“I'm not that girl
from Freaky Friday any more! I'm a real adult!”
As the release of cult
horror sequel “Scream 4” draws ever closer, the rumoured involvement of
troubled Hollywood icon Lindsay Lohan is the talk of horror fans worldwide.
Sources reveal that Lindsay saw the films growing up and always aspired to star
in one. Due to prior engagements with
“Freaky Friday” in 2003, Lohan was unable to audition for the
proposed end of the series “Scream 3” and thought she’d never be able to star
in the series she’d dreamed of being a part of. To further add to the connection, Lindsay
scored her first small role in a T.V advert in 1996, the same year that Rose
starred in the original “Scream”, the film that kick-started her career.
Although there are 14 years between the two actresses, with Lindsay just
celebrating her 23rd birthday and Rose being 37 but barely looking a
day over 25, the fact that these two iconic actresses whose films are
constantly compared, along with their looks and style, began their careers in
the same year, is a remarkable coincidence.
Over Lindsay’s career, many comparisons
have been drawn between her and Rose McGowan., and involvement with the
“Scream” saga is no exception to this. In fact Rose starred as the
protagonist’s sidekick Tatum in the first instalment of the series,
16 years
Prior to the fourth instalment that Lindsay has been rumoured to
make an appearance in. Coincidence? I think not. Lindsay’s definitive
“breakout” film
“Mean Girls” was her way of becoming known
and recognised in the world of film. Although this was not the start of her
career, it was the film that launched her stardom and is still considered a
cult film for teenagers worldwide. (Lohan is pictured on the left alongside
co-stars Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert and Rachel McAdams in “Mean Girls”)
Ironically, 5 years prior to the release of “Mean Girls” the 1999 black comedy
film “Jawbreaker” was released. The film
starred Rose McGowan as the queen bee of “Reagan High” Courtney Shane. The role
was incredibly similar to the role of Cady Heron, who Lindsay portrayed in Mean
Girls.
In further relation to the Jawbreaker/Mean
Girls comparison, Lohan also released teen comedy’s “Freaky Friday” in which
Lohan and her mother, played by 80’s horror movie icon Jamie Lee Curtis (who
also featured in a cameo appearance in scream! In the same scene where Rose’s
character Tatum meets her demise, yet another coincidence!) Switch places and
see each other’s lives from the other’s perspective.
Lindsay then went on to go
down the route that so many famous stars of today have gone down, the Disney
channel route. The likes of Britney Spears, Tyra Banks and Christina Aguilera
have all stared on the kids channel at some point in their career. Ironically,
Britney has since become a close friend of Lohan. Tyra starred along side Lohan
in a small Disney channel made-for-TV film in 2002 titled “Life Size” and
Spears and Aguilera have since become two targets of press attention for their
careers following “A very similar path” much like Rose and Lindsay, does the
list of coincidences never end?! Lindsay’s big shot at the Disney Career was in
“Confessions of a teenage drama queen” (2004). The film featured Lohan as
theatrical teenager “Lola” who influences her friend to come with her on a hap
hazard journey to stalk a band for their last performance in the suburbs of New
York. These films are seen as tributes
to the “high school comedy” revival movement of the 90’s, that Jawbreaker was a
part of.
This
is where the similarities between the two actresses became closely recognised
and followed.
As Lindsay began to
mature, the similarities between her and Rose grew more pronounced. As both of
them aged, their “high school comedy” films were left behind, as Rose had
become too old to pull off the role of a 16 year old. And Lindsay, with three
films of that genre under her belt, just wanted to expand her horizons and try
something else. Evidently, they both had the same ideas. Rose attempted to
break the mould in 2007 by landing the lead role in Quentin Tarentino’s 2-part
blockbuster “Planet Terror” and “Grindhouse”, labelled by the press a “gory
chick flick” in which Rose played the tough, independent pole dancer Cherry
Darling. Coincidentally in the same year, Lindsay starred in the independent
horror films “I know Who Killed Me” playing yes, you guessed it, a pole dancer.
Both films are very similar in the way their storyline flows and in the dark,
dreary way the films are shot.
It’s strange to think that two women in the
world of Hollywood have had such similar bodies of work. Considering Rose’s
breakthrough role was in “Scream” (1996) and Lindsay’s first official film was
Disney’s remake of “The Parent Trap” (1998) starring as both twins, trying to
bring their parents back together. While Lindsay was starring in “The Parent
Trap”, Rose was occupied starring in the made for T.V film, “Devil in the Flesh”
which follows the life of Rose as a promiscuous serial killer. Little did Rose
know that this style of film would become iconographic for both her and Lohan,
who then was only just starting her career at the age of 11?
A prime example of this “Style” is in Rose’s
“The Red Sonja” an unreleased film about a female samurai warrior in the
future, fighting alone. The film was proposed to be released in the July of
2009, however reasons for its cancellation are unknown and Rose has said
nothing on the subject. It is no surprise to us though, that just over a year
later in the August of 2010, Lohan starred as a “nun with attitude” in
“Machete” a Quentin Tarentino film on the run from the law, killing for
revenge. And as it would happen, in tribute to her previous role in Tarentino’s
trilogy of gore as “Cherry Darling”, Rose will be making a small cameo
appearance in the film, the first time the actresses have stared along side
each other! The gore fest that is “Machete” is still waiting for an official
release in the U.K due to its sky high levels of violence and gore; the film
could still face cancellation for U.K viewers, a lot like “The Red Sonja”. And with that aside, the film itself bares a
striking resemblance to Rose’s “The Red Sonja”, with both actresses playing
blade-wielding characters.
(Pictured
left – Lohan in “I know who killed me, 2007)
So, as the April 14th 2011
release date of “Scream 4” or “Scre4am” draws ever closer, we ask ourselves,
will Lindsay star in it?
Will she pay tribute to Rose, the Hollywood icon who’s lead a career oh so similar to hers? Will this train of coincidences continue? Only April the Fourteenth will tell. When both actresses dyed their dark hair blonde in late 2007, it couldn’t have just been a coincidence. Are these two actresses destined to forever fight for the limelight? Only time will tell.
Next
week! Is child actress-turned-grunge-queen, Taylor Momsen the new Courtney
Love? Has the widow of 90’s icon Kurt Cobain got
competition? Pick up next week’s issue to find out! Alex Etchells, word count
1219.
