Actress Alicia Silverstone gained worldwide recognition with the coming-of-age teen comedy Clueless. Her role as Cher Horowitz, a popular teen who tries to meddle in other people’s lives gained her unanimous appreciation. Her chemistry with Paul Rudd’s Josh Lucas made them one of the most popular on-screen couples and Clueless is considered to be one of the best teen comedies of all time.
However, before Alicia Silverstone became renowned for playing Cher, she was known for her collaboration with rock legends Aerosmith. In fact, if it wasn’t for Silverstone, the legendary rock band would have dipped into obscurity well before the 90s.
Alicia Silverstone’s Road To Success
Like many teen stars, Alicia Silverstone’s journey to Hollywood began with modeling. She started officially modeling when she was six, after her dad, a real estate agent clicked her headshots and submitted them to talent agencies. She was cast in many television commercials, with one being for Domino’s Pizza.
Silverstone graduated to acting soon after, and she got a role in one episode of the iconic coming-of-age TV show The Wonder Years. She starred opposite Fred Savage, who played the protagonist Kevin. In the show, she played his dream girl when he joins high school.
Alicia Silverstone then starred in the psychological thriller The Crush. The film saw her play the antagonist Adrian Forrester, a teen who becomes obsessed with her older neighbor. She starts stalking and pursuing her new neighbor Nick, played by Cary Elwes, despite him rejecting her advances. Adrian then goes to extreme lengths to stop him from being with someone else.
The Crush gained a cult following and was a moderate success at the box office, earning over $13 million against a $6 million budget. The film also served as a stepping stone in Alicia Silverstone’s career as it caught the eye of music video director Marty Callner.
Alicia Silverstone: The “Aerosmith Chick”
After discovering her from The Crush, prominent music director Marty Callner cast Alicia Silverstone in his music video for an Aerosmith song he was directing then. Callner wanted to experiment with his videos and wanted to show a female protagonist that was different from all the rock girls appearing at the time. The director also mentioned that he wanted to change his misogynistic depiction of women in music videos.
The music video for Aerosmith’s Cryin’ features Alicia Silverstone as the protagonist who goes on a trip of self-discovery after she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating. The trip begins with her punching her cheating boyfriend, played by Stephen Dorff out of the car and driving away. She gets a tattoo, and a belly piercing, and even chases and roundhouse kicks a mugger who steals her bag. The video ends with her flipping her boyfriend off and bungee jumping off a cliff.
Also read: Here’s What Alicia Silverstone Did When She Tried On Cher’s Outfits From “Clueless” In Real Life
It was the 1990s and the video was a huge hit, airing multiple times on MTV. Silverstone was known as the ‘Aerosmith chick’. The song was released as a single for Aerosmith’s album Get A Grip and was such a huge hit that they brought her back for another single, Amazing. Silverstone starred as an avatar of a girl in a boy’s virtual reality. S*xually charged and extremely cool, the video was again a major hit. They brought her back again to complete the trilogy, with the music video for Crazy, where Silverstone starred along with lead singer Steven Tyler’s daughter, actress Liv Tyler.
Get A Grip was a huge hit for the band, who were just reeling in from multiple commercial failures as a band, as well as the members’ own drug problems. The album brought them back to the forefront and the band’s collective net worth is now $530 million. The videos of course caught the attention of the director Amy Heckerling, who cast Alicia Silverstone in Clueless.
Source: Mental Floss
Also read: Alicia Silverstone Wants Another Chance At Batgirl Role
