the buzz log

Does the Emmy statuette carry more weight for an actress?

Television has long been a landing pad for talented women. Cybill Shepherd and Angela Lansbury revived their careers when they went detecting in the '80s and '90s with their respective series, "Moonlighting" and "Murder She Wrote." These days, Kyra Sedgewick ("The Closer") and Holly Hunter ("Saving Grace") talk even tougher on cable, possibly making TNT the rougher, tougher version of the Lifetime Channel.

As another round of actors and actresses put "Emmy nominee" on their resumé, Hollywood Reporter brings an eye-opening perspective from seven past contenders for Best Actress categories on what (fleeting) legitimacy a nomination can bring. The women also discuss the better availability of female roles on TV, which spurs a particularly rousing rant from Minnie Driver ("The Riches"), who hates "the idea of reaching a certain age and being put in this box that forces actresses to become these battle-axes who speak out against youth culture," and an eloquent philosophy waxed by Brooke Shields ("Lipstick Jungle") about fame being a "fascinating, precarious concept" that still "deterioriates your soul."

TV has regularly fed creative concepts to the movies for some time, but the recent box-office triumph of (Emmy award-winning) "Sex and the City" may underscore the argument for a female cinematic presence on mediums small and big. Later this month, "The X-Files 2" brings back the whip-smart, pragmatic FBI detective Dana Scully (played by Gillian Anderson), adding to a sparse field of heroines so far populated by surrogate moms (Tina Fey and Amy Poehler), a female assassin (Angelina Jolie) and a plant-hunting robot (voiced by Elissa Knight).

Besides Emmy contenders, recent interviews with favorite actresses include the Los Angeles Times' chat with "Battlestar Galactica" actress Rekha Sharma, among the rare breed of minority actresses in sci-fi; who might sub for Search favorite Mary Lynn Rajskub as she's too pregnant for another season of "24," and the (limited) return of Jorja Fox in "CSI." Statuette or not, the ladies deserve a little attention for proving that their expiration date is way after 30.

Filed under: TV, Movies, Actors, Women, Emmy Awards, Emmy Awards 2008

Teen horror flick "The Ruins" opened this weekend, and generally played true to its name. It placed a disastrous fifth at the box office and earned a lousy C+ rating from Yahoo! users. By Sunday, lookups for the movie had plunged 25%.

However, the romp among ancient Mexican remains did prove a boon to one of its cast members. Of the four beautiful young things to shriek and vamp in the film, actress Jena Malone emerged with a leading lady's amount of buzz. Just yesterday, searches for her name spiked 10,947%. Compare that to the Search performance of her co-stars: Shawn Ashmore (+36%), Jonathan Tucker (+24%), and poor Laura Ramsey (-10%).

Besides Jena's name, searchers demanded her filmography, her pictures, and—the ultimate Search smack of approval—images of her kissing. In Buzz, a profile of the "unflappable" actress from The New York Daily News waxed on about her "winning streak," her "edgy" films, and her "new sense of self." And just like that, a new starlet emerges from the ruins.

Filed under: Actors