MovieChat Forums > Batman (1989) Discussion > Is Kim Basinger "retired" from acting no...

Is Kim Basinger "retired" from acting now?


She hasn't appeared in a movie since Fifty Shades Darker in 2017, which is three years ago. This doesn't count her uncredited, no dialogue appearance in Fifty Shades Freed the following year. If you look at her IMDb page, she currently doesn't have any projects on the horizon.

https://www.magzter.com/article/Womens-Interest/Womans-Day-Magazine-NZ/Hiding-In-Hollywood-Kims-Disappearing-Act

Is this simply a case of Kim for whatever the reasons, not being able to get work or has she (like Jack Nicholson) essentially retired from acting? Kim like Jack has never formally announced that she was done with acting. Michael Keaton also went into what could be considered "semi-retirement" after from the time that he did Jack Frost in 1998 until his "comeback" with Birdman in 2014. I have in the past, wondered if Kim got blackballed due to her involvement with the Boxing Helena movie and her decidedly unprofessional antics on movie sets like The Marrying Man.

https://www.looper.com/133115/why-hollywood-wont-cast-kim-basinger-anymore/

https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Kim-Basinger-been-blacklisted-by-Hollywood?q=blacklisted%20basinger

Kim was recently on Kevin Nealon's "hiking" show on YouTube, and she says that she's not done with acting but will only appear in a movie again if the "right project" came along:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZSvsxE9bjI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3F3Q9zEXZE

She has also admitted though that, her animal rights activism and not her acting career is her "heart".

https://elkodaily.com/people/kim-basinger-is-more-passionate-about-animal-rights-than-acting/article_0e14ac99-2848-55f1-abfe-9f17aa4f4dc9.html



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https://www.nickiswift.com/213267/heres-why-we-dont-seem-much-of-kim-basinger-anymore/

Kim Basinger, the ex-wife of Alec Baldwin and mom to daughter Ireland Baldwin, worked for decades as a successful actress and model. Not only has Basinger starred in campaigns for some of the biggest brands in the world, but she landed a modeling contract with IMG Models in 2013 at age 60. Making matters even more impressive? The Georgia native was a Bond girl in 1983 and has starred in critically acclaimed movies such as 9 1/2 Weeks, 8 Mile, Batman, L.A. Confidential, and The Door in the Floor, to name a few works. Basinger won an Oscar and Golden Globe for her performance in L.A. Confidential.

As of this writing, Basinger last starred in 2018's Fifty Shades Freed, playing Elena Lincoln, the woman who introduced Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) to the world of BDSM. The actor has maintained a low-profile ever since, raising questions about why we don't see her as much anymore. 

Kim Basinger gave a rare interview with Georgia Today (formerly Georgian Journal) in 2017, revealing that her life has slowed down considerably. "I love being by the beach because I participate in all water sports, especially surfing," she said about living in southern California. "I love music and I love books of all types."

Speaking of books, Basinger also noted how she has taken up a new hobby. "I have always loved writing and I'm getting more into it these days, especially children's books," she told the outlet. Although it looks like the model hasn't published any books as of this writing, we wouldn't be surprised if something is in the works.

When Basinger isn't writing or surfing, she spends her time working for animal protection groups "to help stop the cruelty that goes on in every country." She even attended a July 2019 event in South Korea protesting the dog meat industry, per CNN.

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Probably not officially retired, if someone offered her a truckload of money for a good role she'd probably consider it. Who wouldn't take a truckload of money for easy work seriously?

It's just that there aren't many roles out there for women "of a certain age", and there are other actresses of her age who are out actively hustling for them.

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Plus she isn't a very good actor. The roles going to women her age, we expect to be acted well.

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Only young eye candy gets away with that.

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I don't mind if your only half decent at acting, as long as my appetite for leering be satisfied.

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I call Megan Fox from Transformers 1, to the stand...

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She's still a stunner, at least she was in the stupid "Fifty Shades" movie. Or what I saw of it before getting up to do the dishes as that was more fun than watching that mess.

