The Slow Death Of The Male Hollywood Movie Star -- Mr. Clooney, Where Art Thou?

George Clooney may be "too classy" to rumble with Justin Bieber but we all remember his fight with Fabio, don't we? Thanks to Henway for this:

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The Slow Death Of The Male Hollywood Movie Star -- Mr. Clooney, Where Art Thou?

Posted: 09/17/2014

As Hollywood's biggest male movie stars start to slide towards retirement, who's ready to take their place?
When it comes to male movie stars, Hollywood should hit the panic button.

The world's most eligible bachelor is finally getting hitched. And I'm beginning to think I'm the only one who cares. Sure, if I dig around, I can find out that George Clooney and his betrothed, power attorney Amal Alamuddin, just got their marriage licenses. But I have to really look. The celeb news I'm bombarded with instead features a late-night brawl between Orlando Bloom and Justin Bieber and little Zac Efron's cavorting with wild child bisexual actress Michelle Rodríguez.

I'm not sure what happened between the high point of Brad Pitt and Clooney's fame and this Young Hollywood-ruled free-for-all. My favorite male stars are aging. And no one -- and I mean NO ONE -- is there to replace them.

Bloom looked to be a contender for Clooney-type fame. He has the looks for it -- and his role as Legolas the elf in The Lord of the Rings was classy and memorable. But let's be honest: Clooney would have never stooped so low as to get entangled with the Biebs. Bloom seems lost, sort of floating through life post-divorce. Missing is the A-list confidence and swagger of the men who came before him.

Bradley Cooper has the looks, but is just sort of... boring. There, I said it. He would never own a popular adults-only party pad in Lake Como -- or somehow make hooking up with Angelina Jolie while still with Jennifer Aniston look good. Ryan Gosling is one to think about, but his star power seems to fall just shy of Pitt's or Clooney's when they were his age.

So is that it?

Clooney could not have picked a prettier bride, like a Carolyn Bessette of her time. Yet there is no frenzied build-up to their "I dos." Their wedding pics are reportedly set to appear in Vogue. But will they make the cover like Kim Kardashian and Kanye West did? Or is modern pop culture so seeped in reality show ridiculousness that their wedding photo will be hidden somewhere inside?

Oh, next generation of big male movie stars, where art thou?

Yes I read this on the Huffington Post earlier. Yes George has had his less than stellar moments but somehow he almost always handles everything in such a classy way. I agree. Many of today's stars just don't have the smoothness and class that George and some of his fellow actors of his generation have. George had been smart in knowing how to handle the fame and $. There was an article written about George just a few years ago -- something like "The Last Movie Star". Think it was Time mag. That says it.

Can anyone think of any Hollywood up-and-comers who can take the place of George and his generation? I've bee trying to think of someone, but keep coming up empty.

LizzyNY what about Ryan Gosling (in about 10 years) -

Coincidentally, an article from yesterday on this very subject:

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Why Tobey Maguire Thinks There’s a Lack of Young Male Movie Stars

• By [url=http://nymag.com/author/kyle buchanan]Kyle Buchanan[/url]
  

In a 2011 Vulture article, we sized up the sparse field of young leading men in the movies and plaintively asked, “Where Are the New Leos, Tobeys, and Jakes?” Three years later, that drought has only gotten worse. While the movies can boast a plentiful array of bankable female superstars under 25, including Jennifer Lawrence, Shailene Woodley, and Kristen Stewart, their male counterparts are meager, and there’s still no young man with an under-25 career comparable to the one had by Leonardo DiCaprio (who’d been Oscar-nominated for What’s Eating Gilbert Grape and toplined the then-biggest movie ever, Titanic, before turning 25), Tobey Maguire (who’d by that age starred in classics like The Ice Storm and The Cider House Rules), or Jake Gyllenhaal (who made Brokeback Mountain, Donnie Darko, and Jarhead before his 25th birthday).
What gives? Vulture put the question to Tobey Maguire himself at the Toronto Film Festival, where the 39-year-old actor was promoting Pawn Sacrifice, his new film about chess legend Bobby Fischer. Maguire had intended to make the movie years ago at Sony, but the superhero-saturated studio wouldn’t green-light the talky character drama, and Maguire had to make Pawn Sacrifice independently. It’s proof, Maguire posited, that we’re now in the sort of climate where studios no longer want to finance the medium-budgeted movies that used to give young men their star-making roles.

