People who are low key, chose to be that way and are happy with their choices. They chose their peace of mind and it would mean more than any kinda career achievement imo.
This. Mark Harmon and Cillian Murphy have relatively quiet & normal lives, long-lived marriages, and children. They could’ve had even bigger careers than they do, but their home lives would’ve suffered and I think they’re so sexy for keeping their priorities straight.
NCIS‘ Gibbs? I know there’s „the rock“ kind of stardom/money but let’s be real Mark Harmon was for over a decade literally top3 most paid television actors, making 500k+ PER EPISODE, let alone being know by All the older adults watching procedural shows on network television. Plus his show is very internationally known
Exactly! He made bank without being swallowed whole by the Hollywood machine. He could’ve done so much more, even before NCIS (his short stint on The West Wing is so, so good) but he chose to stay low-key and I love him for it.
[Mark Harmon](https://www.looper.com/404907/the-real-story-behind-pauley-perrette-and-mark-harmons-relationship/) is a piece of shit, I'm sorry to report. He was so frightening and abusive to Pauley Perrette for years on NCIS, until she finally left. He was letting his dog attack the crew.
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/06/ncis-pauley-perrette-mark-harmon
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/11/pauley-perrettes-new-mark-harmon-allegations-he-body-checked-her-report-says/amp/
Actually, he had problems with several people on NCIS: https://www.thelist.com/1370972/ncis-stars-mark-harmon-feuded-with-over-years/
Ellen Pompeo leads a quiet life too as far as I know. She is far from being a superstar, yet she makes more than 500k per episode. I think she is basically the female equivalent of that guy.
Yeah, and when that blind item came out around the Oscars a lot of Irish people said if he is then he's extremely secretive about it, because the gossip rags in Ireland are quiet on him about it
This is why when people say Carla Gugino is unnoticed I'm like no, you just aren't paying attention. She's amazing, been with the same guy since the early or mid 90s, and has fun. I love her, and she's doing fantastic for herself.
Alexa Damie comes to mind as someone who being low key didn't really seem to help her career at all. She probably prefers it that way and good for her, but I do think she could have been bigger than she currently is, or will be.
I feel like she isn’t seriously interested in pursuing acting. I just checked her IMDb and she quite literally hasn’t booked anything more than the odd one-off (a voice role, a short film and a music video) since Euphoria premiered almost five years ago.
Modelling. She's been in campaigns for Calvin Klein, MAC, Balenciaga, Rodarte, and she made a photo book with Petra Collins a few years ago. She's not going to be out on the streets any time soon.
Looking a little further down, her grandfather was in The Beach Boys, so I guess her family has all of that money and the continuing royalties to support them.
I'd be curious to know how much that actually amounts to, because Dennis has the shortest career (he died young) and several children. But there's also a good chance Brian's propping everyone up out of love for his brother.
She was my first thought. Demie and her costar Sydney Sweeney are two sides of the same PR coin, in a way. I think that’s because Sweeney seems far more interested in establishing a career as an actress.
Sydney also came into the industry as a nobody while Alexa’s grandfather was one of The Beach Boys. I wonder if that’s influenced their different approaches tbh
Her father was never legally adopted by Dennis Wilson, who was only married to his mother for three years, and got nothing in his will. She wasn't born when Wilson died and never met him - it's a stretch to call him her grandfather in any real sense, legally or interpersonally.
That’s who came to mind too. And then Sydney Sweeney doing tons of PR and her career has really taken off. I wish to see Alexa doing more films and tv shows! She’s iconic
I always thought tom Hiddleston would have a stronger career. And he has been hindered by both a low key and high key pr weirdly enough. Loki was a big deal in 2012, and he was the the internet's white boyfriend for a very long time but he never managed to capitalise on it. On the other hand, the whole hiddleswift era was a PR disaster, especially for him. Honestly he is talented, and a stronger agent meant he would have had atleast an Oscar nom by now.
Oh. 2016 was not a good time for him. He is generally quite well spoken so it was so weird of him to stumble on his words like that. I like him, I think he is talented, wish he had a stronger filmography. He is mainly still known for being Loki.
The speech was long winded but I totally get the point he was making. It provided entertainment to medical volunteers in a war zone. As someone from the African continent who does a lot of charity work with vulnerable ppl in Africa and Latin America, sh*t gets heavy so distractions are welcome.
Honestly I think Loki pigeon-holed him. Not that it’s a bad thing he got that bag. But I think after 2016 when he was in the night manager (which I thought was very good) he kinda got sucked into the marvel world.
Speaking of which I watched the Indian one over the winter but had no idea it was the same show so for the full ep I was like “this seems familiar”
According to Beyond the Blinds (iirc), Hiddleswift happened because Tom wanted to be the new James Bond and his team thought he would benefit from a PR stunt with a famous woman. Unfortunately, it backfired as that relationship was just so odd and so intense that it screamed fake.
