Lindsay Lohan: Talented and Troubled

Lindsay Lohan, Marilyn Monroe Compared For 'Talent Slipping Away'

Lindsay Lohan has long pointed out Marilyn Monroe as her personal icon, and the distressed starlet seems following in the footsteps of the fallen Hollywood legend.

Journalist Stephen Rodrick made a cover on Lohan for the New York Times Magazine, telling how Lohan acted on the set of "The Canyons." The result was a lengthy piece on how difficult the 26-year-old is to work with and how really off-the-rails she has gone. In a behind-the-story meeting, Rodrick provides his impression of Lohan, noting parallels in between her story and that of Marilyn Monroe.

"There's skill in there," Rodrick, who describes Lohan as "vulnerable" and a "tornado," clarifies to the NYT. "She has that undefinable 'it' quality. You can see it at certain moments in the movie. The frustrating/tragic thing, and Lindsay would be the first to confess it, is getting that talent out of her over the past few years has actually been virtually impossible. That's why I called the piece 'The Misfits,' after Marilyn Monroe's take movie, one that Schrader and the crew were regularly discussing on set. You can't say that Lindsay has the talent or resume of Monroe, however there is that exact same feeling of skill escaping, maybe permanently."
"The Misfits" was the 1961 film that featured the last performances of both Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable. The film was expected to be finished 50 days, but took 90, and Monroe was sent to the healthcare facility for a week in the middle of shooting. In the initial NYT profile, Rodrick describes how the "Canyons" supervisor, Paul Schrader, began talking about "The Misfits" after getting distressed with Lohan while on set.

"We're making 'The Misfits' on a microbudget," Schrader joked. He added, "But below's the thing: 'The Misfits' is actually an excellent movie."

Rodrick and Schrader are not the only ones to make the Lohan-Monroe parallel. Fellow starlet Megan Fox made the Lohan comparison while talking to Esquire about why she decided to eliminate her Monroe tattoo.

"I started reviewing her and recognized that her life was incredibly difficult. It's like when you visualize something for your future. I didn't wish to visualize something so adverse," Fox informed Esquire, according to E! News. She continued, "She had not been effective at the time. She was kind of like Lindsay. She was an actress who wasn't trustworthy, who nearly wasn't insurable ... She had all the capacity in the world, and it was squandered. I'm not thinking about following those steps."