Tears of the Karen-Clowns
D23 was a humiliating experience for Brie Larson. There were people that were in line and out the door for Chris Hemsworth but there were only thirty people in line at Brie Larson’s table. Right before she came out, there was an announcement over the PA that she would be signing autographs. It was a sad, “please clap” moment that didn’t move the needle. Thirty people, that was it. George Takei gets more people than that at his meet and greets.
The ridiculous part is that she was exactly who they wanted for Captain Marvel. Fiege and company were looking for an exceptionally unpleasant young woman to play that part. Because that is the character that was created in the comics in the mid 2010s. They got exactly what they wanted.
I think she also got “the talk” at D23 because when she was red carpet she was asked how long she would be playing Captain Marvel to which she replied, “I don’t know. Does anyone want me to do it again?” In Hollywood, that is a borderline public breakdown. I’m willing to lay money that The Marvels is her last outing as Captain Marvel.
The reason why is simple enough. Brie Larson is a horrible person, playing a character that is a horribly written feminist heroine. The interviews with her costars from the Avengers movies showed they clearly couldn’t stand to be sitting on the same bench with her. Don Cheadle tried being nice to her and she snapped at him in a completely bitchy fashion. Jeremy Renner didn’t say a word to her and didn’t look at her once. Larson was a child actress with a stage mother from hell, and the values she was raised with are self-evident. That said, there are plenty of child actors who were in that position and don’t end up that kind of awful.
Larson strikes me as being a naturally assertive woman, and she enjoys being an overbearing bitch when she does it.
An intriguing counterpoint is Morfydd Clark who is currently playing Galadriel.
I recently saw an interview with Morfydd Clark.
Much to my surprise, I’m feeling just a little sorry for her now. In the interview, she came across as a pleasant, soft-spoken Welsh woman. Which explains all of the rolled Rs in Rangz. The acting jobs I’ve seen her in are “little wounded bird” type roles. And she is actually pretty good at those. I’d say she was the only good thing in NetFlix Dracula (I’ll need to bump that review for Halloween) but that is saying nothing, so I won’t.
Regardless, when you have a woman who is naturally shy and retiring but then force her into a situation where she has to act like the Alpha Mare of the horse herd, they just fall apart. A woman like that can’t really do commanding at all, the best she can manage is bitchy. Which would explain why she had to get into therapy.
I feel a little bad about dragging her for her performance in The Rings of Power… But I’m going to keep doing it anyway.
Nobody made her sign the contract.
SIDENOTE: I’m pretty sure I know why Clark was cast in the role. This is a picture of Amazon studio head, Jennifer Salke:
Who wants to place a bet that Clark was a Jennifer Salke self-insert?