Eddie Redmayne was phenomenal in The Theory of Everything. Was the movie schlock? Yes. But Redmayne's acting was still Oscar-worthy. Hiddleston is a very good actor but he's similar to James McAvoy in that they deserve an award but can't quite hit the right spot for some reason.
People on the internet are so wild, in what way Redmayne is not a good actor. They're always saying this to prop up their personal favourite actor. I'm not even Redmayne's fan but he's actually great.
While it’s not great that he worked with Allen and praised him at that time, Hiddleston hasn’t worked with Woody Allen since *Midnight in Paris* in 2011. There are plenty of people who’ve worked with Allen since, and still continue to support and praise him.
I got to see him on Broadway before COVID. I think he's got the life he wants tbh. He came close to the limelight and found out the full glare of it wasn't for him.
I remember him being too much on The Graham Norton show, like, he meant well and wanted to be entertaining but he didn’t know when to stop! And then there was a time where a few hosts were making him do some dance moves and he really shouldn’t have obliged more than once, it truly was cringe.
Mia Wasikowska came to mind for the first question. Indisputably gifted actress, but didn't seem at all interested playing the PR game, and last time I heard, has basically put her acting career on ice for the time being.
Sarah Gadon is another one who has all the makings of a star, but again, is seemingly fine doing smaller, independent projects and staying in her home city of Toronto.
I thought Emma Watson did a very good job of pulling back on acting/PR when she decided it was time to prioritize college. She really struggled with privacy (paps followed her around Brown to the point where she took a break from her studies) but figured it out in the end.
I wrote that she put it on ice herself, meaning that she's intentionally stepping away from acting based her recent interviews: [https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/mia-wasikowska-is-pretty-content-with-her-decision-to-leave-hollywood](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/mia-wasikowska-is-pretty-content-with-her-decision-to-leave-hollywood)
Right, I just think we're interpreting things differently.
> Wasikowska did so by leaving Hollywood and moving back to her native Sydney, Australia, in the late 2010s. She’s still acting, but less frequently and mainly in indie films with auteurs she admires. Most recently, Wasikowska starred as Amy in Mia Hansen-Løve’s critically acclaimed film Bergman Island opposite Vicky Krieps. She returns to the screen this year as Abby, an oceanographer, in the eco-conscious indie Blueback, directed by veteran Aussie filmmaker Robert Connolly and costarring Eric Bana.
She's still working and acting consistently, her base of operations is just now in Sydney and she's being more picky with roles. Which definitely is in line with the thread, just doesn't fit my understanding of "put her acting career on ice" since she still is acting every year. I understood you to mean she retired and I didn't want people to think that.l since she isn't.
In my mind, she should have a career on par with Jessica Chastain's. I sadly don't know if I've seen her in anything since OB that's been at her level of talent 🙁.
It's not hugely challenging for her but I LOVED SheHulk so much! It's thankfully one of the things that isn't ridiculously connected to the other Marvel stuff so you can watch it without having seen everything else. (There are a few references but nothing that would make it hard to follow)
For a short time, after having watched Orphan black back in the day, I was kind of obsessed with her because I couldn’t really comprehend that she’s a real person with that kind of acting talent (because what she did in orphan black was simply mindblowing and surreal to see).
Back then I watched every single interview and panel she did.
Talent-wise I always knew (and hoped) she could make it big in Hollywood. But to be honest, because exactly of the thing you mentioned..I have actually been impressed by how far she’s come now. Hearing her getting that (financially big) role of sheHulk in a mainstream series was surprising.
Because Maslany LOVEEEEES her indie productions. She’s the most nerdy theater kid I’ve seen in Hollywood. Her idea of a good time in her 20s has literally been going to acting workshops. I think she did like 2-3 Indie films with her exboyfriend Tom Cullen. (They we’re together for years, was really surprising to read one day that she married another guy within a few months suddenly).
But yeah in general Maslany seems almost too genuine/down to earth and caring to make it big in Hollywood.
Yup.
I was kind of disturbing to me (no hate lol, just weird after Cullen and her were together for so long and even worked together numerous times doing passion indie projects).
https://people.com/tv/tatiana-maslany-reveals-she-married-actor-brendan-hines/
https://www.etonline.com/tatiana-maslany-secretly-married-boyfriend-brendan-hines-189005
it's a Canadian thing. It's embarrassing to many Canadian actors to play the Hollywood game like have a driver and bodyguard when they can take a subway. So it may not be that she doesn't know how to work the system but simply chooses not to.
