Chris Hemsworth *as* Thor > Hemsworth in anything else. Audiences now prefer marquee characters over actors. We haven’t had a new “can open a movie” movie star (outside of comedies) since maybe Hugh Jackman in the early 2000s. The last 15 years of would-be movie stars have had fewer opportunities at the mainstream theatrical level to make films like The Color of Money, Born on the Fourth of July or Cocktail. Hollywood took these young men (most of whom were white) and cast them in variations on Legend (one of Cruise's only flops) like Prince of Persia, Battleship, The Lone Ranger, Fantastic Four, King Arthur and Snake Eyes. I’ve been ranting for a decade about how Hollywood tends to declare every vaguely talented handsome white guy the “next Tom Cruise.” Think, offhand, Jai Courtney, Garret Hedlund, Taylor Kitsch, Charlie Hunnam, Armie Hammer, Ansel Elgort, Tye Sheridan, Brendan Thwaites, Sam Claflin, Miles Teller and Glen Powell. However, Cruise became an icon from 1983 to 2005 despite, not because, of his occasional action movies. This became his near-permanent status after his “I gotta prove I’m still a movie star” reaction to the PR meltdown while promoting War of the Worlds in 2005 (he didn’t jump on Oprah Winfrey’s couch, and he was merely playing to the studio audience). Yes, he slowly (starting with Mission: Impossible II in 2000) became an action hero. It was a huge deal when he played Lestat in Interview with the Vampire in 1994, or when he headlined a big-budget Mission: Impossible adaptation in 1996. Top Gun notwithstanding, and that’s as much a sports melodrama like Days of Thunder as it is an action movie, Cruise was known for headlining dramas, comedies and thrillers. Tom Cruise became a movie star thanks to non-tentpole flicks like Risky Business, Rain Man, A Few Good Men, The Firm and Jerry Maguire.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |