A Knight's Rising Foe

The new Batman villain is probably going to be Doc Strange eh?

Proves two things, most directors get trapped into the habit of using actors they've worked with before. And whilst this can be a good thing, meaning the actor and director no each other's methods of working and hence potentially saving time and money in the process. It also means the director is equally time saving in that theres not that awkward period when you first start working with someone and don't really no what to expect, like when you start at a new educational institute and know no-one there or in the simillar but more meek setting of starting of a new daily job.

But doesn't this also means that you're potentially preventing new talent from having their chance on the main stage. I understand equally that studio will have their hands in the casting pitch and will almost always go against unknowns because of the high risk for them, fame usually guarentees some monicome of success. Take Kevin Smith's last film Cop Out. By no means his greatest achievement (I preffered Jeresey Girl to this schlop) but the fact is although it didn't do aswell as say Inception or Avatar, it didn't drift under the radar, dying a horrible death having failed to make even it's own budget. It made a profit and this is because of one thing, BRUCE WILLIS!

Hanks' only co-star for most of Castaway (2000), Wilson the Wilson Volley Ball.

Another good example of this is Castaway, starring Tom Hanks. A film about one man being trapped alone on an island with anyone else would have bombed. But with Hanks it grosses over $400 million world-wide. Is this success justified? In Tom Hanks' case like many others in Hollywood, yes this is justified but some recently don't seem to warrant the fuss and attention and focus. And what's the point in investing in the stars anyway when 3 of what I would consider to be some of the biggest films of all time all had relative unknowns at their centre, Star Wars, E.T. and Titanic. And even Avatar had what I would consider an unknown as it's lead, Sam Worthington, yes at the time Avatar was released Worthington had been in Terminator Salvation as well as some small, independent stuff. However, as all the press surrounding Avatar informed us, it took years to film Avatar and at the time of his casting, Worthington would've been a risky underdog.

Are stars a bad thing.  No. Is it a bad thing to rely entirely on them to drive the success of a film overlooking production value and quality on the way? YES.

So please Hollywood,  no more Valentine's Day's, The Proposal's, 2012's and Knight and Day's. Lets continue focusing on the quality in Hollywood as Mr. Nolan does .