We all know and love seeing the faces of icons like Zendaya, Florence Pugh and Timothee Chalamet (at least I know I do), but has their status ruined their ability to be perceived as actors? In a society where we are privy to actorsâ daily routines and social medias, where we rarely solely see them on the big screen, it is becoming increasingly harder to separate the role from the actor.Â
On the one hand, this familiarity can be seen as a blessing; seeing actors outside of their films breaks the 4th wall in a way it had never previously been broken. Social media has fundamentally changed star persona as we find ourselves able to encounter actors outside of publicity interviews and cinema. A personal favourite example of mine is Florence Pughâs âCooking with Floâ, a Youtube series in which she explores different cuisines while casually chatting about different topics, such as the race against dementia. The ability to see actorsâ humour, opinions and personalities via social media fosters a relationship with viewers, arguably making them more invested in watching their films as you feel an emotional connection with the performer. But is it a double-edged sword?
There are two cons I would like to explore: how this familiarity leads to oversaturation of certain actors and how this familiarity may ruin the age-old âmovie magicâ.
A controversial example of this is Christopher Nolanâs Odyssey which recently released, featuring a star-studded cast with the likes of Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya and Mia Goth. Although the film is visually impressive and an enjoyable watch, I repeatedly found myself taken out of the plot and noticeably feeling like I was watching Tom Holland rather than the character of Telemachus. He is beloved for his role as Peter Parker in Spiderman (rightly so!), yet his association with familiar blockbuster characters definitely affected the way I interpreted his performance. By no means was it a bad performance, but my awareness of him as a celebrity felt like an obstacle to my being completely immersed in his character and storyline; of course, star-casting remains an important cornerstone of contemporary cinema but fresh talent may arguably be more powerful on-screen than ever. Take Inde Navarette, star of Curry Barkerâs Obsession, the movie had social media in a chokehold with a combination of fresh cinematography and unknown actors. I found myself invested and enthralled by the plot. It felt very unlike any cinema I had watched in a long time, the fact being that there were no familiar celebrity faces to remove you from the story.
We all know that well-known actors can provide talent, publicity and financial security to a production, as well as a beloved face but the issue remains: are audiences able- or willing- to look beyond their public identities? Celebrities can strengthen connection with the audience, but is this at risk of the boundary between actor and character? Perhaps Hollywoodâs fixation with recognisable faces is beginning to work against the very thing film asks us to do: believe.