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Help! My Star Is A Complete Unknown
How to build a film around someone your audience has never heard of...

Haywire hits cinemas this week, starring the kickass and extraordinarily cool Gina Carano as a CIA-trained, independent contractor who goes on the run and starts opening up huge barrels of whoop-ass after someone, somewhere marks her for death. It’s directed by Steven Soderbergh and co-stars a host of famous faces – but the fact remains that Carano herself isn’t well known outside mixed martial arts (MMA) and stunt circles. So how do filmmakers entice audiences in to see newcomers like this given a chance? We examine a few previous successful strategies...

WORDS HELEN O'HARA
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Help! My Star Is A Complete Unknown | Surround Your Newcomer With Proven Talent Surround Your Newcomer With Proven Talent

Haywire’s already gone this route, adding the likes of Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Michael Douglas, Michael Fassbender and Channing Tatum to the cast around Carano. But it’s a very common approach to surround lesser-known leads with established talent to give the film that veneer of class. Whether it’s a raft of talented character actors – as in John Carter, say, or The Hunger Games – or a plethora of no-question-about-it stars – as in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland – doesn't really matter. This is distinct, incidentally, from a truly ensemble piece: there is a lead here, identifiable by the fact that they’re the one person onscreen you don’t recognise.

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Your Comments
1 RE: District 9
Posted on Friday January 27, 2012, 03:06 by dennisforb66
After all I still love district 9 at all apathygrll :) ______________________________ fe Insurance Online Quotes Read More

2 District 9
Posted on Tuesday January 24, 2012, 11:45 by Apathygrrl
Which category would you say District 9 would fall into? Dining on the producer's bill perhaps? Say Frak it and just go ahead anyway? I frakin' loved Sharlto Copley's performance. Read More

3 Re: Make The Effects The Selling Point
Posted on Friday January 20, 2012, 11:11 by potemkin1925
Really!?! Sam Wortington is "an intensely likeable screen presences and decent actor"??? Since when? The guy is flatter than Keira Knightly's chest!!! Read More

4
Posted on Wednesday January 18, 2012, 20:59 by Grimm
"If you’ve got the right person, just shoot a few more screentests until you wear the studio down and convince them you’ve got the right person. There’ll always be time to turn your star into an actual star later." - SAME THING HAPPENED WITH AL PACINO IN GODFATHER. COPPOLA VOUCHED FOR HIM. Read More

5 RE: Leo and Kate
Posted on Wednesday January 18, 2012, 10:25 by maleachi
I'd agree with Helen on that. Starring in Sense and Sensibility in a supporting role, doesn't usually make you the top choice for a James Cameron movie. The same goes for What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I can't think of any situation in which it would've come handy to have people say: Look, that's the poor little fellow from WEGG, he thinks, he's the king of the world. I'm sorry, but I just don't see it :-D Read More

6 RE: Leo and Kate
Posted on Tuesday January 17, 2012, 12:31 by Helen OHara
L: GigoloJoe 'And sure, you’re not sure who Leo Whatsit or Kate Whozzit are' - Both were Oscar nominated by the time they did Titanic. They weren't exactly unknowns. or were they household names to be headlining a $180m film. After all, Hailee Steinfeld and John Hawkes have Oscar nominations, but you'd still not expect them to headline Transformers 4. Read More

7 Ummm
Posted on Tuesday January 17, 2012, 08:43 by Noelg25
"After all, casting a star in Daredevil didn’t exactly pay off…" Should say the same for Green Lantern -__- Read More

8 Actors
Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 21:54 by nKutzler
I had a long comment about this and the screen changed by itself. Anyway, I'll argue that an actor with actual talent or a fitting character will work, while an actor who doesn't turn out how the character should be or who has no talent at all won't make a good impression. The other actors or the director's name may bring people to the theaters, but they won't help the newcomers. They need their own impressions. Read More

9 Sam - Apologises for his own wooden performance - Worthington
Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 21:20 by Spacecowboy
"...Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana in Avatar: while both are intensely likeable screen presences and decent actors, we all really went for the blue stuff." Since when was Sam Worthington a decent actor? Read More

10 Leo and Kate
Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 14:30 by GigoloJoe
'And sure, you’re not sure who Leo Whatsit or Kate Whozzit are' - Both were Oscar nominated by the time they did Titanic. They weren't exactly unknowns. Read More

11 RE: Danny Boyle
Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 13:49 by jwhite83
The likes of Ewan McGregor, Cillian Murphyand Dev Patel, have a lot to thank Danny Boyle for. Read More

12 Danny Boyle
Posted on Monday January 16, 2012, 13:04 by guysalisbury
He's had a few classics for me. Cillian Murphy in 28 Days Later. Brilliant lead and Epic film! I know he'd done Shallow Grave but Ewan McGregor in Trainspotting has to get a mention. Read More


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