There just aren't many roles for stunning women over sixty, and it's not like Basinger is out there hustling for them. She's got better things to do, and more power to her for that.

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Haven't seen that gem. Or anything she has been in post 1999. So really I just be speculating.

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If you want to see how good Basinger looks in that film, you can probably find scenes on youtube. They've got everything there.

The movie itself is monumentally, unbelievably dull! Shockingly so, for a movie where the principals spend half of it naked and being kinky.

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Yeah never seen it but I assume they fucked up by making it to sappy and tame for a movie about s&m.

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I think that the problem with somebody like Kim Basinger is that she's when you get right to it, a very specific type of actress that fits into a specific type of role. I'm not going to attempt to run through her entire filmography but there have been stuff that she has been in where you could immediately accept an actress like her in like LA Confidential, The Natural, and Never Say Never Again. And then there are movies that she has done, where I have to try really hard to buy a woman like Kim Basinger as portraying like as Eminem's mom in 8 Mile.

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I previously asked a question on Quora about whether it’s good for an actor’s career if they don’t want to go on talk shows, junkets, and publicity and what not. I linked an interview from the year 2000 of Kim Basinger on “The Charlie Rose Show”. And I got an extremely defensive response by this actress Rebecca Metz (if you ever watch the Disney Channel show, Coop & Cami Ask the World, she plays the mom) by saying something along the lines of “I know a lot of people who don’t like parts of their job, IS THAT WRONG!?” I before that, asked on Quora why she was appearing in roles that were decidedly unsavory as of late like Fifty Shades Darker and The Nice Guys, and Ms. Metz jumped on my question by saying “Why would you consider it a RELEGATION!?”. The subtext of that response to me sounded like I was being extremely ignorant for asking why an Academy Award winner and one time A-lister like Kim Basinger was now taking on sleazy, lowly supporting roles. It just struck me as extremely judgmental and condescending.

https://www.quora.com/Is-it-wrong-for-an-actor-to-only-love-what-goes-on-between-action-and-cut-but-other-stuff-like-crowds-publicity-junkets-pushing-movies-and-talk-shows-are-very-difficult-for-the-said-actor-to-do?q=wrong%20actors%20junket

https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Kim-Basinger-been-relegated-to-playing-villain-roles-recently-such-as-The-Nice-Guys-and-Fifty-Shades-Darker

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Yes, we all hate parts of our jobs, and it's not wrong.

But if we refuse to do the parts of our jobs we hate, we get fired, or denied promotions or plum assignments, and if we're independent contracts like actors - maybe we don't get offered so many great new contracts. How's Ms. Metz's career doing these days?

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Maybe what annoyed me about those particular responses on Quora is that I felt that my words and my frame of questioning were taken out of context by Rebecca Metz and used directly against me to show how ignorant I must be. It was a means to show that I have no right or clue to be asking such questions about the entertainment industry and how it works or how truly hard it is to be an actor.

More recently, I linked a blog question/discussion asking how do you feel about actors who constantly complain about how unfair the industry is? Are they so ungrateful that they’re working actors in the first place? And this is the response that I got:

https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-feel-about-actors-who-constantly-complain-about-how-unfair-the-industry-is-Are-they-so-ungrateful-that-they-re-working-actors-in-the-first-place/answer/Rebecca-Metz

I feel it’s absurd to presume to form an opinion of anyone based on the content of a website that prides itself on serving up a “steaming pile of pointless bitchery.” A handful of out-of-context quotes spanning years of a person’s life is not “constant complain(ing.)” It’s just a cheap website trying to make money by trashing celebrities.

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Oh it's true that Hollywood is unfair in more ways than I can count, and that having to work with dickweeds and bd pressured to get plastic surgery and be underweight and that going on publicity tours really sucks.

Which is why I'm not a Hollywood actor. Those are the job requirements, and it's like any other job. Do it, or find something else to do with your life.

