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.
This was the era of Ovitz and $20 million asking prices, a time when saying Cruise, Washington or Hanks was all that was necessary to make it happen. There was only one Julia or Demi and if you needed clarification, there was no point in talking at all. Whatever you thought about their acting skills, the greatest role they ever played was movie star.
Read the full piece here.
Comment count on this article reflects comments made on Breitbart.com and Facebook. Visit Breitbart's Facebook Page.