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Is super stardom over?
Are we done with the Tom Cruise’s of the world?
Has social media and cultural accountability changed the way we idolize stars? Back in the ‘90s to early 2000s, when someone got big, they were in everything. Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts, Hugh Grant, Cameron Diaz, etc. They were the main actors cast for everything. This goes even further back: Marilyn Monroe. Shirley Temple. Harrison Ford. Tom Cruise. As soon as Tom Cruise blew up in Top Gun, he was in every, single, major movie throughout the 1990s. Big singers were often cast in movies as well. Madonna. Britney Spears. Even Taylor Swift had a short stint in acting. If someone gets big, their exposure needed to be even bigger.
That’s probably why there’s so many unnecessary film or television reboots and sequels — it’s the logic of safety to gain an audience through big-name movie stars instead of taking risks by putting in a new face in a new story. But films like Obsession or Get Out changed that, huh? What people are looking for now is originality. Original stories. Original faces. That logic of safety is looking real boring now.
We’re getting this sense that consumers want to see more than the classic tropes. We’ve seen the typical Hollywood gaze, but now let’s break the rules. Movie goers want to connect to the art and the artist — so no…