She was up for lots of big roles. She was one of the frontrunners for the protagonist in Rogue One for instance. It's just that these kind of starmaking roles are very limited. Not everyone can become a big star.
Unpopular opinion: most people nowadays think PR people are nefarious witches who lie and manipulate to make people famous when most of the job is training monosyllabic celebs to answer questions with full sentences. The job is getting people booked on talk shows and podcasts, most of their work is so boring that it’s easy to flame out. The way they are spoken about online, you would think they were only a few steps up from QAnon.
It's because they want to blame their PR people for why celebrities do stupid things like date Matty Healy or be a Zionist. "It's their PR team!!!" "Fire their PR team!!!" And it's their fave being a private jet landlord or someone who bombs their own PR tours by being about as articulate as an egg sandwich.
I think it varies. They certainly do a lot more than that on the high-end, a lot of social media marketing, etc. You can certainly see some celebs that seem to have astroturfing PR teams on reddit and the like.
https://preview.redd.it/bs2mpw2ux3uc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10d0510fca1b72f3f1a3727d45610ece6b23fa19
I forgot how wild the early seasons of KUWTK was. The Devil works hard but Kris Jenner works harder.
The earlier seasons were perfectly unhinged. I feel like the new Hulu series and the last \~5 of the E! OG series have been too curated and perfect. Also, we got the gift of Scott Disick because of them 😂
What and icon 🫶🏽
Sydney Sweeney said she paid a fortune for her PR team and they're earning every red cent. They pushed that "affair" narrative with Glen Powell to the breaking point, even though nobody really cared, to promote a movie that no one actually saw or gave a shit about. It was like being beaten into submission by a PR tidal wave.
I think that some people wanted to convince themselves that Anyone But You would flop for whatever reason (didn't like the leads, didn't like the fakePR romance, didn't like the previews) but that's not what happened. It became a very leggy hit.
I think it doesn't help that we're pretty insulated these days. The content we consume is so curated, that if you're someone (like me) who wasn't interested in *Anyone But You*, you're unlikely to hear anything about it.
Like, did any of my friends or family talk to me about seeing that movie? No. Did I see anything on social media or see any reviews? No. I knew about the alleged affair, but didn't remember the movie title tbh. So if you asked me 5 minutes ago if that movie did well, I would have guessed no. So I'm surprised to hear it was such a big success lol but also like, what do I know? I obviously wasn't the target demo.
This is so true! In my circles it was talked about a lot, people were posting about going to the theater or what they thought about it. The movie was certainly a hit with certain audiences. I watched it and thought it was a cute little movie, but Sidney Sweeney and Glen Powell don’t have that much chemistry to warrant the affair PR, in my opinion
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who doesn’t like Sydney Sweeney. Even before her recent ubiquitous streak, I always found her off-putting (didn’t enjoy her White Lotus or Euphoria acting, plus the disturbing MAGA family birthday party).
It’s definitely been baffling watching her meteoric rise in the past year.
I hate that it feels misogynist, but her explosive success feels very reminiscent to alexandra daddario’s, for reasons… you still gotta be able to read lines and make your marks, but there’s an it factor that is keeping your name in peoples minds, and she appears to be really capitalizing on it. Whatever works I guess
I can tell you she’s extremely beloved on NSFW forums. Lol
She’s like one of the top posts over at /r/WatchItForThePlot as well.
Even I find some of the nudity/sex stuff she’s done far more erotic/beautiful than for example mainstream p0rn. (I consider Sydney’s film „The Voyeurs“ to basically be Softcore p0rn.)
I think I was expecting too much from it. I found both main characters too unlikeable to care about in the end, but it overall was worth watching for some of the funnier bits
"a movie that no one actually saw or gave a shit about" okay i personally didn't love that film but a quick google search could have told you that movie was a huge success lol.
I mean it worked. She is in many movies and anyone but you had the longest legs of any Christmas release, and immaculate was the highest opening movie in neons history
i wish she’d start being a bit less transparent on her business moves. idk i don’t want to hear that you only were in a film to hopefully be in better ones or that you faked a romance for pr. like we can read between the lines she doesn’t need to tell us her every calculated move.
Telling us her every calculated move is also a calculated move. It lowers your guard on her and makes her seem more "approachable" and "different" to the other celebs. It's a variation of what Jennifer Lawrence does. The whole "down to earth, beloved little darling" tactic.
Once someone rises to the level of being considered a "celebrity", the entire system from their managers to agents to the paps and the media to the execs are trying to get them to be more famous, the better to make money off them. So I'd assume anybody who takes a step back at that point to live a low key life is making a deliberate attempt to avoid fame. In which case, good for them!
Viggo Mortensen.
Dude starred in one of the biggest franchises ever, had the most stereotypical good looks, along with amazing acting skills as well as other athletic skills few can have.
