The 2010 movie Rachel McAdams wrongly believed people wanted to see: “Apparently not”
Rachel McAdams is an actor who has been easy to take for granted because she’s been so consistent for over two decades.
While it was her breakthrough performance as Regina George in Mean Girls that made her into a star, McAdams hasn’t just been limited to comedy roles, even if she was great in Game Night and Wedding Crashers. She also earned an Academy Award nomination for ‘Best Supporting Actress’ for her role in the ‘Best Picture’ winner Spotlight, became a cool final girl with Send Help, and has appeared in a number of under-the-radar projects that deserve more attention, such as Disobedience and A Most Wanted Man.
She has been smart about choosing the films she’s attached to, even if her pickiness has cost her a few interesting opportunities. By looking at the types of films that aren’t being made as often, McAdams has been able to latch on to projects that ended up being surprise breakthrough hits, which is what happened with The Notebook, as it came out at a time when audiences were craving an old-fashioned romantic weepie.
One of her most interesting decisions was to sign on to appear in Morning Glory, a workplace dramedy in which she plays a journalist hired to revamp a morning news station’s programme, even though its anchors (Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton) are far past their prime, with Patrick Wilson also appearing in the film as her love interest.
Morning Glory received moderate reviews, but it didn’t become the type of breakout success that McAdams may have been hoping for, which led to her admitting that she had misjudged what audiences were seeking, even if she stuck by the movie itself.
“It’s funny, because so many people said to me, ‘It’s the kind of film you don’t see anymore, done in a way that isn’t done anymore’,” she said, “I thought that was a really positive thing, but apparently not”.
The film was certainly intended to be in the style of ‘80s workplace dramedies like Broadcast News or Working Girl, which is part of the reason that casting Ford and Keaton was so ingenious, for it is exactly the type of film that they may have starred in the ‘80s. It also felt like a very timely script back in 2010, as this was at a moment in which morning news programmes were still a primary source of information for many consumers.
The rejection of Morning Glory is a bit disappointing, given that it does feel like the type of mid-budget, star-driven dramedy made for adult audiences that Hollywood doesn’t make enough of, and it was particularly interesting to see Ford and Keaton in such engaged roles. Keaton had also worked with McAdams on the Christmas film The Family Stone, and Ford was only a few years away from landing a major comeback when he returned to play Han Solo in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The underperformance didn’t harm McAdams’ career, however, as she managed to star in two hits the following year with Midnight in Paris and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, but those who have been enamoured by her recent success with Send Help owe it to themselves to check out Morning Glory, which really is an underrated gem.
