Sometimes you’ve got to wonder what happened to all those popular faces we saw back in the 80s. There are some that ended up going on to do great things, some that didn’t do much after a few big movies here and there, and then some that are still around but don’t necessarily throw their celebrity weight all over the place, like Haviland Morris. as someone that was featured as one of the more noticeable stars in a couple of movies that went on to become well-known for many reasons, Haviland is the type of individual that you might think either regrets her time in said movies or sees them as an experience that helped her to move forward in her career, or both. If you’re thinking about Sixteen Candles right now then you obviously had a fun time growing up and remember the movie in a few different ways since as of today a lot of people are calling it out for the inappropriate behavior that was so widespread in a lot of 80s movies. Of course back then a lot of people wrote it off as being part of the show largely because in the end, people were either happy, received their comeuppance, or the story closed up in some way that managed to make people laugh and realize that it was all comedy and wasn’t to be taken too seriously. Boy, there are times when those days are really missed.
Haviland did follow up Sixteen Candles with a movie that’s been largely forgotten to history but is still every bit as controversial in its own way, as Who’s That Girl, starring Madonna and several other notable faces of the time, was kind of an iffy project that never really went anywhere but was another chance for her to show off her talents as she played Wendy Worthington, a rich, uppity snob that was fully intent on controlling her husband to be. In a number of movies Haviland did come off as the type of woman that was insanely snobbish and that many people would gladly suck up to since she had influence and money, but in real life it’s fair to say that she’s been seen as a hardworking and very personable individual. Obviously she’s a very skilled actress but it’s also been seen that she’s the type that is there to do the job and is then off to the next thing in her life as she’s not entirely devoted to show business even now considering that she retired in 2014 apparently and works in real estate. Katherine Schaffstall of The Hollywood Reporter has more on this.
As I mentioned above, everyone does eventually move on and Haviland is just one of the many that found something outside of show business that could tickle her fancy. While she was still in show business however it was a bit obvious that her star had been in decline since the 80s were really where she shone the brightest given that she had the look and the attitude for the times and was able to turn that into something we’d remember for a long time to come. The debate about the 80s movies, one of many really, is that they couldn’t possibly be made now, but in reality if one looks at the movies that are made now they might want to think twice about such a statement since there’s almost no taboo and no length that some filmmakers won’t go to when displaying controversial topics and scenes, whereas back in the 80s such scenes were used for comedy and usually worked themselves out in one way or another. Ask yourself, how many scenes such as the one in which a very inebriated Caroline was trying to seduce a young and very excited Ted, played by Anthony Michael Hall, ever ended up in a manner that was entirely unpleasant? A lot of people might say this is beside the point, but if you watch closely in Sixteen Candles, Ted is very much trying to keep himself calm and composed while a drunken Caroline is doing everything she can to be wild and crazy. In the end they do have sex apparently, which many people would call rape since she couldn’t consent, but they also end up together more or less, and do talk about it afterwards, hashing it out so to speak in a very calm and composed manner that isn’t threatening or disturbing in the least. In fact, you can honestly see how Caroline confronts Ted about it rather than running off screaming she was raped. Mike McPadden of VH1 has something else to say about this topic.
All in all Haviland might be one of those that regrets such a role or she might have had fun with it rather than waffling on it as a few 80s stars did. But considering that she’s no longer a part of the business, one can only hope that it’s a fond memory and not something she wishes she’d never done.
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