas and eventually developed a cult following.  A direct to video sequel and prequel were both eventually produced.

basinger - no mercy

Later that year, Basinger starred opposite Richard Gere in the would-be erotic thriller, No Mercy.

Basinger played a sexy swamp girl who helps Gere’s Chicago cop get vengeance on the man who killed his partner.

The Bayou-based crime drama was panned by critics and bombed at the box office.

basinger - blind date

In 1987, Basinger reteamed with Blake Edwards for Blind Date.  Basinger’s co-star was Bruce Willis who was still appearing weekly on TV in Moonlighting.

Blind Date traded in heavily on Willis’ Moonlighting persona.  This is what Willis’ career might have looked like if Die Hard hadn’t come along.

Blind Date is pure farce.  Basinger plays an attractive girl who is inexplicably shy.  But she turns wild if she has so much as a sip of alcohol.  Willis goes out on a blind date (thus the title) with her which starts off awkwardly but ends in madness once Basinger has had a few drinks.

The critics weren’t kind to Blind Date.  But it was a modest hit.

MCDNADI TR001

The same can not be said for Basinger’s next film.  Nadine was a sexy, Southern-fried comedy co-starring Jeff Bridges.

The critics hated it and this time audiences agreed.  Nadine was another bomb.

basinger - stepmother is an alien

In 1988, Basinger tried her hand at comedy again.  This time, she paired with Dan Aykroyd for My Stepmother is an Alien.

Basinger played the titular stepmom/alien.  And yes, the title pretty much tells you everything you need to know about the movie.  It’s one of those weird comedies that only Dan Aykroyd thinks is funny.

So, instead of writing a lot about My Stepmother is an Alien, let me share a little nugget my research turned up.

stepmother - oz and willow

Yeah, fellow Buffy fans.  That’s Alyson Hannigan and Seth Green as kids.  The future Willow and Oz were apparently coupled up pre-puberty in My Stepmother is an Alien.  Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, Stepmother bombed like all Dan Aykroyd comedies not co-starring a funnier SNL alumn.  Basinger’s career seemed to be coming off the rails.

basinger - batman

In 1989, Basinger finally scored another hit.  And it was a big one.  Batman was the biggest movie of 1989.  It was a cultural phenomenon.  And Basinger almost wasn’t in it.

At one point, Sean Young was cast as Vicki Vale, Batman’s love interest.  When Young was injured during preproduction, the role had to be recast.  Burton suggested Michelle Pfeiffer for the role.  But Michael Keaton (who was in a relationship with Pfeiffer) thought it would be awkward and rejected her.

Jack Nicholson’s contract on Batman had a lot of stipulations.  One of them was that his entire role was to be shot within three weeks!  The clock was ticking to find an actress to replace Sean Young.  They needed someone who was right for the part and also available with almost no notice.  Basinger fit that bill.

Originally, Basinger’s character was supposed to die in the films and inspire Batman to greater darkness.  But the studio didn’t like the idea.  Instead, they rewrote the ending with the cathedral scene without consulting Burton.

If you ever thought the ending didn’t make a lot of sense, you’re not alone.  While filming the scene in which the Joker kidnaps Vale and marches her up to the top of a cathedral, Nicholson demanded to know why they were climbing the stairs.  Burton admitted he didn’t know and said they would figure it out when they reached the top.

Basinger was basically a damsel in distress.  She screams approximately 23 times in Batman.  But even if the role required little more than looking pretty and screaming frequently, Basinger was in the biggest movie of the year.  That’s got to count for something.

basinger - prince

During this time, Basinger started up a very public affair with the pop star, Prince.  Prince was recording music for the Batman soundtrack.  The Prince/Basinger pairing was the stuff of urban legend.  Reportedly, Basinger was under some kind of spell.  The story goes that Basinger’s family, concerned for her well-being, whisked Basinger away from Prince’s house.

That may seem silly.  Prince is a little guy.  It’s hard to imagine that Basinger was in any real jeopardy.  However, before you rush to judgement, take into consideration that Basinger and Prince recorded an album (appropraitely titled Hollywood Affair) which was never released.

Here’s a sample:

So, yeah, maybe getting Basinger away from Prince was a matter of urgency.

basinger - braselton

But shacking up with Prince and recording bootleg sex grooves wasn’t the only bad decision Basinger made in 1989.  She also dropped $20 million dollars to buy the town (the entire town!) of Braselton, Georgia.  The idea was to establish a tourism industry built around a Kim Basinger film festival.  Kind of like Dollywood but, you know, with Kim Basinger.

I won’t keep you in suspense.  Basigner’s plans for the town of Braselton didn’t work out.  Five years later, she sold the town for a mere $1 million dollars!

Pretty rough, right?  Well, buckle up!  Cause we’re just getting started!

basinger - marrying man

In 1991, Basinger starred alongside Alec Baldwin in The Marrying Man.  Odds are you have forgotten about this slight Neil Simon comedy.  But when it was released, the film was infamous for the behind-the-scenes fights.

When The Marrying Man started, Baldwin was a rising star.  The Hunt for Red October had not yet been released.  Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg got the production off on the wrong foot when he met Baldwin and reportedly joked “We could get a gate guard to do the same job as you.”  Baldwin didn’t take kindly to the joke.

He did take to Basinger though.  The two began a hot, steamy on-set romance.  Several memebrs of the crew complained about Basinger and Baldwin’s on-set shenanigans.  Reportedly, Basinger did not wear underwear on the set and was very forthcoming with what she wanted to do to her co-star in between takes.

One crew member commented:

“Honest to God, if I were destitute and living on the street with no food and somebody offered me a million dollars to work with Alec and Kim, I’d pass.  Their actions were vile, deplorable, despicable.”

basinger - marrying man

The script for The Marrying Man was written by comedy legend Neil Simon.  Basinger was unhappy with her dialogue and wanted it rewritten.  Reportedly, she told Simon “Whoever wrote this scene doesn’t understand comedy.”   Neil Simon denied the incident.  But he only visited the set one more time during filming.

The Marrying Man turned into a cautionary tale.  It came in over-budget, was blasted by critics and bombed at the box office.

Two years later, Basinger and Baldwin would marry.  But don’t worry.  I’m sure that will turn out well…

basinger - final analysis

Basinger released 3 movies in 1992.  The first was the erotic thriller, Final Analysis which reteamed Basinger with her No Mercy co-star, Richard Gere.  Final Analysis was released a month before Basic Instinct and was part of a wave of “erotic thrillers” that started with Fatal Attraction.  But reviews were mixed and the movie tanked.

Basinger and Uma Thurman played sisters.  Thurman’s character was being treated by a psychiatrist played by Gere.  The whole thing leads to sex, murder and other Hitchcockian shenanigans.  It is over the top and silly like all of the erotic thrillers of the 90s.  Reviews were mixed and the movie disappointed at the box office.

Okay, full disclosure time.  It’s been a long time since I watched Final Analysis,  but I remember enjoying it and being surprised when it was a box office flop.

MSDCOWO EC013

Next Basinger played a living cartoon in Ralph Bakshi’s live action/animation hybrid, Cool World.

Cool World was Ralph Bakshi’s attempt at an animated horror film.  Bakshi had Drew Barrymore in mind for the lead role.  But the producer insisted on casting Kim Basinger instead and had the script re-written in secret.  Basinger insisted on additional script changes.  She wanted to turn the R-rated horror movie into a PG family film like Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

The movie is notable for co-starring a young Brad Pitt fresh off Thelma and Louise and for being absolutely unwatchable.  (And remember, I liked Final Analysis!)  Even Bakshi calls it a “total disaster”.  Reviews were terrible and the movie bombed.

MSDREMC EC009

Basinger ended the year by teaming with the undisputed King of What the Hell Happened, Val Kilmer in the heist flick, The Real McCoy.

