THE CURE: First, “she’s got to stop making Ashley Judd movies,” says one producer. On this point, the Hollywood power brokers interviewed for this story agree. “People think stardom is about being a babe,” says Lynda Obst, producer of Judd’s “Someone Like You.” “It isn’t. The key to female stardom is being a girl that girls love, and Ashley has the makings of that. It’d be great if she did more romantic comedies.” Adds an agent, “I always feel like she’s the man in the movie. She needs something to soften her up–like Laura Linney’s character in ‘You Can Count on Me’–and she needs to work with a director like Robert Altman, who’s going to get the essence of who she is.” Everyone agrees that Judd should take second or third billing in indie films by provocative directors. As it happens, she’s circling three low-budget films, and may well get her groove back. “These things are cyclical,” Obst says. “I think she’s enormously talented. I’m crazy about her.” Now Judd just has to work on the rest of us.