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I watched Rebecca Metz on Coop and Cami, and there was always something about her that rubbed me the wrong way. She quite frankly, has one of the most irritating voices that I've ever heard from an actor. It's equal parts shrill, gravelly, nasally, and whiny sounding. Plus, her character of Mrs. Wrather strikes he as a bit of "Karen". I just figured that she was playing a character until I crossed-paths with her online.

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I kind of laugh at that remark about websites making money by trashing celebrities because what does that make Twitter then? Jimmy Kimmel to give you a better idea, has a recurring segment in which celebrities read mean and nasty tweets about them. By that logic, Twitter makes money off of trashing celebrities in itself. Also, what are gossip sites devoted to "blind items"/rumors/innuendoes (that hints to celebrities' apparent dirty laundry and their skeletons in the closet) like Crazy Days and Nights about them?

If Rebecca Metz is going to complain about cheap websites that make money off of trashing celebrities, then one needs to understand that you can't be thin skinned if you're going to be an actor. Celebrities are of course, public figures and are therefore, frequently the subject of scrutiny if not criticism. Simply put, if you can't reconcile with that fact then you need to find another profession (in the private sector).

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I'll just repost for the time being, what I read on another online forum:

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/what-happened-to-nicole-beharies-career.1259835/page-2#post-32495835

Having anxieties and being awkward doesn't make you difficult or a bad person. It is what it is. In this business there's a game you play and part of that is promoting the work you're a part of. If you have anxieties (think, Kim Basinger) that will interfere with that. because you have to make public appearances and do interviews, etc. But like someone said earlier in the thread, whites get a pass when they suffer from things like this, everyone else gets labeled difficult. What can you do but keep on truckin'

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If Kim Basinger were talking to Charlie Rose about sexual harassment in the industry (like the casting couch and what out) or unsafe working conditions then her argument would have some actual weight. But what Kim Basinger pretty much said to Charlie Rose is that she should be exempt from having to promote her work because she's "too shy".

This is going to sound callous, but to me, if you don't want to get out in public and talk about yourself and promote your work (because the endgame is that you want people to pay money to see your movie), then don't be a famous person in the first place. I'm not necessarily saying that actors shouldn't have a right to privacy, what I am saying is that you need to accept that you're no matter what, a public figure. And as a public figure, you're going to be held in a different esteem than a regular person.

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Kim Basinger if you ask me in the Charlie Rose interview that I mentioned, seemed to be complaining about otherwise first world problems.

https://charlierose.com/videos/29228

Being in a high profile profession like filmmaking and acting and telling people point blank that you don't want to do publicity for your work because you claim to have anxiety/shyness issues is almost the equivalent of not wanting to do your homework. Yes, many of us found doing homework unpleasant because it's very time consuming. But if we don't do our homework, then it will be much harder for us to get a grasp of what we're learning in school.

My point is that what Kim seems to saying is that showing up on set and saying her lines in front of the camera is the equivalent of going to school but demanding that she doesn't have to do her homework when she gets home.

The reason why actors have to do publicity for their movies is because, well, you want people to actually see your work don't you? If you don't do publicity, then how are we going to be aware of the finished product?

And if Kim has issues with anxiety, of course it isn't an all out cure, but why can't she manage it with medication or regular counseling/therapy instead of going "woe is me" (or in Kim's words "white knuckle it") on a talk show regarding how hard it is to be a celebrity and movie star?

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I'll try for a moment to understand Ms. Metz's perspective. I was reading this thread about Linsday Lohan, and I came across this comment:

https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/lindsay-lohan%E2%80%99s-aging-features-still-shock-me-cause-she%E2%80%99s-only-34.4226328/page-9#post-66407139

Being an actress is not a secure job. You get one fat paycheck per project. Once that project is done, you must look for more work. You can live in a Beverly Hills mansion as long as you continue to make BH mansion money. Unless your family is rich on its own, you'll have to take care of them, too. You also have to pay your entourage, your agent, and your management company. There's also tons of competition in the industry for roles (even amongst the A-list). If you don't work, you are not making money. Subsequently, you can no longer afford the flashy, glitzy lifestyle that is expected of Hwooders.


