Will Smith

[fpb]

I haven't seen Will Smith's Hancock. However, according to the BBC news, it is a hit, and they say this means that Smith's last eight movies have been hits. This really ought to mean that he must be regarded as Hollywood's current biggest star: who else, except perhaps Angelina Jolie, has a record like that? And in that case, am I correct in saying that he would be the first black actor to be in such a position? This may be a bit of a mockery to disadvantaged blacks in urban slums, but, what with Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Lewis Hamilton and Tiger Woods, this definitely is the age of blacks, in sports, entertainment, and politics. And bear in mind that - whatever one may think of Oprah - each of these people got to the top not by "positive" discrimination, but by native ability.

Comments

[cjmr.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, I think Sidney Poitier, Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, (especially) Eddie Murphy, and (to some extent) Bill Cosby might beg to differ with your premise. Will Smith, IMO, is just the latest in a long line of black actors who have risen to the top--and I don't think he's actually as good as some of the others, just better packaged.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

No, no, no. What I am talking of is the place that was held by the likes of John Wayne or Cary Grant, and that belonged most recently to Tom Hanks: natural box office as the protagonist of the biggest movies, the absolute top. It is especially significant that actors of the caliber of Poitier and Denzel Washington, natural leads, never got even close to where Will Smith is. They would either get lead parts in lesser movies, or best-friend-of-the-lead parts in truly major movies. As for Freeman, his success is quite recent and part of the same long wave; and it is not as lead, but as older authority figure - the kind of person who gets to play president or commander, or, like the older Laurence Olivier, to do silken-voiced voice-overs in movies like The March of the Penguins. As for his being not as good as some of the others, welcome to Hollywood.

[rfachir.livejournal.com]

Who is the biggest depends on how what you measure and how you weigh it, as in every comparison. I'd rate Denzel higher on the attractiveness scale, and Morgan Freeman on the "God" scale. (Freeman is God, like Heston was Moses, (Sorry, George Burns.))
I'd agree that Will Smith is a blue chip movie star, like Tom Cruise used to be a few years ago. His appearance will guarantee a hit, and if the movie is made correctly (costs in line with box office expectations), then he makes the company money. That's all the talent a movie star really needs to stay viable as an artist. Olivier didn't need to do all his great performances in a row - he just needed staying power to survive between hits.

[lyssiae.livejournal.com]

Native ability and sheer hard work, I'd hazard.