working and talented dreamers.  Against tremendous odds and any measure of rationality, these visionaries have decided to pursue a professional career in Hollywood movies and somehow––through aptitude, perseverance, and luck––succeeded.  How did they pull it off while so many others failed?  Is there a formula for increasing the probability of breaking into this seemingly impenetrable industry?

 Ingenue Magazine aims to answer such questions by focusing on new actresses and actors who have landed major roles in mainstream Hollywood movies.  Think of Audrey Hepburn lighting up Roman Holiday, Marlon Brando's powerhouse turn in A Streetcar Named Desire, Jessica Lange's bright presence in Tootsie, and Al Pacino's quiet-but-forceful portrayal of Michael Corleone in The Godfather––these are all examples of individuals unknown to the big screen showing up and making a grand impression.  More recent breakthroughs such as Natalie Portman in The Professional, Josh Hartnett in Black Hawk Down, Kate Hudson in Almost Famous, and Hugh Jackman in X-Men confirm the phenomenon of Hollywood giving unproven talent the opportunity to catapult out of obscurity and into virtually instant stardom.  It's what keeps the masses of creative migrants flowing into Los Angeles and New York from all over the world––they know they have a chance.

Ingenue's mission is to clarify how the Hollywood movie machine works–– what its members are like, how they live and behave, and what they honestly do to blow off steam.  In some ways, show business is like a secret society; people are reluctant to speak their minds and give much information to outsiders.  They follow certain codes and norms and converse in their own language.  Because I couldn't fathom how such a huge industry could stay so covert and nebulous, I embarked on
creating Ingenue as an upscale companion for those wanting a deeper look into how life "on the inside" is really like.  Forget the Oscars, premieres, and even the movies.

We were tremendously fortunate to find a launch issue collaborator in Ali Larter, an actress who took an unusal step by shifting gears in the midst of a successful commercial film career to craft a future tailor-made to fulfill her artistic needs.  Ali wrote a piece that gives real insight into issues important to someone of her stature in developing a respectable repertoire of memorable roles.  We were also honored to get to know a shining roster of actors we profiled, our featured New Hollywood players, and The Cooler director, Wayne Kramer.  It's force-of-nature individuals like these who will determine the future of Hollywood movies.

Most importantly, I thank our dedicated team who worked so hard to make this happen, our generous and inspired contributing writers, photographers, stylists, and illustrators, and our many supporters over the past few years who have chipped in to help this project go forward.

So please let us know what you think.  While we have a clear mission, we also want to give you exactly what you want.

Dane Lee
Editor-in-Chief

 

a society of artistic, hard-