The $20m Actor…Who Needs ‘Em?

There's been a lot of talk recently about how you no longer need a big star to open your movie. There's been several big-budget, star based movies that have failed miserably this year, and a lot of other movies, without big stars, that have done very well. So, now, everyone is thinking, "Oh, we don't need A-listers" whereas, maybe a year ago, it was all "Sorry, unless you have an A-lister, don't even bother me."

How does one make sense of all of this? You don't have to. All you have to do is keep working on what you're working on. In two years, when Bradley Cooper is the biggest name in movies, demanding 20 million per picture and his movies open huge, everyone will say "Sorry, unless you have an A-lister, I can't help you" once again. Hollywood, for some reason, has a really hard time admitting that it's really all about the story and how that connects with audiences.

I was watching West Wing this morning on Bravo and it was the episode from Season 2 when we learn how our main characters got involved with the Bartlett campaign. C.J. Craig works at a PR company and she gets called in because the Golden Globes were announced that day, and some guy that runs a studio (who has hired the PR company and C.J. Craig to promote his movies) is pissed that they only got two nominations. And he puts the blame on her, wants her fired.

C.J. stands up to him and says, "Well, I'm sorry, the fact is the movies were just bad. If they were unknown, I could have helped you, but people didn't nominate them because they were bad movies." (Something like that.)

Sometimes the movies are bad. Sometimes they're good. Sometimes they have stars and sometimes they don't. One of the things I've learned in my short time here is that the only trend in Hollywood is that there are no actual trends. Any trend in Hollywood is one to two years behind whichever picture started it.

Check out the articles below.

The $20m Actor…Who Needs ‘Em?
Hollywood rethinks use of pricey A-list actors