Why Rene Russo Disappeared From Hollywood

When a Hollywood actor is big and making lots of movies, it kind of feels like they'll stick around forever. There are plenty who do, but so often a familiar face will enjoy a hot streak before vanishing from the limelight. Back in the '90s we had a number of such actors. Alicia Silverstone, Meg Ryan, and Bridget Fonda all hit their peak during the decade and became household names thanks to their hits. And then they were gone, either suffering from a string of poor choices (Silverstone), taking a break from acting (Ryan), or retiring altogether (Fonda). Another Hollywood star who enjoyed her heyday in the '90s before vacating our multiplexes was Rene Russo. But why exactly did she disappear from Hollywood?

Russo was one of several models who crossed over into acting during the '90s. Some made a big splash in their breakthrough roles, like Milla Jovovich in "The Fifth Element" and Cameron Diaz in "The Mask." Others didn't fare quite so well; Cindy Crawford and Pamela Anderson appeared in high-profile star vehicles ("Fair Game" and "Barb Wire" respectively) before rapidly fading away again. Russo was senior to most of them, already 35 by the time she made her big screen debut in "Major League" at the end of the '80s. This late bloomer status made her a good fit for roles as assertive and career-minded women, not to mention glamorous but more mature love interest for a string of A-list Hollywood stars throughout the '90s. Then, in the mid-2000s, she was out and has only returned sporadically since.

Russo's rise to stardom as a model was sudden and unexpected. After being spotted by an agent outside a Rolling Stones concert at the age of 17 in 1972, she went from an awkward teen nicknamed the "Jolly green giant" by her schoolmates to an internationally-renowned fashion model. By her own admission, she was unpopular at school and lacked self-esteem, not helped by the body brace she wore for four years to correct a curvature of her spine. But you wouldn't know it from her appearance when she graced the glossy covers of magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan: poised and imperious with a steady gaze that radiated intelligence and inner strength.

Russo modeled for 10 years before realizing that money and fame didn't equal personal fulfilment. She quit, found Christianity through theology classes, and turned her attention to acting. The powerful qualities she transmitted as a model would come to define her screen presence when she made the switch to movies, but first she had to endure mostly generic wife and girlfriend roles ("Major League," "One Good Cop") before her major breakthrough in "Lethal Weapon 3." While playing Mel Gibson's love interest, she made a big impression as steely L.A.P.D. Internal Affairs agent Lorna Cole, rocking a very '90s power suit and beating up henchmen with gusto. The film was the most successful entry in the franchise and the second highest-grossing movie of the year, catapulting Russo onto the Hollywood A-list.

Rene Russo stuck to largely the same formula throughout the '90s. "In the Line of Fire" saw her playing a secret service agent (and Clint Eastwood's love interest) before she played a scientist studying a deadly virus in "Outbreak." She mixed things up a bit as a jaded scream queen with dreams of better things in "Get Shorty" before playing another doctor and Kevin Costner's love interest in "Tin Cup." She was on wife duty again in "Ransom," re-teaming with Mel Gibson for another substantial hit before finally landing a star vehicle of her own playing real-life ape lover Gertrude Lintz in "Buddy," which received poor notices and flopped at the box office. 

After that, it was back to the big shoulder pads as she reprised her role in "Lethal Weapon 4" and stepped into Faye Dunaway's shoes in the glossy remake of "The Thomas Crown Affair" opposite Pierce Brosnan. It was yet another love interest assignment, but Russo had developed enough star power to snag the kind of roles in her 40s that would typically go to younger female actors — indeed, she was almost 20 years older than Dunaway when she played the same part. Ultimately, for all her stardom during that period she was (by her own admission) "pigeonholed" in similar roles. She also freely admits that she didn't have a true passion for acting, more interest in the paycheck than seeking better roles that may have helped her build a more distinctive screen career.

While typecasting meant that Rene Russo rarely got a great role to truly show off her acting chops, her string of Hollywood hits made it seem like she was always on the screen during the '90s. But then it all started going south as we entered the 21st Century and the turning point was surely "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle." She put on a comedy Soviet accent to play Natasha Fatale and embarrassed herself along with Robert De Niro (Fearless Leader) and Jason Alexander (Boris Badenov). It's hard to fault Russo's enthusiasm in the film but her performance was singled out with both a Razzie and a Stinkers nomination. To even things out a little, the Saturn Awards gave her a Best Supporting Actress nod.

Next up, Russo made it back-to-back flops with De Niro in the buddy action comedy "Showtime" before working with Barry Sonnenfeld again on "Big Trouble." They were unable to recreate the success of "Get Shorty" and the movie also tanked at the box office. It didn't help that the film's release was pushed back in the wake of 9/11 due to a terrorist plot device and all but dumped by the studio. Her next two projects, "Two for the Money" (which she executive produced) and "Yours, Mine & Ours" hardly set the world alight either. It was a bad run for an actor who could seemingly do no wrong just a few years earlier and time for a classic Hollywood hiatus.

Russo is always very open in interviews about her ambivalence towards acting. When the Los Angeles Times asked her in 2014 whether she missed it during her break, she responded: "Oh, hell no!" Around the same time, she also talked to Buzzfeed about her decision to step back from acting:

"I was kind of going through a hard time in my life a little bit. I'd started ironing, I say, when I was 9 years old. I worked constantly. I didn't really ever take a break. I just think I hit a wall. I mean, even emotionally. I was not in any shape to do a movie. I was depressed. It was not a good time for me."

She used the time away from the screen to focus on herself and spend more time with her daughter. Having dropped out of high school in 10th grade, she also decided to self-educate by watching thousands of documentaries to fill gaps in her knowledge. She helped the Department of Water and Power (DWP) create native gardens in California by promoting indigenous plants and started her own dairy farm with 40 cows in upstate New York.

It all sounds like a life well-lived out of the spotlight but only six years passed between "Yours, Mine & Ours" and Rene Russo's return to acting as Frigga, the God of Thunder's mom in "Thor." She has appeared in seven movies since then, but her lower profile nowadays still prompts articles asking what happened to her.

Many of Rene Russo's more recent roles have been older variations on the sort of characters she played back in the '90s: A disreputable wife and mother in "Frank and Cindy;" a masseuse and Robert De Niro's love interest in "The Intern;" and a luxury resort director who becomes the focus of rivalry between Morgan Freeman and Tommy Lee Jones in "Just Getting Started."

Returning to the well also resulted in her greatest performance to date. She put a vicious spin on her frequent driven career women in "Nightcrawler," Dan Gilroy's ambitious and depraved neo-noir. The writer and director, Russo's husband, specifically wrote the role for her, a ruthless TV executive desperate to pump up her station's ailing figures. Russo's career-best turn earned plenty of attention on the awards circuit (including a BAFTA nomination) and buzz that she might be in line for Oscar recognition. There was a nice symmetry to this; the pair met while making "Freejack" back in 1992, for which Russo received the first award nomination of her film career. Sadly, the "Nightcrawler" Oscar nomination didn't materialize, but she went on to work with Gilroy again in "Velvet Buzzsaw."

It is quite possible that Russo might go one better and earn an Oscar nod in future if she gets the right material. But it has now been another six years since her last film role (as Frigga in "Avengers: Endgame") and, given her new happy-go-lucky approach to acting, it's probably best that we don't hold our breath.