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If you ever read the comments section of these articles, you’ve probably seen some discussion of “the Batman curse”. Despite the fact that most of the Batman films have been successful, there does seem to be a trend of Batman actors ending up in What the Hell Happened articles.
Alicia Silverstone had a relatively short career that peaked in 1995 and came crashing down 2 years later in Batman and Robin. Just about everyone associated with the franchise-ending Batfilm suffered some kind of career setback.
But while Chris O’Donnell has finally gotten himself a steady gig on TV and Arnold Scharzenegger retreated to politics, Silverstone’s career has yet to bounce back.
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Silverstone’s first acting gig was as a guest star on the TV show, The Wonder Years.
She played Fred Savage’s dream girl which was type casting in 1992.
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Silverstone’s film career began with 1993’s suspense flickThe Crush.
The Crush was part of a trend in movies that became popular after 1987’s Fatal Attraction. The general theme is that a normal guy (in this case, Cary Elwes) meets a seemingly normal person who turns out to be a homocidal lunatic/stalker.
In The Crush, Silverstone is a deranged teenager who takes her vengence on Elwes after he spurns her advances. Movies like The Crush are a dime a dozen, but the role brought Silverstone a lot of attention.
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The following year, Silverstone won 2 MTV Movie Awards for her performance (Best Villain and Best Breakthrough Performance). She was actually nominated for Most Desirable Female, but lost to Janet Jackson. Perhaps it was because Silverstone was underage or perhaps it was that her character was batshit crazy.
The Crush lead to Silverstone appearing in a trio of Aerosmith videos.
Cryin’
Amazing
and the final installment in the underage trilogy, Crazy
I still marvel at the Crazy video. It’s one thing that the video makes sex objects out of two teenage girls. But it’s another that one of the two girls is the daughter of the lead singer of the band. Crazy, indeed.
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Silverstone’s time as “the Aerosmith chick” lead to her being cast as Cher in Amy Heckerling’s Clueless in 1995.
Clueless was a modern retelling of Jane Austin’s Emma as a fizzy teenage comedy. Silverstone starred as a spoiled teen who tries to do good deed while remaining in style – albiet a very mid-90s style. Along the way, she has romances with Jeremy Sisto and Paul Rudd.
Clueless was smarter and funnier than it had any right to be. Many lines became catch-phrases of the 90’s and Silverstone became the “It” girl in Hollywood.
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Also in 1995, Silverstone appeared in the thrillers The Babysitter, Hideaway and the French film, The New World. The Babysitter was released direct-to-video to try to capitalize on the popularity of The Crush. Hideaway co-starred Jeff Goldblum and Jeremy Sisto (who also appeared in Clueless).
None of these movies had much of an impact, but it does show just how in-demand Silverstone was in the wake of the sexy Aerosmith videos.
Following Clueless, Silverston signed a three-picture deal with Columbia Tri-Star worth 10 million dollars. As part of the deal, Silverstone got her own production company, First Kiss Pictures. I point this out to stress just how powerful Silverstone was in Hollywood in 1995, because the fall is near.
Next: Batgirl and Excess Baggage
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