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Why More 'Star Wars' Actors Don't Become Stars
HughPickens.com writes: When you become an actor, landing a role in a movie as big as Star Wars may seem like a dream come true. But Tatiana Siegel and Borys Kit report at The Hollywood Reporter that six movies in, the Star Wars franchise has only spawned one megastar: Harrison Ford, unusual for a series of this magnitude. Neither Ewan McGregor nor Liam Neeson was helped by the franchise and the list of acting careers that never took off is even longer, from original stars Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher to Jake Lloyd (young Anakin Skywalker) and most notably Hayden Christensen, whose star was on the rise when he nabbed 2002's Attack of the Clones. Even Natalie Portman, who already had a hot career before Episodes I-III, admitted she struggled after the exposure. "Everyone thought I was a horrible actress," says Portman. "I was in the biggest-grossing movie of the decade, and no director wanted to work with me."
So what's the problem? "When you sign up for this, you're signing your life away, and you're keeping yourself from any other franchises out there," says an agent whose client is one of the stars of Episode VII. "They will not let you be in another franchise. They're going to be cranking out a new movie every year. These actors never get to read the script before signing on. They don't even know which [subsequent] one they are in. And then they become known for that role, and it's hard to see them in [another] kind of movie." Still, agents keep pursuing roles in the upcoming films even though newcomers can only command a meager $65,000 to $125,000 for Episode VII. "It secures all involved a place in film history," says agent Sarah Fargo, "and guarantees a huge global audience, enhancing an actor's marketability."
So what's the problem? "When you sign up for this, you're signing your life away, and you're keeping yourself from any other franchises out there," says an agent whose client is one of the stars of Episode VII. "They will not let you be in another franchise. They're going to be cranking out a new movie every year. These actors never get to read the script before signing on. They don't even know which [subsequent] one they are in. And then they become known for that role, and it's hard to see them in [another] kind of movie." Still, agents keep pursuing roles in the upcoming films even though newcomers can only command a meager $65,000 to $125,000 for Episode VII. "It secures all involved a place in film history," says agent Sarah Fargo, "and guarantees a huge global audience, enhancing an actor's marketability."
The first section of the summary states that actors have trouble finding other roles after staring in the Star Wars franchise but then concludes with an agent saying actors should accept the low-paying Star Wars roles because it "...guarantees a huge global audience, enhancing an actor's marketability."
Not sure abou the origional 3.
The second triogy was weak at best.
The material gave the actors little to work with. There performances like the movies are forgettable.
The animated series has more drama and passion.
Lucas isn't writing the screenplay anymore. You're all safe.
"Anakin, make love to me like you did by the lake on planet Wumpumpsefukit!" (or whatever the hell the actual line from Episode 2 was)
With lines like that, no wonder a world-class actress like Natalie Portman ended up looking like a wooden talentless hack. But actually the only talentless hack here was Lucas.
Well ok that's a bit harsh. Lucas has talent but not when it comes to writing dialogue that doesn't completely suck ass.
Lucas and Spielberg made the decision to use non-union actors in the first movie because the union demanded certain types of intro-credits which was believed would spoil the feel of the movie.
So the rest of the industry informally blacklisted the actors. The only actor to survive the blacklist was Harrison Ford because Spielberg also used him in Indiana Jones, and the industry wasn't going to balk at a guy that could bring in hundreds of millions for every movie he was involved in. Even Billy Dee Williams, who already had made a rather big name for himself, couldn't survive the blacklist.
"His name was James Damore."
One could say that Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson have done ok since then. Whatever one might think of Natalie Portman's acting chops [1] she has a fairly impressive body of work. Mark Hamill has been extremely busy since Star Wars, albeit often voicework. Carrie pretty much destroyed her career with drugs and alcohol, but managed to come back. As far as Hayden and Jake, enh. I think they both struggled as actors, so no surprise there.
[1] I submit that a lot of the woodenness in the prequels was directly linked to Lucas as a director, and not necessarily reflective of the actors themselves. A good director can get amazing performances out of a poor actor (Stanley Kubrick directing Ryan O'Neal in Barry Lyndon) and a poor director can get a leaden performance out of any actor. (Lucas directing pretty much anyone in any star wars film.) Portman was terrible in all the Star Wars films, but so was pretty much everyone else.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The problem here is not the franchise, but the director. George Lucas has an uncanny ability to get the worst possible performances out of good actors. Look no further than Samuel L. Jackson, who's a talented individual, but came off as stiff and wooden in the Star Wars movies. It's well known that George Lucas doesn't direct actors at all, and often shoots just a single take of the performance. Then he invests massive time and energy into the visual effects, making the CG artists re-do their work multiple times for questionable reasons. He's more of a technology evangelist than a filmmaker.
...full of Star Wars toys.
That guy he plays in that Amazing Stories episode - that's him in real life + acting career. 268 credits on imdb.
Anyway... It was mentioned in one of Kevin Smith's "Fatman on Batman" podcasts.
Hamill asked if he could have one of every toys they were going to make. He thought it would be kinda cool.
Imagine that, you know. You're in a movie, and they make a toy that's you in a movie... Crazy, I know!
Nobody gave it a second thought, so they included that bit in his contract.
One of every Star Wars toys. Ever.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
He really deserves a lot of credit - look at Jar Jar.
That could EASILY have been how C3P0 went if it were not for Daniels understanding how to play a comedic role properly.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley