Will role in ‘Femme Fatale’ be her runway to success?
In Hollywood’s never-ending quest for the next big female star, producers often look to the fashion world for a model to pluck from the runway to transform into the next Julia or Halle. Lucille Ball, Suzy Parker, Isabella Rossellini, Cybill Shepherd, Halle Berry and Andie MacDowell are just a few former models who found a new career in the movies. But for every success story, there is failure. Does anyone remember Elle Macpherson’s painful screen debut in “Sirens”? Or Heidi Klum’s guest-starring stint on “Spin City” a few years back in which she displayed a range of emotions from A to B?
The latest model to attempt to cross over is Rebecca Romijn-Stamos, who made her feature film debut three years ago in a cameo in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” Romijn-Stamos also has been the host of MTV’s “House of Style” and a guest star on “Friends” and “Just Shoot Me.”
She also made a striking impression as the villainous blue-painted Mystique in “The X-Men” and is repeating that role in the sequel “X2.” But she was stiff as a skateboard in the disastrous remake of “Rollerball.”
The big question is: Can she carry a film?
Romijn-Stamos has her biggest role to date in Brian De Palma’s erotic new thriller, “Femme Fatale,” which opens Wednesday. She plays Laure Ash, a manipulative, gorgeous jewel thief who leaves her life of crime and transforms herself into a respectable married woman with a high-profile political life. But her new identity is threatened when she attracts the attention of a former paparazzo (Antonio Banderas).