The Real McCoy got mixed to negative reviews and bombed at the box office contributing to the career decline of both of its stars.

basinger - wayne's world 2

In 1993, Basinger played Honey Horne, an older woman who seduces Dana Carvey’s Garth in Wayne’s World 2.

The Wayne’s World sequel was a disappointment at the box office, but Basinger’s part was basically an extended cameo anyway.  So it wasn’t going to have much impact on her career either way.

Her biggest performance in 1993 was as the hot corpse Tom Petty dances with in the Last Dance With Mary Jane music video:

basinger - last dance with mary jane

However, the biggest Kim Basinger story of 1993 was Boxing Helena, a movie Basinger did not even appear in.

basinger - boxing helena

In the early 90’s, Twin Peaks mania swept the country making quirky director David Lynch an unlikely household name.  For a short time, Twin Peaks was so popular that Lynch’s daughter, was able to sign a deal to write and director her own movie.

The Lynch name attracted Madonna to the project.  But when the Twin Peaks backlash started, Madonna walked out and Kim Basinger stepped in.

Boxing Helena was a very strange movie.  It was about a surgeon who amputates the arms and legs from a woman he is obsessed with and then keeps her as a prisoner/patient until she returns his affections.  But weirdness was part of the appeal of David Lynch.  So his daughter’s first movie was expected to be weird.

The problem was that it was also awful.  I mean, really bad.  Worse than the premise makes it sound.  Just before filming was supposed to begin, Basinger (understandably) got cold feet about playing an armless, legless hostage who falls in love with the man who kidnaps and mutilates her.

Not surprisingly, the makers of Boxing Helena sued.  What is surprising is that they were awarded an unprecendented settlement of 8.1 million dollars for Basinger’s breach of her verbal contract.

boxing-helena

Just to put this decision in context, stars dropping out of movies is commonplace in Hollywood.  At best, there is usually some out of court settlement between the star and the producers.  Madonna had already walked out of this particular project.

Many speculate that the jury was biased against Basinger because they resented her for being so beautiful and rich.  At the time, she still owned a town.  And one of the details that came out in court was that Basinger spent $7,000 a month on her pets!  Also, it probably didn’t help that her handsome boy friend, Alec Baldwin, showed up in court every day wearing sunglasses and slicked-back hair.

Eventually, the verdict was voided.  Basinger signed an out-of-court settlement for $3.8 million dollars.  But the damage was done.  Between her costly legal battles and the failure of her investment in the town of Braselton, Basinger filed for bankruptcy.

basinger - the getaway

In 1994, Basinger again co-starred with Alec Baldwin, now her husband.  The film was The Getaway, a remake of the 1972 Steve McQueen film of the same name.

The original was a bit of Hollywood lore.  While filming the 1972 version, Steve McQueen started an affair with his co-star Ali McGraw who was in a relationship at the time with the film’s legendary producer, Robert Evans.

The 1994 version of The Getaway hoped to generate a different kind of controversy.  Go ahead, Google it.  You’ll hear a lot about the steamy sex scene between Basinger and Baldwin.  But that was not enough to make The Getaway a hit.

It received negative reviews and bombed at the box office.

basinger - ready to wear

Basinger also appeared in the 1994 film, Pret a Porter (or Ready to Wear as it was released in the US), Robert Altman’s film about the fashion world.

Basinger agreed to the project without reading the script for the opportunity to work with Altman again.  Pret a Porter actualy got mixed reviews.  It opened below expectations.

Battered and possibly broken, Basinger retreated from Hollywood for a few years.  Faced with lawsuits, bankruptcy and a string of box office flops, you can hardly blame her.  From 1994-1997, Basinger concentrated on raising a family with Alec Baldwin.

basinger- LA Confidential

That could have been the end of the story.  But Hollywood loves a comeback and Basinger was primed and ready for one.  In 1997, Basinger had a hell of a comeback in Curtis Hanson’s gritty film noir, LA Confidential.

It was the role Basinger was born for.  She played a glamorous, sexy femme fatale.  But with enough vulnerability to win a slew of awards including an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.

Basinger - Bless the Child

Despite the overwhelming success of LA Confidential, Basinger didn’t jump right back into starring roles.  She didn’t release another movie for three years.  In 2000, she starred in two box office turkeys, I Deamed of Africa and the supernatural thriller, Bless the Child.  Both recevied bad reviews.

basinger - divorce

In 2001, Basinger and Baldwin filed for divorce.  This lead to a long, drawn out custody battle over their daughter Ireland.  Six years later, that battle would become public when Baldwin left some angry phone messages for their daughter.

basinger 8 mile

In 2002, Basinger worked for Curtis Hanson again in the Eminem drama, 8 Mile.

The film is based on the rapper’s life although it has been fictionalized.  Basinger played the fictional version of Eminem’s demonized mother.  The movie was a hit and got good reviews.

basinger - cellular

Basinger continued to work mostly in smaller films that most people have probably never seen or heard of.  In 2004, she starred in the thriller, CellularCellular was one of the first films to acknowledge the popularity of cell phones and to use it as a plot point.

Films (especially horror films) were reluctant to admit that most people had cell phones because it tended to create problems for the narrative when the characters could easily call for help.  It was very common to have a line of dialogue explaining that the characters conveniently couldn’t get coverage or the issue was just ignored altogether.

Cellular got some marks for being clever.  Reviews were mixed on the whole.  Cellular was a modest hit at the box office.

basinger - charlie st cloud

Following Cellular, Basinger has appeared in a string of small films and box office disappointments.  The highest profile of which were The Sentinel in 2006 and Charlie St. Cloud in 2010.  None of these films really merit much attention.  At this point, Basinger’s career seems to have slipped back into a coma.

Bond girls have a really lousy track record in Hollywood.  So much so, that the term Bond Girl Curse has been coined.  Around here, we also talk about the Batman Curse.  So, Basinger has a double whammy.  If you count the Kilmer Curse, she has a trifecta.

Her story is filled with one train wreck after another.  And yet, in spite of it all, she managed to become an international sex symbol, a box office leading lady and eventually an Academy Award winning actress.

The answer to the question “What the Hell Happened to Kim Basinger?” may be as simple as she was a sex symbol who got old.  But I think the crazy details of Basinger’s rise and fall make for one of the most interesting stories in this series.

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daffystardust
Editor
12 years ago

Basinger’s career does make for fun reading. I never considered her more than a mediocre actress, though. She was fortunate to have ‘classic’ Hollywood good looks and to do so much work with strong directors. “L.A. Confidential” did seem to be a perfect fit of a role for her, but it was puzzling how she failed to capitalize on the industry buzz/goodwill that an Oscar win often brings. I can’t think of her with Prince without recalling the dress she wore to the Oscars cremony that year. She visibly appeared to have joined his entourage. As for Prince being dangerous… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Kim has always been “bold” w/ her fashion sense (rightly or wrongly). This is for example, what she wore at the premiere of “Grudge Match”: http://i.huffpost.com/gen/1519224/thumbs/o-KIM-BASINGER-570.jpg?6 I feel bad for thinking of this, but I wonder how Kim’s career would’ve panned out had she stayed w/ her first husband Ron Snyder-Britton. It seems like Kim’s career was on the upswing during their marriage (from 1980-1989) when compared to her marriage to Alec Baldwin (1993-2002). By the time that Kim and Alec broke up, she was pretty much seen as “yesterday’s news” (i.e. she was an over 40 year old sex… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

