HOLLYWOOD -- Gretchen Mol is longing for the day when casting directors will see her for who she is and not for who she reminds them of.

"I get Grace Kelly, Kim Novak and Marilyn Monroe a lot. This penchant for comparisons seems to be the only way some people in Hollywood can function," explains the willowy star of the science fiction thriller The Thirteenth Floor.

"I'm grateful to be lumped in such wonderful company. I just wish I could get the kind of roles they had. Their characters were more fleshed out than the roles for women today."

Mol says that Hollywood is still fascinated with the blond sex symbols of the '50s because "they were such stoic, graceful, confident women."

Mol spent the past three months in Toronto and Miami filming Forever Mine, the story of a love triangle that plays out over 15 years.

"Ray Liotta plays my husband. We go to Miami where I meet Joseph Fiennes who is a cabana boy. We fall for each other and never fall out of love.

"It is this huge, unapologetic old-fashioned love story. I think that Shakespeare in Love winning the Oscar proved that audiences want great love stories again."


More Artists