When I decide about a movie, I look at the genre first, then director, then reviews, then trailer, and if I am at exactly 50/50 will consider whether I like the lead actor or actress. Obviously some of the big stars act more like producers than just actors but this is just about whether they are in the film.
Yet in the media writers take it for granted that actors have a huge responsibility in how many people go to see a movie.
When deciding whether to go see a movie how important are the lead actors in your decision?
‘Fairly’ important? It does depend on the film, of course - I’m not going to see another stupid zombie flick just because Kristen Scott Thomas is in it. But there are actors I like, and have high regard for, and would tend to associate with making good choices, so if, say, Olivia Colman is in a film, I’ll certainly take a second look.
it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to see The Iron Lady - who doesn’t want to see Meryl Streep play Maggie Thatcher? That’s just too much weird entertainment to miss.
For me, it’s more likely that a particular actor would make me less likely to want to see a movie. For example, if Stallone is in the cast, chances are I won’t be interested. Generally, I’m more interested in the story than the players.
Most of the time I don’t give a crap who the actors are. The role of acting in movies is far over-rated, and most actors are idiots. At one time I worked in sound recording for (bad, dead-end, direct to foreign market DVD) Hollywood movies, and the vapid obsession among the crew members with name dropping the names of actors was so annoying that it drove me to change careers. Lunch breaks were unbearable.
Not much. It helps if I liked an actor in something else but it would be pretty far down on my list of considerations. There are tons of roles I though were miscast with a name instead of the best actor for the role.
Like an author whose book I have slogged through only to find that it never gets better, if an actor has exposed me to bad works more than once I will not be attracted to the movie. Even if it is a movie that I should want to see. I have so far tried to get all the way through Interstellar three times but I just can’t like any performance from Matthew McConaughey. His BO comes right through the screen. I think my DVD is also beginning to smell, so I put it on the top shelf.
This. Actors can only take away my desire to see a movie, not add to it. The list of those actors is pretty short.
I assume that is true that certain stars sell tickets (because industry “experts” tell me it is true), but it doesn’t describe me or people that I know well.
Pretty important at times. I like a good Jason Statham, Robert De Nero, or John Goodman movie. Some actors I don’t particularly like are Bradley Cooper, Justin Long, and Shia LaBeouf (with some exceptions.) For Star Wars movies for some reason I greatly prefer unknown actors for new characters. It takes me out of the sci-fi fantasy to see a familiar actor from a TV show or movie.
Well, I’ll check reviews first, so they aren’t the MOST important.
I’m not a huge fan of Tom Cruise as a person, or, honestly, even as an actor. He mostly plays himself. But I rarely miss a Tom Cruise movie, because the dude picks good scripts (or at least, scripts that happen to appeal to me personally, across several genres). Story is VERY important to me.
There are a few other actors who I have a lot of trust in with that regard (and even fewer “young” actors), but mostly it is directors, not actors. I have a lot of trust in Spielberg, and James Cameron, for example. Maybe not that it will be the best movie ever, but that I’ll leave the theater feeling my money was well spent and entertained.
Generally, who is in a movie is fairly important. There are some actors I will seek out, others I will turn my nose up at. I think mostly, I tend to see movies with stars, rather than utter unknowns, so there is that factor. There is a certain familiarity, and character shorthand, with a known quantity. Stars generally play to type, or deliberatly against type, but you never really see completely unexpected casting. Also, who the actors are serves as a kind of indicator of what kind of movie it will be, in terms of budget and expected quality. But once a film breaks through with the critics I’ll see it even if the actors are unknowns (e.g. Moonlight).
But in other cases it’s the director that draws me to a film. Or if it’s in a series then the director or actors become secondary (Star Wars).
I won’t see it because some actor is in it, but I might avoid it because some actor is in it. Like I would really have liked to see a movie recently but Meryl Streep was in it and I hate her. (As an actor. She may be a perfectly nice person.)
Nowadays, I don’t care. I used to though. I looked forward to George C Scott, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Sissy Spacek, Maggie Smith, Joanne Woodward type of movies. Today’s talking manniquins just can’t compete.
Mostly I’ll watch a movie if the subject looks interesting. The last one I saw in a theater was All the Money in the World about the Getty kidnapping. Christopher Plummer did okay as John Paul Getty, but the thing that sticks with me about that movie is I mistook the actor playing Getty’s security chief for the actor playing the victim’s father. I honest to god couldn’t tell them apart during the first scenes in the film.
Actors today are that interchangeable. Could anyone confuse the parts played by Steve McQueen and Paul Newman in The Towering Inferno? Unthinkable!
The actor is somewhat important. Who is in a movie is generally one indicator for how well I will like a movie as a whole, not just the story, or the film editing or the acting or the directing, but the whole package. All the factors, story, director, actors, trailers and marketing, those all wax and wane in importance.
F’rinstance, right now you could put Hailee Steinfeld in a turd and I’d go see it, just because there is something about her acting that really appeals to me at this time. At the same time, I have exactly zero interest in seeing Aquaman even though the preview they played when I went to see Bumblebee last weekend looked cool as hell. Seriously, Aquaman looks like a really fun movie that I have no desire to see, even though I probably will soon because Guestling was really hyped up by the trailer.
There are a few actors who I like well enough that I’ll be interested in a movie because of them, and a few actors who I dislike enough to be turned off from a movie because of them. But the vast majority of actors won’t move my needle at all.
