Broadway actors are aiming a familiar lament at Hollywood stars: They’re taking our jobs!
Reuters (“Hollywood stars at center of Broadway backlash“):
Every year, Hollywood celebrities head to Broadway where they get plenty of attention for their headlining efforts.
The Tony Awards, being presented on June 12, are the ultimate judge of the skills of any stage actor, famous or not, and many lesser-known performers worry that the value of the award diminishes as film stars continue to take them home.
Last year’s star-studded broadcast disheartened many New York actors, including Hunter Foster, who started the Facebook group Give the Tonys Back to Broadway!! in an effort to combat the Tinseltown effect. With the now almost 9,000-member group, Foster hopes to restore the ceremony as a beacon of hope for the next generation of stage performers.
Whether stage actors like his sister, Sutton Foster — nominated this year for her performance in “Anything Goes” — will disappear from Broadway’s future if the Tonys continue to focus on Hollywood stars is debatable. Many actors appearing on Broadway — including Al Pacino, a nominee this year for “The Merchant of Venice” — began their careers on stage, but their mass appeal comes from their films.
“I have worked my ass off to get to where I am, so I understand that strug
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A star can be an economic necessity for a Broadway show, and Michael Riedel, New York Post theater columnist and host of PBS’s “Theater Talk,” does not think Hollywood stars take jobs away from New York actors. “If you didn’t have these celebrities, a lot of these shows wouldn’t be produced,” he said. “All of these shows have people in them who are not movie stars and they’re all working.”
A Tony represents the Holy Grail for a stage actor and can significantly boost a performer’s career, whereas film and television actors are already honored with awards like Oscars and Emmys. Having widely recognized actors swoop in and secure a Tony nomination can be upsetting to some, said Garrett Eisler of the blog The Playgoer, as there are limited spots.
According to Eisler, stars have driven Broadway ticket sales throughout history, but “what changed is the definition of who is a star.” In the 1950s and ’60s, the box office names were Robert Preston, Rex Harrison, and Zero Mostel, who had some fame from film but whose main medium was the stage. “A Broadway star could really be a star,” Eisler said, recognizing that Patti LuPone is one of the few who fits this bill today. “Now you can’t be a star unless you’re a Hollywood star.”
The Internet democratizes entertainment, and a stage performer will never receive the same size audience for a Broadway show that another actor will receive for a film or a television series. ”There’s been a generational shift,” Eisler explained, noting that today’s generation of young people is the first to come of age with the Internet. “Certain stars can’t become household names without appearing on multiple platforms.”
Tony winner and New York stage veteran Victoria Clark acknowledged her win for “The Light in the Piazza” in 2005 helped launch her career and turned her into more of a “known quantity.” Her role as Mother Superior in this year’s “Sister Act,” for which she is nominated, came to her in part because of her name and the connections she made through her past work. ”Jerry Zaks could have gone after anybody between the ages of 45 and 80 for this part,” she said, referring to the show’s director. “There’s a message to our directors: Support the people that supported you when you first started your career and go back to those people and give them a shot.”
Celebrities coming to Broadway take work away from New York theater actors, according to Clark, but she also says the industry should not separate actors into film, TV, and stage categories. “It’s our culture that segregates us,” she argued. “If we were actors in any other country, we’d all be doing everything, no questions asked.”
This is a bizarre lament. If actors who have gained fame in the movies are more able to attract an audience, why shouldn’t they headline Broadway plays? It would be one thing if their skills didn’t translate to the stage but nobody here is making that claim. Rather, people who have chosen to make their careers under the lights of Broadway are complaining that they’re not famous enough. That’s just too bad.
The 2011 Golden Globes Awards took place in Hollywood last night and there was a few surprises with the winners list, mainly The Social Network taking the award for Best Motion Picture instead of Black Swan. You can see the full winners list after jump because I don’t really want to talk about. Here is what I want to talk about:
Yes, Ricky Gervais‘s opening monologue which he pretty much went in on everyone in Hollywood and I loved every second of it. I’m sure there is probably a number of hits out on his head today.
The best one for me is when he decided to crack a joke at Tom Cruise and John Travolta, after saying Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor played two gay characters in “I Love You Philip Morris”, he then said “the complete opposite of some famous Scientologists, then.”
It was a good start to the show and really the only bit that I cared about, if these celebrities can’t take being made fun of then they are definitely in the wrong business.
It’s normal for Hollywood celebrities to be featured in international advertisements promoting anything from a local satellite/cable provider to Antivirus Software to isotonic drinks.