When the inevitable UPDATE is made, Kim being mad that Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” wasn’t nominated for Best Picture, while on stage at the 1990 Oscars ought to be brought up: http://movieline.com/1991/01/01/kim-basinger-on-good-kissing-her-academy-awards-outburst-and-conversations-with-god/ LG: There was also talk about your appearance at the Oscars last year, when you reprimanded the Academy for ignoring Spike Lee and his Do the Right Thing. What made you do it? KB: Never wanted to do it, never intended on doing it. I don’t know what happened to me. I’d seen Do the Right Thing three times and I’m affected by certain films. I… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Hashtag Oscars So White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchal http://feitclub.tumblr.com/post/137851213058/hashtag-oscars-so-white-supremacist-capitalist Check out this clip from the 62nd Academy Awards, honoring the films of 1989. It starts out with Arnold Schwarzenegger praising the Academy as a global community, pointing out that the films nominated for Best Picture were directed by an international assortment of people (white men, all of them). Then Kim Basinger comes out to introduce one of that evening’s Best Picture nominees, Dead Poets Society, but before she does, she goes off-script. “We’ve got five great films here, and they’re great for one reason: because they tell the truth. But there… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Oscar Flashback – Driving Miss Daisy and Do the Right Thing: http://www.awardsdaily.com/blog/2012/01/oscar-flashback-driving-miss-daisy-and-do-the-right-thing/ What most people don’t realize when they start throwing The Help out into the Lion’s Den is that one of the reasons Driving Miss Daisy won was BECAUSE Do the Right Thing was snubbed so impossibly, and such weak fare chosen instead. So much so that Kim Basinger, dressed up in a gown designed by Prince, actually took to the Oscar stage to protest it. It was a very big deal. Choosing Driving Miss Daisy, despite not having a director attached, was their way of trying to weasel… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Speaking of Kim Basinger’s outfits, maybe it’s my imagination, but I recently noticed that Kim wears a roughly similar wool-like form-fitting black dress (with shoulder pads since this was the ’80s afterall) up to the collar-bone in “9 1/2 Weeks” and “Batman”.
https://www.photojoiner.net/image/Xc2k51t2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trPe1i9RE0c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfHf6EATusc&t=166s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocy9DFhB-iI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoCtlLOmWik
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7SSBbxVMIA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mxGGCT1HJA

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

Whats the story behind Prince & Kim Basinger?
http://prince.org/msg/7/398338

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

The 10 Most Underrated Movie Actresses of Our Time: http://www.fame10.com/entertainment/the-10-most-underrated-movie-actresses-of-our-time/ Kim Basinger Kim Basinger could be the poster child for all those people who say there are no good roles for women over thirty. She began as a model and cover girl and her breakout role was as a Bond girl. That, in turn, led to a Golden Globe nomination as Memo Paris in The Natural. She was wonderfully weird in Blind Date and in 1997 she actually won an Oscar for her performance in L.A. Confidential. Basinger has been in a strange assortment of films from 9 ½ Weeks… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

Roger Vadim, Actor, Director, Producer Filmmaker:
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/230212-Old-Old-Hollywood-Gossip?p=5499756&viewfull=1#post5499756
[On Kim Basinger] She has this quality — absolutely indispensable for an actress, specifically for a beautiful actress — which is not to know that she’s beautiful.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

How The Ideal Beauty Standard For Women Has Changed In Hollywood, By The Decade:
http://www.lipstickalley.com/showthread.php/851619-How-The-Ideal-Beauty-Standard-For-Women-Has-Changed-In-Hollywood-By-The-Decade?s=6da5449696c752f63fdcda14e41a2c04&p=21396437&viewfull=1#post21396437
8.The 1980s: The Blonde Bombshell
Basinger was the top actress of the ’80s as an incarnation of all its aesthetic values: big lips, huge flops of blonde hair, thinned eyebrows, a rectangular face and a beachy, lean bustiness. Heather Locklear and Christy Brinkley were the other icons of the age, but Basinger looked the part the most.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

I’m guessing that Kim has been waiting for another “LA Confidential” to come her way and therefore, hasn’t made enough of a conscientious effort to “save her career” or keep her name relevant so to speak. My point is that Kim doesn’t appear to be proactive enough. Acting at this point in her life feels like a “side job” and her animal activism is her “real job”. One of the key reasons if you ask me, why Kim Basinger doesn’t work much anymore is that she wouldn’t play the proverbial Hollywood game. She was always reluctant to go out there… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

Without repeating what that recent Looper article said, I think the downfall of Kim Basinger’s career was due to the following: 1. She has no franchise – Batman was the closest Kim had to a franchise to hang her hat when her other ventures failed to do well or completely flopped. Unfortunately, Kim wasn’t invited back for what would become Batman Returns and by the time the third movie rolled around, Michael Keaton and Tim Burton were out of the door. 2. Her terrible PR machine – Kim has openly admitted that due to her struggles with social anxiety, she… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

One likely key reason for why Kim Basinger’s career pretty much stalled after her Oscar win is that she really didn’t get a lot of interesting roles. What I mean is that for a good portion of her career, she was pretty much pigeonholed as being an extremely beautiful woman who was naturally, the object of male dreams. If you look closely, a good portion of her roles has her playing somebody who is fragile, insecure and looking for a protector. He pretty much plays that role in Never Say Never Again, 9 1/2 Weeks, Batman, LA Confidential, etc. The… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  daffystardust

I don’t know for sure if there’s such a thing as an Oscar curse. I do want to believe that winning Academy Award is more of a blessing to most actors that win in terms of esteemed projects, money and acting jobs in general. But you need the right management and representation in the industry to capitalize on it. I can’t really speak for Kim Basinger but I’m certain that those who really benefited from winning an Oscar ultimately depends on your skill in navigating Hollywood and your career. Basically, you have to be pretty smart with choosing their subsequent… Read more »

Geo
Geo
12 years ago

Sounds like everything happened to her!

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Reading LeBeau’s update on Alicia Silverstone (another Batman movie alumnus), I think that Kim Basinger had the same sort of problem in that she was a bit of a flake.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

The next time you update this article LeBeau, you probably should also include Jonathan van Meter’s not too flattering comments after encountering Ms. Basinger: http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19920214&slug=1475719 By Roger Anderson INACCURACY IN THE MEDIA: Really, Penthouse magazine should make some effort to prevent its writers from making scurrilous, ill-founded statements. For instance, Jonathan van Meter recently interviewed Kim Basinger for those dignified pages, then turned around and told a reporter that Basinger “is the most self-indulgent, dumb, most irritating person I’ve ever met. She’s dumb as a shoe.” Whereas her SAT scores prove conclusively that she’s only as dumb as a garter… Read more »

Paul S
12 years ago

I must have been more of a Basinger fan than I thought because as I was reading your excellent article I was quite surprised at how many of her films I’ve seen, I think the fact that I was an impressionable teenager when she rose to prominence might explain that. I was tempted to bracket Kim with Daryl Hannah and Melanie Griffith as gorgeous blonde actresses whose stars burned brightly for a period in the 80’s and early 90’s and then faded away. But as you point out Basinger’s story is far more interesting because she came back , whether… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I don’t know if I’ve said this before, but Kim Basinger’s problem in part, is that she did a very poor job in regards to capitalizing off on important “breaks” that here pretty much handed to her. She came across as a bit of an ungrateful actress in her first few post-“Batman” vehicles (regarding her alleged behind-the-scenes antics like “The Marrying Man” and “Cool World”, where she apparently tried to “throw her weight around”), when it was an open secret that she wasn’t even the first choice to play Vicki Vale (Sean Young would’ve been in “Batman” had she not… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Top 10 movie comebacks: http://web.orange.co.uk/article/top-10-movie-comebacks Kim Basinger Where did it all go wrong? After sizzling up the screen alongside – of all people – Mickey Rourke in sex drama 9½ Weeks and then landing the coveted role of Vicki Vale in Tim Burton’s Batman, Kim Basinger appeared to have the world at her feet. But a string of bad choices, including the forgettable likes of The Marrying Man, Cool World and The Real McCoy, left her in nowhereland for the better part of seven years! Comeback role: Critics hailed Basinger’s performance in Curtis Hanson’s crime masterpiece LA Confidential as one… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Paul S

