Courtesy: BBC

Lindsay Lohan vows ‘not to miss any London shows’

Actress Lindsay Lohan says she will not miss any shows when she makes her West End debut in David Mamet’s Speed-The-Plow later this year.

The 28-year-old developed a reputation for being unreliable after her early career as a child star descended into alcohol abuse and a series of arrests.

But asked if she would be penalised for missing shows or rehearsals in London, she told the BBC: “That’s not going to happen.

“That’s not on the cards. It’s not.”

“I’m at a place in my life where I like the commitment. I’m looking forward to that part of it.”

‘Willing to work’

Lohan started her career as a child model, aged three, and enjoyed huge success in the remakes of The Parent Trap and Freaky Friday before going on to star in cult comedy Mean Girls.

But her film career became overshadowed by lurid reports depicting her as a drug-taking, alcohol-abusing, hard-partying wild child.

Speed-The-Plow will run from September to November in London

Arrests for traffic violations, shoplifting incidents and alleged assaults saw her appear in the law courts almost as often as the tabloids.

Her reputation for enjoying the high life grew in 2006 when she was rebuked for late arrivals on the set of the film Georgia Rules.

The film’s producer suggested in a letter, leaked to the press, that the actress’s “heat exhaustion” was simply the result of “ongoing all night heavy partying”.

The critics, meanwhile, lined up to savage her performances in box-office disappointments such as I Know Who Killed Me and The Canyons.

But speaking to BBC arts editor Will Gompertz, the actress said she hoped her 10-week appearance at the Playhouse Theatre would help rehabilitate her image.

“I want to be known for my talents and my work that I create, rather than a tabloid sensation,” she said.

“However long it does take, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to work for it.”

Lindsay Lohan will play Karen in the revival, a role first played by Madonna on Broadway in 1988

The actress’s breakout film role was in 1998’s Parent Trap, where she played twins

Rehearsals for the play, which opens on 24 September, have yet to start but Lohan said she felt “very lucky and excited and nervous” to be making her stage debut in the UK.

“There’s a different standard to it here. It seems more prestigious. It seems a bit more serious and that’s something that I really want to experience.”

The actress added she was considering moving to London “for good”.

“I’ve noticed here, watching the news, you guys have such a different outlook. In the US starting at 5pm it’s TMZ, it’s all these shows talking about people’s personal lives and here I don’t notice any of that – it’s news and politics and music.

“So it’s nice to be able to turn on the TV and not everything is about gossip. That’s a really nice feeling.”

‘Paranoid’

The star, who has been hounded by paparazzi since she was a teenager, has been photographed at celebrity haunts since arriving in the UK – but says she has largely dialled down her party lifestyle.

“I don’t put myself in situations where I used to,” she said. “In LA, when people go out at night, that’s all you do. It’s different now. I’ve matured and there’s nothing really left in that life for me.”

Her most successful film was body-swap comedy Freaky Friday, which co-starred Jamie Lee Curtis

The Tina Fey-scripted high school comedy Mean Girls has become a cult hit

The press were out in force when Lohan was sent to prison for violating probation in 2010

But her tabloid profile has left her feeling “paranoid” around cameras.

“My friends think I’m neurotic,” she said, “but I will hear a flash of an iPhone camera, I will hear the shutter from a mile across the room. I will feel it.”

The star added social media was allowing her to regain control of her image.

When a US tabloid published a picture of her with cuts and scratches on her leg last week, she posted a similar image on Instagram, explaining she had fallen off a bike.

“[They said] that I’d cut myself purposefully, which was dark,” she said. “I have siblings. People see that. Producers see that and I don’t need people having that perception of me.

“The benefit of something like Instagram is I can use that to my advantage and I can say ‘look, this is what happened’ and make light of the situation because it was actually kind of funny.

“If I give the shot first, then there’s no shot to get.”

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