I'm however, also of the opinion that actors are essentially, glorified independent contractors and/or freelance workers. They don't exactly work exclusively for a singular film studio like Disney or Warner Bros. like in the "olden days".

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/11536503-when-did-the-hollywood-studio-system-eventually-end-

To give you a clearer perspective of the whole "actors are freelancers" argument:
https://www.datalounge.com/thread/6519159-does-being-too-good-looking-hurt-an-actor-s-career-

Scroll down to reply 88

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Yes, today's actors are all independent contractors of freelance workers, even those who are on a TV show that runs for years are on a long-term independent contract rather than employees, and it's been that way since the end of the studio contract-acting system in the 1950s and 1960s. They even get benefits through the Screen Actors Guild, rather than the movie studios or TV networks, which offers medical insurance and has at least one retirement facility, etc.

And frankly, a lot of big-name actors seem to have a poor grasp of how an independent actor keeps the job offers coming, look at what's going on with Johnny Depp for an example of an actor who presumed the big money would never stop coming in, no matter how half-assed a job he did or how badly he behaved.

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I responded in the comments section to what Rebecca Metz said in that I simply put didn't appreciate the (in my mind, hostile and condescending) tone that she took in several of her responses to me in Quora. Well, sure enough, she soon disabled the comments section on her account and presumably, muted me. Maybe it was a case of me snapping at someone who I felt repeatedly went out of their way to act like they were too good to give a formal or reasonable answer to my "dumb/ignorant/clueless" questions about her profession.

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You've been asking a real life actor who is known for not liking to do publicity these questions???

I have to tell you, that while discussing actors' career concerns in the abstract is one thing, asking someone who does this for a living something this personal in a public forum is... a social minefield, to put it politely.

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I didn't directly or actively ask a real life actor such a question intentionally. Let me try to explain for a minute. Quora is sort of like a polling venue, where you solicit a question and various "experts" in the area will answer if or when prompted. In other words, it isn't like a direct message to one individual to another. So don't turn it around and say that it's all my fault for the way that Rebecca Metz reacted because I didn't directly contact her in the first place. Nobody forced her to answer my question to put things lightly.

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Thank you, I have never been to Quora. Tell me, does Quora pay its "experts"? Because if not, then Quora's experts have every right to refuse to answer questions directly if they have some reason for not wanting to answer the question, and no obligation to explain their reasons for giving a "light" answer if that is the case. If they are paid or contracted, what kind of answer they are obliged to give depends on the terms of their agreement with Quora, whatever that may be.

Look, the fact that you've been posting on this thread for nearly a year does give me the impression that maybe you don't like to let questions go unanswered, but sometimes you do have to give up on particular sources of information.

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Quora I suppose, is a bit like Wikipedia where people aren't necessarily "paid" so much as they volunteer. Anybody and just about everybody could contribute to put it in another way. And what's wrong with not liking to let questions go unanswered? That's kind of the whole point of asking questions in the first place. You want to learn something or gain information on a particular subject, so you go seek out people who know more about the matter. It's absurd to suggest that sometimes it's not in the best interest to let questions go unanswered because how are we going to learn then?

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Nothing wrong with wanting questions thoroughly investigated and answered, absolutely nothing! People who don't dig deep here and there are so dull, right?

It's just that nobody else is ever obliged to help you get your answers, unless you are paying them to do so. If a volunteer in a public forum gives you a vague and unsatisfactory answer to a question your only socially acceptable response is to say "Well, thank you for your time", walk away without resentment, and find another source of information. Sorry, but if getting the answers to all the questions one has was easy, everyone would do it.

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Let's put it this way, when somebody response with this:

I feel it’s absurd to presume to form an opinion of anyone based on the content of a website that prides itself on serving up a “steaming pile of pointless bitchery.” A handful of out-of-context quotes spanning years of a person’s life is not “constant complain(ing.)” It’s just a cheap website trying to make money by trashing celebrities.


That's essentially code for "I'm way too good to bother answering such a question since the very premise of it is ignorant and obscene!"

