Sunday, March 25, 2007

Charlize Keaton

I didn't see Charlize Theron's Oscar-winning performance in Monster (2003) until a few months ago, but when I finally saw the film I noticed something strange: in certain scenes Theron appears to be channeling Michael Keaton's performance in Beetlejuice (1988). Then I searched on the Internet and discovered I wasn't the first to notice the similarities, but I think we should demand that Miss Theron give another acceptance speech in which she acknowledges Mr. Keaton's contribution to her tour de force.

I can't find any stills online from the scene in which Lee Wuornos (Theron) and Selby Wall (Christina Ricci) are eating dinner in a restaurant and Selby lights up a cigarette in the nonsmoking section, which causes the restaurant's manager to tell her to put it out, which then leads to Wuornos pushing the manager over a table. That's the scene where Theron comes closest to looking like Keaton as Beetlejuice, not just in her face but also in her body language.

Keaton, by the way, has never been nominated for an Oscar. And I've never seen Beetlejuice, but I'm in too deep to pull out now, aren't I?

5 comments:

  1. never seen beetlejuice?!
    yes, you are in too deep.

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  2. I've seen bits and pieces of "Beetlejuice" but never the whole thing. I didn't see "The Goonies" until I was 27. SHOCKING!

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  3. I thought the exact same thing when I saw Monster during its initial release. All of a sudden Theron is doing BeetleJuice's voice and mannerisms. It's rather blatant.

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  4. OMG! I thought i was the only one who noticed the similarities between Aileen (portrayed) and Beetlejuice!!!

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  5. It'd be fun if we could do a scene-by-scene analysis, Tabitha.

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