Burlesque is getting some good reviews, and may be a comeback for Cher. For a while, she kind of a laughing stock, even though her career never imploded. The funny thing is, Cher used to be synonymous with fame. As in, kids who only know adult movie stars via cartoons, that level of A List.Unfortunately, female A List stars tend to be much rockier for various reasons. An ingenue might be the next big thing, and poor choices in roles (or poor choice of roles) could put her out. Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep are experiencing some good renaissances, but males can weather dryer spells, and sometimes a degree of experience is good.
Chances are most of you are familiar with Television Without Pity. A good percentage of you are, in turn, familiar with Fametracker. I always found it fascinating because of its taking people who are huge names and wondering, what in fact, they have done of substance. Also, analyzing what the Hollywood pecking order exactly was. This is an article about Mel Gibson. In the article, it talks about the Mount Rushmore of Fame--Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Gibson, and Bruce Willis. In what's perhaps an error of judgment, Tom Hanks is ruled out, but he's never quite been a "matinee idol", and his status even now is more of a godfather of Hollywood as opposed to an Alpha Male. It's interesting to see where the four studs have gone. Gibson of course, has become cultural plutonium. Sure he made everyone wealthy for a while, but not they all want to stay away. Cruise has likewise faced an implosion, which just now looks quaint in light of Gibson's. Ford has quasi-retired from acting (What he does onscreen barely qualifies, anyway). And Willis has never really had a career dead per se--he just tends to have major misfires between the movies that do hit. So who makes the new Mount Rushmore?
The Aussie invasion, of course, fizzled out. Russell Crowe was too pretentious, Hugh Jackman can't find a good vehicle to save his life, and Ledger became a legend just in time to not be there for it. Eric Bana kind of became a "never was". Dwayne Johnson is doing low-rent kid movies, and Vin Diesel is going back to the well. Topher Grace proved "he who hesitates, is lost". Orlando Bloom proved his adeptness is strictly in the realm of "sidekick". Viggo Mortensen thanks you for his support, but he'd like to go and make Daniel Day Lewis look "mainstream". And then there was Jude Law.
One of the examples shot down was Brad Pitt, and at the time, rightly so. For all his stature as a real-life Adonis, he could never quite get audiences to pay to see him. I now wonder if the problem is that starpower is something that appeals to older audiences, so therefore you need years on you to be bankable. He kind of gradually started to appear in hit movies with Ocean's Eleven, but of course, that was ensemble piece. Troy did decent, but disappointing money. Mr and Mrs. Smith, buoyed by talks about his onscreen-and-off chemistry with Angelina Jolie, gave him his first real overperformer since Seven. (It also resuscitated Jolie's struggling bankability) At this point, people were quick to declare him the new Tom Cruise, and at the time, I felt that to still be an overestimation. However, with the somewhat hard-to-sell Inglourious Basterds and the "high concept only works if he's in it" Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Pitt has assured his status as a big four.
Next is Leonardo Dicaprio. Already a teen idol, he exploded with Titanic. However, one highest grossing movie of all time does not an A-Lister necessarily make. (Ask Sam Worthington) And with The Beach, it did look like the rose was off the bloom. However, DiCaprio struck up a partnership with legendary director Martin Scorcese, and the two would keep going at it until they had a legitimate box office home run (And Oscar winner) with The Departed.) He has two other big hits with Catch Me if You Can, and the recent Inception. While I don't think he's guaranteed money just yet, he probably has the most high-quality (and often memorable) set of movies for this first tier club.
Of course, there's Will Smith, He actually first got into the game in the late 90's with his string of four 100 million movies in a row, officially ending when he went the route of Oscar bait. At the time, it probably looked like he was a fad which officially came to an end, especially as accompanying pop songs to summer blockbusters were no longer in vogue. But right now he's called "The biggest movie star in the world", right now. He's largely earned this moniker for his hot streak of four years. In fact, from 2004-2008, he seemed to be on a mission to prove he could very well open any kind of movie, almost as an experiment. Unfortunately, Smith has probably the weakest CV in terms of quality. Independence Day and Men In Black were largely viewed as transitory, successes, and even his Oscar-nominated movies aren't totally classics. However, I think one thing should be kept in mind for Smith, who is a little different from DiCaprio and Pitt in a very obvious way. In fact, Pitt's career has largely come from people trying to recapture Robert Redford in a bottle. Smith has very few predecessors, and has had to redefine leading men on his own terms. If we ever have an African-Amercan equivalent to Indiana Jones or Braveheart, he will no doubt look up to Smith.
Finally, I would say the fourth "big one" is Johnny Depp, the only actor thus far to headline two movies to cross a billion dollars. In fact, of these four, I would say Depp most embodies the decade. Probably because of all the guys on this list, in fact, of any actor this decade, he's the one that best balanced being a huge star in his own right, and having a movie that's iconic in its own right. If one wanted to have a tapestry of the 2000s, similar to this, Jack Sparrow would clearly be there, and perhaps the most recognizable. It's very interesting he has a reputation for just putting on weird makeup, but maybe, in a way, that shows why he's the star of the decade. Today's actors have to be chameleons, but that often invites performers who can withstand a level of anonymity. With Depp, he's certain handsome and debonair on magazine covers and red carpet premieres, but is willing to get all zany in some geek properties. A lot of being a big name is having the right qualities at the right time, and I think, while the previous three have personae they're often attached to, Depp is able to ahve it both ways.
A friend of mine also suggested Robert Downey Jr. He's certainly had maybe the most amazing comeback in the history of Hollywood. It's amazing how one goes from not worth the insurance money to bankable, but his string of hits has been impressive. Perhaps the only thing that keeps him from breaking into this type five, however, is he's always had just that little something to boost him. The Marvel Comics pedigree, famous co-stars, working as a de facto sequel to The Hangover. But given enough time, it might be interesting to see what a harder sell on his name could do.