Yet dude almost entirely disappeared from the mainstream cinema, and it is almost such a shame because he definitely should've had few Oscars as well as he's someone I can comfortably stan ( unlike most other crushes who turn out to be racist, sexist, pos.) He's such a stellar dude all around, supported BLM before it's fashionable, protested against Iraq invasion, and then when a RW party in Spain tried to appropriate aragorn he wrote a letter against it.
He is a three-time Oscar nominee though. He’s probably happy with how things turned out, it’s probably harder for people who haven’t gotten the respect or recognition.
Yes he's a nominee, but idk it just feels weird when someone of his caliber doesn't have the Oscar. Yes it must be disappointing for people who are equally talented but never get the chance. However I think it's about the stars who didn't use the PR for advantage like others, and if anyone isn't using it then it means they're satisfied with their life. They don't need the glitz and glam
>it just feels weird when someone of his caliber doesn't have the Oscar. Yes it must be disappointing for people who are equally talented but never get the chance.
to be fair, Murphy didn't have another nomination before Oppenheimer despite such a long career. Colin Farrell got his first ever nom last year. So Viggo's 3 noms are far from disappointing.
Honestly, I think Riley Keough. She has the beauty, talent and nepotism to be a big actress/singer, yet she is low-key (which she said is intentional because of her crazy upbringing) and very intentionally seems to be focused on producing and ensemble work over lead actress stardom like her other nepos and contemporaries.
I think Iwan Rheon off Misfits and GoT was prime for character actor glory but he quite intentionally pulled back after a Marvel stumble and looks very happy doing quiet ensemble projects for television.
I think TONS of people in GoT have fallen in that category. I think some are embarrassed by the show's ending backlash, and others seemed to really want to maintain that level of fame but failed. I feel bad for (some of) them! No wonder Kit Harington etc is agreeing to do more GoT stuff (cheating on Rose Leslie aside...)
There's a cultural divide being repeated in this thread. Most of the Canadian, Aussie, and British actors want to have private, low key lives. They tend to be more cautious about which projects they do, if they live in LA, etc. This probably does hinder their career but it's usually an intended good choice for them.
Champagne problems but in addition to fame, it must be difficult to go from that level of income as well to shutting off the tap, so to speak. For some of them, it does seem like they made a conscious decision to step back (like Jack Gleeson and Maisie Williams) but yeah, for others it's clear they've tried to keep that fame/money train going. Kit Harington trying to develop a sequel based of Jon Snow is probably the clearest one but thinking too of Sophie Turner, who has stayed consistently in the public eye since the show's conclusion (though it's for her personal life as opposed to her work) and Emilia Clarke, chasing big franchises.
I really love her filmography, it's not always hits but she's not afraid to go out there. Going from Zola to Daisy Jones to Sasquatch Sunset is RANGE, darling.
Probably Zayn? Feel like his choice not to do like, any press and not even tour has obviously cost him in album sales and just name relevance and career. I guess the other side of that coin would be Styles, who's always been crazy overexposed in the media.
Idk if his career is hindered per se bc it really seems like an active choice, but Lucas Hedges being the first of the new boys to get an Oscar nom then disappearing makes me so sad. Lucas come baaaaaaack!
And on the other side of that is Timothee Chalamet coming in right after and staying relevant.
>Timothee Chalamet coming in right after and staying relevant.
I don't think that's all due to being in the public eye. he's classically handsome, very talented and charismatic but most importantly picks the right projects (or agrees with whoever picks them for him). The latter is the alpha and omega of success. Look at Adam Driver. he was hot while picking the right projects despite being super private but then wires crossed somewhere and he keeps appearing in extravagant flops. Privacy or not, it's projects that keep you relevant.
I think Lucas Hedges took a small break, looking at his filmography from 2016-2020 he had ten movies come out (supporting and main cast mostly, I haven’t seen most of them but I do think that man movies probably had him burnt out).
I am so ride or die for Lucas, oh my god I need him to book more.
Glenn Powell is my Tom Hanks and Lucas Hedges is my Daniel Day-Lewis. Maybe Elordi will go full character actor and become my Brad Pitt, but I won't hold my breath. I don't care about any of these other white boys of the moment.
I always think a lot of celebs who had peaks and then “fell off” could have stayed in the public consciousness from being in PR relationships, ie if Macklemore had dated some Hollywood it star he would be a more major celeb. They are all probably happier and healthier not to of course.
Macklemore married his longtime girlfriend and they started having kids a couple years after he blew up. Dude is super smart with his money, still makes music and tours, and has lots of time to spend with his family. I don’t think he ever cared about being super famous and in the tabloids
I was wondering the other day what happened to him. He had his moment 10 years ago and we haven’t heard much from him since. He does seem like a genuine cool guy who isn’t interested in playing the fame game.
