Did Marvel really kill off a classic movie star? And should those hoping to become the new James Dean avoid starring as Captain America like in Proxima: A Night Out with Midnight?
This ongoing debate began in 2019 when Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola loudly declared that all superhero movies are essentially the creation of the prostitutes of Hollywood Babylon. It was around this time that I entered the cultural sphere for the first time. Then the supposed problem was intellectually crystallized by one Quentin Tarantino. In 2022, he noted that without a superhero job, most Marvel stars would have become virtually unknown.
“Part of the Marvelization of Hollywood is…actors who have become famous are playing these characters,” he told the podcast 2 while promoting Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Bears, 1 Cave”. “But they’re not movie stars, right? Captain America is the star. Or is Thor the star? … It’s the characters in these series that are the stars.”
These days, many of the current Hollywood bigwigs wish for a return to the days when swaggering, chisel-jawed All-American (and sometimes European) men could open movies with pheromones alone. There are rumors that Glen Powell, who is the star of the show, is refusing to appear. I starred in a Marvel movie for this very reason. Sure, he might look great as the new Johnny Storm/Human Torch – don’t get excited, they’ve already cast Joseph Quinn – but this is also a great role to play opposite Sidney Sweeney A half-baked romantic comedy with just a little smile that could rob him of his power and sell you a luxury watch?
Harrison Ford has the charisma of a movie star, and even when he rolls out of bed and grimaces into the toaster, he still looks cooler than any of the Fast and Furious movies. Who better to ask? And yes, we should offer here that Ford has to express interest. He was just cast as General Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross (who becomes Red Hulk in the comics and recent trailers) in the new Marvel movie Captain. America: Brave New World. But still…
“I understand the appeal of other kinds of movies beyond the kinds of movies we made in the ’80s and ’90s,” Ford told GQ. “It would be foolish not to participate while regretting the changes. I’m joining a new part of the business and I think, at least for me, it’s really creating a good experience for the audience. I’m enjoying it. I’m here.”
Ford went on to call the theory that Marvel has killed off traditional movie stars “ridiculous,” adding, “I don’t think the question is whether we have movie stars. There are great actors coming out every day (…) It doesn’t really matter if you’re a star or not. If you need a star for your movie, they’ll find you.”
He continued: “I never understood what it meant to be a movie star. I’m an actor. I tell stories. I’m part of a group of people who work together and collaborate to tell stories. I’m a storyteller’s assistant. That’s who I am.
I have to say we live in a truly strange world. Powell clearly can earn more movie star cash by starring in a very cheesy modern Shakespeare imitation than in the highest-grossing, most-watched film of modern times. era. But the Texas actor, who toiled in Hollywood for decades before getting his big break in Top Gun, clearly plans to leave his secret sauce untouched. Does this also explain why Powell’s co-star and alleged mentor, Tom Cruise, could not be seen as an alternate reality Iron Man?
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If you need a star for your movie, you’ll find it, Harrison Ford.
The problem with this theory is that it stems from a fairly conservative cultural fear sensibility. First, Marvel movies are coming to dominate our world, and second, anyone who steps into this CGI-heavy fantasy multiverse will never be “just” human again. is. actor.
As Ford points out, this is certainly nonsense, at least in part. Scarlett Johansson was iconic as Black Widow, but she became a much bigger star playing the inexplicably gorgeous Midge Campbell in Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City. Chris Evans gives his best post-Marvel performance as the narcissistic and eccentric scion of a wealthy family in Rian Johnson’s excellent murder mystery Knives Out, and Robert Downey Jr. recently won an Oscar He received praise for his role as Louis Strauss in the award-winning film Oppenheimer.
Meanwhile, Chris Hemsworth has never broken free from the shackles of the space Viking in Thor, and Brie Larson has never been able to reach the heights of her Oscar-winning role in 2015’s Room since signing on to play Captain Marvel. There were hardly any. That’s why Marvel movies incorporate their cast into some sort of comic book group, making it hard for audiences to remember who they are when they’re not participating in an interstellar family feud over a shiny space stone. There may be a feeling that.
Perhaps the real question here is whether audiences really want or need stars like Powell or Cruise, but given the huge success of Top Gun: Maverick, seems to be convinced of that. Then again, what if movie star charisma couldn’t survive wrapped in spandex and asked to soar across the multiverse in search of a giant space hammer while debating intergalactic ethics with a talking raccoon? , perhaps there wasn’t as much swagger to it. Start with