I guess some of Kim’s choice of roles bewilder me post-Oscar in particular? I’m not going to go in to the first two films that she made following “LA Confidential” again, But w/ “8 Mile” (yeah, I’m pretty sure that Kim wanted to work w/ Curtis Hanson again) I guess that Kim was way too beautiful and glamorous to be plausible as a white trash, poor woman living a trailer park in the ‘hood. I also wonder if Kim is aware that she’s loosely based on Eminem’s real life demonized mother? Also, why does Kim think that her fans want… Read more »

tbob1
12 years ago

Like most people, probably the best thing I’ve seen her in was LA Conf. It was an entertaining movie and hers was a minor role though she got decent screen time. I rewatch it once a year or so because I like the 1940’s, noir feel of it. Anyway I read somewhere once that Bassinger suffers from almost paralyzing shyness to the point of being a phobia or something. I took that to be code for mental illness of some sort. Maybe that’s part of her problem. Who knows? She’s always been a bit player in my mind…never Hollywood A… Read more »

Geo
Geo
12 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Fatty Arbuckle (sorry)

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I wonder if Kim felt that now that she had an Oscar (and thus, people could look at her as a “real actress” and not just a hot chick) she didn’t really need Alec Baldwin anymore (they were more or less, co-dependent on each other) to help prop her up. And maybe Kim felt that she could afford going on a three year hiatus post-“LA Confidential” because she would always have the caveat of being an “Academy Award Winner” (thus, she could in her mind, pick and choose any project that she wanted).

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Marvel’s summer ’91 Cool-o-Meter: Ya burnt, Twin Peaks, bell bottoms, and political correctness!comment image

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Alec Baldwin is kind of a weird inversion of Mel Gibson. What I mean is that Mel Gibson after the news of his Antisemitism, him being caught using the “n-word”, and his abuse of his girlfriend made the public, he became persona non grata over night. Yes, Mel made a nice enough comeback with “Hacksaw Ridge”, but he’ll never be the beloved A-list, leading man that he was prior to 2006. Alec Baldwin has for the past 20 or so years has said just as bad if not worse stuff than Mel Gibson (and there are rumors that he was… Read more »

jbella
jbella
10 years ago
Reply to  tbob1

All I can say is your post is %#*!shit! You are obviously pretty shallow person like rest of Hollywood. Who the hell cares about Alec Baldwins notoriety, it’s mostly from his spoiled brat attitude and arrogance. So what if Bassinger suffered shyness it’s pretty inhuman and ignorant to think that it’s mental illness when most actors suffer from this, just some are better at hiding it. I think she is an amazing talented actress and a complex sensitive human being who turned out to be a great mother. Where is the credit for that. Maybe if she were a selfish… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

Did Kim Basinger deserve her Oscar? http://oscarfan69.blogspot.com/2009/09/did-kim-basinger-dseserve-her-oscar.html 12 years ago, Kim Basinger was awarded the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a mysterious prostitute in L.A Confidential. She had managed to win a Golden Globe and an SAG award (tied with Gloria Stuart) and after some odd career choices Hollywood was happy to welcome her back with open arms. Her strongest competition came from Gloria Stuart who had tied with Basinger for the SAG award and was starring in the biggest box office hit and Best Picture front-runner Titanic and was an actress from the first golden… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

Some Anxious Moments With Kim Basinger The Actress Has Beaten Disabling Agoraphobia: http://articles.philly.com/1987-08-11/entertainment/26168395_1_texas-woman-white-bread-blue-eyes By DAN GERINGER, Daily News Staff Writer POSTED: August 11, 1987 I remember the first time I fell in love with Kim Basinger – the yearning- eyed blonde currently co-starring with Jeff Bridges in Robert Benton’s screwball marital comedy, “Nadine.” It was in the low-budget beer-jerker, “Hard Country.” Basinger played a Texas woman whose desire to be an airline stewardess was stifled by her hard- headed Texas man, Jan Michael-Vincent. “Leave Texas and go to California?” he sneers at her. “Hell, there ain’t nothin’ out there but… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Clarityfiend#Your_removal_of_Kim_Basinger.27s_name_from_.22List_of_recluses It’s a matter of degree. It takes more than a reputation for shyness and desire for privacy to qualify. Show me sources that call her a recluse rather than simply reclusive. She gets about far too much in public to belong in this elite company. Clarityfiend (talk) 07:17, 24 April 2016 (UTC) Prince was “reclusive”. So was David Bowie. Kim Novak’s reclusive.[1] Dean Martin? According to the AP, he was a “reclusive star”.[2] Anybody who doesn’t divulge the minutest detail of their private life to the press is labeled reclusive. That doesn’t put them up in the same league… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

Dealing with fame – or not:
http://theinneractor.com/30/fame-or-not/
Kim Basinger commented: “Because I’m such a shy person, having to live it out loud in front of everyone has made me a stronger woman, so much stronger, that it’s been a gift to me in a way.” [From “Basinger Better Than Ever,” ExtraTV.com]

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

I tried to add Kim Basinger’s name to a list of famous recluses on Wikipedia, but somebody for whatever the reasons, immediately deleted it: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_recluses&action=history (cur | prev) 23:13, 11 April 2016‎ Clarityfiend (talk | contribs)‎ . . (13,380 bytes) (-2,847)‎ . . (Reverted 3 edits by BornonJune8 (talk): Basinger is not a recluse. Only one of the refs. even mentions the word, once. (TW)) (undo) Bare in mind, that I provided at least 9 different sources that label Kim as a recluse (whether she likes it or not): Smolowe, Jill (November 25, 2002). “Kim Confidential”. People. ^ Donnelly, Claire… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

Somebody on Quora a while back told me that he believe that Kim may really suffer from bipolar disorder. Either in Kim’s case, it’s undiagnosed or Kim saying that she suffers from “social anxiety disorder” goes hand in glove with somebody with bipolar disorder. And if you Google “bipolar disorder” with “agoraphobia”, which Kim has long said to have suffered from, then you’ll likely be surprised at how closely they go together to. Not that I’m making excuses for Kim, but I wonder if maybe Kim’s decidedly erratic behavior on the set of “The Marrying Man” was mostly fueled her… Read more »

tbob1
12 years ago

She is an interesting biopic for sure. I still maintain she never quite broke through but that’s a matter of opinion I suppose. She did wield some power briefly I think, but it was not for very long and not sustained. I’m obviously no insider but it seems to me Baldwin has sustained his status in HW. He has had his share of nutty scandals and incidents for sure, but he seems to have weathered those storms. Today he makes all the talk show circuits, 30 Rock is a big success, he hosts various ceremonies and awards shows. There appears… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I wonder if Kim kind of “shot herself in the foot” so to speak by not more immediately capitalizing off of the momentum of her Oscar win (rather than waiting three years to come out w/ another movie)? Maybe Kim should try her hand at comedy again as a way of reinventing herself (a la Alec Baldwin w/ “30 Rock”). I don’t understand why she can’t do more roles like “Wayne’s World 2”, which essentially, pokes fun of her sex symbol image. She even “reprised” her “Wayne’s World 2” role in one of those DirecTV commercials, where the actors break… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

DirecTV | “Wayne’s World 2”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGCVakOyAsQ

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Since why the hell not (and because I had a lot of free time on my hands), I made a Facebook page devoted to Kim Basinger’s Honey Hornee character from “Wayne’s World 2”:
https://www.facebook.com/The-Honey-Hornee-Fan-Club-1473934525976124/

