Jennifer Lawrence at the Oscars: was this a put on? I think it was. And I think she will get away with it because she is young and bit dorky and funny. But it could not be helped: she has slimmed down, after complaining, last year, about how Hollywood wants everyone to look anorexic. Yes, they do, and you do. Whether she becomes even more successful depends on lot on how she chooses her next films. She could be the next Sally Field. Or she could be the next Sally Field. Or the next Amy Adams, who must have the worst luck of any actress in Hollywood: she is one of a handful of really interesting actors around, but hasn't yet found the break-out role that will define her career.
Poor Anne Hathaway: I doubt she'll ever again, for sheer artistic interest, match the moment in "Brokeback Mountain" where she told Ennis, on the phone, what had happened to Jack, and made it beautifully ambiguous: did she know what was really up or not? It's pretty clear she did know-- but it was wonderfully done.
What ABC could and did offer, instead, was an hour in prime time; teases of the interview on "Wold News", the newly first -place morning show "Good Morning America", "nightline," and ABC's local TV and radio afffiliates... Within the industry this is called the "package". NY Times, February 12, 2013
The real package is, of course, Amanda Knox, who will enthrall millions of Americans on April 30 on ABC "News". This is not news. It's not journalism. It is the nauseous give and take of exploitation and titillation and scandal marketing. It is the news division committing incest with the entertainment division. The business of this entire process is not information or enlightenment or insight but how to disguise voyeurism as respectable information intercourse. We are all going to do the dance because we want to experience the thrill of dirty sex with a sexually vibrant young woman whose room-mate was murdered while pretending to be appalled or sympathetic or curious or informed.
Amanda has a book to sell. There is no personal experience so tragic or distasteful that the media are not willing to profit from it, nor women like Amanda Knox. But it will be packaged carefully. There will be some higher purpose given for the book, so readers won't feel like they are expressing a prurient curiosity when picking it up at the bookstore. Let's see-- it's a cautionary tale for young American women because she just doesn't want anyone else to go through the ordeal she went through. Or a diatribe against the pernicious Italian justice system. Or let's go with the Oprahfied version: "I just felt that it was time to tell MY story. There will be something about honoring the memory of her room-mate. There will be talk about who will play her in the movie. HBO or Hollywood? Can she sing? If not, there's always dinner theatre.
I do have a feeling she will eventually marry her body guard and go off somewhere and hide. She's not made for this. The money is too tempting, but she's not made for this and she may not handle it well.