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Actually, I know exactly which website is being referred to in that quote, and yes. it's absolutely "absurd" to form strong opinions based on the gossip found there.

I think you are wrong to assume that if she doesn't want to answer your questions it's because she thinks she's "too good" or is being snotty or snobbish. People can have a a lot of varied reasons for refusing to answer questions, I mean look at me - I won't tell anyone here ANYTHING personal about myself! FYI it's because there are some real psycho nutballs here, so I'll never say what I do for a living, where I live, any hint at my real name, none of the work stuff I have to keep confidential, my finances, NOTHING.

I'm only saying why I won't answer any personal questions here to explain my point, because I am under no social obligation to say anything but "I can't answer that", or some other form of refusal. I am not obliged to answer questions from strangers, you are not obliged to answer questions from strangers, this woman on Quora is not obliged to answer questions from strangers... and that means you have no right to resent her refusal to answer.

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Why then waste my time responding in the very first place when you could've simply kept silent? Not saying anything at all is essentially the same thing as straight up telling me that you're not going to formally answer the question. And it isn't like I was asking something deeply personal like how there sex life is like or have they ever done something illegal. Might I reiterate, that people on Quora chose to answer a question in the first place.

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FYI people on Quora are no more obligated to answer your Since they aren't paid and are just doing it to share information and be nice, THEY get to decide which questions they are willing to answer, and in how much detail. NOT you. Your rights are NOT being violated, you have no right to resent anything you have described.

Sigh.

Trying to teach strangers on the internet basic human interaction and social skills is always futile, but I keep doing it.

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THEY get to decide which questions they are willing to answer, and in how much detail.


That's sort of the point that I'm trying to make. If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all. I quite frankly don't appreciate wanting to figure out something only to be responded to in a condescending and inherently judgmental manner. I rather not have people answer my question than having people give the false pretense of a response, and use it as a chance to insult my intelligence or talk down to me.

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Oh for fuck's sake, LET IT GO!

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If you're going to talk to me like that instead of being civil then you pretty much proved my point about people incapable of saying anything nice and deciding to instead, be judgmental. I don't understand why you feel the need to get so defensive and hostile just because I disagree if your point and I feel the need to explain my own point. I'm not going to "let it go" because you obviously don't want to hear what I have to say without talking to me as if I'm stupid or irrational.

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You completely dismissed why last point. Telling somebody to "let it go" (FOR FUCK'S SAKE) isn't addressing the issue. You're telling them (without a shred of empathy) that you're making much ado about nothing and that I'm wasting my time complaining about something I should otherwise not complain about to begin with.

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The issue is that you've been complaining about this online conversation you had with a stranger for weeks now, which means you need to LET IT GO.

I'm beginning to understand why she got short with you.

Don't respond. I'm done with this.

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This stranger got short with me in the very first chance that she could get mind you. And this was after at least two separate occasions in which she responded to me in an irrational and defensive manner.

You absolutely don't fucking understand what I'm trying to get across. It wasn't like I was badgering said stranger to the point in which she resorted to getting short. It was that she thought that what I was asking really wasn't worth the trouble to begin with.

If somebody disses you online or in person, and you feel that they there wasn't any reason to do so in the first place, then you would complain to. So don't give me that bullshit about how it's an issue for him and that an individual getting "short" with him was justified, when they placed themselves into that arena in the first place.

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Oh by the way Otter, you obviously know jack shit about Quora (are you that ignorant to actually think that people must be paid to answer questions) and refuse to find out. Otherwise, you would've realized what I was talking about and trying to explain a lot sooner.

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Please stop responding to my old posts when you want to want to say something about Kim Basinger.

I will not post here again.

