Lulu

December 16, 2003 1:08 AM

Louise Brooks: With a new biopic in the works, the spotlight will soon return to this silent-movie legend. The beautiful and enchanting Brooks set the mold for the stereotypical bobbed-hair flapper of the 1920s, though her Hollywood work is largely forgettable. Her most famous film, Pandora’s Box [script, mirror] (directed by G.W. Pabst) was filmed in Germany. She didn't make a successful transition to talkies, and after a long reclusive period, she had a second career writing essays. -- For further reading, Ken Tynan's 1979 essay "The Girl in the Black Helmet" [mirror] in the New Yorker gives an excellent overview of her life.
posted by stopgap (11 comments total)

i adore lulu and louise brooks but:

neve campbell?
neve campbell?
as louise brooks

really?

well, at least she has the dance background...
posted by pxe2000 at 6:20 AM on December 16, 2003

Three words: Va. Va. Voom. (There's a picture out there of Louise Brooks, taken around the time of the Kenneth Tynan piece, that shows a frowsy, middle-aged woman, with shoulder length, salt-and-pepper hair, and bags under her eyes, sitting at a kitchen table in her bathrobe -- and she's still beautiful.) The comely-but-tubby, pit-bull-eyed Catherine Zeta-Jones is not even in the same league.
posted by Faze at 6:24 AM on December 16, 2003

Huge Louise Brooks fan, here.

Neve Campbell has done some crap t.v., to be sure...but there are some expressions which cross her face that make me think she just might possess the depth to portray Ms. Brooks with a modicum of success.

(Unfortunate photo of Campbell accompanying that Reuters blurb, though.)
posted by squasha at 7:28 AM on December 16, 2003

you don't use words like that
St. Louise is listening

</lyrics>
posted by wells at 7:55 AM on December 16, 2003

neve campbell? as louise brooks ... really?

I've always objected to Neve Campbell on the grounds that "Neve" is not a name.
posted by kindall at 9:08 AM on December 16, 2003

On a semi-regular basis, Channel 4 in the UK shows the Louise Brooks Icons 15-minute program it has. And every time it does, we get to hear my father-in-law talk about how she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen.

I believe he's mentioned in the sites linked above, but the energy required to look him up is more than I have right now.

Surprisingly, he's not concerned about Neve playing her. This might be because he's never had to sit through Wild Things.
posted by Katemonkey at 11:23 AM on December 16, 2003

Lousie Brooks is..., well she's just plain hot and I think that despite never having seen any of her movies. Actually she's not hot in the 18 year old, thin as a rail, sculpted nose and breast cookie cutter newest actress mode. It's more like she's cool in the beautiful, Louise Brooks, can you believe a woman like this isn't still gorgeous and sexy way.
posted by rdr at 3:46 PM on December 16, 2003

It's tough to think of anyone who would have the right je ne sais quois to play Louise in a movie, but Natalie Portman has the look about right.
posted by stopgap at 5:06 AM on December 17, 2003

stopgap: i was thinking natalie portman as well -- she's a decent actress and could pull off a respectable job.

i don't have the same annoyance with neve campbell playing louise that i would have with, say, gwynnie paltrow doing the same. campbell hasn't done enough work for anyone to guess how good an actress she is. to paraphrase fametracker, she isn't the kind of actress one would go see a film on the strength of, but you wouldn't actively avoid one of her movies just because she's in it. at least she has a good dance background (the company hasn't opened out here yet).

i wish i could add more to the "louise brooks == hot, sexy female" thread here. it's just that she's so incredibly hot and sexy, and a wonderful actress besides...what would i have to add?
posted by pxe2000 at 7:52 AM on December 17, 2003

Louise Brooks previously mentioned here.
posted by y2karl at 11:14 AM on December 17, 2003

Huh. I wonder why that post doesn't show up in a search for "Louise Brooks." sigh. That's what I get for waiting so long before my second FPP.
posted by stopgap at 1:42 PM on December 17, 2003