Why Hollywood Won't Cast Julia Stiles Anymore

Her biggest movies were trashed by critics…

Even though Stiles found success early on with the film 10 Things I Hate About You, several other movies in which she starred weren't exactly well-received by critics. In fact, they were pretty much hated. Immediately after she took on the role of Kat Stratford in 10 Things, she starred in the romantic drama Down to You alongside Freddie Prinze Jr., a film whose only memorable scene involves Prinze Jr. drunkenly making friends with a spider.

Understandably, critics were harsh. Calling the movie "abysmal," Entertainment Weekly gave Down to You its worst grade, an F. The New York Post, meanwhile, labeled it a "brain-dead romantic comedy." Bad reviews for Stiles continued with 2003's A Guy Thing, in which Rolling Stone declared that Stiles and co-stars Selma Blair and Jason Lee "[crushed] their careers in this laugh-free romantic comedy"; and The Prince & Me, which the Washington Post described as "bland and immediately disposable." Even Mona Lisa Smile, which featured Julia Roberts fresh off an Oscar win, received middling reviews from critics at best.

…And brought in little money at the box office

Most of the movies in which Stiles appeared after 10 Things I Hate About You lost money, or made very little over its reported budget. Take Down to You, for example, which brought in just $20 million off a reported $35 million budget; or A Guy Thing, which earned about $15.5 million off a reported $20 million budget.

In fact, had she not been cast in The Bourne Identity, Stiles' career might have completely fallen by the wayside. That movie, at least, grossed an impressive $121.7 million and led to three sequels, all of which Stiles appeared in.

She was typecast as a Shakespearean actress

After 10 Things became a cult classic, Stiles landed roles in two other movies that were inspired by other Shakespeare plays. First up came 2000's Hamlet, which took Shakespeare's classic play and transported it to modern-day Manhattan. The following year brought us O, another modern-day update that was delayed by two years after the 1998 shooting at Columbine High School. She even played Viola in a production of Twelfth Night by way of New York City's famous Shakespeare in the Park series. The combined effect pigeon-holed Stiles, making her look less like a versatile actress and more like that girl from high school who just really, really, really loved theater. It didn't help, either, that both movies received fairly mixed reviews.

A really high-profile movie project fell through

Back in 2007, Variety reported that Stiles would produce and star in a much-anticipated adaptation of Sylvia Plath's beloved novel The Bell Jar. Or, you know, the kind of project that typically generates early Oscar buzz. But by 2012, the project had fallen through, for reasons that are all too common in Hollywood.

"Unfortunately I let the rights expire, I had to give them up" Stiles told Gothamist. "For years, I had the rights to the book, I had commissioned a script for it, we never got the script to the right place, because it's obviously a great book and we wanted to do it justice. I kind of had to let it go because it was taking so long it doesn't mean that it's a totally lost cause. It's just a hard book to get people behind, in terms people it's funny I still can't really explain it. To me it's a no-brainer, but I think people who have to give money for movies, they didn't see that it would find an audience, or they thought it was too dark. So I tried, but maybe there will be some incarnation of it."

Indeed, there will be an incarnation of The Bell Jarjust not with her in the lead. Deadline reported in July 2016 that The Bell Jar will now be directed by Kirsten Dunst, in her directorial debut, and star Dakota Fanning.

She started working behind the scenes

As her career continued to sour, thanks to a pretty mediocre remake of The Omen and a straight-to-DVD release, Stiles shifted gears and began working behind the camera. According to the New York Times, Stiles dabbled in everything from directing short films, to starring in web series and even editing music videos. Even Stiles noted the shift in her career, referring to it to the Times as her "second phase."

But while this wide range of projects certainly kept her busy, going from in front of to behind the camera probably didn't do much good for her star wattage in Hollywood. Not that she didn't try, however. "I think audiences, producers and directors included, develop crushes on actors (actresses in particular) and then lose interest and move on to the next one," Stiles told the Times. "There are a handful of actors who sustain interest because it's exciting to watch them get better at what they do. I want to be one of those actors."

Her television career never really took off

Stiles' career showed signs of life again in 2010 when she landed a pretty epic arc on the fifth season of Showtime's popular TV drama Dexter. The role won her rave reviews and accolades, including a Golden Globe and Emmy nomination.

But despite the newfound fandom, Stiles was never quite able to translate that into more high profile roles or, even better, her own television series. Instead, she was simply relegated to a handful of mediocre television movies and guest spots on struggling but cult favorites like The Mindy Project. Had she struck while the TV iron was hot, her so-called "second phase" could have been much, much bigger.

How she can turn it around

The great thing about Stiles is that, while many of her early movies weren't the type to make it to the Oscars, they still made America fall in love with her at a very early age. Audiences invested in her career early on, and to this day, there appears to be a desire to see her succeed. That might be one reason her unexpected, albeit small, role in David O. Russell's Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook was met with such a warm response; or why audiences were so happy to see her cameo in 2016's Jason Bourne. The trick for her, it seems, will be to simply find the right role that reminds people of why they fell in love with her to begin with and delivers on the promise she showed so many years ago.

And, hey, if all else fails, she could cash in on the nostalgia wave that Hollywood is currently riding. Like, oh we don't know, Save the Last Dance 2?! Or, wait. Since that apparently already exists, maybe a threequel?