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Replace Nicole Behaire's name with Kim Basinger's in the following message below and the similarities immediately line-up, especially the parts concerning being very introverted and anti-social not being good for having a successful, long-lasting career in Hollywood:
https://www.lipstickalley.com/threads/nicole-beharie-sleepy-hollow-miss-juneteeth-black-mirror-etc-is-apparently-an-awful-person.4281653/page-4#post-67087718

Being called 'difficult' in Hollywood is the kiss of death for your career. A lot of successful actresses/actor's have their careers because they knew how to mesh with the cast and crew. Film environments require you to be collaborative. They'd save their attitude for when they were at home because they can always be replaced by someone else. You are a Z list actress and you don't like the way your outfit looks on you? You don't think the script is good enough? Fine. Let's find out what one of the 1200 other actresses that wanted this role thinks about that.

Once you are at Tom Cruise, Anne Hathaway, Will Smith, etc. level, you can be difficult and it won't matter because your name alone brings multi-millions at the box office. You have the power. If you are not in that lane and you want a long career, do not be anti-social.

Nicole is clearly an introvert and that Arsenio interview was cringefully awkward. She's an actress, so she should've been able to at least pretend she was excited. Her behavior was very uncomfortable and doesn't read well for a viewer. If she's that obvious about her discomfort in a talk show, I can only imagine what she's like on a production set.

That being said, Hollywood is racist, but I can totally see how Nicole would inadvertently sabotage her own career.

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After reading this Quora post about Meg Ryan:
https://www.quora.com/Is-Meg-Ryan-now-retired-from-the-entertainment-industry-She-hasnt-acted-since-2015-except-for-one-TV-pilot-I-think-she-even-said-in-an-interview-she-isnt-necessarily-retired-but-shes-not-really-rushing-out-for-her/answer/Jon-Mixon-1?__filter__=all&__nsrc__=1&__sncid__=9770367846&__snid3__=14167287072

I suspect that Kim Basinger isn't so much "retired" in that there currently aren't that many roles that fit or demand her present "character type". That being a 60 something year old woman who used to trade off of her looks and sex appeal. Not only that, but Kim is unfortunately, no longer a bankable actress. Even in her prime, Kim wasn't exactly a character actress (i.e. somebody who could easily disappear into a role like a chameleon) and like I said, her most memorable roles traded on her looks.

Plus, it isn't like Kim is actively going out and demanding roles or networking. Kim has alluded to her reluctance to play wives and moms post-8 Mile. And she had admitted in interviews that she would turn down roles if it meant being away from her daughter for a protracted or extended period. So right then and there, she was deliberately limiting the type of roles that she could take.

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https://www.quora.com/Why-has-Kim-Basinger-been-blacklisted-by-Hollywood/answer/Jon-Mixon-1

She simply stopped making a great deal of money for films back in the 1990s, and that diminished her appeal as a performer. There's not much point in casting performers if their presence in your project isn't going attract much attention at the box office.

There's also the fact that Basinger isn't a particularly strong actor. She's not a Shakespearean, she doesn't do comedy very well, she's limited in her dramatic range, and at 66, her “sex kitten “ days are decades behind her. Basically there aren't many roles where she would “fit", and the competition for those few is quite fierce.

Finally, Basinger has a number of mental health issues which have plagued her since at least the 1990s. While she seems to have gotten them under control, they manifested themselves during what was height of her career, which was frankly disastrous for her. She's never been able to recover from that professional setback, and that's why she's rarely seen these days.

Kim Basinger hasn't been “blacklisted”.

She is an older actor, with a limited range, who wasn't making money for film productions. She just wasn't appealing to cast any longer.

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I'm starting to wonder if part of Kim's problem throughout her career is that she's simply a victim of her own beauty. You can argue that Hollywood wants their stars to be attractive but not too good looking. In other words, they don’t want their stars to be a threat to the egos of the public. The audience wants to see themselves on the screen. This was coupled with Kim Basinger admittedly being quite limited in range as an actress. She was pretty much pigeonholed as often being cast as a fragile, insecure woman who was always looking for a protector. It's kind of hard to evolve as a performer when you're a very specific type of character actress like Kim Basinger.

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Has there ever been an actress as beautiful as Kim since she was around in movies? Maybe Pam Anderson? Margot Robbie?

