Today’s movie stars don’t guarantee box office success as they once did.
Just ask Robert Redford (”Lions for Lambs”), Tom Cruise (”Lions,” again), Russell Crowe (”State of Play”) and even Will Smith (”Seven Pounds”).
But do any of today’s stars radiate old-school charm, the kind of unbridled charisma that actors of yore had in abundance?
Just consider Bette Davis, Cary Grant and Spencer Tracy, legends who could carry a film with just their inestimable presence.
Can any modern actor make that claim?
I’ll name one of the top of my head, and it’s someone I’d never suggest a mere five years ago.
George Clooney rocketed to fame in NBC’s “ER,” even though he merely nodded gravely through scene after scene as if his handsome visage were all he needed.
For a while, he was right.
But in subsequent movie projects he started to fine tune his skills. By the time the Coen brothers used him in “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Clooney had become a solid comic player.
“Up in the Air” represents the latest stage in the actor’s evolution. Will post the WWTW review later tonight.
Clooney combines undeniably handsome features with a veteran’s self confidence to make every film project he’s in all the better.
Even if “The Men Who Stare at Goats” fell apart more than halfway through.
Which of today’s actors do you think qualify as movie stars in the truest sense?
(Photo: George Clooney continues his career ascent with “Up in the Air.”/Paramount)
Related posts:
I'm an award-winning journalist and film critic with more than a decade of experience in newspapers, magazines and the Web. I'm a member of both the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association and the Denver Film Critics Society.
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m having a hard time on this one. I can’t remember the last time I said “Hey, let’s go see the new (insert actor name here) movie.” I will sit through even the most average Cary Grant or Jimmy Stewart movie simply because I like their screen presence. I can’t think of an actor I would do that for today. Certainly not Clooney, to me he is (as John Nolte put it) a guy with movie star looks and TV star talent. I don’t hate him, and I have enjoyed many of his films, but he certainly isn’t the reason.
Nathan Fillion. He’s got the laid-back charm and charisma of a Cary Grant or a Clark Gable in spades. He’s everything George Clooney should be but isn’t, and he pulls it off without even trying.
I agree with you on Fillion. He’s one of those guys that should be a movie star but isn’t. It seems like today there are more TV stars that should be movie stars. I’m also a huge Joss Whedon fanboy so I like anybody who has been on any of his shows, especially Adam Baldwin, David Boreanaz, James Marsters and Alexis Denisof.
“It seems like today there are more TV stars that should be movie stars. ”
Mark Harmon who is the most important character in NCIS.
And then there are some other actors like Stephen Lang who carried the movie GODS AND GENERALS (”You are the First Brigade!”). There is a reason why when I read about Stonewall Jackson I think of him.
Movie Stars use to love American values; now they trash them.
Funny. Can’t think of any young or even American stars, but I’d watch just about anything Ian McKellan or Anthony Hopkins was in. Liam Neeson’s another. Maybe American actors should all go through the London Shakespeare Company for internships.
Sam Jackson’s about the only American actor I can think of, but he brings real character to most everything he does. Love Joe Pesci too, but I haven’t seen him in anything lately. What a sad state of affairs.
If an actor or actress has been around for awhile and has talent ,there will be films which succeed and some that don’t. Some movies capture the public’s attention more than others. Look at Sandra Bullock right now Blind Side is successful and she has had other successes as well as duds. She is a movie star for this time period as is Russell Crowe, Denzel Washington, Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis Cate Blanchett Kate WINSLET. Now not every film these people make is going to be huge boxoffice but that is a feature of the entire movie business not just some actors.
There’s talent out there, but not the roles. The manly-man movie star is now a bygone era, caught between metrosexuals, Hollywood’s cop-out to the gay culture and political correctness. The stars are there, but not the roles to exploit them.
I agree with JimmyC and Blackhawk about the comments of Nathan Fillion having Movie star presence. I do miss the days of Richard Burton, et al. Today there is NO star that can open a movie.
There are some fine actors such as Robert Downey, Chris Noth, Liam Neeson, and Sean Bean. Battlestar Gallactica had the fine ensemble of Edward Jame Olmos, Michael Hogan, and Jamie Bamber. There were other unknowns that shouldn’t be unknown from that show such as CallumKeith Rennie and Tamoh Penikett.
The above actors and George Clooney(meh..) could not open a movie by themselves.
A worthy question that to do justice would require a long answer. To sum up, the answer is an unqualified no. That is certainly true of male actors. First, WWII produced a crop of real, charismatic and, dare I say it, virile male actors. Plus they had the advantage of working in an era when a large number of Westerns, crime dramas and war (not anti-war) films were released showcasing male virtues. Ovah! Thus, the question now is can a beta male (the only permissable variety of male in Hollywood) working in an industry producing mostly films which are thoroughly feminized, multi-culti, politically correct movies become a Movie Star? Does anybody here really consider Brad Pitt to be a male Movie Star? Yes, the Brits are better actors by a wide margin but are any of their younger actors really Movie Stars? On the female side, the entertainment industry is basically by, for, and about them. They have all the advantages. But, have any young actresses risen to the challenge of “being the next” Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Maureen O’Hara, Audrey Hepburn, Katherine Hepburn, Sophia Loren….? Bwahahahahaha!
Kate Winslet is by far the finest actress of my generation. She is very diverse in her range and can play anything from a classy aristocrat to a rebellious hippy. She has a certain quality about her. A certain something that none of the others have . . .
Until we return to the system where the audience gets to choose the stars, we’ll never get great American actors again. Besides, the wussy guys in charge of Hollywood today are terrified of real men. Would wet their pants if they were in the same room with one. For me the big problem with Clooney is that he is so visibly, so sickeningly in love with himself.