The movie studio and the young actress (she turns 21 on Saturday) are partners in a two-picture deal worth an estimated $10 million to Silverstone. The deal was sealed in 1995 when the onetime Aerosmith good-luck charm was the critical and popular star of the sleeper hit, Clueless.
In the two years since, Silverstone's hot-item status has cooled considerably. Her first movie with Columbia, Excess Baggage, performed unimpressively, grossing $13.9 million through last weekend.
While speculation had Columbia cutting its losses and backing out of its deal with the actress before spending money on a second Silverstone flick, a published report Friday indicated the studio was sticking with its horse.
Before you praise Columbia for its steadfast faith in talent, though, The New York Times reports that the company is just covering its assets. It doesn't want to scare off other potentially lucrative deals. As a studio source tells the newspaper: "The studio has to seem talent-friendly."
When then-Columbia chairman Mark Canton dropped $10 million on Silverstone in 1995, the executive seemed talent-friendly, indeed. Too talent-friendly, for some Hollywood players' tastes.
"It's so irresponsible," a studio executive told the Los Angeles Times shortly after the deal was announced. "[Canton's] ruining the business."
Canton was also the first studio chief to pay Jim Carrey $20 million--for the haywire Cable Guy. That deal, along with the Silverstone pact, were soundly criticized at the time for driving up the cost of doing business.
In retrospect, Carrey didn't turn out to be a bad bet, even if The Cable Guy was a perceived bust that cost Canton his job. Silverstone's another story. Since Clueless, she's more notable for sniggering press items about her weight than her movies. (Her turn as Batgirl in last summer's Batman & Robin was as forgettable as the film itself.)
Silverstone next may appear in the indie movie Free Money, a $20-million black comedy to star Marlon Brando. No word from Columbia on what the actress' new movie for that studio will be.