Lindsay Lohan is, by all accounts, both incredibly unique and a tired cliche. She took that route from talented child star (she was so great in The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday and of course, Mean Girls) to a troubled adult starlet to the current poster girl for a teen superstar who lets drugs and alcohol ruin her promise and opportunity. She has lived a life that we can only dream of: fame and money, designer labels and modeling contracts and red carpets. She's starred opposite Jamie Lee Curtis, Sharon Stone, Jane Fonda, and Meryl Streep. And yet she is also one in a long line of fallen starlets, from Marilyn Monroe to Amanda Bynes, who has let fame destroy their existence.
But every fallen starlet seems to get a different ending (compare, say, Drew Barrymore with Anna Nicole Smith for proof), and so I watch with great relish to see what Lohan's ending would be. There were a few revealing things in the interview with Oprah Winfrey, and not just about Lohan.
Lohan did, finally (I believe this is the first time in public, though I'm not 100% on that) admit that she has a problem with alcohol, but there seemed to be far more denial in what she said to Oprah than opening up to Winfrey. She was incredibly guarded, and not willing to own up to a lot of her mistakes. Of course, with the prodding of Winfrey (her new boss, but more on that later), she did say that she'd wasted some opportunities, that she did have an addiction, and that she has in fact put herself and others at risk.
But she wasn't admitting a full truth. You could tell that her publicist (or lawyers) had coached her well, but it left her feeling incomplete. I'm not sure if the publicists were hedging their bets (addicts have a tendency to fall back on old habits, and Lohan's six public stints in rehab are proof of that), but they wouldn't really tell why Lohan thinks this time is better. Maybe they didn't want to squander a rare opportunity that she seems to have after a near decade of bad press and decisions. Despite the fact that her latest film is bombing both at the Box Office and with critics, Lohan is in a rare spot where she could mount a comeback, her career looking the best it has since 2006 (when she received BFCA and SAG nominations for roles in A Prairie Home Companion and Bobby, respectively, and commanded a $7 million pay day for Just My Luck). Lohan will be doing a documentary series that is sure to be a ratings hit for the OWN Network, and is rumored to be in talks with Ben Affleck for a role in his next film. That'd be an incredible bounty for any performer, much less one who hasn't had a hit film in seven years and who suffers from substance abuse problems.
Lohan, therefore, was far too guarded in the interview, and you had to really hunt for moments of truth, moments of her letting something out that she didn't have fully-prepared. I think the bit about her parents was fairly telling. Lohan is more than willing to blame herself for some of the issues she's experienced, but, even at 27 years of age, cannot force her parents to share a bit of the blame in her bad fortune. There's something admirable about how she wants to be the owner of her mistakes, but if she's going to get better, she needs to surround herself with people who don't enable her, and the combination of a mother desperate to be famous at all costs and a father with drinking problems who cashes in on his daughter's private phone conversations and spends most of his time on sleazy daytime talk shows spilling his famous daughter's secrets, is a poor recipe. If even a tenth of what the tabloids say these people have done is true, they are a toxic force in their daughter's life, and I suspect she won't get better if she doesn't admit that to herself.
The rest of the interview was more of Lindsay being Lindsay, speaking in platitudes about spirituality, how she's learned something new this time, even though she wouldn't admit what it was, and trying to talk about how she wants to be focused on the work. I truly do believe that she wants to be a working actress, but I have trouble thinking the drive is there anymore, and perhaps the talent isn't there as well. I'm not saying that Lohan hasn't had strong performances in the past (her work in 2006 and earlier certainly validates that hypothesis), but I have yet to see her breath life into her work as an adult like she did in Mean Girls or The Parent Trap. Child actors frequently can give excellent performances as children and never catch on as adults (we're so used to people like Jodie Foster or Natalie Wood who make that transition, but it's not an easy one to make, and requires a completely different skill set). This is a significant issue for Lohan in particular, who seems to have forgotten that comedy was always her forte (she's never given a strong dramatic performance), but her only intentionally lighter work is in Scary Movie films.
So, as Lohan attempts to mend her career, I'd like to offer a few suggestions. First off, Lindsay, it's very obvious that you need to have a positive force in your life. It sounds like your lawyer is one, and Oprah clearly is one, and I suspect Ben Affleck, who has had his troubles with the darker side of celebrity, would be a third. However, you need to push yourself out of temptation (this is obvious). What is less obvious is that you can't keep coasting off of the great performances of your youth, and it might be time to realize, especially considering the horrifying reviews you got for Liz & Dick and The Canyons, that an acting coach is probably a worthwhile investment. Starring in a Ben Affleck film is a HUGE opportunity if you get that chance, and while I know you have AMPAS dreams and HFPA wishes (Lohan's hunger for an Oscar has been well-documented), being a well-reviewed supporting player in a major director's next picture is reward enough, and would be a huge lift for your career.
Your work in Winfrey's show should also show a different side of you. You clearly got lucky when Winfrey, likely seeing both a redemption story and a chance for boffo ratings, decided to make an investment in you (notice how Winfrey, a savvy businesswoman who knows what Lohan could mean for her station if this works out, didn't go for the jugular despite clearly wanting to do so during the interview), but you shouldn't take this as an opportunity to coast-you've been doing that for far too long. You should take this as a way to grow, expand, and maybe even challenge yourself in a way you have never seemed capable of doing. You're a grown woman, not a kid anymore by a long shot (we're about the same age, so I should know). Robert Downey, Jr. had to run through the wilderness for quite a while, and he made every opportunity count. You are not a bankable star anymore-the days of Just My Luck-style paychecks are long gone, and so you need to not only take your supporting roles, you need to prove that you're willing to take every opportunity and shine. Reality television is oftentimes about seeing the worst in people. With this documentary, it's about being fascinating while also showing that you've turned the corner (which you hopefully have)-not an easy task.
And finally, it's time to stop reflecting on missed opportunities. I think one of the things that you need to realize is that your supposed peer group, women like Emma Stone, Jennifer Lawrence, Kaley Cuoco, Anna Kendrick, Kristen Stewart, and Rooney Mara all have careers whereas you have tabloid headlines. Despite your thoughts to the contrary, these women are at the top of their careers, and you haven't proven you have what it takes to join them for a while. There is no shortage of women in Hollywood who would have killed to have worked with Robert Altman and Tina Fey. Going back to Robert Downey, Jr., he missed the chance to star opposite Julia Roberts, to continue on a television series he revitalized and made successful, to work with Mel Gibson and Woody Allen. He got one of his friends to finally back-him-up with Iron Man which gave him his true big comeback break, but he had to wander through the wilderness of music videos, tiny roles in prestige dramas, and voice work in television cartoons to get to that point. This reality television series is a rare opportunity, and like Downey, you need to make the most of it. I really hope that you succeed, as no one, including me, and especially including you, wants you to be remembered as a fallen star and a has-been. Best of luck.
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