It seems Al Pacino has decided to do his first ever endorsement of a product on international grounds, and its for Vittoria Coffee, a family-owned company in Australia. I can only imagine the number of zeroes his check carried behind the two initial numbers.
The campaign itself is directed by Oscar winner Barry Levinson (Rain Man), who has just worked with the actor on the HBO movie You Don’t Know Jack, about the life and work of doctor-assisted suicide advocate Jack Kevorkian.
Honestly? I would buy anything this man was selling.
A lot of actors who get movie roles weren’t actually the first choices for the role, some original actors pass on the project because they don’t like it or they aren’t getting enough money or sometimes they just can’t schedule it in. Well here is 10 actors who have passed on some of the biggest roles of all time, some of the photos are manips of what they would be like in the role and some are just their normal boring face.
Will Smith – Neo, The Matrix
Will Smith passed on the role of Neo as did Ewan McGregor. Will Smith said, “You know, The Matrix is a difficult concept to pitch. In the pitch, I just didn’t see it. I watched Keanu’s performance – and very rarely do I say this – but I would have messed it up. I would have absolutely messed up The Matrix. At that point I wasn’t smart enough as an actor to let the movie be. Whereas Keanu was smart enough to just let it be. Let the movie and the director tell the story, and don’t try and perform every moment.†Will Smith went on to star in I, Robot.
W.C. Fields – Wizard, The Wizard of Oz
The part of the Wizard was written for W.C. Fields and it seems that it was perfect role, a traveling con man. He turned down the role for the most famous of reasons…money. He was only offered $75,000 by MGM but he wanted $100,000. Other sources say he turned it down to write You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man. The role went to Frank Morgan.
Cary Grant – James Bond
The producers of the James Bond films originally approached Cary Grant about playing the role of Britain’s 007 agent. Cary declined the role because he didn’t want to be tied to a film series. The role went to Sean Connery starting with Dr. No in 1962. Fleming wasn’t entirely happy with the choice. “He’s not exactly what I had in mind,†said Fleming.
Bette Davis – Scarlett O’Hara, Gone with the Wind
Bette Davis turned down the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind. The role went to Vivien Leigh. Davis decided to pass on the role when she thought Errol Flynn would by playing the part of Rhett. She had refused to work with him earlier.
Sean Connery – Gandalf, Lord of the Ring Trilogy
Amazingly, Sean Connery turned down the role of Gandalf from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings Trilogy. His reason for passing on the role was due to the length of time for filming – 18 months. Sir Ian McKellan won the role and everyone couldn’t be happier. Mr. Connery said he had never read Tolkein and when he read the script he referred to the hobbits as bobbits.
Daryl Hannah – Vivian, Pretty Woman
Daryl Hannah turned down the role of the hooker, Vivian, because she felt it was demeaning to women. Strangely, she later appeared in Dancing at the Blue Iguana in the role of a stripper. Even more unbelievable, Molly Ringwald also passed on the role of Vivian. Vivian’s role was soon nabbed by Julia Roberts.
Kevin Costner – Bill, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2
Mr. Costner turned down the role of Bill in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 and Kill Bill: Vol. 2. He opted instead to direct Open Range in yet another poor career choice…cough, cough Water World.
John Cusack – John Bender, The Breakfast Club
I think John Cusack is one of the finest actors of my generation and I’m very disappointed that he didn’t get to be part of The Breakfast Club. Of course, he was a mainstay in the teenage angst movies of the 80s, so I’m happy. He was originally the actor chosen to play John Bender. Unfortunately he was unable to fit it into his schedule and Judd Nelson ended up in the role.
Bruce Willis – Sam Wheat, Ghost
Bruce Willis turned down the role of Sam Wheat in Ghost “because he didn’t think the plot would work and that playing a ghost would be detrimental to his careerâ€. Ironically, he played a ghost in The Sixth Sense and he would have played opposite his now ex-wife, Demi Moore.
Al Pacino – Han Solo, Star Wars
Al Pacino, Nick Nolte and Christopher Walken were all considered for the role of Han Solo. Even harder to imagine, supposedly Burt Reynolds turned down the role. Harrison Ford took the part and the rest is box office history.
I can safely say that I am glad none of these actors took on the roles, maybe they would actually be good and I am just used to the ones who actually did the project. But Sean Connery as Gandalf is a big no no for me.
source: 10 Actors Who Passed on Movie Roles [Top Tenz]
