Current Events > Matt Damon thinks the age of the movie star coming to an end.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://twitter.com/thesundaytimes/status/1421731711537266691

https://twitter.com/thesundaytimes/status/1421732723773804550

https://twitter.com/thesundaytimes/status/1421733105858187264



---

Welcome to 15 years ago?
---

but who will tell us what politicians to vote for?

i guess at least we still have musicians

---

Ehhh, the RDJ thing is wrong imo. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would care as much as I did for Tony.

---

People are more attached to franchises than individual stars

The age of the movie star is over. The time of the brands and franchise properties has come.

Cookie for reference
---

Lmao

That is their own fault for being in trash films and making people regret.

It's the same issue with video games. Sequels and franchises are just much more financially sensible and less risky. Blackwidow, for example, was a relatively mediocre film but it still sold well attachment to the franchise makes it difficult for critiques to bomb the review scores.

The problem, of course, with sequels and franchises is inhibits the growth of new ips and ideas. Look how many open world video games have been released. Just slap that tag, drop some fetch quests, put Assasssins creed on the box, and you'll sell millions with an established franchise

Never really thought about it, but I guess that's true. As long as the acting is great I don't particularly care who is in a movie. I haven't watched movies purely based on who's in it.

Though I will miss RDJ as Iron Man, admittedly.

---

is that a bad thing?

I mean as much as I like the MCU, hopefully big franchise stuff won't always be the draw, but besides that, if people are going to see a movie because it looks interesting rather than because of who stars in it, should the the average person care?


---

InfinityMonster posted...

Ehhh, the RDJ thing is wrong imo. If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would care as much as I did for Tony.

You can have good casting within a franchise but, nobody is seeing movies because they have RDJ in them. The franchise is still the draw. It's why Iron Man is popular and Dr. Doolittle is doodoo.
---

I was working at a theatre a decade or so ago and my boss called Tom Hanks the last true movie star.

The top of the box office has been inundated with cookie cutter franchise films but theres still a lot of great movie making going on elsewhere and a lot of great up-and-coming actors. A ton of gems have come out in just the last 5 years.

---

The people behind the scenes -- directors, writers, producers, etc. -- get me more interested in a film opposed to who is starring in it.

I like Chris Pratt but that doesn't mean I'm going to watch Passengers, The Tomorrow War, or either of the Jurassic World movies any time soon.
Meanwhile, I've been a huge James Gunn fan for a long time and I went to go see Guardians of the Galaxy purely because he was writing and directing it.

---

lilORANG posted...

You can have good casting within a franchise but, nobody is seeing movies because they have RDJ in them. The franchise is still the draw. It's why Iron Man is popular and Dr. Doolittle is doodoo.

I get what you're saying. I was looking at it more like, I kept going back after Iron Man 1 because of RDJ and less Iron Man. I never liked Iron Man even though I had a lot of exposure to him in the 90s.

---

jeffhardyb0yz posted...

As an actor, it kind of hurts. He's right in a sense.

Nope. Their fault for being in bad movies like Will Smith and AfterEarth.

Most of us on this website grew up in the age of the movie star so we probably won't get it, so it'd probably be best to ask a gen z'er and those younger generations.

Eg some people are saying they should just recast Black Panther, but every time I see him in Civil War I cry every time.
---

saspa posted...

Most of us on this website grew up in the age of the movie star so we probably won't get it, so it'd probably be best to ask a gen z'er and those younger generations.

Eg some people are saying they should just recast Black Panther, but every time I see him in Civil War I cry every time.

I mean, all he did was just silently brood at things it wouldnt be hard to recast lol

The age of heroes is over now well just get a bunch of normies like me filling in roles as independent movie artists and projects.. just a bunch of regular ol people with the same amount of crazy as someone else and nothing special leaving nothing higher to aspire to

Imagine if Batman was just Batdude and drove a Corolla instead of a Batmobile

It gets worse when you consider that people have gravitated towards killing the celebrity in order to get a fighting chance to be the top without actually putting as much as an effort to beat out the competition

They thought they were sneaky lol

---

Definitely wrong about Iron Man. RDJ is probably one of the biggest reasons why Iron Man and the MCU blew up. Now there certainly could have been other actors that filled the role just as well, but there are also others who would have done a passable but not stellar job at it like RDJ as well. Iron Man easily could have been a Thor, passable but hardly as popular, or even worse, a Hulk, with the wrong actor.

Thing is, big movies make the stars.

Rey made Daisy Ridley

JLaw was made by Hunger Games

Etc.

But then again any movie Ryan Reynolds makes will be watched by his fans.

He's not completely wrong but not exactly right either. Directors are still carrying lots of weight, but actors as a brand I feel died out a long time ago. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Sean Connery, Brad Pitt, Jack Nicholson, Adam Sandler, Bill Murray, and a few others around their peaks are really the last time the leading actor actually got people interested in a movie when they otherwise wouldn't go. That was a really long time ago.