Nic
Nic
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I mean she bought a friggin town, and here folks blamed Prince (sadly I think that might have been sadly been another reason for her folks getting involved) and Alec, yeah they might have not helped her but she was kinda already gone fishin…

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Kim Basinger has a number of mental health issues which have plagued her since at least the 1990s. While she seems to have gotten them under control, they manifested themselves during what was height of her career, which was frankly disastrous for her. She’s never been able to recover from that professional setback, and that’s why she’s rarely seen these days. The “Boxing Helena” episode (along of Alec Baldwin and her purchase of a town of course) was likely one of the key impetuses for her downfall so to speak. To recap for those who are “new”, the filmmakers behind… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

It’s stuff like this that immediately makes me believe that Kim was the “sane one” in the relationship:
http://gothamist.com/2013/02/17/alec_baldwin_accuses_ny_post_photog.php
Baldwin is being accused of hurling racial epithets at a NY Post photographer.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/alec_fast_slur_ious_tzxXtwrX49oGHN1VaG08hM

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Why does Alec Baldwin always avoid consequences for his repeated bad behavior?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/wp/2013/06/29/alec-baldwin-why-this-star-is-barely-scarred-by-repeat-bad-behavior/
Is there a double standard because of his liberal politics?

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I really don’t know for sure if Kim being married to Alec Baldwin ultimately had a very detrimental effect on her career or vice versa. I have noticed that during their marriage, it seemed like Kim’s work load seemed to slow down (maybe because she was too busy w/ their young daughter). There’s really doubt however, that the marriage didn’t exactly help Kim in the long run at least from a public perception standpoint. It’s like the way I see it, Kim can sometimes be considered “off-kilter” w/ her rather seemingly neurotic personality much like Alec can be w/ his… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I wouldn’t be too surprised if Alec Baldwin didn’t have a lot of male or female fans at the time. Men more than likely didn’t like him too much since they were envious of the fact that he was married to Kim Basinger in the first place. And women maybe didn’t like him because of the perception of Alec being a hot-tempered bully (which quite frankly lingers today).

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I hate to go into what the National Enquirer has to say, so please take that I’m about to present to you (regarding the “darker” elements of Kim Basinger’s marriage to Alec Baldwin) w/ a grain of salt:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/National-Enquirer-April-2002-Kim-Basinger-Alec-Baldwin-Michael-Jackson-/321817981394?hash=item4aedd8b1d2

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

12 Great Actors Who Seem Like They Might Be Terrible People: http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/great-actors-terrible-people/7/ 6) Alec Baldwin To contrast with Eastwood, here’s someone whose politics I generally agree with, like Sean Penn I guess, but he seems seriously messed up. That sucks because he has consistently put in terrific work, even though he doesn’t seem to realize it. He speaks about doing something meaningful with his life, but I can’t imagine him doing anything better than the work he’s done on 30 Rock, not to mention Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, and The Departed. The Alec Baldwin example really seems like someone… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Profile: Skinned alive by Hollywood: Kim Basinger, fading sex goddess and dollars 10m loser:
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/profile-skinned-alive-by-hollywood-kim-basinger-fading-sex-goddess-and-dollars-10m-loser-1404181.html

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

10 Misguided Career Moves Made By Talented Actors: http://whatculture.com/film/10-misguided-career-moves-made-by-talented-actors.php/3 8. Alec Baldwin’s Constant Self-Sabotage Alec Baldwin is without question one of the most inconsistent talents in Hollywood today; his career is best characterized as a rollercoaster ride that erratically goes up, down, around, upside down, all inexplicably with no warning or explanation. Alec plays Jack Ryan in the hugely popular The Hunt for Red October, but then inexplicably ditches the role and lets Harrison Ford have some late-day success with it. He then goes through a period of starring in a few films with his hot wife, Kim Basinger (and… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

10 actors and actresses back from the brink A look at bottomed-out A-listers who successfully re-ignited their careers http://www.hitfix.com/galleries/10-actors-and-actresses-back-from-the-brink Alec Baldwin Early Success: From “Beetlejuice” to “The Hunt For Red October,” Alec Baldwin spent the late ’80s being groomed as a barrel-chested franchise leading man, while projects like “Miami Blues” and “Glengarry Glen Ross” affirmed has bona fides as an actor with substance to go with his Alpha Male good looks. The Brink: The leading man roles began failing with impunity. From “The Marrying Man” to “Prelude to a Kiss” to “The Getaway” to “The Shadow,” viewers kept rejecting Baldwin… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

‘L.A. Confidential’ Cast: Where Are They Now? – The Moviefone Blog: http://news.moviefone.com/2012/09/18/la-confidential-cast-where-are-they-now/#!fullscreen&slide=1 Kim Basinger (Lynn Bracken) Basinger was already a major star by the time she portrayed Veronica Lake-lookalike Lynn Bracken in “Confidential,” having starred in films including “The Natural” (which got her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress), “Never Say Never Again” and as Bruce Wayne’s love interest in Batman (she was also married to Alec Baldwin, from 1993-2002). However, her role as Bracken managed to give her something she didn’t yet have: an Oscar. After “Confidential,” Basinger’s star power would drop off a bit. She would… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Hit Me With Your Best Shot: L.A. Confidential (1997): http://imthecautionarywhale.blogspot.com/2014/03/hit-me-with-your-best-shot-la.html#more Serious question: is there any other “old Hollywood” genre that has been as imitated, deconstructed and re-worked as the film noir? Of course, the most famous example is Chinatown, Roman Polanski’s classic 1974 film that put a unique spin on the noir idea and became the favorite example of film professors everywhere. Similarly, Jean-Luc Godard demonstrated the noir’s artifice in his breakthrough film Breathless, in which the genre’s surly detectives are figures to be imitated. Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye brought famed literary detective Phillip Marlowe into the free-wheeling California… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

Regardless of the shooting and release points of “I Dreamed of Africa”, the bottom-line is that Kim not releasing a film after her Oscar winning role I feel, really hurt her career from at least, a momentum and buzz standpoint. As the old saying goes, you “Have to strike while the iron is hot”. I also wonder if part of Kim’s problem is that she when you get right down to it, isn’t strong enough of an actress (at least in terms of presence outside of her looks of course) to truly carry a movie by herself.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Even without the Alec Baldwin factor, I firmly believe that the destruction of Kim Basinger’s career was inevitable. Baldwin purely exacerbated the problem. I mean you also have to factor in Kim’s habitually poor film choices, her anxiety and ego problems, and the notion that she was somebody who really got by because of her looks instead of her actual acting abilities.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I think that at the end of the day, Kim burned too many bridges or rubbed people the wrong way so to speak with her general aloofness, awkwardness, delusions of grandeur and unpredictability/unreliability. After her stunts at the 1990 Oscars, on the set of “The Marrying Man”, helping hijack “Cool World” away from Ralph Bakshi much to the determent of the movie, and the “Boxing Helena” and Braselton mess, you absolutely could not trust her. Also, Kim Basinger is one of those performers who is utterly ambivalent in regards to going out and promoting the work that she participates in… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago

Kim Basinger Totally Looks Like Kim Sill (animal rights activist):
http://cheezburger.com/3267092992
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E33A5mOGFkY

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Incidentally, fellow Georgia native Deborah Norville, who hosts “Inside Edition” (and infamously replaced Jane Pauley on NBC’s “Today Show” before she herself, was replaced by Katie Couric), kind of reminds me of Kim Basinger too.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

What’s funny is that Kate Capshaw practically played a similar character of sorts in “The Temple of Doom” that Kim Basinger played in “Batman” (the blonde haired, always screaming, damsel-in-distress).

