With $10 million the new $20 million, franchises trumping talent and international appeal more important than ever, The Hollywood Reporter examines who's on top, who's pulling the strings and who's on deck.
Fabrizio MalteseA perch at the top as an actor or actress is about as stable as the San Andreas Fault. Still, the sea changes in Hollywood lately have upended the hierarchy of who’s hot right now. The new issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine examines what happens to stars in the shift to tentpoles and franchises, smaller paychecks, less negotiating power and ultimately a much different role in today’s studio system. Still, says Millennium Films president Mark Gill: “If you don’t have $100 million worth of special effects, you’ve got to have some reason for people to go — and that’s the stars.”
The King Is Dead, Long Live The King
Kristen Stewart’s kiss with Rupert Sanders may have cost the Snow White and the Huntstman star her $10 million paycheck — but that alone is half what a studio star was once guaranteed. Read the story.
The Unsung Architects: 6 Hot Casting Directors
Like scouts for pro sports teams, the women and men entrusted with looking for the next wave of stars in movies like Looper, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Read the story.
The Making of ‘Lawless’
How an Aussie auteur, Shia LeBeouf and two determined producers lost their gangster movie cast, including Ryan Gosling and Amy Adams, only to land today’s hottest stars — before they were famous. Read the story.
Shia LeBeouf: Thoughts of a Rogue A-Lister
Why the actor is “done” with studio movies: They “give you the money then get on a plane and come to the set and stick a finger up your ass.” Read the story.
Case Studies: Jessica Chastain and Tom Hardy
Born worlds apart, Hardy and Chastain have followed widely divergent paths alone the way to taking their places on the new, elusive A-list — with stops on stage, TV and Oscar-winning productions. And yet they’ve found their way to the same place: John Hillcoat’s bootlegger drama Lawless. Read the story.
Draft Class of 2013: Who’s on the Cusp
From Joel Kinnaman to Asa Butterfield, the faces of the new franchises — and what young actress caught the eye of E.L. James, the author of Fifty Shades of Grey. Read the story.
PHOTOS: ‘Lawless’ Stars Suit Up for the Big Time
Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy topline THR‘s Aug. 24 cover story, which follows the long and arduous process in landing a “new” A-list cast for director John Hillcoat’s Prohibition-era gangster drama. See photos.
