Today in Showbiz History: JLo, Moulin Rouge!, and Norma Jean
Friday, June 1, 2018 at 8:00AM June will soon be bustin' out all over! If you're a June birthday we're Gemini kindred spirits. If you're not you can still find some event or personality to inspire you today. Here's a look at key showbiz happenings on June 1st in history...
1926 Norma Jean Mortenson born in Los Angeles. Twenty years later she'll select the name "Marilyn Monroe," for her career and eventually become the most famous sex symbol of all time. And a fine actress, too, though she'll get less attention for that. She would have been 92 years old today had she lived. To put that in contemporary terms she'd be the same age as Mel Brooks and Cloris Leachman are now... both of whom are still active in showbiz! And the same age of Queen Elizabeth II who is apparently never going to shuffle off this mortal coil. Though to be fair to Monroe, those three appear to have mutant genes. Most of the '26 vintage has left us... some quite recently (Harry Dean Stanton, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles)
1934 Little Miss Marker starring Shirley Temple in her first (of many) leading roles opens in movie theaters
1937 Oscar winner Morgan Freeman born in Tennessee.
1955 Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch has its world premiere in New York City on Marilyn Monroe's 29th birthday.
1973 Supermodel and ageless Project Runway host Heidi Klum born in Germany.
1974 Alanis Morrissette born in Ontario. She's so much more than just "Jagged Little People" people (says the guy who bought every record since)
1981 Amy Schumer born in New York. Recently unfairly maligned in I Feel Pretty which is really quite amusing but at least she's Tony-nominated this year!
If you're old enough to remember looking up movie times in the newspaper, I see you!
1984 Once Upon a Time in America, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, and Streets of Fire all open in movie theaters. In the 80s I used to scour newspaper ads for movies (pre-internet. Yes, such a time existed) to see what I could convince my parents to take us to. The only thing that never needed any cajoling from me was Star Trek movies. (Naturally I was the only one in my family who didn't care about Star Trek, so the ease to see them was a mixed blessing)
1990 Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and pre-fame Sharon Stone opens in theaters.
1996 Tom Holland born in England and by the time he's 16 he'll have already proven himself a giant talent on stage (Billy Elliott) and screen (The Impossible). Meanwhile across the pond on that same day Woody Harrelson is arrested in Kentucky for playing hemp seeds in protest against their marijuana laws.
← 1999 Just as she'd cemented herself as a movie star via Selena (1997, Golden Globe nomination) and Out of Sight (1998, critical respect) Jennifer Lopez becomes a pop star with the release of her debut album "On the 6" which goes triple platinum and spawns multiple hit singles.
2001 After two weeks on the coasts, Moulin Rouge! opens nationwide in theaters. It opens at #4. Imagine being dumb enough to go see Pearl Harbor, Shrek, or Rob Scheider in The Animal instead of Moulin Rouge! on that historic weekend (they were the #1-3 spots at the box office). The Baz Luhrmann musical turns into a leggy hit, though, grossing $179 million globally and, more importantly, becoming an all time classic.
The movie eventually won two measly Oscars but it did much better at our site (then in its infancy stage) where it won a slew of prizes and was eventually named #1 film of the Aughts. Were you there on opening weekend?
2007 The comedy Knocked Up opens in theaters to boffo box office while Katharine Heigl sets fire to her career by letting it be known that she though it a bit sexist. Super curiously, at least to us, she follows it up with worse movies that weren't even trying not to be sexist. Have you ever seen The Ugly Truth? Ugly is right!
2012 Snow White and the Huntsman opens in theaters giving Kristen Stewart her only box office smash after the Twilight franchise. But, for us, that film was all about Queen Charlize Theron.
2018 OPENING TODAY: Looks like kind of a dire movie weekend. Your wide release choices are the slapstick comedy Action Point, Shailene Woodley attempting to survive the ocean in Adrift, and the starless sci-fi actioner Upgrade. Really, Hollywood? That's it? You were that scared of Solo's second weekend? Oops.
Next weekend is MUCH more exciting. Stay tuned.
Reader Comments (18)
Jennifer Lopez circa 97-98... sigh.
She was supposed to be the new Elizabeth Taylor - beauty, glamour, opulence, talent... a truly great MOVIE STAR with a cinematic legacy for the ages.
Except Jennifer got a bit side-tracked by the low-rent pop career and forgot that she needed an artistic legacy (which past Out Of Sight, The Cell and, arguably, Maid In Manhattan, she does not have).
