ABSTRACT
It has been argued that in the 1930s the popularity of films starring Mae West saved Paramount Studios from financial ruin, and that a succession of Deanna Durbin hits similarly kept Universal Studios afloat (Walker 1974; Morin 1960). In the 1940s and early 1950s, a majority of MGM’s financial success was due to a string of films starring Clark Gable (Shipman 1979). Stars of the 1990s who, like Harrison Ford, are attached to a series of financial hits are still highly sought-after inputs (Brown 1995). Indeed, today the power wielded by movie stars underscores much of the motion picture industry. Producers, directors, writers and the stars themselves understand this. Saul Zaentz, independent producer of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and The English Patient relates: ‘The studios? . . . the first question is, “who’s in it?” ’ (The South Bank Show, 1992). Says John Landis, director of hits The Blues Brothers and Coming to America: ‘. . .You ask them, “What do you think of the script?” And they answer, “If you can get Harrison Ford then it’s a good script. If you can’t then it’s a bad one” ’ (Thomas 1996). Gary Fleder, director of Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead, comments on how he was able to finance this hip, off-beat US independent thriller: ‘actors embrace it, and Miramax embraces that . . .’ (Charity 1996). Peter Howitt, director and writer of Sliding Doors, also understands the actor’s power to get movies made. He had no luck selling his screenplay until ‘an agent showed the script to Gwyneth Paltrow. He thought she would like it. She did. Suddenly every major studio wanted to distribute the film’ (Sunday Times 1998). Superstar Barbra Streisand comments: ‘the audience buys my work because I have complete control’ (Vincent 1996), while Robert De Niro describes his power to get films made for his long-time colleague and friend, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese: ‘I told Marty, if he had trouble getting it off the ground and if he really wanted me to do it [The Last Temptation of Christ], I would’ve done it. It was something I was telling him as a friend; if he needed me, I was there’ (Paris 1989).
