Lecture 09:Lecture 09:StarsStars

Professor Aaron Baker

Previous LecturePrevious Lecture

• Stage and Movie Acting

• Robert De Niro as Star Actor

• De Niro’s Performance in Raging Bull (1980)

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This LectureThis Lecture

• Movie Stars, Their Images

• What They Are• Why They Matter to

Us • George Clooney

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Stars and Their ImagesStars and Their Images

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Joan Crawford

Lesson 10: Part I

Richard DyerRichard Dyer

Three Aspects of Film

Stardom:• The polished public

appearance s/he presents.

• The work required to create that appearance.

• The physical person who is the star.

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What defines a movie star?What defines a movie star?

A film star is • a featured

performer in a film but also,

• an image that generates interest beyond individual films.

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Star ImageStar Image

• Film Roles

• Journalistic Journalistic ProfilesProfiles

• InterviewsInterviews

• Gossip ColumnsGossip Columns

• TV Talk and TV Talk and Tabloid ShowsTabloid Shows

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PaparazziPaparazzi

• Access to Private Life of Star

• Personal Style• Leisure Interests• Love and Family Life

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck at a Red Sox game

Why are we interested?Why are we interested?

Dyer:

Stars intrigue us because they offer models of individual identity.

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They Endorse Values They Endorse Values

About

• Work

• Gender

• Social Responsibility

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DeNiro’s dedication to DeNiro’s dedication to research and physical research and physical preparation for roles preparation for roles emphasizes the emphasizes the importance of work.importance of work.

How to Be a ManHow to Be a Man

John Wayne

represented a

traditional notion of

masculinity based on • self sufficiency• toughness• physical dominance.

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Paul NewmanPaul Newman

• Political Involvement• Charitable Work• Used his wealth,

popularity to help others.

• Gave away $250 million earned by Newman’s Own Products company.

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Typecast Typecast

“Sometimes a star image becomes so fixed that even when he or she tries to break it by doing roles directly opposed to that image, the public ignores such deviations and continues to support the original image.” (Lehman and Luhr, p.150).

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E.g. Sylvester StalloneE.g. Sylvester Stallone• tried to move

beyond his action hero image with comedies like Oscar 1991.

• The box office failure of these films forced him back into action roles.

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The ContenderThe ContenderIn 2005 he returned indirectly to the role that defined his image more than any other, Rocky, by producing and starring in the TV show about boxing The Contender.

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Action HeroAction HeroStallone’s 2010 film The Expendables reaffirms his star image as an action hero.

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StarsStars

earn the biggest salaries in a film’s budget.

George Clooney’s Paydays:

Ocean’s Thirteen (2007) $15,000,000

Intolerable Cruelty (2003) $15,000,000

Ocean's Eleven (2001) $20,000,000

The Perfect Storm (2000) $8,000,000

O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000 ) $1,000,000

Three Kings (1999) $5,000,000

Out of Sight (1998) $10,000,000

Batman & Robin (1997) $10,000,000

Big Part of Film BudgetBig Part of Film Budget

Geoff King:• “Star costs often account for

disproportionately large percentages

of [film] budgets.” • “The escalation of star salaries has

been one of the major factors driving up the cost of production in recent decades.” 162

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Big PaydaysBig Paydays

In 2008• Will Smith made $80

million. • Johnny Depp

earned $72 million.

Source: Forbes.com

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Why Pay Stars So Much?Why Pay Stars So Much?

• The film industry assumes they draw viewers.

• A star’s Q Score measures star’s

familiarity and appeal with audiences. • Will Smith’s last eight films have made

over $100 million each.• The three Pirates of the Caribbean films

have earned $2.76 billion worldwide.20

Geoff King on the Value of Geoff King on the Value of Stars: Stars: RecognitionRecognition

• “Hollywood generally assumes star names to be among the best guarantors of box-office success.” 159

• “Stars offer that one ingredient deemed so important. . . The audience recognition factor, the ability to open a film, to give it presence in the [crowded] marketplace.” 160

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The Star SystemThe Star System

• For the first 15 years of commerical cinema (1895-1910) there were no stars.

• Early producers worried if actors were publicized, they would ask for big salaries.

• Other producers introduced the concept of movie stars because they believed audiences would pay to see them.

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Classic Hollywood 1930-1950Classic Hollywood 1930-1950

• Saw the creation and control of stars by studios.

