Interesting article about how action movies stars have basically become replaceable and disposable.
A lot more at the link. All your favorite actors basically are working much harder for a lot less money. They also need more than one or two films to make it
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-last-disposable-action-hero.html
Jason Momoa (the man-eating alpha dog), learned about this disposability firsthand. For years, a reboot of the “Conan” franchise had been in the works, possibly starring Schwarzenegger as the aging savage. But when Avi Lerner’s Nu Image Films decided on the revival, in 2008, Lerner and his partners opted to go with an unknown, which would be much cheaper. “Everybody knows I’m a money man,” Lerner told me. “I’m not out to win an Oscar. If I spend $60 million on a movie, I want to make a 20 or 30 percent return.” The “Conan” bake-off reportedly included a not-yet-famous Chris Hemsworth and other relative unknowns, like Kellan Lutz, Jared Padalecki of the TV series “Supernatural” and Momoa, who is best known as the warrior Khal Drogo in HBO’s “Game of Thrones.”
When the producers finally settled on Momoa in 2010, he threw himself into the role, embarking on an intensive six-week training regimen, working out six hours a day — including two hours of samurai sword practice. He ate a boiled chicken breast every two hours or so, roughly 56 per week, and packed on an additional 30 pounds of muscle to his already brawny frame. A few months before the film opened, in 2011, the trade show CinemaCon presented Momoa with its Rising Star award. During the lead-up to the movie, Momoa told reporters that a sequel was in the works and that this time around he was involved with the writing process.
But “Conan” suffered a dismal opening weekend, earning only $10.5 million domestically. “I let myself cry for a day, then I moved on to the next one,” Lerner said. “We make more than a dozen of these things a year. We don’t stop.” Another high-powered executive, who asked not to be identified, noted a deeper problem. “No one cared. It’s a comic book that existed 40 or 50 years ago.” Nonetheless, Paradox Entertainment, the company that owns the rights to “Conan,” announced in October that it was leasing them to Universal for yet another version. Momoa took the job as a man-eating alpha dog and pledged to start over.
According to reports, Chris Hemsworth made a pittance for “Thor” and received a pay increase of only $500,000 for the sequel.
Hollywood has gotten creative in its hunt for the next big action star. Producers have considered scouting high-school football games. Brett Norensberg, an agent at Gersh, decided to structure a significant part of his practice around recruiting mixed-martial-arts fighters, professional wrestlers and martial artists. His list includes a karate whiz named Leo Howard, the star of Disney XD’s “Kickin’ It.” “He’s just turning 16. He’s almost 6 feet tall, and he’s got an eight-pack. He’s a thicker Keanu Reeves. The sky’s the limit for him.”
These efforts, though, belie a truth about action heroes: Almost any actor, even some of Hollywood’s most scrawny, can be physically transformed for the part if he’s willing to put in the hard work.
A lot more at the link. All your favorite actors basically are working much harder for a lot less money. They also need more than one or two films to make it
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/02/magazine/the-last-disposable-action-hero.html