I wonder how Taylor chose projects?

I think she also chose films that were shot outside the U.S. at this point, so she didn't have to pay income tax. This narrowed her choices.


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Her career, and almost everybody else in her age bracket fell into trouble. She'd been a star since 1944---it was just about time for her box-office to sputter.

Most of her films had respectable credentials--even the later ones. The script of "X Y and Zee" was written expressly FOR Taylor by the distinguished Edna O'Brien. "Night Watch" was a very big hit on Broadway. "The Bluebird" is based on a classic fairytale (and the not-so-classic version with Shirley Temple) "A Little Night Music" was, well--"A Little Night Music."

After that it was mostly TV, but she accepted that, and there were some fun films in that era.

The point to make is that she was never seen by the media or the public as any less a star, whether her movies were successful or not. After a while, she didn't need to make movies to maintain her fame--she was Fame, period.

Perhaps if she had stayed closer to Hollywood, but--it was Burton, Burton, Burton and money, money, money. And Europe was the place for the life she liked to lead on those days.

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I think she chose these projects the same way most older struggling actresses chose their roles, they made sure the check cashed and then showed up for work!

Well, Burton was an influence in most of them, she did half of them with him and surely others like Identikit, based on books, he also influenced those but ultimately it was her own choice because she starred in Ash Wednesday which Burton absolutely detested, and she personally wrote to Muriel Spark about how excited she was to bring her novel to the big screen. I guess she had read the source materials and liked it and doing films about it looked good on paper.

In Hollywood, a woman nearing or over 40 has a tough time to begin with. Being the ingenue is far behind them, so they have to find a project in which to play a leading part, not an eccentric side-character: Basically, they have to find roles in which the eccentric side-character type is in the lead. Men have it easy and can be 50 and action heroes. I'm not getting all political about it but it's true. Older men get lines in their face and seem actually more realistic in adventure or action films since they seem to have been living the razor's edge for so long, it comes easy. But taking a woman over 40 seriously in a romantic part is like watching your mom and dad make out.

As for her 1970's stuff, they were, for the most part, just weird movies, arthouse and bizarre, almost like grownup student films, and even old pro GIANT director George Stevens's ONLY GAME IN TOWN is odd, esp at how Liz is pretending to be a thin woman in her late twenties, as far as the script goes, and lines like, "I like to be carried to the bed" to a skin and bones Warren Beatty are pretty funny, and aren't supposed to be.

I'm personally becoming a fan of Liz stuff in the late 60's/early 70's and have been doing writeups on anything I can find. My copy alas of this particular movie is widescreen and the people look like bobble heads. I will get through it though.

Anyhow, as to how or why she chose such movies, there is no answer unless you knew the woman personally, but I think older people during the 60's felt they needed to be in projects that were as bizarre as possible just to be.... relevant because a lot of the Hollywood people had shifted from clean-cut intellectuals to shaggy artists, and they assumed their fans i.e. the people in the audience were that way too, when in reality, normal people just wanted to be entertained.

ONLY GAME IN TOWN (writeup):
http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2016/09/OGIT.html

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