Clooney is someone who deliberately makes expensive heavily marketed pictures that he at least suspects the majority of his audience wont respond to (Solaris, Syriana, American) and those things are done in bad faith.
On the other hand, couldn’t he be working on projects he really believes in and using his star power to boost films that would otherwise not get seen or even made? Other stars do this at times. Isn’t that something we should commend?
Nah, Cooper, Bogart, Beatty, Washington, and many others have been able to make dream projects that were appealing to an audience or they at least made an effort to make them so. A real star would not make a film he knows would disappoint his audience that he depends on (American and Solaris averaged a C- audience grade, from people that paid to see it) for his monies.
Let’s put Cooper (I’m assuming you mean, Gary) and Bogart on the side, as that was another era. As for Beatty and Washington, what are some of the films you’re thinking of? I think Bulworth would qualify, but did that satisfy mainstream audiences?
A real star would not make a film he knows would disappoint his audience that he depends on…
I don’t really get this. You feel like he’s intentionally misleading the audience. Couldn’t you argue that he’s giving more credit to the audience, that he’s trying to expand their tastes or at least expose important ideas and issues in a fairly entertaining way?
Do you have a problem with Brad Pitt for staring in Tree of Life? (You could make a case that he misled the audience there.) What about Malick’s other films—Christian Bale and Colin Farrell in The New World or a ton of stars in The Thin Red Line? Oliver Stone used to cast stars in his films, too—Costner in JFK, Cruise in Born on the Fourth.
I think it’s just stars either a) supporting films and filmmakers they believe in; b) wanting to expand the type of roles they play. I’m not sure how Clooney is different.
Dennis Brian
pretty much. At least Jason Statham has respect for the people that buy his tickets. Even Eddie Murphy tries to appeal to his two audiences (children and raunch fans). Clooney is someone who deliberately makes expensive heavily marketed pictures that he at least suspects the majority of his audience wont respond to (Solaris, Syriana, American) and those things are done in bad faith.