• Stars were under exclusive contract.

• Studios built their images by selecting film roles and publicity campaigns.

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Independent ProducersIndependent Producers• As the studio

system declined in the 1950s and 60s, major stars became independent producers.

• This is still the a common practice today.

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Stars and RaceStars and Race• Before the 1960s

very few Hollywood stars were African American.

• Sidney Pottier broke this barrier in the late 1950s and 1960s.

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Stars and RaceStars and Race

• Will Smith and Denzel Washington Now A List Stars

• Yet Overall Still Few African American or Non White Stars

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Linear AnalysisLinear Analysis

While typecasting is a challenge for some stars, as with directors and genres, star images can also be analyzed in terms of how they develop and change.

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George ClooneyGeorge Clooney

Lesson 09: Part II

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TV Star TV Star • Clooney got his

first big role in a TV series, ER 1994-99.

• His character, Dr. Doug Ross was attractive, charming, talented—but a rebel.

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Geoff King: Geoff King: As Dr. Ross in ER,Clooney was a “sometimesprickly,awkward,rebellious,womanizing, but essentiallydecent and caringpediatrician . . .prepared tobreak the rules in histreatment of children.” 148

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Charming OutsiderCharming Outsider

• Clooney has maintained this attractive rebel image in numerous roles.

• He has played thieves in six films.

• Clip #1: Clooney’s thief character introduced in Out of Sight (1998)

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Star Image in Star Image in From Dawn to From Dawn to Dusk Dusk (1996) (1996)

• Clooney as Seth Gecko

• Geoff King: “a nasty piece of work”

• Violent, Menacing • Kidnapping killing

with brother Richard (Quentin Tarentino)

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King: Clooney Against TypeKing: Clooney Against Type

• “familiar Clooney associations continue to resonate beneath the surface of Seth Gecko” 37

• Clooney Star Image (good outsider) Maintains Audience Identification

• Clip #2 Warning: violence and strong language

Personification vs. Personification vs. Impersonation Impersonation

Barry King:

• Personification offers the attractiveness of the star. What s/he is as a person.

• Impersonation asks the performer to create the character in the story.

• Impersonation for King defines good acting.

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Expanded RangeExpanded Range

•Modified his leading man Modified his leading man imageimage•Self-deprecating comic Self-deprecating comic roles roles • O Brother, Where Art O Brother, Where Art ThouThou (2000), (2000), Welcome to Welcome to CollinwoodCollinwood (2002), (2002),Intolerable Cruelty Intolerable Cruelty (2003), (2003), and and Burn After ReadingBurn After Reading (2008).(2008).

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Clooney and ComedyClooney and Comedy

• Clooney as Divorce Lawyer

• Comic Self Absorption, Overconfident

• Meets His Match in Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Character

• Clip # 3

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OffscreenOffscreen

Clooney’s image has been that of a fun loving batchelor.• Voted Sexist Man Alive by People

Magazine• Bet Michele Pfeiffer and Nicole Kidman

$10,000 he wouldn’t be father before forty.

• Bought a villa on Italy’s Lake Como

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Like many stars,Like many stars,

Clooney downplays the idea of stardom as mainly a commercial phenomenon:

“It’s not about the opening weekend, It’s about career, building a set of films you’re proud of. Period.”

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Hollywood Gives Audiences Hollywood Gives Audiences What WantWhat Want

• Central to appeal of stars, genre films remakes, happy endings is Hollywood’s strategy of selling audiences what they have bought and liked in the past.

• Yet successful stars often want to avoid typecasting, grow creatively, make meaningful films.

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PoliticsPolitics• Produced the HBO series

on Washington lobbyists, K Street.

• In 2004 Clooney supported his father, Nick’s, candidacy for a congressional seat in Kentucky.

• Addressed the U.S. Congress about war in Dafur.

Three Kings Three Kings 19991999

• War Film• Stars: Clooney,

Mark Wahlbergh, Ice Cube

• Action

But also– • First Iraq War,

Politics

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Clip 4Clip 4

As you watch the following scene from

Three Kings, look the political dimension this role added to Clooney’s attractive rebel star image.

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Several of His Recent FilmsSeveral of His Recent Films

• have emphasized Clooney’s liberal political views:

-Up in the Air 2009-Michael Clayton 2007-The Good German 2006-Syriana 2005

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End of Lecture 9End of Lecture 9

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