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When I asked a question elsewhere regarding why Diane Lane didn't become a much bigger star, somebody responded by saying that she likely intimates a lot of women due to being so impossibly beautiful. Whereas if you look at Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan in their heydays, they were more in keeping with the type of women that straight women think are attractive but men don't pay much attention to.

https://moviechat.org/nm0000178/Diane-Lane/5e424a55dde61c69a22ac216/How-come-Diane-Lane-never-truly-became-an-A-list-star

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People who saw Kim in Batman continually dogged her for her penchant to scream (think a less self-aware Kate Capshaw in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). And it didn't help that she has had a habit to being overly dramatic, screechy, and hysterical in her other movies, so you can't just simply say that it was confined to the Vicki Vale character (who's supposedly, this fearless, intrepid warzone photojournalist).

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I get the sense that Kim Basinger is one of those actors who may or may not view movie making (even during her '80s heyday) as essentially a hobby, 9 to 5 job, and/or a means to an end instead of an art form, passion or at the very least, a business. I've several times heard or read in interviews with her in which she stated that the only part of acting that she enjoys and cares about is what goes on in-between "action and cut". I do think that Kim is very cynical on this regard. She also said something along the lines that she has learned how to "push the right buttons".

https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/762831/fifty-shades-darker-premiere-kim-basinger-la-confidential-bond

“I learned from Sir Anthony Hopkins a long time ago when he said: ‘Acting is about pushing this button or that within yourself and you are being very well paid.’ So my own pay-off for longevity is that I know how to press the right buttons.

https://www.quora.com/What-exactly-does-it-mean-when-an-actor-credits-their-longevity-with-being-able-to-push-the-right-buttons?q=actor%20push%20buttons


Batman and of course LA Confidential (and to a certain extent, that Tom Petty video) seem to be the only movies or acting jobs that she has done, which she has openly stated any sort of fondness over. And even with Batman, there's a Movieline interview that Kim did back in 1991, where she compared the money that she made (unlike what Jack Nicholson or the producers made) to being raped.

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I was just reading this post on Quora regarding Alicia Silverstone and some of it I think could apply to Kim Basinger:
https://www.quora.com/Alicia-Silverstone-was-one-of-the-most-beautiful-and-talented-actress-during-the-nineties-I-have-personally-never-seen-anyone-like-her-But-the-only-memorable-she-was-part-of-was-Clueless-Why-was-she-underutilized-by/answer/Matt-Cormier-2

*Namely, after Batman and later after LA Confidential, Kim Basinger had made several very high profile flops that derailed her career and prevented her from getting other roles of consequence. (The Marrying Man, Final Analysis, Cool World, The Real McCoy, The Getaway, I Dreamed of Africa, and Bless the Child for example)

*Her self-imposed hiatuses. Kim presumably purposely took a self-imposed break from Hollywood after 1994 to have her daughter and to sort out her financial and legal issues going at the time. Granted, it did pay off since her next role was her Oscar winning one in LA Confidential. But after that triumph, Kim took another three year long break from the big screen. The bottom-line is that taking any length of time off in your prime is bound to derail your career.

*Weird Personal Life. Besides her toxic breakup and child custody battles with Alec Baldwin, there's Kim admitting to the press that she raised her daughter in an unconventional way (essentially, with little to no boundaries), such as allowing her to write on walls as a means of making up to her following her nasty divorce from Baldwin. There's also Kim putting her quite frankly, radical animal rights beliefs up in the forefront and her own helicopter parenting. Also, Kim for whatever the reasons, is extremely secretive and elusive about her personal business outside of always broadcasting details about her daughter's life.

https://www.quora.com/How-productive-is-it-long-term-for-a-parent-to-want-their-kids-childhoods-to-be-full-of-love-light-animals-and-friends?q=light%20love%20animals%20






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I also suspect that Kim like Alicia Silverstone, may have lacked the political savvy or social skills to network with the right people; or the confidence to demand better opportunities.

https://www.looper.com/133115/why-hollywood-wont-cast-kim-basinger-anymore/

According to Basinger, if you want to get ahead in Hollywood then you have to be willing to network, something she's admittedly terrible at. "After all the years I've been in Hollywood, I still don't know a lot of the directors and producers who are working today," she told Interview magazine in 1994. "I've never met them. I'm not a real social person. I'm shy, and a lot of the business is just social. It really is. I don't think it's a bad game, but early on I didn't know there was a game. I know now."