Jake
Jake
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I’ll still take Willie Scott over Vicki Vale anyday, because Willie at least pushed out a guard & stuck her hand through bugs to save Indy. She’s Xena when you compare her to Vicki Vale

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

14 Actors Who Became Absolute Legends With Just One Movie: http://whatculture.com/film/14-actors-who-became-absolute-legends-with-just-one-movie.php/3 Kate Capshaw – Willie Scott (Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom) Our first of five entries from the Indiana Jones series concerns one of its least-loved characters. Willie Scott is commonly regarded as a poor relation to both Marion Ravenwood from Raiders of the Lost Ark and Elsa Schneider from Last Crusade (more on her later). While a lot of that lies in the way the part was written, Kate Capshaw’s performance wasn’t all that inspiring either. Capshaw got her first break on the long-running soap The Edge… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

Kim at this phase in her life has more or less been relegated to a glorified nostalgia act. Vicki Vale makes a small appearance in “The “Lego Batman Movie”, in what is obviously a tie-in to Kim’s portrayal in “Batman”:/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/134?cb=20170304132454 And the there’s “The Nice Guys”, which reunited her with her “LA Confidential” co-star Russell Crowe. And “Fifty Shades Darker” seems to be (and I don’t want to give EL James too much credit) a meta-comment on her role in “9 1/2 Weeks”. Even movies that she didn’t star in like “Raging Bull” and “Rocky” are touched upon in “Grudge… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  tbob1

Kim Basinger’s relationship with Alec Baldwin reminds me of “The Macho Man” Randy Savage’s relationship with his on-screen valet and off-screen wife Miss Elizabeth. Like Kim, Elizabeth was a beautiful and glamorous southern woman who often appeared to be pathologically shy, timid, demure and meek. Regardless, both Kim and Elizabeth seemed like genuinely kind-hearted, classy ladies. Therefore you had to wonder that two women who theoretically could have any man that they wanted would align themselves with such brutish, abusive men like Randy Savage and Alec Baldwin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpiBmuEi2v0

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

I’ll never entirely understand what Kim saw in Alec Baldwin. Kim always struck me as a classy, nice, kind-hearted, gentle (if occasionally neurotic and flaky with all due respect) woman. But I was watching this television program on the Reelz channel called “Autopsy: The Last Hours of Farrah Fawcett”. The show did go into Farrah’s own tumultuous relationship with Ryan O’Neal. Farrah had a very traumatic ordeal as a young woman when a stranger ambushed her. He didn’t exactly sexually assaulted her, but it could’ve easily gotten to that point. The point is that in theory this affected Farrah’s psyche… Read more »

tbob1
12 years ago

Off topic comment here because there’s nowhere else to put it. I think you’ve given me contributing authority here but I have no idea how to accomplish that so I’ll just post this real quick here. Anyone else have Netflix streaming and checked out their first original production Lilyhammer? I watched a couple episodes last night and thought it was passable. Not great, not terrible. Mostly I have positive feelings about it but there are a few problems. Anyway it’d be interesting to discuss and get other reviews, but I’m not sure how many here use the service or have… Read more »

JediJones
JediJones
11 years ago

Speaking of Aykroyd, he would certainly make a good subject for a ‘What the Hell Happened to” feature. Although he didn’t exactly drop off the face of the earth, the amount of comedy bombs he put out after his huge successes with SNL, Blues Brothers, Trading Places and Ghostbusters is staggering. And the way his career has limped into cameo appearances and voiceovers marks a big contrast to the more respectable paths former SNL stars Bill Murray and Steve Martin followed with their careers. This was another guy who people just loved seeing in the ’80s but whose name eventually… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I can go either way in regards to Dan Aykroyd getting a WTHHT. I think “Blues Brothers 2000” (which he tried to do w/o John Belushi, who unfortunately passed away 16 years prior) kind of ruined his place as a leading man. He’s been trying for years to get “Ghostbusters 3” made, but Bill Murray has been the main standing block (although he didn’t reprise his role for the 2009 video game). He has seemed to mostly shown up in character parts since that time or voice over work like in the recent live-action Yogi Bear movie. I kind of… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

The Lost Roles of Dan Aykroyd: http://splitsider.com/2011/07/the-lost-roles-of-dan-aykroyd/ A crucial part of the original Saturday Night Live cast, one of the most esteemed and influential ensembles in television history, Dan Aykroyd kicked his career off with a bang and continued creating great comedy for years to come, working as both a writer and actor in some of the most memorable and respected films of the 1980s. Sure, he now spends his time rambling about UFOs to anyone who will listen and selling his own brand of vodka that comes in miniature crystal skulls, but let’s just focus on the good stuff.… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  JediJones

Ray Has Gone Bye Bye: http://www.pajiba.com/career_assessments/dan-aykroyd-career-assessment-ray-has-gone-bye-bye.php Subject: Dan Aykroyd, 58-year old American actor, entrepreneur, and UFO spotter Date of Assessment: December 17, 2010 Positive Buzzwords: “SNL” original, Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters Negative Buzzwords: 1990-present, Ghostbusters III The Case: An entity like Dan Aykroyd demands a different type of evaluation than most of our assessment subjects. With Aykroyd, one must acknowledge that he’s enjoyed quite a long moneymaking career in Hollywood, but the vast majority of his acting credits spawn from unwatchable films. It’s bloody obvious that his best days have long since passed and there is no hope for his future,… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Movie Jail: This week’s defendant is…Dan Aykroyd! http://www.joblo.com/movie-news/movie-jail-this-weeks-defendant-isdan-aykroyd The Case The Prosecution: Yogi Bear, War, Inc., I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Shortcut to Happiness, Christmas with the Kranks, 50 First Dates, White Coats, Unconditional Love, Loser, Crossroads, Pearl Harbor, Blues Brothers 2000, Celtic Pride, Exit to Eden Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, Dan Aykroyd has starred in and written some classic comedies in his career, but the prosecution is fed up with seeing the actor in films that are unworthy of his talents, and the constant, unnecessary talk about another Ghostbusters movie. Besides voicing the titular character… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Before TV remakes became common, Dan Aykroyd revived Dragnet: http://thedissolve.com/features/forgotbusters/263-before-tv-remakes-became-common-dan-aykroyd-revive/ It’s difficult to imagine, but there was a time when making a film based on an old television show or characters seemed novel. Once upon a time, movie theaters weren’t overrun with steroidal re-imaginings of popular television shows, and TV and film still maintained some level of separation and autonomy. Dan Aykroyd’s curious career as a cinematic leading man parallels and reflects the shifting, complicated relationship between television and film. Aykroyd made his leading-man debut in 1980’s The Blues Brothers, which established him as an unlikely but inspired movie star.… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  JediJones

Speaking of “SNL”, here’s some reviews of Kim Basinger’s one-shot hosting stint (w/ her then husband, Alec Baldwin) back in 1994:
http://saturday-night-live.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=2954

Jake
Jake
11 years ago

The funniest part of “The Sentinel” is that it asked us to accept Eva Longoria as a secret service agent. That may work in a James Bond film, but it didn’t here. I’d ask about a “What the Hell Happened to Eva Longoria?” article, but the only real success she’s had is on “Desperate Housewives.”

