Julia Stiles is only 38 years old. The way she doesn’t really “fit” into so many Hollywood casting decisions, you would think that she was older than that, right? But no – she’s not even 40. She’s been working consistently for 20 years, with a break to get her college degree and various breaks when the work simply wasn’t there for her. Nothing really “happened” to Julia, that’s my point. She was just sort of shuffled off to indie films and character work and TV work (she currently has a starring role on Riviera). Julia knows that her career has been a bit strange too. She’s currently in Hustlers, playing the journalist who interviews all of the strippers after their scam. She chatted with the Daily Beast about her career and Hustlers and how she finally feels like she can make sense of her career:
She campaigned for a role in Hustlers: “They were like, you might really like this but the part’s not that flashy because you’re not playing a dancer…I spoke to [the director] and I was like, I don’t care if I have to sweep the floors. I’ll do anything to be part of this movie.”
She is playing the journalist interviewing the hustlers: “They could have made five different versions of this story. It could have been Striptease. It could have been Showgirls. It could’ve been a true crime story demonizing these women, focusing on the aftermath of what happened to the men they drugged. But Lorene focuses on the sisterhood and the partnership between these women, trying to get us to understand why these women did what they did.”
Her career at the age of 38: “If you had talked to me two or three years ago, I might have been more nervous or more frustrated, but I’m really, really happy where I am now… I felt like I was sort of jumping from job to job that I wasn’t really connected to, and worried about where my career was going. I think a few years ago my frustration was feeling like nobody knew what to do with me. You know, I had had some success in my twenties and now I’m in a different place in my life and I didn’t really fit anywhere…But a movie like Hustlers to me is such an affirmation that like I have a place in the film industry and stories that I’m interested in are being told.”
On 10 Things I Hate About You’s 20th anniversary: “I don’t take it for granted that people are talking about the movie 20 years later. It’s an affirmation that even back then the things, the stories, and the roles that I was drawn to, other people were interested in as well. That was the first time I really read a female character, especially as a teenager, who was feisty and opinionated and unapologetic.”
Going to Columbia University just when her career was heating up: “It happened to me before I could really understand what was going on,” she says. Going to college helped her keep her head on straight. “Academic professionals don’t really give a sh-t about me being in a movie or having to go the MTV Movie Awards. But then also people in the entertainment industry don’t really care about university. That helped me a lot.”
As I read this, it sort of struck me that we’re always talking about “second chances” and “who gets to come back” after scandal or crime or harassment. And Julia didn’t do anything to anybody, she did nothing wrong at all, she just… had, like, a decade in the career wilderness because directors didn’t know what to do with her. She’s a talented actress – she always was. But I totally get how she felt like she didn’t “fit” anywhere. Anyway, I’m glad she’s “back” (again, she never left!) and I’m excited to see Hustlers!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, WENN.
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