Hollywood looks a lot different today from the one Julia Stiles got her start in 30 years ago.
“Our industry is cannibalizing itself, meaning the film industry and TV industry, we’re cannibalizing ourselves, and budgets and paychecks are shrinking and shrinking and shrinking and shrinking to I don’t know where it’s going to go,” the actress lamented in a Thursday interview on “The Michelle Collins Show.”
What began as a humorous prompt about taking the paycheck for potential revivals of 1990s and 2000s career highlights like “10 Things I Hate About You” and “Save the Last Dance” turned into Stiles reflecting on continuing to work as a mother of three and not getting worried about “being a sellout.”
“Come at her with some offers, for the sequels, for the reboots. People would eat it up, I know they would,” Collins encouraged. “I know you’re an artist, but listen, you have three mouths to feed.”
“Oh no, I’m very aware of that now,” Stiles said. “Back in college, I was probably, like, worried about being a sellout. Remember at that age when you’re like, I was very angsty and like, ‘I don’t want to be a sellout, I want to be an authentic artist.’ And now I’m like, ‘Give me my check.’”
Collins, a personal friend of Stiles, went on to push the actress’ body of work for potential brand deals, dreaming up a Super Bowl commercial themed to “Save the Last Dance.”
“If a brand calls you tomorrow — this is a great question, I’m telling you right now you’re walking out of this room richer,” Collins said. “We’re doing the Super Bowl ad, you have to reprise one of your most famous roles, whatever that is, let’s say it’s ‘Save the Last Dance,’ for a big check. First of all, would you do it, and also what brand would you want to call?”
“Yes, the answer is yes. I mean, I’m not stupid.” Stiles said. “I would ask to have different hairdos, there’s something a bit dated about them, but what would the brand be…? I would do it with a sense of humor. I wouldn’t do it, like, dead serious like, ‘Here I am, Sara Johnson!’ That’s not a sellout, that’s clever.”
Next up for Stiles is co-starring with Corey Stoll in the upcoming science fiction series “Recap” from showrunners Adam Glass and Andrew Dabb and K Period Media.
Listen to the latest episode of “The Michelle Collins Show” here.