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

I find it hilarious that not only has Kim Basinger worked w/ at least two actors who have played Batman (Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer), but she has also worked w/ to actors named Michael Douglas (Michael Keaton, who’s real surname is “Douglas” and the other Michael Douglas in “The Sentinel”): http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-sentinel,22366/ Crimes: • Spinning a dopey plot around the festering rivalry between FBI agent Kiefer Sutherland and Secret Service agent Michael Douglas • Cramming a whole TV season’s worth of twists into 100 minutes, including a torrid affair between Douglas and first lady Kim Basinger • Squandering the talents… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

I’ve been wondering what if Kim Basigner appeared in an official James Bond movie (i.e. those that are produced by Eon Productions)? I do kind of wonder if Kim should actually be considered a “Bond Girl” since the Bond movie that she appeared (“Never Say Never Again”) technically, doesn’t count. I could’ve seen her play Tanya Roberts role in “A View to a Kill” (Roger Moore’s last Bond movie). She was already young enough to otherwise come off as being Sean Connery’s daughter (instead of a serious love interest) in the other movie, so I don’t think that it would’ve… Read more »

schiala
schiala
11 years ago

I think Kim made a mistake by continuing to do oversexed and/or sex symbol type roles in her early 40s. After Batman her career plummeted because of this. She was about 5 years older than most of her peers (Griffith, Stone, Pfeiffer) and should have concentrated on being an ACTRESS rather than a sex symbol at that time. I don’t even consider L.A. Confidential a comeback. The movie was good, but she did nothing in it. Her Oscar win is the biggest “WTF?” win ever.

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago
Reply to  schiala

You can also make the argument that in the latter phase of her career, Kim then became typecast as a “scared housewife” in movies like “Cellular” and this little scene movie “exploitation movie” called “While She Was Out”. Here’s Mathew Buck’s (AKA Film Brain) “Bad Movie Beatdown” of “While She Was Out”:
http://blip.tv/film-brain/bad-movie-beatdown-christmas-special-while-she-was-out-4489242

Terrence Michael Clay
11 years ago

Kim Basinger’s Career Has Gone to Hell:
http://www.twohoursback.com/kim-basingers-career-has-gone-to-hell/

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Kim Basinger Fights For Her Life (and Career) In New Red-Band Trailer for While She Was Out: http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/kim-basinger-fights-for-her-life-and-career-in-while-she-was-out-red-band-trailer.php Kim Basinger was Hollywood royalty throughout the eighties, but poor movie choices, poor real estate purchases, and a never-ending divorce battle with Alec Baldwin relegated her to the role of outsider ever since. Her brief (and unexpected) attempt at a comeback with 1997′s L.A. Confidential might have worked had she not waited another three years before releasing a follow-up movie to the Oscar winner. (Of course, when she finally did follow it up it was with the one-two punch of I Dreamed… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

Moriarty Knows What Happened WHILE SHE WAS OUT!: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/38211 Kim Basinger fascinates me. I can’t, for the life of me, understand how she ended up as an actress. She’s a beautiful woman, certainly, and in her youth, she was breathtaking. But there are very few people I’ve ever seen working as actors who seem as genuinely uncomfortable in front of a camera as she always has. There are moments in her career when it looks like she was seconds away from running off the set and never returning. The best work she’s done has been when directors figured out how… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

WHILE SHE WAS OUT DVD review: http://whatculture.com/film/while-she-was-out-dvd-review.php The Guillermo del Toro produced WHILE SHE WAS OUT (on DVD from next Monday) has all the clear cut markings of a classic Hitchcockian survival thriller: an icy blonde in Kim Basinger’s troubled suburban house wife Della, an intimate prowling camera that quietly remains transfixed on the main character in the opening, a haunting string score, a fearless predatorial threat, the transference of guilt over to the audience and that unnerving sense of danger that is invoked into a usually safe comfort zone, (cozy but in this case not always so sweet middle-class… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  schiala

I’ve also read around her that in comparison to Kim, Sharon Stone made the mistake of not playing up her sex symbol image enough. Sharon instead, chose to try as hard as possible to prove to people that she could really act (e.g. stuff like “The Quick and the Dead”, “Casino”, and “Last Dance”) and wasn’t just a pretty face. I would like to split Kim Basinger’s career in two parts, post-“Batman” (the movie which I think it’s safe to say, officially “put her on the map” in terms of being an A-list, box office star) and post-“L.A. Confidential”. It’s… Read more »

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago

What I meant to say that I’m not entirely sure that it was safe or easy to consider Kim truly “A-list” (even though he had been around on TV or movies since at least the late ’70s) until she made “Batman”. For example I don’t think that “Cool World” would’ve been made the way that it was (for better or for worse) w/o Kim’s post -“Batman” notoriety.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

What’s ironic (and I hope I haven’t said this before) is that Kim Basinger resembles Silver St. Cloud more than she resembles Vicki Vale (who is redheaded in the comics). I think that in one of the early drafts for what would become “Batman”, Silver St. Cloud was actually the love interest for Bruce Wayne.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_St._Cloud

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  schiala

I recently said in the comments section for Heather Graham’s WTHHT (when if I remember correctly, LeBeau made a comment about Graham perhaps self-consciousness about her sex appeal ultimately hurting her leading lady chances once she reached what can be considered “middle age”) when it came to I would consider to be similarities concerning Kim Basinger is that w/ “LA Confidential”, it was one of those roles in paper in which you immediately think to your self, “Well of course you’re going to ask Kim Basinger to do this!”

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  schiala

I haven’t seen it yet, but I heard that Kim plays a grandmother in her most recent movie “Grudge Match”. Granted, Kim is at this point in her life, about old enough to be plausible at playing a grandmother (even though in real life, her daughter is only 18). But it’s still kind of weird to otherwise envision somebody who looks like Kim Basinger as somebody’s grandma. Kim would most definitely be one of the absolutely foxiest grandmas to ever walk the planet.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

KIM BASINGER IS 60? ‘GRUDGE MATCH’ PUTS OSCAR WINNER IN SPOTLIGHT AGAIN WITH SYLVESTER STALLONE AND ROBERT DE NIRO (VIDEO): http://www.hollywoodtake.com/kim-basinger-60-grudge-match-puts-oscar-winner-spotlight-again-sylvester-stallone-and-robert-de-niro Kim Basinger may be 60, but she’s back in the spotlight again after signing with IMG Models and starring in Grudge Match, which opened Christmas Day. Basinger, who is best known for her performances in 9½ Weeks, Batman and L.A. Confidential, largely stayed out of the public eye after her high-profile divorce from Alec Baldwin. Their 18-year-old daughter, Ireland Baldwin, has been to far more parties than her mom has in recent years. But that may all change with… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  schiala

THE TOP 10 WORST POST OSCAR CAREER CHOICES:
http://www.graffitiwithpunctuation.net/2012/08/02/the-top-10-worst-post-oscar-career-choices/
Kim Basinger: LA Confidential to 8 Mile
At face value, Basinger made all the right choices here. Curtis Hanson at the helm (director of L.A Confidential) of an edgy biography of one of the biggest rappers of all time – it was looking like an inspired choice. Unfortunately, she was utterly forgettable as a character etched in the collective rap fan consciousness. Eminem’s biting and scathing rhymes about his horrible parentage are so iconic that Basinger’s performance retreats into the shadows.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Cursed Oscar Winners Struggle for Roles: http://www.twcc.com/articles/2015/02/20/c/cursed-oscar-winners-struggle-for-roles Kim Basinger (1998) – Best Supporting Actress – LA Confidential Kim Basinger won an Oscar for her performance in the fantastic Noir film LA Confidential, but what happened afterwards that is puzzling. She didn’t star in another movie for three years, and unlike her husband at the time, Alec Baldwin, it wasn’t because of a poor attitude or a difficulty to work with. For Basinger, it might be the curse of growing older as a female in Hollywood. Outside of a solid turn as Eminem’s mother in 8 Mile, nothing since LA Confidential… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  schiala

In 1997, Jack Nicholson picked up a third statue playing an impossible character: https://thedissolve.com/features/performance-review/421-in-1997-jack-nicholson-picked-up-a-third-statue-pl/#comment-1249889134 Completely agree. I really wanted Moore to win for that year; her performance was excellent. That scene where she is at the custody hearing was shattering. I’m not a Basinger fan, and while I did like her performance in La Confidential, I just didn’t see the hype. She struck me as being too aware of her surroundings, like she deliberately knew she was the femme fatale in the film. In comparison to someone like Linda Fiorentino in The Last Seduction or hell, even Sharon Stone in… Read more »

Saran
Saran
11 years ago

You skipped over Hard Country and Mother Lode! Those were her first 2 big screen movies, but she has leading roles in both of them. They’re really good. Must see for any Kim fan.

