Here are some photos of Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine at the Italian premiere of Spring Breakers a few weeks ago. We covered the German and French premieres but never got around to this event because, quite frankly, it seemed redundant. It suffices to say that these girls did not style their ensembles to mesh together in any shape or form, and I think at least three of them kind of gave up on being styled at all. Oddly enough, Rachel looks the cutest here in an M Missoni dress that’s kicky and playful even if the color choices are a bit bizarre. Otherwise, Selena’s jumpsuit looks entirely uninspired, Vanessa fades into the background, and Ashley’s concoction looks like three ugly dresses combined into one. So horrible.
Yet I am actually kind of excited that Spring Breakers opens this weekend (in two theaters) if only because I’m quickly reaching saturation point on this over-promoted film that seems to be Harmony Korine’s excuse to film barely legal, former Disney starlets in bikinis and describe it all as “art.” Even though the movie also stars James Franco, I assure you that watching him deep-throating a pistol will not be ART. Even a simple glance at the movie’s green- and red-band trailers can tell anyone that much. Now Selena is telling the press that her signing on for this type of movie is nearly a direct result of being a Disney kid because the house of mouse made her “crave” the direct opposite for “creative” purposes. Oh no:
From wholesome and Disney to raunchy and druggy. In a time-honored Hollywood tradition, former teen actresses Selena Gomez and Vanessa Hudgens are hitching their stars to edgier, more provocative fare in the hope of jumpstarting the next, more grown-up phases of their careers.
In a recent New York Times article, the two Disney acolytes (Hudgens starred in the studio’s High School Musical series and Gomez wrapped up the final season of its hugely popular “Wizards of Wavery Place” a year ago) open up about their roles in provocateur/filmmaker Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers, a movie described in the article as “a druggy, violent, hypersexualized tale of innocence squashed.”
“Disney is a machine, and I’m grateful for it, but I feel like being part of that environment made me crave the reaction from other projects even more,” Gomez, 20, told the Times. “Creatively this is where I wanted to go.” In the movie, she plays one of four bikini-clad girls gone wild who rob a bank to fund their spring break vacation.
Hudgens shares the same career-changing goal. “I want people to look at me not as that girl from High School Musical, but as an actress they admire,” the 23-year-old said. “With Spring Breakers I’m looking for a reaction for sure. I want to shock people.” In one scene, her character, Candy, holds a loaded gun while James Franco’s drug dealer character pretends to perform fellatio on it.
“It was an amazing opportunity for us,” Hudgens continued.”Selena and I are both young, finding our footing, wanting to grow.”
Gomez concurred: “I’ve never been part of a movie I would watch over and over again, and I’m really proud of it.”
[From Us Weekly]
Selena has previously stated that she decided to do this movie because she wanted to take herself more seriously as an actress, but I just don’t understand how being mostly naked throughout a movie helps anyone develop their acting skills. Why not seek out a good drama flick instead? It boggles the mind that so many starlets (Kristen Stewart, Jessica Biel, etc.) think playing a stripper will help them break out of a franchise or a rut (yet it never seems to help), and strutting around in a bikini isn’t much better. Poor Selena. I want good things for her, and this movie is definitely not a good thing.
Here’s some pictures of Selena on 3/7 at the Alliance For Children’s Rights dinner. She looks so deflated and sleepy.
Photos courtesy of WENN
I can understand wanting to break out of the Disney mould, but this just sounds…degrading. They could just as easily be typecast for this sort of thing now instead.
How weird and sad that ‘Disney’ used to define artistic, beautiful, creative, and enchanting work, e.g., Fantasia. – I remember as a child wanting to be in front of the TV before the show even started, because even the introduction was lush and gorgeous to watch. Now Disney is a ‘machine?’ I don’t watch any of it now, so don’t know if the quality has deteriorated or not, but given the generally horrible standards of scripts now, I can’t imagine that going from Disney to this new movie is much of an improvement for anyone.
Fantasia was amazing…really revolutionary for the time.
Walt wanted to brainwash the kids but at least he did with some quality shows.
If they want to brainwash them, it’s to turn them into consumers. Disney is about merchandising.
There is some value in Disney films, especially the Pixar ones. But what they produce is designed to SELL, and the Disney brand taken as a whole and the idea of living Disney, that’s a whole other thing, separate from just the movies. There’s something called “Disneyfication”, and what it refers to is a situation where any imperfection or reality is washed away or covered over and what is presented is perfect but plastic and a pale reflection of the real thing.