I still believe that she has a "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" to give - but does she know this? Does she even care?
She still has the beauty, glamour, opulence and talent. And A LOT of money. But I'd also love her to have more performances and movies that you could show people in 3018 and say "that is why she was a star".
Kermit -- i feel that about so many stars. It's like they don't think about legacy, just career.
Nat - it makes me sad. Obviously, I'm not saying that J-Lo should have been striving for Samantha Morton's career (she wants to be rich - hell, we all do) BUT it is entirely possible to be very rich and also a box office hit factory AND to have a quality filmography too.
It's topical for me because, only the other day, I was thinking aloud that Jada Pinkett-Smith has a filmography roughly 1,000,000 times superior to Will Smith's, yet she's often seen as the "hanger-on" in their relationship and dismissed by people.
Is the old "one for them, one for me" adage too difficult to live by? Did J-Lo's ethnicity mean that she was terrified of being cast aside by Hollywood so she capitalised on whatever came her way? There's that disarmingly honest interview where she revealed that she auditioned for Connie Nielsen's role in Gladiator but wasn't chosen. I understand that necessity to keep the career going, though also argue that at this stage of financial security she could surely focus on persuading Almodovar or Spike Lee or Xavier Dolan to work with her?
I'd imagine that the latter being a gay of a certain age would LOVE to write for her?
Nathaniel - Will you ever be able to post your Film Bitch winners from many years' past? I remember being on your site during the Moulin Rouge! years -- and as far back as 1999, I wanna say. I'd love to revisit them!
Nat, I’m curious what you think about J.Lo’s performances and which ones you think are the best?
I was only 11 when Moulin Rouge! came out. I was probably 15 or 16 when I discovered it and what a discovery. It changed how I thought of movies forever. It is my go to answer for favorite movie and it is probably my most rewatched live action film. I have to specify live action because as a child I probably rewatched Peter Pan and Beauty and the Beast daily. I wish Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor had a pair of Oscars for this beautiful film. This film makes me feel like no ther film ever has. It manages to be absurd, silly, sensitive, romantic, sentimental, upsetting, and satisfying. It is the definition of a feel everything movie.
***controversial opinion alert***
I never much cared for Moulin Rouge or any of its performances and a rewatch last year surprisingly didn't change my mind one bit
Andy -- my plan was a book because I need desperately to make a tiny bit of coin off this site so I need to get that off the ground.
Brian - FEEL EVERYTHING MOVIE is the best description i've ever heard of it. well done.
Kermit - No film is ever loved/liked by everyone. What works for me in that film probably doesn’t work for you and that’s fine. I’ve had people complain that it’s too over the top or the shifts in tone are too much, but for me those are reasons I love it. There are critically acclaimed films I saw that I just didn’t care for. A recent example that I can think of is Nebraska. That film did nothing for me.
@ Kermit - agreed!!!
I've never really liked Moulin Rouge! that much either. I thought THE OTHERS was the far superior Kidman film of that year and one of my all time favourites. Kidman and Flanagan should have both been nominated for it along with Picture, director, sound, score, costumes and art direction.
I really like Moulin Rouge! I feel like it should've won Best Picture over A Beautiful Mind.
Also, I feel like it's an unpopular opinion. But I really want to see Jennifer Lopez get another great film role to prove she's a talented actress.
Has anyone since MM summed up the word Movie Star as well as she did/does.
Elizabeth Taylor summed up movie star pretty well.
I agreed with what Brian said about Moulin Rouge! It is definitely my most rewatch movie ever..
Total Recall (1990) matters and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is the most underrated of the franchise.
I have tried to watch Moulim Rouge many times
But just cannot get thru it. I love musicals too
We saw JlLo in Vegas and were. Underwhelmed.
and I
My birthday's on 9th June, same day as Natalie Portman and... Johnny Depp. Yes, I know how most People feel about him these days, but still.... *sigh* Edward Scissorhands is my favorite movie and always will be and I LOVE him in that (and quite a lot of other movies).
Moulin Rouge is wonderful. Kidman's amazing, even though I'd SLIGHTLY prefer her in The Others but only by a hair.
Ewan McGregor was seriously ROBBED of a nom for MR!. He really KILLED it in the Tango de la Roxanne Scene.
Every time I see J Lo I have to quote her hilarious "Will & Grace" appearance at Karen and Lyle's wedding.
J Lo: And now I'd like to play a song from my new album.
Karen: Booooooooo. Classic J Lo.
Will (shrieking from the back): WAITING FOR TONIGHT!!!