For some, Ryan Gosling will always be the guy willing to fight for the girl of his dreams in ‘The Notebook.’ For others, he’s just the handsome boy in the Mickey Mouse Club. However, if 2011 has proven anything, it’s that Gosling is capable of a lot more than courting Rachel McAdams or dancing with Britney Spears.

With a Golden Globe nomination for his performance in ‘Blue Valentine’ and three leading roles in the last four months, Gosling has quickly turned into one of Hollywood’s biggest male stars.

Gosling in the driver’s seat–figuratively, as well.

The thing about Gosling is that he can completely transform into any character he chooses. He’s incredibly believable, and the audience can’t get enough of him. As much as I love looking at him, I don’t necessarily see him on screen. I see the three different characters he’s portrayed in these last few months: a womanizer turned fool for love, a criminal stunt driver, and a brilliant campaign manager who finds out too much for his own good.

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Via Wikipedia:

Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer.[1] He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive voice, walk and height. He was also known for his conservative political views and his support, beginning in the 1950s, for anti-communist positions.

A Harris Poll, released January 2011, placed Wayne third among America’s favorite film stars,[2] the only deceased star on the list and the only one who has appeared on the poll every year since it first began in 1994.

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One of the reasons that movies today are so devoid of compelling characters and engrossing plots is that the folks who make them are, more often than not, too young and too isolated from humanity.  That’s not to say that writers and directors in their 20s and 30s can’t be talented, but, as a rule, what they have are a passel of petty grievances (the studios, their agents, the deals, other people’s success, etc.); what they lack is wisdom.  They simply haven’t lived long enough or suffered enough major losses — friends, parents, spouses, children — to have developed a grown-up’s philosophy.

Perhaps that also helps to explain why nearly all of them are liberals.  When all that one hears all day long is left-wing claptrap — and especially when future employment demands acquiescence to the prevailing tenets — it’s easy to understand the half-baked inanities these wienies so arrogantly espouse.  They speak of tolerance as if it’s something they copyrighted, but they despise everyone who isn’t in lockstep with them.  Although they make their living with words, when it comes to debating the opposition, they rely on a mantra of “racist,” “fascist,” “bigot” and “homophobe.”

This isolation from large segments of the population, relying strictly on other members of the industry for one’s social and intellectual life, might also explain why even major stars subscribe to the blathering of someone like Barack Obama, who carries on very much like a movie star. (more…)

Why is Hollywood moving away from the star-driven vehicle, and more towards the gimmicks of 3-D, IMAX, and animation?  The answer is, of course, economic. 

Since Star Wars appeared in 1977, Hollywood has been primarily driven by two factors: the blockbuster film and the star-driven vehicle.   The studio’s portfolio theory economic model requires the blockbuster.  It is these massive revenue generators that push a studio into profitability, to counteract the revenue drag created by other films, which lose money.  

The star-driven film has been around since Hollywood’s golden age.  There is an implicit assumption that audiences will go to a movie with their favorite star.  The reason things got out of whack was because, in the 1990’s, agencies wisely began pushing the asking price of their clients up – way up.  Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Carrey, Cruise – they all became $20 million men.  This was a brilliant strategic maneuver.  Knowing that the industry was driven by fear, the agents knew that the first time a studio caved to an outrageous salary demand, all the other studios would do the same.  No studio wanted to be left out in the cold without a star to drive its latest blockbuster.   So they caved.

The asking prices continued to escalate, with some stars getting a piece of gross revenue.  (more…)

[Ed. Note: There's been a lot of attention in the entertainment media lately about the death of the movie star. But because the entertainment media is just as out of touch with reality as any movie stars we felt they were the least qualified to discuss this subject, and so we've asked our contributors to weigh in. And who better to kick this series off on a Friday than Mr. Crowder?]

“You’ll never work in this town again!” – Thank God that nobody will ever have to hear those words again (my recent internship at MSNBC notwithstanding). As the iconic “movie star” begins to die, so does the gate-keeping Hollywood machine. No longer do mere peasants have to acquiesce to the all-powerful Tinseltown establishment… And that pisses them off something awful. 

Back in the day, if you wanted to get the kind of exposure that would propel you into movie stardom, you needed to head out to Hollywood. Plain and simple. Once there, you’d have to put yourself under the thumb of industry higher-ups (more commonly referred to as “dirtbags”) if you so much as wanted a chance of seeing any kind of screen time. A few walk-on roles and uncomfortable back-room “casting couch” auditions later, you might find yourself actually getting some serious screen-time. Once arrived, you’d have to carefully walk the Hollywood tightrope if you wanted to sustain a viable career. If you drew outside the Tinseltown lines, you were going to get shut down. 

All of a sudden, new media enters stage-right. In the information age, the ability to directly reach a target audience (combined with rapidly evolving and more affordable technology) is rendering Hollywood more and more irrelevant.  Thanks to free-market competition, nearly anybody can purchase a high-quality D-SLR camera and create a motion picture virtually indistinguishable from their expensive film counterparts. 

…Hollywood no like.  (more…)

The Wrap’s Mali Perl:

Being an A-lister today isn’t really much of an achievement.  It’s almost like a British courtesy title, handed out to just about anyone who’s a recognizable name in credits and looks good on the red carpet.  There’s no special criteria other than the ability to photograph well and have certain bland likeability. 

Despite screaming fans and raving tabloid cover stories, most of today’s “stars” will be forgotten before the end of the decade.  With the news cycle on Twitter speed, we get bored of people before we ever really get a chance to know them.  And since they’re not that interesting to begin with, they get swallowed up the vast 24/7 machine that creates them.

Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, there were only a few true A-listers.  In fact, to be one, you had to meet certain hard and fast criteria: huge box office draw in the US and overseas, tremendous likability, a willingness to promote yourself without seeming whorish and oh, yeah, having a quote that could finance a small South American country for a year.  (more…)

Reuters:

“Hollywood studios are now thinking twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions in reaction to the poor economy, but also because of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors. …

“Last weekend, comic actor Jim Carrey’s “A Christmas Carol” became the latest celebrity-driven movie to stumble at box offices, opening to a lower-than-expected $30 million.

“Aside from Jim Carrey and “Carol,” which cost at least $175 million, A-listers who suffered box office flops recently have included Bruce Willis (“Surrogates”), Adam Sandler (“Funny People”), Will Ferrell (“Land of the Lost”), Eddie Murphy (“Imagine That”) and Julia Roberts (“Duplicity”). (more…)