Saran
Saran
11 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

The dvd’s for Hard Country and Mother Lode are cheap on Amazon and definately worth buying.
She was also great in the remake of From Here to Eternity, which was done for TV in the late 70s before she became a star. I bought it on VHS only because I’m a big Natalie Wood fan, but ended up enjoying Kim’s performance a lot more.

conneeconehead
11 years ago

Basinger was never much of an actress; just extremely beautiful. I read somewhere years ago that she had developed agoraphobia (fear of going outside the house). Don’t know if it’s true or not.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  conneeconehead

Somebody on Quora recently told me that Kim Basinger almost perfectly fits the description of a covert narcissist or closet narcissist. I think that just about everybody who knows her story by now knows that Kim was painfully shy as a child, suffered panic attacks, and would faint in school if called on to answer a question. This is likely closer to closet narcissism than anything else because people like her cannot tolerate the possible scrutiny of being in the limelight. So in Kim’s case, she attaches themselves to institutions and social causes (Kim is a PETA and animal rights… Read more »

john joseph
john joseph
11 years ago

So where is she?

Sid
Sid
11 years ago

I don’t think Kim’s later career has been bad enough to merit a “What the hell happened to…” blog. In 2000, she was 47 years old and headlining two major studio movies. That is a rarity in itself. She still has a respectable career. Things could have gone A LOT worse (look at her 80s contemporary Kathleen Turner).

Mitch
Mitch
11 years ago

I’ve been a fan of hers for a long time. I highly reccomend the book “Kim: Longer Than Forever” by her first husband. It gives a great insight into her career and Kim the person.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Mitch

How many people seriously knew that Kim was married once before she hooked up w/ Alec Baldwin? Maybe I find it odd (and granted, I was really young at the time to notice) because Kim outside of the stuff that she did w/ Baldwin, seems like a fairly private person.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  Mitch

Richard Gere/Kim Basinger torrid affair: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/alt.gossip.celebrities/ujauH5fkUEM National ENQUIRER Online Insider News Tuesday, September 22, 1998 Book blows lid off . . . Richard Gere’s affair with married Kim Basinger Kim Basinger had a torrid affair with Richard Gere while she was still married to Hollywood makeup man Ron Britton, reveals Ron in a steamy tell-all book. And after Richard seduced Kim, he professed his love for the sultry sexpot in letters Ron found hidden in Kim’s drawer. Richard and Kim starred together in the 1986 movie “No Mercy,” and then-hubby Ron grew suspicious when the actress kept coming home late… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Kim Basinger’s burning desires: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/kim-basingers-burning-desires-1647250.html In recent years, Kimila Ann Basinger has been making headlines more for her irascible custody battle with ex-husband Alec Baldwin than for anything she has done on-screen. That, though, has changed with her impressive turn in The Burning Plain, playing a woman whose perspective on life and family have been turned on its head by breast cancer. Playing Gina in Guillermo Arriaga’s film, the 55-year-old actress has been unusually cast in a maternal role as the head of a large family. That said, her character’s decision to embark on an affair has more than a… Read more »

ms.bracken
ms.bracken
11 years ago

In spite of the age difference, her and Sean Connery in Never Say Never Again were the best looking couple ever.

Torch
Torch
11 years ago

That picture at the top of the page is over 10 years old. I saw a recent photo of her on the Daily Mail a few days ago. She looks good for her age, but that’s all. Too much plastic surgery.

Terrence Michael Clay
10 years ago
Reply to  lebeau

MarzGurl and Linkara review the horror that is Cool World:
http://atopfourthwall.blogspot.com/2009/05/cool-world.html

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Could Cool World have been a good movie? http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/501368/cool-world-good-movie Post by 15 Times The Clash on Jun 12, 2014 7:54:46 GMT -5 Apparently they had Ralph Bakshi pushing to make it an R-rated story (I think he initially wanted it to be about this half human/half toon girl who hated herself, and wanted to confront and presumably kill her father) and Kim Basinger (voice of Holli) lobbying to make it PG and family friendly. When they compromised, it wound up being this mess. I like the premise behind it, I guess, but watching it again it’s like it couldn’t decide… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

My Year Of Flops Case File # 44 Cool World (1992): http://www.avclub.com/article/bmy-year-of-flops-case-file-44-icool-worldib-1992-14798 In the late ’80s and early ’90s, animation was undergoing one of its periodic booms. After bottoming out with Black Cauldron, Disney roared back to life spectacularly with Little Mermaid and a raft of critically revered blockbusters. The 1988 smash hit Who Framed Roger Rabbit? seemed to herald an exhilarating new age where animation and live action comfortably co-existed with unparalleled sophistication and wit. Ex-Disney animator Don Bluth, meanwhile, had transformed his homegrown studio into a legitimate threat to his old employers with hits like An American Tail… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Cool World: http://wherethelongtailends.com/cool-world/ But the interference didn’t end there. Kim Basinger, easily the biggest star in the cast and at the time someone who could pull considerable weight when it came to filming, attempted her own re-write of the film midway through production, envisioning a sweet children’s tale that she could show in hospitals to sick children. Bakshi, dumbfounded at yet another mutiny, instead replied “Kim, I think that’s wonderful, but you’ve got the wrong guy to do that with.” And thus, with the film quickly becoming the classic example of too many cooks in the kitchen, Cool World was… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

Retrospective: Cool World: http://www.thepalaceofwisdom.co.uk/blog/2014/05/19/retrospectivecoolworld/ We start with what you would expect from any early 90’s fashionable flick, uber trendy opening credits with a loud “modern” song; no indication to the plot of the movie, just blue words on a black screen for over two minutes. Then some back-story I guess, since the music from the opening credits does not match 1945 in the slightest, its quite a nice opening sequence leading to tragedy but then it is inter-cut with an animated guy talking about random rubbish before Brad Pitt (Fight Club, 12 Monkeys, Burn after Reading) is whisked away to… Read more »

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)

My Take On… #234: Why Is Cool World Such A Unique Movie? https://bashful269.wordpress.com/2017/05/16/my-take-on-234-why-is-cool-world-such-a-unique-movie/ Bakshi had originally intended to cast Drew Barrymore and Brad Pitt in the film’s leading roles. Brad Pitt was cast as Frank Harris instead, with Gabriel Byrne as Deebs and Kim Basinger as Holli. The film’s voice cast includes Maurice LaMarche and Charles Adler. According to Bakshi, Basinger had attempted to rewrite the film halfway into its production because she “thought it would be great […] if she would be able to show this picture in hospitals to sick children […] I said, ‘Kim, I think that’s… Read more »

Hotstuff
Hotstuff
11 years ago

Ah dude, you left out The Door In the Floor. One of Kimmy’s best. And I do believe she’s filming as I write.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

You also left out “Grudge Match” (one of Kim’s more recent movies), which in fairness, was covered in Sylvester Stallone’s WTHHT article.

Terrence Clay (@TMC1982)
Reply to  lebeau

Things that need to be included for the update (off the top of my head) besides the movies that Kim has done since this entry was originally published: *The book by Kim’s first husband, which suggests that Kim cheated on him w/ Richard Gere *Kim’s conflicts with director Adrian Lyne on the set of “9 & 1/2 Weeks”. There’s also the story that Irwin Kershner told of Kim breaking down and crying on the set of “Never Say Never Again” (w/ him and Sean Connery having to calm her down) *Kim’s appearances w/ Alec Baldwin on “Saturday Night Live” and… Read more »

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