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But if you got a good agent. They handle all of that.

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It would appear so.

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Based on that interview with Kevin Nealon, I get the sense that Kim Basinger wants to pridefully fashion herself as some sort of outspoken rebel, who marched to the beat of her own drum and was above the so-called Hollywood "BS". I think that's one big reason why Hollywood seemingly wants little to do with her anymore. She simply put, pissed the wrong people off I'm afraid with her attitude behind the scenes. If Kim was a proven money maker, then I would like to believe that her supposed "difficult" and neurotic behavior would've been much more tolerated.

https://www.inspiredtraveler.ca/kim-basinger-an-actress-who-imposed-on-hollywood-her-own-time/

https://etcanada.com/news/615900/kim-basinger-taught-ireland-baldwin-to-stand-up-for-herself-a-little-too-well-what-have-i-done/

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Shes just another aged actress with a butchered face

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Somebody recently told me that what really hurt Kim's career in the long run was that she spent the majority of her career playing sexy, sultry bombshells. When you bank on being a sexy leading lady, you don’t have a lot of shelf life in Hollywood—that role is a young woman’s game. Even attractive older women find roles like that few and far between.

To put thing into proper perspective, Kim Basinger is as I type this, 67 years old. When the movie that garnered her an Academy Award, LA Confidential was released, she was about 44 years of age. That put her on the upper end of the “bombshell” age range. By that particular age, she would have started facing serious competition for the type of roles she was known for, and taking two years off afterwards would not have helped her. And at the age that she was at when making LA Confidential, she should have been looking for roles that did not depend on her looking like a supermodel.

And naturally, in order to make the transition to more meatier roles, you need more than looks—you need the acting chops to pull it off. If you were just a pretty face but a so-so actor like Kim Basinger, your ability to stay employed diminishes as you age.

https://www.quora.com/Kim-Basinger-won-an-Oscar-for-LA-Confidential-but-her-career-went-nowhere-Why-Did-she-make-a-huge-mistake-by-taking-a-2-year-sabbatical-right-after-that-win-Why-was-she-never-again-the-huge-movie-star-she-once-was?q=oscar%20kim%20basinger

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She still had a better career than Daryl Hannah if not exactly on par with Sharon Stone in terms of success.

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The argument that I've heard pertaining to Daryl Hannah is that she was barely A-list to begin with. She seemed content to play small roles in movies, which may work for her personally, but doesn't exactly keep you in the public eye. She also, was never really critically acclaimed for her work and many considered her just a pretty face in regards to her acting.

https://lebeauleblog.com/2012/09/23/what-the-hell-happened-to-daryl-hannah/

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Today I learned that Kim Basinger almost landed the role that Julia Roberts played in Sleeping with the Enemy.

Here is a list of missed opportunities: https://www.notstarring.com/actors/basinger-kim

As for Daryl: https://www.notstarring.com/actors/hannah-daryl

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Kim Basinger once "joked" that she essentially lived the plot for Sleeping with the Enemy for real when she was married to Alec Baldwin.

https://lebeauleblog.com/2014/12/08/what-might-have-been-kim-basinger/

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Someone should Me Too him.

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Could Kim Basigner have a renaissance in her acting career and make a big comeback in Hollywood?

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/28183353-could-kim-basigner-have-a-renaissance-in-her-acting-career-and-make-a-big-comeback-in-hollywood-

Do you like the prospect? She had a small but important role in the the last two fifty shades of grey films but nothing since. Has she got what it takes to return to the silver screen or television screens?

https://www.instagram.com/p/CEF_2FNBtB5/?igshid=jjqh6ba9q03s

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