Why did Julia Ormond’s career go straight down the shitter?

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A former personal assistant posted on DL a while back about how aweful she was to work for. Maybe she refused to sleep around to advance her career.

She never climbed out of the shitter to begin with, her launch was all smoke no mirrors for Sabrina promising she was the next, new hot actress, but she wasn’t.

I loved Sabrina and thought it was a good remake.

She was so miscast as Vivien Leigh in the Marilyn film.

Julia Ormond and Juliette Binoche both starred in productions of Wuthering Heights - Ormond married her Heathcliff, Binoche won an Oscar for starring opposite hers a few years later.

Binoche was courted by Hollywood but declined their offers with a handful of exceptions and chose to stay in French cinema. Ormond tried Hollywood for a few years and then dropped off the radar.

Something was up with her role in that Walking Dead spin off, it must have been gutted in the second season and her storyline was erratic and nonsensical.

[quote] But then the laughter stopped.

As it does with 99.99 percent of starlets.

Ironically, also appearing nude and covered in filth didn't hurt her co-star Ralph Fiennes.

Didn’t she have an affair with Gabriel Byrne?

R2 Wasn't she the lover of some bigwig executive or studio head?

Yes, she was fucking some major power player type for a while.

I liked her in Gold Digger with DL fav Ben Barnes.

She played gargantuan mouth Megan's mother on Mad Men.

Julia Ormond was very good in Sabrina. But she’s not Audrey Hepburn (and, God love him, Greg Kinnear is not William Holden) and I wanted her to stay in Paris and continue the movie at Vogue Paris with Fanny Ardant.

Thought she was great in mad men. My favourite performance of hers is in “my week with Marilyn”. She stole the entire picture.

She was America's answer to Juliette Binoche. But Hollywood simply didn't have enough quality material for her. She is a very talented actress.

It was Smilla's Sense of Outwear that killed her career. She was so boring in an unlikable role.

She was good in Howards End as Vanessa Redgrave.

I actually prefer the Hayley Atwell version of Howards End. The one Julia Ormond was in.

She was too cold for movie audiences. They didn't warm to her.

She was great on Mad Men though.

I used to mix her up with Juliette Binoche, ultimately making the distinction that Julia is much prettier. (Okay, I saw the Ralph Lauren commercial "A River Runs Through It.") I guess Juliette is the better actress and Julia is better-looking with a lesser career. That said, I also just realized, thanks to this post, that I confused them (kinda) due to the Juliette/Julia thingie. Carry on!

R22 Julia was in Legends of the Fall, not A River Runs Through It. You're mixing up Brad Pitt movies.

Another former British starlet who was supposed to be the next big thing, Emily Lloyd, was in A River Runs Through it. Unlike, Ormond, Lloyd was incredibly charismatic and were it not for her struggles with mental illness, would have been a big star.

R23 Good grief! I rest my case. Thank you!

She was pretty average and she sucked in SABRINA. The whole cast sucked.

I'd much rather have a dalliance with Harrison Ford or Greg Kinnear than Humphrey Bogart or Bill Holden anyday.

Did Bogart EVER look young?

Some lost or turned down roles? (You never know how reliable these lists are) ——————

A Beautiful Mind: Julia Ormond auditioned for the lead role. Actor who got the part: Jennifer Connelly

Boogie Nights: Julia Ormond turned down the role of Amber Waves due to personal reasons. Actor who got the part: Julianne Moore

Good Will Hunting: Was considered for the role of Skylar. Actor who got the part: Minnie Driver

Wuthering Heights: She played Catherine in the stage play, but was not cast in the film. Actor who got the part: Juliette Binoche

Bogart was born looking 55. But he had swagger! Style!

When she first came on the scene there was something so striking about her. I couldn't take my eyes off her when she was onscreen. I often wondered why she didn't become a bigger star. But some of that world is so distasteful maybe she chose to have a quieter and saner life?

She was good in Ladies in Black, an Australian movie that went nowhere alas.

I didn't realize she wasn't Juliette Binoche.

[quote]R31 I often wondered why she didn't become a bigger star…. But some of that world is so distasteful maybe she chose to have a quieter and saner life?

Ormond was already 30 when she was cast in her first Hollywood film. With a decade of overseas TV, stage and film roles under her belt, she might have already lost that frantic inner push (fear?) that propels younger, unknown actors to do anything for the sake of attention/work.

Maybe she was like, “Eh, I’ll work when I want on what I want. Superstardom’s not that important.”

How hard did she fight to be in the Staircase?

She was really good in Mad Men.

I also quite liked her as Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett’s daughter in Benjamin Button

She should have never taken Sabrina. Like Thandie Newton doing Charade with Marky Mark in the Cary Grant role. Christ.

I don’t think it was wrong choices necessarily but other films hit around that time with British actresses. Kate Winslet became the token brit for a while soon after with Titanic. Minnie Driver had good will hunting… I guess Ormond just became less of an exciting prospect to directors.

[quote]r39 other films hit around that time with British actresses. Kate Winslet became the token brit for a while soon after with Titanic. Minnie Driver had good will hunting… I guess Ormond just became less of an exciting prospect to directors

Driver and Winslet are also 5 and 10 years younger than Ormond, respectively. In Hollywood that matters.

After Ormond there was Claire Forlani, before her there was Gabrielle Anwar and before her Emily Lloyd… there’s always some British flavor of the month, they all had rather short shelf lives as “it girls” for whatever reasons.

In two decades Ms. Ormond will all but be forgotten until her image is slipped in among more well known actors during the Oscar In Memoriam section if they remember to include her in at all.

From a British perspective I always wonder why the likes of Ormond and Driver didn't return to the UK and work consistently in TV and film.

After Trainspotting Kelly Macdonald worked consistently in BBC dramas, US TV and Oscar winning movies. Keeley Hawes, Ruth Wilson, Hayley Atwell, Romola Garai have all done that to a similar extent. They're not in contention for the same roles as Carey Mulligan but they're working continually and getting their own projects made.

She aged, I was surprised when she was old enough to play Meghan's mother on Mad Men.

Emily Lloyd was an edgy actress, the nympho girl next door, not pretty and relatable. Mental health aside, it is unlikely she would have been a big star beyond her mid-20s because she didn’t have the looks. Forlani, Driver, Winslet, Ormond could be beauties on screen.

Minnie Driver should have her own thread.

R 46 She’s got a memoir out there should be lots to chatter about.

SHE GOT OLD

[quote] After Ormond there was Claire Forlani, before her there was Gabrielle Anwar and before her Emily Lloyd… there’s always some British flavor of the month, they all had rather short shelf lives as “it girls” for whatever reasons.

You forgot Victoria Tennant. She was married to Steve Martin and still coudn't cut it.

Julia Ormond has no Hollywood magic, no sparkle, no charisma, etc. Let's just say she was never anything like Julia Roberts at the time...She's alright, just never had "it"...

And she has the most annoying cast in one of her eyes too.

[quote] Hepburn’s voiceover had an edge of irony and wit as she pointed out the indoor and outdoor swimming pools and number of servants, while that of Julia Ormond, the new Sabrina, is flat, listless and lacking any particular character …. Lamentably, this is a taste of things to come, as Ormond’s Sabrina not only doesn’t come close to Hepburn’s, but is singularly colorless, dour and lacking in inner spark. Based on her previous screen appearances, she would seem to have been a reasonable choice, but it doesn’t play out that way in the telling, even if one keeps hoping throughout much of the film that she’ll finally be shaken to life.

R52= Ann Miller