Lindsay Lohan’s multiple career cycles as movie star return – here’s how Netflix could make her great comeback

But what kind of Lohan are we talking about here? For someone whose time in the limelight tends to be condensed into words – the child star is gone – she has had some remarkable career cycles. There’s a Lindsay Lohan for all seasons, each intriguing in their own way. And due to her recent silence, she has something of a clean medium today. With that in mind, we’ve tried to break Lohan’s career into specific phases for Netflix’s sake, just in case they need any hints as to which LiLo offspring they’d be smart to revive. – and smart to leave behind.

First years

Vintage Lohan is sunny Lohan. Discovered at the age of 3 and an internationally acclaimed actor at the age of 11, Lohan “appears” on screen spontaneously. She’s ridiculously good in the 1998 remake of Mother Trap, plays long-lost twins who unexpectedly meet at summer camp. She has the poise and sense of comic time that suits the Diane Keatons of the world better than Mary-Kate and the Ashleys. And even back then, she seemed to be attracted to different personalities. She apparently played two roles in Mother Trapbut do the same in body swap comedy Freaky Friday (2003) and 2004 Confessions of a Teen Drama Queen. There, she was an ordinary girl who always pretended to be a lot sexier than she is now. Even the teen classic Bad girls (2004) – arguably her last film, despite the surprising rivalry – hinges on her character’s ability to change between guises depending on who her classmates are with she goes out with. That’s where she’s at her best as an actress. Fall for Christmas seems to at least take a page out of that book, with Lohan playing a spoiled, rich heiress who is given a second chance at life when she suffers from amnesia.

Prestigious years

Lohan elevates to a famous movie star – starring with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin in Robert Altman’s A companion at home on the prairie (2006) and Jane Fonda in Georgia Rules (2007) – coincidentally her in-camera antics started to overwhelm her acting.

In 2007, she was arrested for driving under the influence, then again for cocaine possession. She breached the terms of her probation, went to jail, went to a couple of different rehabs, and was publicly punished by the studio behind. Georgia Rules for “irresponsible and unprofessional” behavior on set. Many film projects have left her out of their cast, and her supporting career in music has stalled. However, she always knew that she messed things up, declaring emphatically to Vanity Fair that “I want my career back”. But her statements never seem to reflect what she is actually doing in reality. It’s great to see her get a second chance in these kinds of movies, especially now that she’s in a more calm personal state.

grunge era

The most tumultuous days of Lohan’s personal life occurred at the height of his online cruelty. She seems to be second only to Britney Spears when it comes to being hunted by the paparazzi, while every new snap, ankle screen and professional failure is on the rocks. At the same time, however, she’s entering an exciting career phase, reminiscent of a sober new Drew Barrymore, portraying an early nineties character as seducers and murderers.

I know who killed me (2007), the horror film about Lohan’s infamous amputation, is a haunting inverse of Lohan. Mother Trap. She plays long-lost twins, one a textbook high school student, the other a cranky stripper. Lohan seemed wobbly and distracted throughout the performance, but there was still an irresistible charm to her performance. Likewise in The canyons, a 2013 nihilistic erotic thriller film written by Bret Easton Ellis, in which Lohan’s voice is so resounding that it looks like she’s eaten an entire box of cigarettes. Whether she wants to go back to this kind of filmmaking is unclear – it’s understandable if she doesn’t – but I’d love to see her make bold choices again.

Meta era

When The canyons often rated as a low score on Lohan’s camera, it’s really the work she’s doing around that is what spoils the case the most. The early 2010s saw Lohan make an impromptu return to Hollywood, but her casting seemed like a complicated joke. There she was a half-cut party girl dressed as a nun in Robert Rodriguez’s Machete (2010), and then made a sex tape with Charlie Sheen in Horror Movie Part 5 (two thousand and thirteen). With all of this seemingly inevitable, Lohan gets entangled in a town that has decided she’s a joke. It was the saddest period of her career, possibly because that was when she lost control of everything the most. It would be a disaster if she and Netflix ventured back here.

Reality TV era

Produced by Oprah Winfrey, Lohan .’s 2014 reality show Lindsay aspires to be a candid and unflinching look at a sober Lohan, ready to return. In fact, it’s the story of a celebrity who is in a desperate situation so that her show doesn’t become a shipwreck. Chained and bored, Lohan is constantly competing, trying to salvage a show that has always slipped into eye-popping crash mode. If she hadn’t loudly declared her sanity standing next to bottles of wine, she would have angered aides, agents, and even Oprah.

That clash of the two Lohans – the misunderstood angel she claims to be and the tornado of chaos surrounding everyone around her experience – will define her adventures in reality TV, also includes a bizarre 2010 BBC documentary in which she investigates Indian human trafficking. Wearing a headscarf and nursing orphans, she is practically Saint Lindsay. Off camera, she was accused of ignoring Unicef ​​meetings and taking credit for peace work she didn’t actually do.

This stage in Lohan’s career is perhaps the most authentic for her, but not really for the right reasons. Before or since, nothing seems to get to her character’s bottom line better than, or the internal wrestling match she always seems to fight. But what Lohan definitely doesn’t need in 2022 is the kind of openness-mystery that serves her better.

Surreal picky years

Lohan’s move to Dubai – and her subsequent retreat from the limelight – seems smart on paper. But there’s also a lot of weirdness in this era, which only seems higher because Lohan isn’t in the news in general. Remember Instagram Live in 2018 in which Lohan – who was, for some reason, hanging out in Moscow – appeared to try to “save” Syrian children from their mothers? Remember her strange new voice, a little American, a little British, and a little Ben Kingsley in Gandhi? Or her alleged friendship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? It’s all a bit dark, isn’t it?

Longtime Lohan watchers will realize that to follow her in the news is always diving into murky rabbit holes. But there’s something about this point in her life and career that seems more “off-track” than usual. To be fair, it’s been a few years since Lohan worked on behalf of the president of Turkey to help refugees (?), and it seems she’s finally settled down. She did a virtual Bad girls the cast reunites in 2020 and shines as brightly as her one-time co-stars. She is engaged to a man named Bader Shammas, who is said to be an investment banker. Her Instagram has few users, full of selfies, affirmations, and responses.

If Lohan-the-star Netflix ultimately doesn’t just recreate one of her old personalities, her current personality “quiet, in love, a little dull” is a good place to start. head. Sure, there’s still that lingering ambiguity with her – as if she’s always dangled dangerously off the edge of a cliff – but now it would be weird not to.