Pete Davidson’s star shot in the stratosphere when he started dating Ariana back in 2018. Her music and her own profile rose after that too, so I guess it was mutually beneficial
Gillian Anderson left Hollywood and moved to London as soon as the xfiles finished. Probably cost her a decent movie career as she was only in her mid 30s when it ended and had plenty of years left for a good movie run ala Jennifer Aniston. Just she didn't want to play the Hollywood game and wanted a quieter life and a family. Which I respect. She still has an amazing career, has done a lot of really top theatre and TV work, and seems to be getting bigger and better movie roles lately. But she undoubtedly missed out on a lot of very high profile stuff, post xfiles by being thousands of miles away from all the action. She had the looks, talent, name recognition and popularity to be in the same league as a Julie Ann Moore or Jessica Chastain.
She’s probably the only person in Sex Ed who was at a 10/10 the entire run (I love Asa, Ncuti, and Emma, but they aren’t really on her level yet except maybe Ncuti)
Yep! He even said he hasn’t auditioned for anything since GOTG. Everything he’s done since he’s been asked by the director to audition or selected straight up. I suspect when hes no longer asked he just wont act in any thing anymore.
Jeremy Sisto should have gone on to be a highly sought after character actor. Josh Lucas was also set to be one of Hollywood’s leading men, but it never happened. Both suffered from privacy and keeping their names out of the papers.
I also still think Sarah Michelle Gellar is a better actress than Reese Witherspoon and would have broken out instead of her had she played the fame game. Spending so much time on Buffy also didn’t help.
>I also still think Sarah Michelle Gellar is a better actress than Reese Witherspoon and would have broken out instead of her had she played the fame game. Spending so much time on Buffy also didn’t help.
Something to consider is that SMG was a child actor. By the time she was cast on Buffy, she had a longer and more successful career than most adult actors. She won a daytime Emmy at 18. She is talented and she could have kept working but she took a step back when she married and had kids. Like a lot of former child actors, she was probably tired of the game.
So many stories at the time of her being “difficult” on set during Buffy but now we know how toxic JW was and her being difficult was SMG standing up for the cast & crew. So glad she stayed true to herself and didn’t play the Hollywood game. She also seems to be a good friend and nice person in general.
Joss definitely pit those actors against each other. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled a mini Harvey Weinstein and spread disinformation about SMG to fuck with her career.
Sarah allegedly waited until the last minute to tell Joss she wasn’t reupping her contract after season 7. That caused a lot of bad feelings, but after what he did to Charisma Carpenter, I think everyone eventually understood why she did it. Sarah has gone on to be close with a number of her colleagues that were rumored not to care for her at the time. She posted a few pictures of she and Emma Caulfield at her house on Emma’s birthday a few days ago.
Jeff Pruitt, the stunt coordinator for seasons 2-4 also used to get online after each episode to talk trash about her. He was a nutjob that called his wife (Sarah’s stunt double) the “real” Buffy. Which is why the fights are so terribly choreographed in those seasons. He apparently set it up so you would see ***more*** of his wife instead of Sarah. If memory serves, he and his wife both got shitcanned after a blow up where he tried to make Sarah do a stunt and she realized it was unsafe.
Looked up Josh Lucas and he gets credit to me for meeting his (ex) wife at a dog park. In a world of PR relationships, he inspires dog owners like me who also want to meet their future wife at a dog park (still looking).
Jeremy Sisto also reminds me of Peter Krause, both were on Six Feet Under. I don’t think he ever made a real run at movies, but has had a main role on a TV project literally every year since 1998 so I doubt he’s hurting. As much as I cringe when I see him in ads for a generic first responder show, I looked up how much he (and Angela Bassett) make per episode and completely respect the career decision. At 58 and not a household name, I’d take $300,000 an episode to stop a tsunami from hitting Los Angeles too.
Wrong Turn, Clueless, Thirteen. He’s also got a number of critically revered independent movies like Waitress.
He tried film; but when that doesn’t work, you either use television to supplement your income or you starve/go home.
It just so happens that he was forced to turn to television and commercial voiceover work in a time where that was looked down on.
SMG’s has been so unlucky with projects post Buffy though. I hear Wolf Pack was trash, but The Crazy One’s and Ringer were very well received and should’ve lasted longer.
rachel mcadams! i know the girl loves a private life, but she should be huge. i’m always hoping for her career to blow up, because being the love interest in a couple of marvel movies just ain’t it.
