Flashdance, The Book of Eli, Before I Fall
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$8 Million
Dance films have been popular seemingly forever. It’s a medium of expression and entertainment that a lot of people are interested in, even if they can’t dance well themselves. Some of the best dance films of all time came from the 1980s, though. You think of films like “Dirty Dancing”, “Footloose” and “Fame”, that were all released in the decade. Then, of course, there was the story of a steel town girl called “Flashdance” that took the world by storm and made a star out of Jennifer Beals, who’s still plenty active today.
Beals was born on Chicago’s South Side on December 19, 1963 and had to deal with the passing of her father at a young age. Beals’s family wasn’t involved in acting, but Beals started to perform in school plays that got her interested early on. Beals began training in theater and was a standout student. So much so, in fact, that she was accepted into the prestigious Yale University. Then, her career took off.
In 1980, a teenage Beals appeared on screen for the first time when she had a back-up role in the film “My Bodyguard”, but didn’t receive her first acting credit at the time. Instead, that would come three years later and she got that first role in a big way. That’s when Beals played Alex Owens in “Flashdance”, which carried a budget of just $7 million, but raked in more than $200 million at the box office, putting Beals on the map.
While Beals could dance, there were certain moves that she couldn’t pull off during “Flashdance” so doubles had to be brought it. “I had like three dance doubles and one was a guy,” Beals said. “I mean, I probably was a better field hockey player, but I could dance. I was relatively coordinated and I took dance classes, but I never would have thought of myself as a dancer. But I love to dance.”
Beals almost didn’t take the role as she was still attending Yale at the time. However, she was offered $500,000, which was too much to pass up. With that, Beals put off college for a semester and returned to finish school after “Flashdance”. Not only was Hollywood still waiting for her return, but Beals also had an Ivy League degree and a half million in the bank to fall back on in case they had forgotten about her.
Beals was also nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in “Flashdance”, but her follow up film wouldn’t be as well received. In 1985, Beals starred in “The Bride” that earned her a Razzie nomination. The same year, Beals also had a role as Cinderella in “Faerie Tale Theatre”. For the rest of the 1980s, Beals appeared in movies like “Split Decisions” and “Vampire’s Kiss”, none of which had reached the type of heights that “Flashdance” achieved.
During the 1990s, Beals had appeared in many films, though not many of them were larger budget. There were memorable performances in movies such as “Devil in a Blue Dress”, “Four Rooms” and “Body and Soul”, however. Beals also became more involved in television, landing several TV movie roles during the decade with guest appearances and what could’ve been a memorable leading performance on “2000 Malibue Road” with Drew Barrymore, but the show was cancelled early on.
After continuing to do more TV movies during the early 2000s with films such as “Runaway Jury” and “Catch That Kid”, Beals finally had the lasting TV role she had been looking for. She took on the character Bette Porter in “The L Word” that lasted for the rest of the 2000s and earned Beales several award nominations. The show then came to an end in 2009, with Beals having many roles ever since.
On top of her TV movies, Beals has been named in to the main cast of several shows. This includes “Lauren”, “The Chicago Code” and “Proof”. None of these shows would last for long, though. Her most recent leading role on TV came in the NBC series “Taken”, which aired for two seasons. Now, Beals has been slated to be part of the cast of the DC Comics series “Swamp Thing”. As for her film career, Beals has recently been part of movies like “The Book of Eli”, “Before I Fall” and “After”.
Whether she works on major blockbusters or in smaller independent works, it doesn’t really matter to Beals. “It doesn’t seem as if there’s that much of a difference between a big production and a little production,” she said. “Other than you have a small space in which to get dressed and you have a shorter waiting time.”
As for the method that gets her ready for her roles, Beals added that “When you have to play a character that seems to be a relatively decent person and seems to be like yourself, I think the trick in that kind of character, so that you don’t become a cliche, is to find where their weaknesses are...I feel like I have so much to do. I feel like I haven’t started yet.”
Still, “Flashdance” seems to be that one film that people always come back to when talking to or about Beals. “I don’t mind it at all,” Beals said of the famous role. “But to be honest a lot of people ask me about ‘The L Word’ or they’ll ask me about ‘Book of Eli’. And just today I had somebody talk to me about ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’.”
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