“There’s no substitute for charisma, and while many in the new generation of up-and-comers play on our nostalgia for a glamorous past, Powell’s social-media savvy and puppydog relatability have placed him ahead of the pack,” Bramesco notes. By contrast, though, a figure like Austin Butler has managed to cultivate a mystique, rarely posting to social media, and offering a slightly taciturn smoulder in all his interviews. Whether it’s old-school Hollywood mystery or Glen Powell thirst-trapping on Instagram, both stars have made their personalities work for them.
A Movie Star, historically, conformed to a certain “type” – studios often had factory-line production strategies that required easy access to, say, a mysterious and dark-eyed stranger, or a matronly aunt with a comic streak, or an innocent blonde waif. Whether emerging from the stage, like the fearsomely beautiful screen-natural Vivien Leigh, or a village beauty contest, or a tenement slum like Barbara Stanwyck, there’s a Cinderella-story element to the traditional movie star tale. But stars are rarely just innocently “discovered”, as the old story about 40s bombshell Lana Turner being stumbled upon while she drank a milkshake in Schwab’s Pharmacy used to go. You’ve only got to see one of the many iterations of A Star is Born (the 1954 version with Judy Garland may be your best bet) to see that the process takes labour, both from the person themselves and the team of star-makers around them: a star is groomed to perfection, taught how to walk, talk, dance, sing and comport themselves. And while contemporary star-making may not be like studio-era talent schools, which would sometimes train up-and-comers over a number of years, there is certainly still a sense that time and media savvy are essential to building up a star in the eyes of the public.
The qualities true Movie Stars need
From Marilyn Monroe copycats of the era, like Diana Dors and Jayne Mansfield, to the modern urge to find Tom Cruise’s heir, the traditional idea of stardom is essentially a formulaic one. Studio execs, talent scouts and casting agents have sought to repeat and mimic the unique and powerful presence of stardom – to varying degrees of success. It’s not just a matter of simple charisma. But equally, careful devising of one’s career is not always a guarantee of success.
The best stars have a radiance and magnetism, but also a certain self-awareness. It’s important to have the ability to both choose roles which will seem to audiences as a logical “fit” for their type, and which go enough “against type” – aka allow them to explore their flexibility as performers. Take Austin Butler, using his Marlboro Man voice and retro cred from Elvis to delve back into mid-century Americana à la Marlon Brando and James Dean with The Bikeriders. Sydney Sweeney, an all-American girl who is both reliant on her sex appeal and determined not to be pigeonholed by it, is in dialogue with her own image at all times. The fact that her two upcoming projects are so different is by design: there’s Jane Fonda’s part in an upcoming Barbarella remake; but equally, Sweeney is co-producing a project about the decidedly less glamorous Christy Martin, the first professional woman boxer.
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But the discourse grows topsy-turvy when no one can agree on the parameters of what makes a movie star. And maybe that’s the whole point: it’s ineffable. You might judge it by acting talent and dexterity, but many of the legendary stars played within variations of a type. Humphrey Bogart is sipping a short drink and drawling laconically regardless of where you see him; modern would-be movie stars, like Austin Butler, have also carved out niches playing parts of a certain stripe. Or you could look at bankability and box office success, which would mean Timothée Chalamet would easily make the cut given the financial takings of Dune 2 and Wonka – but others might point out these are both big franchises based on popular IP in their own right, and scoff at the fact such a nontraditional-type leading man was really a Movie Star. Or you might judge it by something far less nameable, which is: Glen Powell’s dimpled smile as he gazes unerringly at his leading lady of choice, causing a frisson of recognition and desire in the audience which can only ever come from a Movie Star.
