McAdams shines in 'The Time Traveler's Wife'
Photo credit: AP Photo | Be it as a blonde, brunette or redhead, Rachel McAdams is so "fetch."
Trailer: The Time Traveler's Wife
It's About 'Time' for Bana, McAdams
Rachel McAdams has a smile like a magnesium flash and legs longer than a Friday night drive to the Hamptons. But she may be a wanderer in time: While contemporary Hollywood does back flips to get the attention of pimply males, McAdams recalls an era when women in hats ruled the box office, and dramas dropped like ripe figs from the bountiful orchards of the Warner brothers.
Is it a cosmic coincidence that her new film, "The Time Traveler's Wife" (opening Friday), includes a clip of Bette Davis in that classic weeper "Dark Victory"? McAdams might have been Davis. Or Joan Crawford. Or Myrna Loy. Alas, she lives in the wrong period of cinema history: She may play the title character, and owns the face gazing out of the poster, but she hasn't quite gotten the keys to the kingdom.
"I think it ebbs and flows," the 30-year-old actress said, smiling, during an interview in Manhattan. "I think of this film as a two-hander, definitely. But Warner Bros. has stated quite specifically that they don't really make movies where females are the protagonist, which I think is really sad and unfortunate. Because I think women can definitely open films. It's happening more and more."
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A Warner Bros. spokeswoman responded: "We are very proud of 'The Time Traveler's Wife' and of Rachel's performance as the title character in the film. Obviously, we are disappointed that she seems unaware of the many wonderful films from Warner Bros. with strong female leading roles, but we feel our track record speaks for itself."
Separated by time
It may be happening now. Director Robert Schwentke's romantic fantasy, based on the popular Audrey Niffenegger novel, stars McAdams and Eric Bana as lovers separated - time and again - by time. Bana plays Henry, whose genetic abnormality sends him tripping through the decades at the most inopportune moments. He regularly visits Clare (played, at 6 and 8, by the wonderful Brooklynn Proulx), who grows up in love with Henry, waiting to catch up with him and become his wife. Henry, meanwhile, crisscrosses his own time-space continuum to the point that when he and Clare meet as adults (enter McAdams), he doesn't know who she is.
Was she ever confused? "Many times," McAdams said.
As good as Bana is, it's McAdams who anchors this romantic vessel, much as she did "The Notebook." And it will be that film, in which she starred with former fiance (and fellow Canadian) Ryan Gosling, that draws comparisons to "The Time Traveler's Wife" - rather than, say, "Wedding Crashers" or "Mean Girls," two better known McAdams entries.
There aren't obvious parallels between the two films, outside of a deep well of sentiment and the kind of fatefulness to make hankies appear. "But I guess the scope of the love story is great, and for that reason I can see the comparison," McAdams said.
Schwentke agreed. "I think the tonality is different," he said, "but it's interesting, because the romantic drama has become very scarce. It used to be a great staple of the Hollywood mainstream, the films of the '50s. I loved those films, and I definitely see our film as part of that lineage."
A chick flick for guys?
"The Time Traveler's Wife" began life as a New Line film, and when that company folded, it became the ward of parent company Warner Bros. "I was happy when we became a Warner Bros. film, because when I first approached them about the 'Dark Victory' clip, they wouldn't give us the time of day," Schwentke said. "Then they asked for a tremendous amount of money. I always wanted that particular piece of film, so when we became a Warners movie, I said, 'OK, let's talk about this again!' "
