This semester I am taking a theatre arts class on "Stardom". I had my first class yesterday and I am already excited for a semester of movie watching to balance out my uber boring business classes. I think it is going to be really fascinating to talk about different movies and the stars in them and why they are famous. We have a great lineup of movies that we're going to be watching and I have seen some of them, but many of them I haven't seen. I thought maybe for fun I would post "reviews" on some of the movies and let you know my thoughts on them and sort of what we discuss in class about them. If you have a NetFlix account maybe you'll get some good ideas :)
The movie we watched last night was S1m0ne or Simone...whatever you want to call it. It has Al Pacino, Evan Rachel Wood and Winona Ryder among a few other actors. It wasn't a good movie, at all. But that wasn't really the point of it. The plot of the movie is Al Pacino, a movie director, creates a virtual actress, because he is tired of dealing with the demands and complaints of real actresses. I don't suggest you go rent this, because it will be a waste of 2 hours of your life, but I like the questions that it brings up. It's sort of this vicious cycle...we become so obessed with famous people that it gives them the reign and power to do whatever they want. They can request ridiculous things in their dressing room, and demand insane amounts of money per film, because we'll go see the movie because we're obsessed! The interesting thing that my teacher brought up is when the production costs become so inflated for these movies and the actors get paid such insane amounts, it in turn raises the cost of movie tickets. What is it about these people that makes us so obsessed when they are regular people that possess a talent to act? We are willing to adopt their fashions (and pay ridiculous amounts for them), buy magazines to read about them, watch anything they produce. It's just a bizarre phenomenon when you think about it. I really enjoy movies and there are a lot of actors and actresses I really admire but when they start getting paid tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars for a movie, are they really worth it? Is it worth paying $10 to see their movie in the theater? Why is it that we care so much about these stranger's lives? Just some food for thought for you all. Our only real assignment this semester is to pick a star and write a term paper on them. Any ideas on who I should choose? It can be a deceased star or a current one. I am thinking maybe a man, since picking a woman would be easier. Maybe Will Smith, Denzel Washington or Heath Ledger? Brianne was thinking maybe Kate Winslet. I'm up for good suggestions!
Anyway, I'll try and keep up on my movie posts during this semester! Hasta luego!
**Side note...my friend Shannon read this blog and looked up this article. It's an interesting article that talks about specific actors and how much money that actually bring in per dollar that they are paid. Read it if you're interested...and I'm interested in what you have to say!
6 comments:
After reading the description on Simone I realized I HAVE seen that! I think I watched it w/ Adam's family. It. Was. Bad.
I think Leonardo DiCaprio would be a good one to write about. I mean sure, he's a mainstream heart throb and everything, but have you ever really notice what an incredible actor he really is? I mean everything I've seen him in he's totally believable. Especially in 'Catch Me If You Can', he played so many different people in that movie, and he was totally believable....as every character! I know, it'd probably be boring for the teacher, I'm sure he/she's read a million papers on him, but I think Leo is pretty interesting....that's just my two cents. ;-)
Oh, I think Anthony Hopkins is pretty interesting too.
Hey! Thanks for the shout out. Glad you liked the article. I thought it was pretty interesting, but now I would like to see a follow up about why certain actors are so profitable. Talent? Role selection? Personal life? Trainwreck-ness?
We can get a rolling discussion happening here if you'd like :)I was thinking about that as we were watching Simone. In the movie since Simone is not real, the director has to hide her and people become even more obsessed with her since they never get to see her in person. I was thinking about the "Freak factor" with people that are total crazies, and train wrecks-your Tommy Lees and Courtney Loves of the world. People become even more interested since they're weird and not ordinary. Yet, people get just as attached with people who seem to be super ordinary like Jennifer Aniston, Jennifer Garner etc. I think talent and beauty has a lot to do with it, but people who seem just like us, or who seem completely unlike us are the ones that tend to really become "watched".
Good point Lo. There are a lot of middle of the road celebrities that we don't hear of....because of their normalness. Like Charleton Heston, or Paul Newman, or Alicia Silverstone, Calista Flockhart, or Helen Hunt, or Jim Caviezel, or Ryan Gosling, ok I'll stop there.... Not that some of these are not wonderful actors, (they are pretty big names and mainstream) but they're 'boring'. Sure they are photographed and watched, but not like TomKat, or Victoria and David, or Brad and Ang, or Jen. People are weird to go SO crazy over other people. The train wrecks are the worst! It's like they're calling out for the attention, and it's not good attention. Anyway, I'm rambling now, so again, good point.
What a fun class!! I hope bsu has something like that :)
As a self professed celeb follower, I think the allure is that they lead lives we don't. There are certain celebs who have that 'it' factor that makes people want to know about them. And the more interested people are in them, the more interested they will be in the movie hence the big fat paychecks.
Anywho... an interesting person you should look into is Frank Langella. He has been in so many movies and has been a working actor for years yet he is practically unknown. Frost/Nixon is earning him his first acknowlegdements and he is in like his late 60's I believe. Very interesting story...
I've seen a few interviews with Frank Langella. It sounds like he is not at all interested in being a celebrity per se and is rather modest and not upset at all at being overlooked for years and years. If only all celebrities were so modest...
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