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.] Where Are the New Leos, Tobeys, and Jakes?
“Movies now have more to do with an aesthetic,” Maguire said, “than they do with a performance. Growing up, it was always my ambition to work with great actors and great directors, and it was Leo's ambition, too, so that's what we were focused on and aiming for. Parts like those start to shape you as an actor, and they shape people's perception of you, too. Leo going into This Boy's Life at 15 years old and working with Robert De Niro, that shapes the rest of his career — and the studios aren’t [making] many movies like that anymore.” Indeed, that DiCaprio/De Niro period drama (in which Maguire also had a small role) was financed by Warner Bros. and released in April of 1993; nowadays, WB is more likely to stock its spring season with a megabudget project like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, currently scheduled for March 2016.
Maguire’s Pawn Sacrifice director Ed Zwick, who himself cast Claire Danes in My So-Called Life and Evan Rachel Wood on Once and Again before either actress had turned 15, said some of our would-be leading men are languishing on subpar TV shows. “There's a poaching of young people where they're put into CW television shows, and they learn bad habits,” said Zwick. “They're given too much responsibility too quickly, and without the opportunity to work with these great directors that Tobey and Leo had. Young actors used to be cast as the third lead opposite stars like Spencer Tracy or Henry Fonda, and they had apprenticeships of a kind, learning their craft. That doesn't happen now.”
“You don't have the opportunity these days to develop good habits, or maybe even the desire to,” added Maguire. “If Leo and I were young now, I'd still aspire to work with great people, but those jobs don't exist anymore. I would feel like my only opportunities were in YA franchises and superhero movies. You can hold out for something better only for so long until you're like, Okay, I need a job!”
“I also think that mainstream American movies have shifted so much that the focus is on the superhero, rather than on the actor,” said Zwick, prompting a knowing nod from Maguire, who signed on to Spider-Man back when a comic-book franchise was novel instead of the norm. “I mean, Chris Evans is playing Captain America, but I don't think there are a lot of dramatic opportunities intrinsic to that part,” continued Zwick. “I think talented young actors still exist and you can see them in the proliferation of independent movies, but because those films don't get seen as much now, the people who do that great work aren't as quickly elevated into the public eye as people like Tobey were when the studios were making meatier roles for young men.”
And that, said Maguire, is why the newest crop of male movie stars like Tom Hardy (“a brilliant actor”), Bradley Cooper, and Chris Pratt now tend to be minted in their 30s rather than their 20s. “People will kind of creep up on you now, and maybe they're older than I was when you start to become aware of them,” said Maguire, “but I also just saw this kid in Starred Up, I think his name is Jack O'Connell, and I was like, Wow, this kid's legit!” The 24-year-old O’Connell, a Brit, also stars this December in Angelina Jolie’s highly anticipated film Unbroken, and if the up-and-comer nabs an Oscar nomination for his work as war hero Louis Zamperini in that movie, he’ll be the first actor in the 25-and-under bracket to score an Oscar nod since ... well, since Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain, nearly ten years ago.

That interview with Tobey Maguire was really interesting. I guess the old studio system wasn't all bad if it provided a training ground for young actors while they built their careers.

Theminis - Ryan Gosling was the only one I thought of, too. He isn't there yet, but maybe in 10 years he could be if he makes the right choices.

If Miles Teller keeps his head on straight, he'll be a good one. And I like Theo James, but he needs better material, maybe play ugly a few times. He's too fucking gorgeous.

I always thought Lucas Black, the guy who played the son in Sling Blade and in Friday Night Lights (both Billy Bob Thornton movies) and several other films, would be a star, but he never got into chasing stardom that hard. Very nice young man, too, by all accounts.

But I can't think of anyone I look at and say, "Yeah, he's got it."

Ryan Gosling is a wonderful actor. Lars and the Real Girl is one of my favorite movies of all time, and nobody could have pulled that role off like he did. But he would tell Hollywood to kiss his ass in a New York minute, so he's not about to assume any mantles.

I really don't think anyone comes close to being in the same category as George. He is truly one-of--kind. Not just as an actor but the whole persona. I think Ryan is a terrific actor but even on 10 years nothing like George. Just in the charm department not too many come close to GTC.

Way2Old4Dis wrote:Ryan Gosling is a wonderful actor. Lars and the Real Girl is one of my favorite movies of all time, and nobody could have pulled that role off like he did. But he would tell Hollywood to kiss his ass in a New York minute, so he's not about to assume any mantles.

Yes that's very true of Ryan, he does exude that mysteriousness that makes for an interesting and popular movie star.

Could it be that the material they're offered keeps these younger guys from having that "it" factor? There are so few parts that promote a "leading man" image - just lots of sophomoric comedies and action flicks.

LizzyNY wrote:Could it be that the material they're offered keeps these younger guys from having that "it" factor? There are so few parts that promote a "leading man" image - just lots of sophomoric comedies and action flicks.

