How the latest generation of movie stars finally managed to gain sentience
Not to imply that every movie star to have ever walked the earth is an empty-headed vessel being steered in the direction of success by a team of agents, representatives, and studio heads, but it’s been completely applicable to many names over a number of years.
The standard methodology for securing superstardom would see an actor land a breakthrough role, which would then immediately be capitalised upon by their casting in several very similar projects before things would strategically be mixed up through a broad comedy, a prestige drama, or a deliberately against-type turn before the cyclical nature of the business drove them back to the mainstream fare that made them a household name in the first place.
It’s a generalisation to a certain extent, sure, but let’s not overlook the fact that many of the A-listers who’ve occupied that position for decades – Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock, Brad Pitt, Harrison Ford, Scarlett Johansson, and Will Smith being just a few of them – have walked a path very similar to the one mentioned above. Clearly, it works, but the next generation has something different in mind.
Take Sydney Sweeney, for example. With two Primetime Emmy nominations to her name for her work on The White Lotus and Euphoria, silver screen stardom beckoned. As part of her side-line as a producer, she acquired the rights to Immaculate almost a decade after an unsuccessful audition for the earliest iteration of the project, and it ended up debuting with the highest-grossing weekend in distributor Neon’s history.
Unfortunately, Madame Web was a flaming dumpster fire, she knew that, but never saw it as anything business opportunity. Sweeney said she was nothing more than an actress for hire on the project, but instead saw the film as a “strategic business decision” that ingratiated her with the power players at Sony.
That allowed her to partner up with the studio for Anyone but You, which she also executive produced. The comedy became a breakout box office hit and the top-earning William Shakespeare adaptation in cinema history, while it also elevated Glen Powell’s star to another level. Speaking of him, he’s in the exact same boat when it comes to playing the long game.
After his profile was raised significantly by Top Gun: Maverick, Powell soaked up as much knowledge as he could from Tom Cruise, which stands him in very good stead. He co-wrote and produced the acclaimed Hit Man alongside Richard Linklater, adds ‘blockbuster leading man’ to his CV with Twisters, and will headline Edgar Wright’s reboot of The Running Man. However, when a guaranteed billion-dollar hit was laid at his door, he knocked it back.
The last three Jurassic World films – and four of the franchise’s six entries in total – have cleared ten figures at the box office. It would be an easy win to boost his star power, but Powell didn’t think either party would benefit from his involvement, even if he’s a huge fan. “Jurassic is one of my favourite movies, it’s one of the things I’ve wanted to do my whole life,” he admitted to The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m not doing that movie because I read the script and I immediately was like, ‘My presence in this movie doesn’t help it.'”
Leonardo DiCaprio – another long-tenured star – told Timothée Chalamet to avoid hard drugs and superheroes at all costs, which he’s done. However, after the back-to-back-to-back bonanzas of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune duology and Wonka, he doesn’t need to suit up. Not only that, but he’s signed a bumper first-look deal with Warner Bros to exert his influence and authority over his career before he’s even turned 30.
Rachel Zegler won a Golden Globe for ‘Best Actress – Comedy or Musical’ for her very first movie in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, and when asked why she settled on comic book sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods as her next port of call, she didn’t even try to sugar-coat by saying she was still an unknown, there was a pandemic happening, and she needed the work, the sort of honesty many stars wouldn’t have displayed in such a public setting.
Austin Butler is the heir apparent to either Brad Pitt’s ‘character actor cursed with leading man looks’ mantle or Tom Hardy’s transformative tour-de-forces with the odd slice of populist entertainment in between to spice things up, Jacob Elordi went full Josh Hartnett and declined the opportunity to audition for Superman, Paul Mescal doesn’t even want to be a movie star but plays the lead in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator sequel, Florence Pugh acknowledged she was called a sell-out for signing a Marvel Studios contract but continues to pinball between an array of eclectic parts, and Anya Taylor-Joy decided her first time headlining a blockbuster would best be served under the watchful eye of George Miller.
In the past, cinematic superstardom was something that had to be carefully cultivated, curated, and managed, but the next generation, with eyes on long and illustrious careers, has been taking a different track by making it happen for themselves. Whether it works or not in the long run remains up for debate, but they can’t be faulted for trying.
