Taylor Momsen may come from Gossip Girl but she is one of the top fan choices for the role of Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb’s upcoming Spidey-boot. She also happens to be my #1 choice for the role. For anyone who might not know her, here is a background description:
Taylor has been acting professionally since the age of three when she was just starting out in commercials. She was most known at the age of seven for playing Cindy Lou Who in Jim Carey’s 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' Her other film credits include ‘Hansel & Gretel,’ ‘Saving Shiloh,’ ‘Underdog,’ and ‘Paranoid Park.’ On television she was cast as the lead of the never-aired WB series 'Misconceptions.' At thirteen she auditioned for the title role of Hannah Montana, and was one of the top three actresses, but lost the role to Miley Cyrus. She is, as of 2007, currently starring in the popular CW series ‘Gossip Girl’ as Jenny Humphrey.
Ms. Momsen is also a singer-songwriter. She’s confessed to have been writing songs since she was five. In 2002 she recorded 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and ‘One Small Voice’ featuring Myra and Camille Winbush for the Christmas album ‘School’s Out! Christmas.’ In 2009 she formed her band, the Pretty Reckless. The hiatus of ‘Gossip Girl' and the absence of her character for most of its fourth season will give her enough time to tour and promote their first album, ‘Light Me Up.’”
Those of us that chose her have pretty good reasons why she should be considered for the part. So to follow up with my recent Gwen Stacy articles, I’ve decided to write an editorial showcasing my personal reasons why ‘Lil Jenny’ Taylor Momsen should be Gwen Stacy in Marc Webb’s yet-to-be titled Spider-Man!
Appearance
Taylor fits the requirements perfectly. She’s cute, she’s young, she looks blond -- she’s the girlfriend you would want if you ever spent a class session with her.
Ms. Taylor is also a young lady with style. At fourteen, she signed on to IMG models and as of now is the face of the Britain fashion chain
New Look, for their Spring/Summer 2010 collection. That and she was voted number 76 on
People Magazine’s 100 Most Beautiful People list for 2009.
I know this is trivial and expected, but in my opinion she does look like Gwen Stacy would if she was a teenager. As I said, this is my opinion. We all have them, especially in fan casts.
She can bring audiences the look and personality of the classic Gwen that Peter fell for…
And, if they ever decided to, could even bring in the grungy attitude of the Ultimate Ms. Stacy.
Don’t misread me. I want the classic Gwen to appear on the big screen as much as the rest of you fine folks do. I am simply pointing out that Taylor’s style of clothing could be best described as bipolar: switching from the precious, delicate looking Jenny Humphrey of
Gossip Girl to the down-and-dirty garb that she envelopes over herself as lead of
the Pretty Reckless. As the classic Gwen, she can be there for Peter when he needs someone there for consoling; but as the ultimate Gwen, she can be there ready to break someone’s nose for him if she had to.
Age
This is a personal pet peeve of mine. An issue that is the most redundant in the teen genre is the casting of older actors rather than performers of, or around, the same age range. It is a trend that has been going around since the genre even started. Whether this reboot is supposed to be set in high school or college, I expect there to be actual teenagers playing teenage characters.
Andrew's announcement as Peter Parker has come with word that the setting could change from high school to college, so why would there still be the need for teenage actors? When you start high school you are a teenager, and when you leave high school and go to college you are
still technically a teenager. Taylor is at the right age to be playing a teenager, and a college student at that. She is barely going to be seventeen in a few weeks. When filming begins she will be seventeen and once the film finally premieres she will be a few weeks shy of being eighteen. The only concern left visibly is the age difference between them both as Andrew is ten years Taylor's senior. Taylor's appearance and figure have recently been filling out quite nicely so I think, despite the age gap, they could both pull it off.
Quid Pro Quo
Taylor’s involvement in Spider-Man could bring in publicity for both parties.
Taylor is most familiar to teens and tweens, mostly tweens, as Jenny on the CW’s hit drama
Gossip Girl. This series has a huge following amongst female audiences, so Taylor playing Gwen could influence both her fans and fans of the series to come see the film. Basically, this could be the same outcome that could come out of Blake Lively’s involvement in
Green Lantern. Most people have no clue who Green Lantern is, but they’ll soon know when they see Serena Van Der Woodsen come to the aid of our GL rookie, Hal Jordan. Being part of the Spider-Man franchise could also make Taylor more recognizable than before.
Most boys probably aren’t interested in seeing what their girlfriends are watching on television: shallow sex-crazed vampires, the hundredth medical drama to have come out, rich girls back-stabbing each other time and time again for the sake of creating entertainment or the dumb but pretty teens that mustn’t have been raised to believe in either shame nor common sense from their own parents. They might not know who she is unless they happened to have caught sight of that cute/hot possibly-over-eighteen looking blond girl on TV while flipping channels. Once the boys see her as Spidey’s big crush, he won’t be the only one crushing on her.