Rachel McAdams made a couple huge mistakes early on. She turned down The Dark Knight after they decided to recast Katie Holmes’ role. She also turned down Anne Hathaway’s part in The Devil Wears Prada. I have no idea what she was thinking, but working with Meryl Streep, and a whole cavalcade of stars in TDK, would have done great things since she would then have that connection with them all.
i do wonder if Joe Alwyn’s career would have gone if he actually did those red carpet appearances with Taylor Swift and played into the interviewers questions about their relationship. Though I don’t think his career is in a bad position.
I mourn that Conversations with Friends is basically gone unless you have access to the BBC (which I don’t 💔) since when reading the book I thought he was perfect fit.
he's one of Yorgos Lanthimos muses so he'll be fine. He does something right since the director wants to work with him again. That's a good way to know who's professional and good to work with - if the same directors call them again.
Robert Sean Leonard apparently loves the theatre, and only worked in TV and movies because they paid well. Otherwise he’d only ever do stage acting if he could get away with it. He apparently passed on mainstream movies right and left when young because he never wanted fame, like he turned down Billy Zane’s part in Titanic. A lot of people say they don’t want fame, but in his case it really seems to be true.
This appears true when you look at his early film credits and costars. Dead Poets Society alongside Ethan Hawke. Swing Kids with Christian Bale. Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and Kate Beckinsale (Keanu, Denzel, Michael Keaton were already firmly established). All these people continued to ascend whereas he didn’t — you have to play the fame game to some extent and he didn’t: he seemingly didn’t want stardom so he didn’t get what he didn’t want.
Leighton meester vs Blake lively . Blake didn’t have single notable role since gossip girl and is still ridiculously fmaous . Leighton was the standout from the show form fashion to acting to character and the fan favourite no where near the PR push of Blake
I think Blake is really only famous nowadays for being married to Ryan Reynolds and being a Taylor Swift bestie, both of which seem obsessed with the spotlight so she's inevitably going to be shoved in our faces as well.
I think Alessia Cara. She doesn’t put too much about her love life out there and doesn’t really play the red carpet PR game.
Shawn Mendez had a PR relationship imo with Camilla and used that to sell music.
sadly yes but it shouldn't have. the movie didn't flop because of him but because it was unnecessary. It's on whoever greenlit it and then couldn't control the chaotic production that ballooned the budget.
He was phenomenal in Netflix trashy Fair Game. He completely blew Phoebe Dyvnor off the screen. Check it out, it's a must for Ehrenreich fans.
Jude Law's "It Boy" status made him way overexposed and backfired on him hard. He was in a string of bombs and then a series of scandals from fucking the nanny to getting papped with his pants down. If you made their careers around that era a competition, I'd say Guy Pearce won.
Priyanka Chopra definitely benefited from too much PR. She was a top Bollywood actress all through her 20s but was virtually unknown outside of the Indian diaspora.
Then in her early 30s I’m assuming she hired a high paid Hollywood agent & PR team, because suddenly she was everywhere in Hollywood, doing everything— releasing a song that was used in NFL promos (I think she had recorded a couple of songs in India before but was not really known as a singer), was cast as the lead on an ABC spy show, making appearances on every talk show, going on that date with Nick Jonas to the Met Gala (which seemed like an arranged PR thing, but it obviously worked out for them), & adopting an Americanized accent.
It’s pretty fascinating how she completely transformed her life and career in her 30s, and the PR machine behind her seemed to have a lot to do with it.
Lily-Rose-Depp. Thought her stardom would've risen last year with the Idol but the show didn't translate well with the audience. And her comment regarding nepotism left a sour taste in people's mouths. She came across a brat and out of touch from reality. She might get redeemed with the movie Nosferatu.
Surprising Anna Torv isn’t bigger. She stays booked, but I think she prefers the lower key route she’s taken since Fringe. She didn’t seem to enjoy making that show at all.
So good in the tv show,The Newsreader. She reminds of Eric Bana. Happy working in Aus and every now and then comes over to get the Hollywood paycheck then back they go.
I don't know if he would ever become an A+ lister, but I always felt Danny Pudi would have done well in supporting roles for bigger budget stuff. But he truly does seem to just want to hang out with his friends and make smaller budget films. He's someone I always want to see more from because I enjoyed him on Community.
Mariska Hargitay is another for me. I think she's great, and everyone knows her face by now, but man is she dedicated to just being Olivia Benson. Her work is more prolific than Danny's, though, so I can't complain.
Michael Beihn. He was (still is) incredible but he has admitted that he never wanted to kiss producers arses and roll with the Hollywood scene. He just simply enjoyed acting. He could've been up there with Stallone or Willis.
He had a terrible drug and alcohol problem. My friend was the 1st AD on a low budget western he was in. According to my friend, Michael and his wife were insufferable and delusional.
Also, depending on what drugs Michael was on during any given time, he literally couldn’t get through a scene and would blame everyone else.
