“IN 2009, AFTER Amy Adams had been discovered and rediscovered, after she had been nominated for two Academy Awards and starred in an international hit, a very important paper self-importantly judged her a “late bloomer.”
“Cool,” Adams said recently. “At least I bloomed.” She laughed. How could she not? Being a movie star can be absurd. More than most roles, it can define a performer and brutally undermine her, affecting how she’s categorized, whether she’s forgiven or forgotten. If Adams has evaded the churn of celebrity culture, it’s partly because stardom came as it did. When “Enchanted” opened in 2007 she was 33, middle age in Hollywood years (especially for women). Wide-eyed and radiant, she looked like an ingénue, but in truth had been honing her craft and overcoming rejection for years. Stardom wasn’t a benediction, but something she had earned role by role.”
The piece ends:
“It’s important to talk about inequality,” Adams said. “But for me, where I feel most empowered is in educating myself and being, hopefully, a mentor for younger women. That’s more important. I offer any young actress I work with my phone number. I’ll tell them on set, ‘You don’t have to do that. You can say no.’ ” It seems like a modest gesture, but less so when you consider that the movie industry has long profited from female submission, from women acquiescing because their only choice is exploitation or unemployment. This is what makes women saying no powerful, and why it’s heartening that many are speaking up. Adams speaks up when she wants, how she wants, and she is saying yes — and no — on her own terms. These days, instead of telling her daughter “Don’t be bossy,” Adams asks her little girl who she is the boss of. “And she says, ‘Me.’ And I say, ‘That’s right. And you get to choose who you are.’ ”
David Lindsay: The first movie I saw Amy Adams in was Arrival, which was haunting, challenging and excellent. I thought she deserved the Oscar for Best Actress that year over Emma Stone in La La Land.
I didn’t even recognize Amy Adams in American Hustle, or was that before. The point is that there were two different women. This is a good interview, if it gets me to want to see Enchanted, which was primarily for 11 year old girls.
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