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Orphan__of_Kos t1_iu10yq5 wrote

Reply to comment by WindingRoad10 in There are no movie stars or recognizable names, just super heroes and Tom Cruise by [deleted]

>While there are still plenty of classically "beautiful" Hollywood types, you also now have strong actors who, image wise society would consider to be "normal / average" people. I think this is a positive, depending on the role & the film. Many people connect to it more.

I actually think there are less "average looking" big actors in the current generation and also kinda ironic, the actors you mentioned all rose to stardom either in the era where movies were in your opinion true escapism or even before that era.

Melissa McCarthy was also never a superstar in Hollywood and her biggest box office hit was Charlie's Angel which came out in 2000.

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WindingRoad10 t1_iu19hav wrote

Really? I think these days there are more average looking actors. (Maybe it's because of the amount of content) W

Most of actors that I mentioned rose in ranks in the 90's, 00's. I don't think that era was true escapism. For me, the true escapism was the Golden era of Hollywood.

The 80's & 90's & 00's on were pure entertainment. (Music, video games, cable tv, expanded sports, PPV, etc. were all other forms of competing entertainment)

Still, I believe that was the last era of the true era of the traditional movie star (The "Planet Hollywood" Era). There are "movie stars" these days, but it is different than before.

These days you can have a lead like Bob Odenkirk (Nobody). None of Jordan Peele's movies were huge names before & while starring in his 3 movies. A movie like "Smile" would've starred a recognizable (horror) name. Baby Driver, A Quiet Place, Dune, Old, etc. Even movies that tank (Bros) had non stars lead the movie.

These days, you can easily have an actor who is not necessarily a star lead a film. In the the "escapism era", stars were contracted with studios, so there had to be stars. Now, you can simply be an actor.

In terms of Melissa, She is a recognizable name though (and a brand). She ranked #4 in 2020 in terms of highest paid actresses. (According to Forbes). She's been in the top 5 since 2016.

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