Why Hollywood Won't Cast Miranda Cosgrove Anymore
Miranda Cosgrove first rose to fame at the age of 10 with her film debut as Summer Hathaway in School of Rock (2003). The following year, she landed her iconic role as planning younger sister Megan Parker on Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh, before landing a starring role on the network's iCarly in 2007.
After branching out into the music biz with her 2010 hit "Kissin' You," the actress-turned-singer successfully returned to film, voicing Margo in Despicable Me. As she said goodbye to her alter-ego, Carly Shay, in 2012, Cosgrove was on top of the world. So, why has she been so quiet lately?
Miranda's music career never really took off
While Cosgrove enjoyed some mild hits, her music career failed to reach the same explosive level as her Disney Channel counterparts Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez.
Their most successful single was undoubtedly 2009's "About You Now", which reached No. 47 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Kissin' You", which peaked at no. 54. His 2010 debut album, Sparks Fly, debuted at no. 8 on the Billboard 200, but Cosgrove's last single, Avril Lavigne—wrote "Dancing Crazy", barely crossed the Hot 100 in 2011 before falling off the charts.
A Bus Accident Ended His National Tour
The slow pace of Cosgrove's musical career was cut short after a tour bus accident that ended her Dancing Crazy Summer Tour in North America. According to Billboard, the accident occurred on the morning of August 11, 2011. While traveling on I-70 in Vandalia, Ill., the bus collided with a tractor-trailer in the middle of the highway. According to a statement released by his publicist, the then 18-year-old Cosgrove broke his ankle, but "all will be well." Following her doctor's orders, the "Heartbroken" singer was forced to cancel her remaining 25 tour dates.
Cosgrove sued
Two years after the aforementioned accident, Cosgrove and her mother sued their former tour bus driver, tractor-trailer driver, and both transportation companies for unspecified damages as a result of the accident.
According to TMZ, Cosgrove claimed that the accident could have been prevented if drivers had kept a "safe and reasonable eye" instead of recklessly driving. Cosgrove also alleged that the accident not only ruined her career, but left both she and her mother "malformed and incapacitated." Both women claimed that they "lost their normal lives."
Are his claims valid?
In 2014, Cosgrove's former bus driver publicly stated that Singer's claims were bogus – exaggerated for monetary gain. According to TMZ, the driver questioned the millions of dollars Cosgrove allegedly lost as a result of the accident. This includes $400,000 from canceling his tour, $560,000 in future shows, $400,000 from losing his contract with Neutrogena due to his injuries, and $184,490.16 in medical bills, TMZ reported. Additionally, Cosgrove's record label, Sony, reportedly dropped her following the cancellation of her tour. These financial losses reportedly totaled $2.5 million, but Driver cast doubt on Cosgrove's math.
Hitting books
After iCarly wrapped in 2012, Cosgrove decided to take a short break from Hollywood to study film at the University of Southern California. According to USA Today, she was happy with the change of pace, adapting to college life, and working sparingly on other projects. "Sometimes I forget I've been on the show, because everyone's just trying to go to class and do their job," she said. The studious actress later told Bustle, "It was always important to me. I still wanted to be able to go to college... I'm slowly moving forward until I finish."
In a December 2017 visit to LIVE with Kelly and Ryan, Cosgrove shed a little more light on her pivot away from Hollywood when she told the hosts of the day that she had recently changed her major from film to psychology. Granted, that doesn't mean Cosgrove intends to give up on entertainment life altogether, but it clearly indicates that she has serious interests outside the biz.
Nick's later projects flopped
The transition from child star to adult has not been easy for Cosgrove as her post-Nickelodeon projects continue to flop.
NBC's 2013 pilot for Girlfriend in a Coma was off to a promising start. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it "was to be a comedy about Karen (Christina Ricci), who wakes up from a coma after nearly two decades to find she has a 17-year-old daughter, a pregnancy she was unaware That's when his life was stopped." Cosgrove was to play Evie, "a small-town, overly lonely man who can't shake the legacy of being the daughter of a 'coma lady'." Despite the interesting concept, the show struggled to get on its feet after Ricky exited the project. After reading a table; It was not picked up.
