What if Movie Stars ceased to exist?

The Movie Star is something often discussed within the film industry. Very recently Tarantino described the Marvel franchise as being a reason for the downfall of the ‘star’ since audiences now go out to see the new iron man film, not the new Robert Downey jr film.

Some will say this is a bad thing, however, if you are able to create a character that resonates with a large audience, surely the status of the actor that plays them, doesn’t matter?

Recently, Tom Cruise has shared his new death-defying stunt for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1, which demonstrates his commitment to Cinema and remaining a Movie Star. I think the best way to decide whether an actor is a star or not, is to ask whether you remember the character’s name or the actors.

For instance, I couldn’t tell you the name of the character Timothee Chalamet plays in Don’t look up, or Pretty Women. Or the name of The Rock’s character in Jumanji.

An interesting case to look at is Peaky Blinders, since I think most people know the main character is Tommy Shelby, but a lot of people also know the actors name is Cillian Murphy.

I’m talking about this so that if you are in the process of casting for your short films, you might want to consider whether the ‘star’ of your film should be the character or the actor.