For people who don’t know about director Marc Webb’s past credentials behind
(500) Days of Summer, he directed music videos. He chose to cast actress/musician Zooey Deschanel as hapless Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s former manic pixie dream girl Summer Finn; who was described in the original script as being blond rather than brunette. She is the vocalist for the indie group
She & Him. I’m not saying that Taylor should sing in this film… here come the unnecessary
Spider-Man 3 flashbacks. Maybe Marc still has a soft spot for musicians. Giving the role to Taylor would allow her to include a song of hers onto the soundtrack. It could simply be a song she had already recorded for one of her albums or one she could create specifically for the film. Having part in the film is a tit-for-tat for Taylor whether she’s starring or just donating a song. In an interview on
Celebrity TV Lounge she had openly confessed that she and her band mates are
“… all big comic book fans;” like we haven’t heard that line before, but the proof is on the guitar.
Talent
Taylor was born into talent. She started acting when she was just a toddler and had been writing songs since the tender age of five. She hasn’t been in many films that could let you see her acting ability up, front and center besides the Grinch, but she did appear in the 2007 Gus Van Sant film,
Paranoid Park. She played Jennifer (What a coinki-dink), the troubled protagonist’s girlfriend. She was possibly the only professional actor out of the whole film, which mainly consisted of random people Mr. Van Sant had casted from social websites like MySpace. I thought she was okay in it.
Then there’s
the Pretty Reckless. I remember hearing about them when Taylor stopped by
the Alexa Chung Show. Yes, I did watch that show at the time. If it makes you feel better, I started to dislike it with everything else associated with MTV. Then
KICK-ASS came out and I decided to check out the soundtrack. Under the track listings down at number six was
"'Make Me Wanna Die’ by ‘The Pretty Reckless.’" I had sworn I had heard that name before. I previewed the songs on YouTube and then I instantly remembered who they were when I clicked on the video displayed to me. This isn’t the exact video that I discovered at the time, but I was in utter shock and awe while listening to this song.
A voice like that can come out of a girl my age!? No one would expect something like that to come out of a teenage girl’s mouth unless they mixed something up at the recording studio. In case you happen to be a doubter, here is a live acoustic version from a session that they performed from London:
This single had the honor of being featured at the beginning of the closing credits; right when the film finished itself with off with a bang. The song has garnered good reception so far. It was #16 on the UK Singles Chart and #1 on the United Kingdom Rock Chart for six weeks.
Digital Spy’s Nick Levine gave the single 4 out of 5 stars, calling it
“…a bit of a blast… As for that singer - Taylor Momsen, name fans - well, she gives good enough 'tude here to suggest those Serious Music Fans might just be cutting off their sneering gear.” The EP hasn’t particularly inherited any similar praise. Christian Hoard of
the Rolling Stones gave it 2 out of 5 stars, describing it as
“long on generic hard-rock riffs and gothic poetry.”
The rest of the above, despite mixed reactions to her singing stint, supports my opinion that Taylor is a versatile enough performer who could do justice to the role, with the right push. Under Marc’s supervision, I believe Taylor could successfully bring Gwen Stacy to the big screen.
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If you are finished, answer down on this poll whether or not you would like it if Taylor Momsen was picked by Marc Webb to be Gwen Stacy in his Spider-Man film.
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Thank you all for giving up some time to read my editorial and thanks again to all of you who continue to read my material. I’d like to give a special thanks to Osiris for pointing out the image of Taylor as the ultimate version of Gwen. Answer down on the comments section concerning what you thought about this. Do you still like Taylor as a choice for Gwen Stacy? Before I finally sign off, remember when I brought up that idea about Taylor putting one of her songs into the soundtrack? I think the lyrics of this next song fit in with the “gritty and contemporary” emotions of the new Peter Parker and the challenges he faces in his lives as himself and Spider-Man. To end this editorial, I’d like to present you all with an encore presentation from
the Pretty Reckless with their song
‘Heart.’
Until next time, this has been your Average Citizen!
Lyrics:
Never wanted to feel
Never wanted to feel my heart
Never wanted to go
Never wanted to show I’m weak
I'm fallen all over myself
Tryin’ to be someone else
I Wish you would dare to walked me home
I don't wanna have to be alone
Always wanted to be
Always wanted to see my heart
Always wanted you're love
Always wanted but never was
I'm fallen all over myself
Tryin to be someone else
I Wish you would dare to walked me home
I don't wanna have to be alone
I'm fallen all over myself
Dyin' to be someone else
I wish you would dare to walk me home
I don’t wanna fight the world alonnnneeeee. . .
(Musical Break)
Always told you before
Never loved you more. . .
I'm fallen all over myself
Tryin’ to be someone else
I Wish you would dare to walked me home
I don't wanna have to be alone
I'm fallen all over myself
Dyin' to be someone else
I wish you would dare to walk me home
I don’t wanna fight the world alonnnneeeee. . .
I don’t wanna fight the world alonnnneeeee. . .
I don’t wanna fight the world alonnnneeeee. . .
Alonneeee. . .
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Or check out my articles right here:
ARTICLES
POLL: A Gwen For Jamie
VOTING RESULTS: A Gwen For Jamie
REVIEW: The Spider-Man Reboot Script
EDITORIALS
Correctly Handling Venom, Without Any Health Problems
VENOM: the Lethal Spin-Off
FAN CASTS
MY Spider-Man Reboot(s): What Could Have Been and What Could Be