Thursday, April 30, 2009

Saoirse and the Dakotas

When someone in Hollywood needs a 15 year old blonde with dramatic chops to headline or co-star in their movie, I imagine that Saoirse Ronan and Dakota Fanning are getting the scripts first. Can we get a few mailed to Dakota Blue Richards, too?

Dakota Blue Richards in Five Miles Out (2009)

She's exactly 1 day older than Saoirse Ronan (weird trivia!) but I fear she may get lost in the shuffle. Fanning has two months on both of the Dakotas and many more years of experience and celebrity. But Saoirse already has an Oscar nomination and a primo gig with Peter Jackson. Richards, on the other hand, is only known for headlining The Golden Compass, the blockbuster that didn't bust blocks. Since Compass she's made 1 TV film, 1 short and 1 feature.

<-- Saoirse and Dakota the First

In that stack of shorts I saw whilst in Nashville, Richards had the lead in a beautifully shot miniature called Five Miles Out. She played a morose and preoccupied girl, trying to shake off the heavy weight of a family crisis during a trip to the seaside. That 18 minutes was enough to remind me that she holds the screen really well. You look at her face and you must know what's going on inside her head. It's the same feeling I get when I watch someone like Samantha Morton... albeit on a much smaller scale in this case.

Did you think Richards was strong in The Golden Compass? Any other mid-teen actresses you think are worth watching? It won't be long before they're all fighting it out for what we now think of as the Keira Knightley, Amanda Seyfried, Scarlet Johannson parts.
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9 comments:

Derreck said...

I thought Dakota Blue Richards did a great job in the Golden Compass. She brought alot of charm to her first onscreen role for someone her age. Wow. I'm barely older than her and i'm talking like an elder.

Anyways, She brought the spunk and brassiness (i'm not even sure that that is even a word) that the character of Lyra needed (because that is how she is in the books) and she was able to hold her own against more established actors like Kidman. (Come on, you just knew i was going to mention her.) Plus, she didn't get lost among the mass amounts of CGI.
Hell, a good amount of her dialog was between her little daemon and Iorek, the polar bear who were all CGI.

i hope she has a good acting career, Hollywood or not. But i think right now, she's going to have a hard time catching up with Fanning or someone like Abigail Breslin.

Btw, Nat, love the new sunglasses theme on the top of the site. i chuckled when i saw you changed your picture too.

Unknown said...

Abigail Breslin will join the group in a few years...

Wayne B. said...

Never saw "The Golden Compass." But there are a few young actresses out there who I think could do some great work. First thought was AMBROSIA KELLEY (Nikkia Bell, "Kill Bill"), I hope QT casts her in that planned Kill Bill sequel. Something about her eyes intrigued me during her interactions with The Bride.

I hope casting directors keep the names KEKE PALMER, FLORA CROSS and JENNA BOYD in their files. All three have given great, mature performances and I personally can't wait to see what all three do in the future.
I personally can't wait for "The Vapours" to come out, have been a big Roxanne Shante fan since high school and I think Keke will rock it out.

Anonymous said...

Well, The Golden Compass made 372 million dollars overall. Not bad, since the books were more popular in GB than in the US

It still counts as a hit.

NATHANIEL R said...

but not enough of a hit for a sequel.

i hope that we get one but it sure seems doubtful.

Slayton said...

Madeleine Martin will probably be famous. She's a very good actress.

Q'orianka Kilcher is excellent - if only she would work more.

Georgie Henley is really good!

Ivana Baquero?

I don't think AnnaSophia Robb is that good, but she has star power.

Elle Fanning is a better and more intuitive actress than Dakota, imo.

Keke Palmer?

I don't really think Breslin is posed to make that big a splash.

M said...

Saoirse is probably my favourite young actress right now, so I hope that she continues to do well. I am a fan of Dakota also.

Other actresses? well I am interested in Mia Wasikowska. I don't know much of her, but she is in some great movies that will come out, Amelia with Hilary Swank and got the star role in Alice in Wonderland - Tim Burton's flick.

Abigail Breslin is another young one, not completely sold on her yet, but she seems to be doing well so far.

I am not sold on any of the Disney stars so won't include them at this moment.

Jodelle Ferland is another young actress, don't know anything about her, but she seems to be doing this for a while.

MichaelMcl said...

Dakota Blue Richards was one of the few genuine assets of GOLDEN COMPASS. Personally, as a director of short films, I would love to get a chance to have her presence at the centre of one of my films.

-The Opinionated Australian

Glenn said...

M, Mia Wasikowska is to turn 20 in October so she doesn't quite count in this piece.

AnnaSophia Robb is another one. She was fantastic in Bridge to Terabithia but she seems to be stuck with movies like Race to Witch Mountain.