Spaced out failed to launch
2017's Spaced Out was a single-camera workplace comedy from the mind of Scrubs creator Bill Lawrence. It centers on a team of geniuses who are building a rocket to Mars, with protagonist Peter Gibbons (Matt Shivley) serving as a working-class newcomer struggling to fit in with the group. . The space-travel pilot featured Cosgrove as Casey, a character Deadline described as "a brilliant and enthusiastic software engineer who shares his co-workers' dream of sending humans to Mars." " The project never got off the ground; NBC cut it during their final round of selections.
Intruders gone straight to DVD
While Despicable Me has grown into a huge franchise, Cosgrove's other film efforts haven't done nearly as well. The 2015 horror flick The Intruder went straight to DVD and received negative reviews, grossing only 21 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. Film critic Steve Newton took a particularly harsh view of the film, describing it as a "watery twist" on an obscure 1970s TV movie. His views on Cosgrove's performance weren't much better, as he also noted, "Unfortunately, the photogenic qualities of the iCarly star far outweigh his acting here." Ouch.
She's 'crowded out' from TV
In February 2015, Cosgrove landed a television gig that was actually selected to series. The actress joins the cast of NBC's Crowded, which focuses on two daughters (Cosgrove played younger sister Shea) who have moved back to their parents' home, according to the New York Post. Unfortunately, the series' formulaic and dated content attracted poor reviews and low ratings. The Hollywood Reporter called the show "pointless, stupid and baseless". Oh, is that so. The freshman sitcom was canceled after just one season.
She is busy planning a return to music
Since her departure from iCarly, Cosgrove has indicated that she would eventually like to return to music. She told Kidz World, "Sometimes I record songs. Because I feel like I'm focusing more on school, I'm not as focused on music, although I still really like it." is."
Want to get a taste of Cosgrove's recent musical output? In September 2016, she shared a stripped-down performance of a song she had written on Instagram.
she wants to be a screenwriter
Cosgrove hopes that one day he will write and star in his own screenplay—a la Tina Fey. "I definitely want to act. That's why I want to be the lead in film," she told USA Today. "The most important thing is to find a good story. It's tough when you're coming from a TV show. I'm hoping to find something right."
Cosgrove told Bustle that she is honing her writing skills. "I like to write about bad days, experiences, things that really happen to me," she said. "Especially with comedy, a lot of [female] comedians, my favorite, write their own stuff because they know their strengths."
Despicable Me 3
The third installment of the computer-animated Despicable Me franchise premiered with Cosgrove in late June 2017. Although the family-friendly film received mixed reviews, it became a massive international box office success. According to Variety, the film grossed an astonishing $241.4 million worldwide during its opening Fourth of July holiday weekend. Though being part of a commercially successful film that certainly pays the bills, it may not be the more mature fare that Cosgrove is looking for.
How can she turn it
While the Despicable Me franchise is a good safety net for Cosgrove to fall back on, she's not attempting to break out of her acting comfort zone just yet. According to her IMDb page, Cosgrove has just one project on her plate for 2018, another network sitcom called History of Them. Deadline describes the project as a "high-profile multi-camera/hybrid comedy pilot" focusing on "two friends, Luna (Ana Villafane) and Adam (Bret Dyer), and how they fell in love, Using the couple's social media (Instagram/Twitter/FB) as a guide." And Cosgrove doesn't even get screen time—she's the show's narrator.
It seems to us that it's either another career "safe bet," like her previous sitcom efforts, or perhaps something that won't cut her academic studies too much, but will still keep her relevant in the game. Even though Cosgrove is in a holding pattern career-wise, we are confident that when she is ready, she will be able to recapture the energy of her earlier multidisciplinary forays into showbiz.