I can see where if you grow up surrounded by that shiny, brightly colored, plastic, anemic version of the world, you probably would crave something that feels real and intense and gritty. But in this case, even the grit is a fabrication.
Shelley, if you haven’t seen Brave, I recommend it. It’s the best thing Disney’s done in ages. A good strong female character, beautiful, amazing computer based animation, and a good family story. And THIS Disney princess has a mother. I was shocked by how much I enjoyed it. But it is Disney/Pixar, and Pixar is made of candy and awesome.
What a clichè.
yep, in 2 years she will be a nobody
Take an acting class
indeed!
“I want people to look at me not as that girl from High School Musical, but as an actress they admire…”
Sorry, Vanessa. That ain’t going to be happening anytime soon. Same goes for Selena. Whilst I give her props for dumping Bratty Bieber, I wish studios and her PR team would stop pushing her as the next big thing.
She’s just not that brilliant.
I agree completely Amelia. Don’t get me wrong, Selena is a very cute girl -but by no means a great talent.
As for Vanessa, I fear that the successful transition train departed Disney Station without her.
from disney “good” girls to yet another stereotype -albeit a less respectable, sexualized one.
either stereotype still includes NOT being a phenomenal actress in amazing movies. fail.
how long until both are tired of being objectified a la megan fox?
Just by the way Selena has been dressing lately, I’d say she has no problem being objectified.
Actually, in their minds, being objectified means that they are not Disney girls anymore. Stupid.
In all fairness she is a grown woman now.
*This.*
What this child craves is authenticity, something that there is no way she’s going to get in her current situation. Going from one “mask” of a sterotype to another will not do it.
It’s sad how so many people have jumped to false conclusions about this film, but then again, not many people are familiar with Harmony Korine’s past films. He made a film called Kids which brings attention to the fact that kids try to behave like adults way too young (drinking, smoking, having promiscuous sex). He wasn’t trying to glorify that and I’m sure he’s not trying to glorify anything in this movie. Yes, I’m sure he purposely hired two former Disney stars so more people could watch this, but again, I don’t necessarily think he’s sending the message that all the stuff happening in this film is “cool”.
He is not sending that message, the girls are talking about the movie in a way that makes people think they wanted to be edgy and do drugs on screen just to separate themselves from their good girl images. They are the ones who think that kind of stuff is cool, just like KStew, Lindsay, etc, etc, etc before them.
BTW, Kids is phenomenal. Korine needs to make more movies.
You haven’t seen the movie, so how can you say for sure that he’s not sending that message? And the girls are saying its cool to do these things ON SCREEN, not in real life. You conveniently left out the fact that Selena Gomez encourages parents to not let her young fans see this film.
The movie is a parody though, read the reviews coming from TIFF and they say that people either love it from a sort of sociological point or hate it for how stupid it is.
Exactly, the girls think that is cool and they are the ones sending that message. They are the ones that glorify this behavior because they link it with losing their good girl image and growing up.
It doesn’t matter if Selena tells parents that though, she still relies on her fanbase to advance her career. Adults don’t care about her.
I was 15 when I saw Kids and that movie is very, VERY unforgettable. At the time, it was pretty revolutionary although by today’s standards, it probably wouldn’t seem that extreme. Nevertheless, it was a disturbing and powerful film.
I’m curious about this movie….it doesn’t seem like it will be edgy/hyper-real like Kids but more of a satire. I’ll definitely watch it at some point.
Plan B: the “hacked/leaked” naked pix.
I don’t remember Jennifer Lawrence taking her clothes off…Oh, she is taken seriously as an actress.
The only Disney star that i (can think off) respect is Hilary Duff.
I agree. I think a better plan would be departure from their Disney roles by smaller degrees. This jumping off the deep end approach would only work if we were dealing with really gifted actresses and I don’t think we are in this case. I think they fear obscurity – that their relevance will die out soon and therefore they have to break the mold right now.
Mr. R contends that JLaw was naked in X-Men. I say not really but he is adamant that she cannot be excluded from the “actresses who take their clothes off” argument – what do you think?
Ahem, forgot about her Esquire photo shoot?