I think you're right LizzyNY. There is rarely a movie I am interested in seeing. It's all special effects, idiotic comedies and sequels. Even Paul Newman couldn't make it today!

I don't know about "up and coming" actors, but I think George has a massive amount of competition from actors of his own vintage.  Who work solidly and do a great job, no hoop la. No need for intrusive personal PR. PR, just used on Public red carpet and work related occasions.

Liam Neeson comes to mind and Matt of course, so many when you think.

Alisonfan wrote:I don't know about "up and coming" actors, but I think George has a massive amount of competition from actors of his own vintage.  Who work solidly and do a great job, no hoop la. No need for intrusive personal PR. PR, just used on Public red carpet and work related occasions.

Liam Neeson comes to mind and Matt of course, so many when you think.

As we say around here, agree to disagree.

George Clooney is one of the most loved and recognizable movie stars in the world, despite not having a string of blockbusters on his track record. He manages to keep making the movies he wants to make, year in and year out, and keeps a ton of people employed and solvent. He's popular whether he has a movie out or not, and whether or not any movie he does is a hit.

Using the two examples you cited: Liam Neeson, per his last few movies, has turned to being an 'action' star in movies that do fairly well at the box office and in VOD, a big retreat from his cerebral roles that got him acclaim. Matt Damon has not had a critical or commercial hit in a while, so he's now Bourne again. These are two very, very good actors, but neither of their careers compares to George's.

Another contender, Ben Affleck, is only a middling actor, IMO, but he has remade himself into a stellar director -- and even his Oscar came via the Clooney connection. 

So, no "massive amount" of competition, that I can see.

I think I associate George more with the generations of "movie stars" that came before him than with his own contemporaries. Cary Grant (of course), Clark Gable, Paul Newman - men whose public image and lifestyle seemed somehow brighter and shinier than anyone else's. (Not being very articulate - sorry)

I know a lot of it was PR and not real. Maybe that's part of the difference now. The studio PR machines don't exist any more and social media makes it hard for anyone to maintain that kind of image. Maybe George came along at just the right time and got very, very lucky.

What about Chris Pine (Star Trek) and Jake Gallen...... (can never spell it!!!). Then theres James Macavoy, Matthew out of Downton (Lady M's decd husband). It's sad to say that I do think Georgie is moving on to a phase where he will be forgotten, and fickle sorts will move onto other hot totties! Although Georgie will always hold his charm with me, if there aren't enough bums on seats for his upcoming films, it could be his demise into either just directing or he'll disappear altogether. Sad really as I think he has more to give and there are still parts for an older man. Only time will tell I spose?!

And I think George sets himself apart in Hollywood by doing movies that he wants to do, not necessarily what the studios want. I know he has said in the past he does one for the studio so he can do that he wants but he pretty much stays true to his own brand. I remember reading an article several months ago where Harvey Weinstein was asked who he admires in Hollywood. I think he mentioned three people. George was the first he mentioned because he fights for what he believes in when making movies (that's my take on what he said, not an exact quote). I felt what he said was a huge compliment to George. George has a lot of respect in the business and that lends itself to why he is set apart from a number of other actors

Yes I think George Clooney is really a "one off" in the film business because he writes, directs, produces 
as well as acts.
 I personally think that the image that was created around him of "sexiest man alive" did him no favours and maybe he has shaken that off at last.
He's made some fascinating films over the years, some that will stand the test of time I'm sure.
I'm looking forward to many more.

I agree with the person who says, we are not personal friends or close family members of george. just fans and that is not a personal friend. He is trying to do the best he can to make her happy and the family. he just wants to get married and be happy. He has the right and no matter if any does like it or not, it is what he wants and only him and amal. I wish them the best and happy trails ahead. love you george, bg

A lot of the young men coming up in Hollywood are good looking, and a lot of them are very talented. But, IMO, none of them have that spark - that special something - that creates a "STAR" like George. I think no matter what he does he will always have a place in that small group of icons who define Hollywood superstardom.

Meh. The film critics run this same article every 10 years or so. I remember reading this article (or a version of) in an artsy fartsy film magazine in the early 1990s where they were woe-oh-woe-ing the dearth of any suitable male film stars to replace the ageing 80s actors.

Just because film writers can't spot the next big thing when he's in supporting roles doesn't mean there isn't a next big thing. Truth is, Hollywood depends on there being a non-stop stream of newly minted stars to keep the box office receipts rolling.

There may not be a new George Clooney exactly, but why should there be? We've still got the old George Clooney. Sorry, not old: the original. As George started his career as the 'new' Clark Gable or Cary Grant, look at how many decades between him and the originals.