Movie star

A movie star is a celebrity who is well known for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures.

Origin

Varant wants to be a movie star. In the days of early silents the names of the actors and actresses appearing in movies were not publicized or credited as they are now. Some of these performers had to help build the sets, do clean up and other chores around the film studio. But as the movie-going public became more interested in the performers who attracted their attention, the curiosity to know more about them made the movie studios and producers rethink their policy.

As the demand increased, they began publicizing the names of their leading women and men, and bill them in the credits of their movies, such as Florence Lawrence, referred to as "the first movie star," who was previously known only as the "Biograph Girl" because she worked for Biograph Studios, and Mary Pickford, who was previously known as "Little Mary."

Movie studios employed performers under long-term contracts. They developed a star system as a means of promoting and selling their movies. "Star vehicles" were filmed to display the particular talents and appeal of the most popular movie stars of the studio.

Perks

Traditionally, those who achieve "star" status in the movie industry are given special treatment, perks and high salaries. Some have become extremely wealthy, such as Marilyn Monroe who is said to be one of the biggiest movie stars in history. Also, some stars actually are very sweet and caring towards their fans and other people.

Other than those movie stars who began forming their own production companies to make more money, and those who received a percentage of the profits to star in a movie, such as Lana Turner for Imitation of Life (1959), reaping millions of dollars, the first movie star to be paid a fee of $1,000,000 to star in a movie was Elizabeth Taylor for Cleopatra (1963). For his appearance in the 1978 movie Superman, movie star Marlon Brando received almost $4,000,000 for eight minutes of screen time as Superman's father, Jor-El. The highest paid hollywood actress is Julia Roberts ^* while the highest fee paid to any actor is 30 million dollars for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Movie Stars also get what is known as 'Celebrity Swag' when attending award ceremonies, winning an award and presenting awards. These are in the form of gift bags worth up to $30,000. The companies give the movie stars these items free in hope that they will get free publicity. The great thing is that now that movie stars can afford to buy these things, they are given to them.

Downsides

Personal privacy is often a major issue as well; the individual can rarely appear in public for long without being surrounded and often harrassed by strangers and/or the paparazzi.

Treatment outside the West

Movie stars in other regions too have their own star value. For instance, in the Asian film industry movies often run on the weight of the star's crowd pulling power more than any other intrinsic aspect of film making. The Indian cinema industry has its own set of rules in this aspect and there are often "superstars" in this region. These actors are ones who command premium pay commensurate with their box office appeal. Movie stars from Hong Kong, like Jackie Chan, also have global audiences, while others have a limited but more devoted following. Movie stars in India often have huge and hysterical followings, especially in south India, where these matinee idols often enter politics and even reach the post of Chief Minister of their respective linguistic states.

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Origin

Perks

Downsides

Treatment outside the West

See also