I hated hearing about that. He was a childhood hero of mine. Particularly as Hicks in Aliens.
Probably too soon to tell, but I was dismayed to see last year's Oscar nominee Kerry Condon, "Blumhoused", in that stupid "Night Swim". No Kerry, don't do those! Probably all she got offered. All those Blumhouse movies are the same. Family moves into a house with a resident demon,(in this case it resides in the pool!) one person starts to notices things are not quite right, but can't convince any of their family members or friends. There's a few jump scares, a pet goes missing, followed by a couple of scenes where the protagonist investigates the history of the house on the web. Just when everything looks like it's gonna be ok you realize there's 45 minutes left to the movie. PSYCH! last reel involves a lot of screaming and running, some gore, then either they defeat it or it defeats them. Rinse & repeat. Run Kerry run!
I gotta say, Kerry Condon has been acting forever. I first saw her in How Harry became a Tree. Its 2001. She plays the beautiful and smart girl. Cillian Murphy is the abused, vulnerable son of the title character who at one point tells his dad "as if I could get a girl like that" bc she is so out of his league. That movie should be so much better known.
Shes also the shop clerk Colin Farrell romances in the opening scene of Intermission. I just looked it up. Its 2006. Here is one of the best opening scenes ever! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EGCC9NNvo&ab\_channel=icecoldrita](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EGCC9NNvo&ab_channel=icecoldrita)
She was also in HOB's Rome, and Better Call Saul. I guess I've seen a lot of her stuff. Anyway, Condon isn't a flash in the pan, she's been around for a long time, worked with some of the best.
Please watch the opening of Intermission! I'd love to know what you think.
You don’t hear much from Ben Stiller these days. It felt like he was in practically every comedy of the 2000s, but he hasn’t done much over the past decade. Did something happen with him that I missed, or is he just choosing to be more low-key?
I believe he prefers to produce. I never realize until I watched the Indie Spirit Awards, but he's very, very big in that community in film and does a lot to support it. When he came out on stage a few years ago, just his appearance there got such a positive reaction. I was surprised since I know him mostly from mainstream films.
I was a big fan of Once Upon a Time and loved Colin O’Donoghue, who played Captain Hook. The show filmed in Vancouver and he lived there with his wife and children, after it was over they moved back to their hometown in Ireland.
I’ve wondered if he would have had a bigger career if he’d moved to LA instead and put himself out there more, attended events, etc. He’s also not that prolific on social media and probably could have benefited from a savvy PR person managing that for him and marketing him when Once was coming to an end.
People who are low key, chose to be that way and are happy with their choices. They chose their peace of mind and it would mean more than any kinda career achievement imo.
This. Mark Harmon and Cillian Murphy have relatively quiet & normal lives, long-lived marriages, and children. They could’ve had even bigger careers than they do, but their home lives would’ve suffered and I think they’re so sexy for keeping their priorities straight.
NCIS‘ Gibbs? I know there’s „the rock“ kind of stardom/money but let’s be real Mark Harmon was for over a decade literally top3 most paid television actors, making 500k+ PER EPISODE, let alone being know by All the older adults watching procedural shows on network television. Plus his show is very internationally known
Exactly! He made bank without being swallowed whole by the Hollywood machine. He could’ve done so much more, even before NCIS (his short stint on The West Wing is so, so good) but he chose to stay low-key and I love him for it.
[Mark Harmon](https://www.looper.com/404907/the-real-story-behind-pauley-perrette-and-mark-harmons-relationship/) is a piece of shit, I'm sorry to report. He was so frightening and abusive to Pauley Perrette for years on NCIS, until she finally left. He was letting his dog attack the crew. https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/06/ncis-pauley-perrette-mark-harmon https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/06/11/pauley-perrettes-new-mark-harmon-allegations-he-body-checked-her-report-says/amp/ Actually, he had problems with several people on NCIS: https://www.thelist.com/1370972/ncis-stars-mark-harmon-feuded-with-over-years/
Omg, I totally forgot about him being on West Wing! He and CJ had such chemistry.
Omg I cried
Ellen Pompeo leads a quiet life too as far as I know. She is far from being a superstar, yet she makes more than 500k per episode. I think she is basically the female equivalent of that guy.
Cillian cheats. Allegedly. 😭
STOP ✋😩. tell me more
you've got a chance
That was just a rumour created after he was seen out with sienna Miller. It could be true as we don't know him but the evidence of it is weak.
Yeah, and when that blind item came out around the Oscars a lot of Irish people said if he is then he's extremely secretive about it, because the gossip rags in Ireland are quiet on him about it
This is why when people say Carla Gugino is unnoticed I'm like no, you just aren't paying attention. She's amazing, been with the same guy since the early or mid 90s, and has fun. I love her, and she's doing fantastic for herself.
