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— by Brandee J. Tecson
Every now and again, a buzz seems to surround an actress, tagging her as the Next Big Thing. And when media outlets from Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly to the University of Wisconsin's Daily Cardinal are all considering one name as that potential "It" girl, attention must be paid.
In Tinseltown, few actresses have ever worn that mantle for as long or, seemingly, as easily as the Pretty Woman herself. But now that Eric Roberts' little sister appears to have, at least temporarily, traded in the spotlight for domesticity and motherhood, the question remains: Who might be the next Julia Roberts? Kirsten Dunst, Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and Lindsay Lohan (especially in her pre-tabloid-fodder days) are a few of the starlets thought worthy to fill the shoes left vacant by America's Sweetheart. And while all have established themselves as actresses well worth watching, none has quite sustained the broad appeal necessary to truly qualify as Roberts' successor.
Somewhere along the way, however, a new face emerged from the Hollywood pack, and suddenly an unassuming beauty named Rachel McAdams had tongues wagging both in and out of Hollywood. With her girl-next-door charm, raw talent and an unconventional outlook on Hollywood and fame, the 28-year-old Canadian rocketed through the ranks, catching the industry's and movie fans' attention with two vastly different roles in two of last summer's biggest breakout hits: first, as the oh-so-fetch Regina, the queen of the Plastics in "Mean Girls," and then as a young Southern belle torn away from her first love in Nick Cassavetes' adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' best-selling romantic tear-jerker, "The Notebook."
This year, McAdams added two more genres to her repertoire, gracefully tackling a summer blockbuster with the comedy "Wedding Crashers" — shining as Owen Wilson's object of adoration — and scoring the lead role in Wes Craven's mid-air psychological thrill ride, "Red Eye," in theaters Friday.
The keyword for McAdams, it seems, is diversity. The actress first grabbed Hollywood's attention in 2002's "The Hot Chick," when she played a snobby teen who awakes one morning to find her body swapped with that of a 30-year-old man, played by Rob Schneider.
Not quite Oscar-worthy material, but it was enough to help land McAdams the juicy role of the ultimate "Mean Girl" two years later. She practically stole that flick away from La Lohan herself, and her performance catapulted her into the heady realm of leading-lady contenders.
"It's really nice to have opportunities to do things that are so diverse," McAdams said during a recent interview, recalling the wildly disparate characters she's portrayed in the last two years alone. "It's so easy when you start out, especially at a young age, to get pigeonholed into certain types of roles. So it's just been great to have that kind of variety available to me."
The Ontario native, who spends as much time away from Los Angeles as she spends in it, apparently has yet to be affected by all of the buzz around her career trajectory — even in light of the fact that Craven had handpicked her for the role in his latest frightener.
"I heard Wes was making this movie and wanted to have a meeting with me," she continued. "I was pleasantly shocked that he even had me on his radar, because I'd never done anything like this before."
"Rachel was one of the early names that came up," Craven said. "As soon as we started thinking about her, we really got excited. She has a quality that is missing in a lot of American girls now. You know, just a sense of wholesomeness. And I had seen her movies and I thought they showed such range. At one moment, she's doing 'Mean Girls,' which is sort of high-level comedy, in a way, and then she's doing this really beautiful love story."
That love story, "The Notebook," was a sleeper hit in the summer of 2004, garnering critical praise for the performances of both McAdams and her equally swoon-worthy co-star, Ryan Gosling. The duo's chemistry was undeniable, scoring them numerous awards, including Best Kiss at the 2005 MTV Movie Awards and cleaning up at the Teen Choice Awards, where "The Notebook" snagged eight more trophies, including Best Dramatic Actress for McAdams and Best Chemistry for her pairing with onscreen (and rumored offscreen) beau Gosling.
On deck for McAdams is "The Family Stone," hitting theaters this fall. The film boasts an ensemble cast that includes Diane Keaton, Sarah Jessica Parker, Claire Danes and Dermot Mulroney. McAdams will play Amy, the youngest daughter of the Stone clan, who plots to sabotage her older brother's relationship when he brings his fiancée (Parker) home for the holidays.
"You know, I have some issues," McAdams joked. "But I just love to play different characters all the time, and I try not to repeat myself too much."
The actress, who cites Elizabeth Taylor and "the classic actors that really put their heart and soul into what they do" as role models, has quickly compiled a résumé that any number of bankable leading ladies, including even Julia Roberts, might envy. So how has McAdams mastered the Hollywood game of playing Russian roulette with her career? As a matter of fact, she insists that she hasn't had to.
"Yes, there's a mastermind behind the curtain," she laughed. "No — it's really just a lot of luck. You never know, going into a film, what it's going to wind up like. There are so many different factors involved, and you could wind up with anything.
"I am very fortunate to have some very smart people on my side," McAdams continued, "but ultimately I try to pick stuff that speaks to me, because [at the end of the day], I'm the one that has to make it."
Spoken like a woman willing and ready to take her career, and perhaps her star power, to the next level.
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Photo: Getty Images
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