She said she needed to it because after Winter´s Bone producers needed to see she was sexy.
http://www.esquire.com/women/women-we-love/jennifer-lawrence-photos-0610#img
While that is definitely cheesecake (*shakes head at JLaw*), she does still have some clothing on. Which is my contention about the X-Men, she has some covering over her naughty bits. But My husband says no, that doesn’t count.
Jennifer lawrence is overrated in terms of talent and looks.
I remember child actors in the 90s and they are far better then the ones today.
JTT, JGL, Maculany Culkin, Elijah Wood, Christina Rici, Natalie Portman. I am a bit biased since I am exactly the same age as Natalie and Elijah,, but still most of them grew up to be respected actors today.
I don’t think either the Selena Gomezes or the Jennifer Lawrences are one bit as talented as them or have the charm.
We all know that Jennifer Lawrences’s Oscar win was shaddy. I have a feeling she will dissapear in a few years along with Selena Gomez.
Part of the reason she wasn’t taken seriously was because she was with Bieber. Another Disney Kid, Justin Timberlake, will hopefully grow up soon and stop making the crappiest music on the planet.
Wait, for Kristen Stewart are you talking about ‘Welcome to the Rileys’? Because that was actually a good movie 😉
Powder Blue (right?) sucked, and I thought Hudgens already pulled this anti-Disney schtick with that one movie where there were a bunch of girls with guns in some fantasy land. She’s in her mid-twenties now, let go of the Disney angst already.
Call me crazy (or just atypical), but this is exactly the type of movie I would have wanted to do when I was that age and looked that great. I’m sure they had a good time, and it was nice to be able to act more “grown up” (by their definition, not mine). I feel like they have almost been forced into making statements about how its art, etc. because general culture wont accept that these girls just want to run around half naked looking hot and acting bad. Lots of people go through that phase, these ladies just get the chance to do it in a high profile way and make some money while doing it. Doesn’t mean it will be a good movie, but I bet they had a great time.
Ashley’s dress…ugh
You can´t compare KStew with these Disney starlets, she did a lot of good movies as a child actress(Panic Room,Fierce People etc) and during Twilight she did indies like Into the Wild, Welcom to the Rileys, the Runaways etc.
On a sidenote, I really like Serena´s jumpsuit.
Also, I have to say that this Selena Gomez does not look 20 years old. She looks about 15 and as for Jennifer Lawrence, that girl looked too young to be a widow in SLP. It looked wrong and she was not really convincing as one. So really how did she get an Oscar? I have seen a bit of her on shows like Lettrman and Fallon, she is quite immature I have to say.
totally agree with you about JL, I wasn’t buying her as a widow AT ALL, no matter how much black she wore.
To me Selena Gomez is one note. As an actress I am sure she will crave meatier roles but she will probably nevel reach to level of or earn the respect that other actors around her age group the Fanning sisters have gotten.
She isn’t that strong of an actress and I can tell that the media is trying to make us all fall in love with her and make her more endearing. I guess I am just not one of those people who has gotten the hype. Nor do I truly buy what she is selling. I will pass on her/ her BFF Taylor and ex Justin. They all a bit vapid in my honest opinion.
There are a lot more talented actresses in the likes of Saorise Ronan. This girl knows five languages/ goes deep into her roles and tries to take risks with whatever projects she is doing. She has already been nominated for an academy in Atonement at the age of 12. Next she will be playing Mary Queen of Scots a role to be very excited about.
Selena also isn’t a Chloe Mortez who has been working hard at acting for a while now and has her older brother to really help her being so young with appropriate career moves.
Even Haliee Steinfield was a knock out performer at an early age. What I notice about the three girls mentioned above in comparison to Selena is that all three (especially Ronan) seem focused on actual acting/studying of there craft and not just relying on the good wholesome girl image to get them on by.
People like Ronan should be landing more magazine covers and interviews. But for actresses like her (she is almost like young Cate Blanchette) the actual building up of her methods seems more important than just the PR train to make it in hollywood.
*rolls eyes* wow, how original and totally unexpected, a former disney star now wants to be a “edgy” and “provocative” (read: trashy and slutty). yawn. even Vanessa Hudgins is probably side-eyeing her like, guuuurl, been there, done that, it’s not that great.
Yes Selena, please do this. It worked out so well for the Saved by the Bell girl who did Showgirls.
People are so prudish.