So, if you have paid attention to web series, then you know there is a proliferation of series about actresses. It’s kind of like the female version of the “vampire” trend. My gripe on many of these shows is not the subject matter, as there have been some great “struggling actress” roles in history (Klute is one, Hannah and Her Sisters is one, Persona is another), but it’s that many of these web show depict actresses as vain, melodramatic, desperate, and willing to be humiliated and desecrated in any way to get a role. Frustrating. I always find myself wanting them to turn that stereotype on its head.
The Actress, on the other hand, does exactly this. Hannah (played by Ann Carr) is smart, overwhelmed, overanalytical, and a bit sad — in short, complicated. She woefully deals with an industry that treats her like grocery, navigates family and friend’s judgment of her financial status and resume, while trying to maintain some dignity. She doesn’t sell herself short yet is deflated that others sell her short. It is an honest, touching, and funny character study of an intelligent blonde caucasian actress/writer in New York. And nicely enough, it’s well acted. Now that’s the way to show ‘em.
Watch the Bergman-esque Season 2 opener below.
CREATOR: Ann Carr
PRODUCERS: Ann Carr, Jim Turner
DIRECTOR, DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY & EDITOR: Tim Bierbaum
CAST: Ann Carr, Pamela Murphy, Olivia Haleblian, Thomas Poarch