These days nobody really cares much about who is in the movie as much as they are what the movie is about. They could have recast RDJ and while people might complain a bit they'd go see the movies anyway.

---

Really??

So why is literally every MCU actor hogging the leading roles in hollywood movies now?

Oh no!

Anyways

---

WingsOfGood posted...

Thing is, big movies make the stars.

Rey made Daisy Ridley

JLaw was made by Hunger Games

Etc.

But then again any movie Ryan Reynolds makes will be watched by his fans.

What has Daisy Ridley been in outside of Star Wars?

---

Wutobliteration posted...

Really??

So why is literally every MCU actor hogging the leading roles in hollywood movies now?

Because the MCU takes no namers and make them the leading actors.

Nemu posted...

Definitely wrong about Iron Man. RDJ is probably one of the biggest reasons why Iron Man and the MCU blew up. Now there certainly could have been other actors that filled the role just as well, but there are also others who would have done a passable but not stellar job at it like RDJ as well. Iron Man easily could have been a Thor, passable but hardly as popular, or even worse, a Hulk, with the wrong actor.

RDJ was a failed junkie before Iron Man and his previous movie of any acclaim was Natural Born Killers where he only had a minor role. He was literally a budget hire because that's all Marvel could afford. While he was fantastic in the movie, the movie very much saved his career. RDJ didn't really have "fans" before Iron Man

---

Is this supposed to be some tragedy...are we supposed to care?

---

Tyranthraxus posted...

RDJ was a failed junkie before Iron Man and his previous movie of any acclaim was Natural Born Killers where he only had a minor role. He was literally a budget hire because that's all Marvel could afford. While he was fantastic in the movie, the movie very much saved his career. RDJ didn't really have "fans" before Iron Man

I'm not saying your entire post is wrong but I take offense with this bit because Kiss Kiss Bang Bang exists and it's great.

---

Tyranthraxus posted...

RDJ was a failed junkie before Iron Man and his previous movie of any acclaim was Natural Born Killers where he only had a minor role. He was literally a budget hire because that's all Marvel could afford. While he was fantastic in the movie, the movie very much saved his career. RDJ didn't really have "fans" before Iron Man

Ehh, there were several movies after his rehabilitation and before Iron Man where he did great. Zodiac was also a pretty big movie a year before and it was that, Iron Man and Tropic Thunder that shot him into the atmosphere.

Jon Favreau got RDJ because he basically wanted someone who went through what RDJ went through. He kind of molded it specifically for him and wanted him to be the Jack Sparrow of the MCU.


---

I was like 4 when Titanic came out. Did people really go see it because it had Leonardo DiCaprio in it when he only had like, Romeo+Juliet, Gilbert Grape, and Basketball Diaries to prove himself as a leading actor?
---

Tyranthraxus posted...

RDJ was a failed junkie before Iron Man and his previous movie of any acclaim was Natural Born Killers where he only had a minor role. He was literally a budget hire because that's all Marvel could afford. While he was fantastic in the movie, the movie very much saved his career. RDJ didn't really have "fans" before Iron Man

This is some ridiculous revisionist history

---

Smashingpmkns posted...

I was like 4 when Titanic came out. Did people really go see it because it had Leonardo DiCaprio in it when he only had like, Romeo+Juliet, Gilbert Grape, and Basketball Diaries to prove himself as a leading actor?

No, it was because it was a James Cameron movie and it was hyped because they actually went down there to film the wreckage for everyone to see.


---

Smashingpmkns posted...

I was like 4 when Titanic came out. Did people really go see it because it had Leonardo DiCaprio in it when he only had like, Romeo+Juliet, Gilbert Grape, and Basketball Diaries to prove himself as a leading actor?

At the time people really liked Romeo and Juliet. People watching it today don't have a lot of nice things to say about it but that wasn't my experience. Cruel Intentions and other teen drama flicks were also super popular at the time and Titanic was just an extension of that so maybe it was just a fad. Similar to how 3D got everyone in to go watch Avatar.

So they didn't go see it because of Leo specifically but having him on the ticket definitely helped.

---

Theres just way too many actors for this to happen anymore. Theres so many outlets and studios with different movies coming out at all time. The days of being hyped for the next big action movie star at the theater is over. Especially when you have multiple marvel movies coming out with in movie universes that share all the actors

the last big movie star is the rock. Everyone seems to acknowledge his movies are trash but hes just a likeable person

---

Im convinced anyone who dislikes R+J just fundamentally does not get Shakespeare

---

InfinityMonster posted...

No, it was because it was a James Cameron movie and it was hyped because they actually went down there to film the wreckage for everyone to see.

Okay and I know for a fact no one went to go see The Lost World because Jeff Goldblum was in it. Love the guy but come on lol I feel like that second tweet doesn't do much for his argument.
---

I don't know, I remember Leo being super popular with teenage girls at the time (there really is no other young male who is similarly popular today), I'm sure he's a big part of the reason that demographic showed up the way they did.

---