At 14-years-old, Emily Browning was already a regular on Australian TV when she was cast
in Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2004.
Acting opposite A-listers like Jim Carrey and Meryl Streep, Browning basically hit a
homerun on her first at-bat in the Hollywood scene.
But Browning's star power has slowly subsided over the years, despite the fact that she
generally gets rave reviews on her performances.
Here's why Hollywood won't cast Emily Browning anymore.
Holding off Hollywood
Emily Browning has been very outspoken about her opinions on Hollywood.
During promotions for Sucker Punch, Browning touched on what she perceives as a problem
Hollywood has in its characterization of women.
In an interview, she said, "It's something I've never seen before: strong female characters.
There's none of the false kind of cattiness that Hollywood sort of believes is innate
to all females.
I can't stand that girl-hate culture.
I think it's so unnecessary and so outdated."
She added in a 2015 chat with The Guardian that she's making a pointed effort to avoid
roles that would peg her as "the hot babe that doesn't say anything."
She's not alone in that interpretation, of course, but she might be counting herself
out of some key roles right now.
Not only has Browning taken issue with some aspects of the entertainment biz, but she's
also not interested in the ethos of young stardom, either.
While living in LA to shoot Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, Browning discovered
an environment of sheltered industry kids whose highest aspiration was to star on a
Nickelodeon show, and it actually made her think about giving up on the business altogether.
She said, "I saw a world I didn't want to be part of.
"I thought, 'No, I can't do this.
I need to get out of here.'
And for a while, I thought I didn't want to be an actress.
That it had been fun for a bit, but it's not for me."
She hasn't altogether left the industry, but she certainly doesn't seem to buy into the
norms of Tinseltown.
Box office bust
Of Browning's three major studio films, A Series Of Unfortunate Events, Sucker Punch,
and Pompeii, only one has done well with critics and ticket-buyers.
And although each was an ensemble piece, which means the blame for their poor receipts don't
fall exclusively on her shoulders, it only takes a few bombs to create the perception
that perhaps one is not a blockbuster box office draw.
Especially when the critics get out their knives as well.
While Browning herself isn't usually singled out, her movies have been widely panned, which
means she hasn't had the kind of wins that can help keep a career afloat.
Prestige projects
In director Julia Leigh's controversial indie flick, Sleeping Beauty, Browning played a
college student who got drawn into the seedy world of high-end prostitution.
That's some pretty dark material, and it's the kind of role that even Browning knew would
come with some lingering baggage.
In an interview with IndieWire, Browning said, "I knew from the word go that there would
be people who didn't feel comfortable with it or didn't like it.
And that's fine.
I've been doing this for a long time, and I stopped worrying about other people's opinions."
Her subsequent roles haven't done much to bring her back into the mainstream, either.
She told The Irish Times she read 150 scripts after she starred in Legend alongside Tom
Hardy, only to find that "Often the film is good, but you're playing the girlfriend role."
"If she was sort of this wet, sad kind of housewife I don't think I would've been interested
in playing her."
She ultimately chose Shangri-La Suite, an off-beat indie film about a Bonnie and Clyde-type
couple who go on a road trip with the end goal of assassinating Elvis Presley.
Then, she followed that up with another super small film, Golden Exits, which made a blip
at The Sundance Film Festival, but hasn't done much since.
Those kind of choices might be fulfilling, but they're not escalating her billing anytime
soon.
Dimming the big lights
The set of Lemony Snicket must have had a profound effect on Browning, because over
10 years later, she was still citing it as a reason she shied away from bigger studio
films.
Speaking with Interview, Browning compared the massive Hollywood production to the smaller
sets she was used to down under, saying, "I feel like in Australia, all the films I've
done, we're all equal moving parts in this equation of making the film—an actor is
another crew member, essentially.
I liked that."
She's purposefully stayed away from what might've been big opportunities, like The Twilight
Saga.
She was author Stephenie Meyer's first choice to fill the role of Bella, but told MTV, "It's
not that they asked [me to take the Twilight part], but I couldn't even audition.
I was too tired.
So, really, it's just a matter of me being lazy."
Browning claimed that she was "exhausted," having just wrapped shooting on the 2006 horror
flick, The Uninvited, and that she's "not the type of person who can just work back-to-back."
Many young women in Hollywood would've loved to be in her position to have a shot at such
a phenomenon as Twilight, but Browning's unwillingness to put her nose to the grind cost her a major
job opportunity.
To her, it was ultimately a blessing.
"They got such a crazy amount of attention.
I don't think I would've been acting anymore.
I wouldn't have been able to handle it, absolutely not."
Turning a corner
In a rare move for Browning, she took a role in the highly-anticipated Starz adaptation
of Neil Gaiman's novel, American Gods.
This is a tentpole project for the premium cable network, meaning huge budget, huge production,
and massive publicity.
It's everything Browning supposedly eschews about the business, so why the sudden change
of heart?
According to her interview with Entertainment Weekly, Browning's character, Laura, is one
of the "coolest characters" she's ever read or played.
She also said, "I love that Laura is a jerk.
She's a real a–hole.
Not only that, but she feels no shame about it…
I love the fact that there will be times when the audience won't empathize with her at all."
It goes back to Browning's guiding ethos, mantra acting, which is a desire to challenge
both herself and the audience with tough, but creative and original material.
Plus she gets to play a zombie who fights people with her own severed arm, which let's
be honest, is a cool enough perk to endure some of that Hollywood snootiness she hates
so much.
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