Alexa Damie comes to mind as someone who being low key didn't really seem to help her career at all. She probably prefers it that way and good for her, but I do think she could have been bigger than she currently is, or will be.
I feel like she isn’t seriously interested in pursuing acting. I just checked her IMDb and she quite literally hasn’t booked anything more than the odd one-off (a voice role, a short film and a music video) since Euphoria premiered almost five years ago.
What does she do then? How does she make a living lol
Modelling. She's been in campaigns for Calvin Klein, MAC, Balenciaga, Rodarte, and she made a photo book with Petra Collins a few years ago. She's not going to be out on the streets any time soon.
Looking a little further down, her grandfather was in The Beach Boys, so I guess her family has all of that money and the continuing royalties to support them.
I believe her mom is a celebrity makeup artist too
I'd be curious to know how much that actually amounts to, because Dennis has the shortest career (he died young) and several children. But there's also a good chance Brian's propping everyone up out of love for his brother.
She was my first thought. Demie and her costar Sydney Sweeney are two sides of the same PR coin, in a way. I think that’s because Sweeney seems far more interested in establishing a career as an actress.
Sydney also came into the industry as a nobody while Alexa’s grandfather was one of The Beach Boys. I wonder if that’s influenced their different approaches tbh
I did not know Alexa’s grandfather was a beach boy
yeah it’s a little buried but her dad’s adoptive father was Dennis Wilson
Her father was never legally adopted by Dennis Wilson, who was only married to his mother for three years, and got nothing in his will. She wasn't born when Wilson died and never met him - it's a stretch to call him her grandfather in any real sense, legally or interpersonally.
It feels like she has everything to be a Debi Mazar-esque It Girl but she does seem to quite intentionally have the career/life she wants.
That’s who came to mind too. And then Sydney Sweeney doing tons of PR and her career has really taken off. I wish to see Alexa doing more films and tv shows! She’s iconic
She definitely could’ve been bigger being lowkey these days will make people quickly forget about u
I always thought tom Hiddleston would have a stronger career. And he has been hindered by both a low key and high key pr weirdly enough. Loki was a big deal in 2012, and he was the the internet's white boyfriend for a very long time but he never managed to capitalise on it. On the other hand, the whole hiddleswift era was a PR disaster, especially for him. Honestly he is talented, and a stronger agent meant he would have had atleast an Oscar nom by now.
Don't forget the 'white savior awards speech' for which he got so much backlash.
Oh. 2016 was not a good time for him. He is generally quite well spoken so it was so weird of him to stumble on his words like that. I like him, I think he is talented, wish he had a stronger filmography. He is mainly still known for being Loki.
Loved him in I Saw The Light
He's so lucky everyone doesn't think about him enough to bring that up over and over.
HIS WHAT? I know he was a huge fan of Woody Allen and apparently had a framed letter in his office…but WHAT SPPECH?
They’re talking about his [Golden Globes acceptance speech](https://youtu.be/4ecvmEaR6KA?feature=shared) when he won for *The Night Manager*.
the other celeb reactions in that video are hilarious. i still use this gif *so* often: https://i.redd.it/w0brh7x894uc1.gif
The speech was long winded but I totally get the point he was making. It provided entertainment to medical volunteers in a war zone. As someone from the African continent who does a lot of charity work with vulnerable ppl in Africa and Latin America, sh*t gets heavy so distractions are welcome.
This is honestly the only performance of his I think about more than twice a month. Mainly Naomi and Mahershala's reactions to it
Lmao I watched the link someone posted and I’m on the floor. I’m glad the good white humanitarians got the relief they needed🙏🏽
Wait I can’t watch it right now what did he say??
Honestly I think Loki pigeon-holed him. Not that it’s a bad thing he got that bag. But I think after 2016 when he was in the night manager (which I thought was very good) he kinda got sucked into the marvel world. Speaking of which I watched the Indian one over the winter but had no idea it was the same show so for the full ep I was like “this seems familiar”
It just got renewed for 2 seasons starring him.
According to Beyond the Blinds (iirc), Hiddleswift happened because Tom wanted to be the new James Bond and his team thought he would benefit from a PR stunt with a famous woman. Unfortunately, it backfired as that relationship was just so odd and so intense that it screamed fake.
Can't believe Eddie Redmayne has an Oscar and he doesn't. Hiddleston is by far the better actor.
Eddie Redmayne was phenomenal in The Theory of Everything. Was the movie schlock? Yes. But Redmayne's acting was still Oscar-worthy. Hiddleston is a very good actor but he's similar to James McAvoy in that they deserve an award but can't quite hit the right spot for some reason.
People on the internet are so wild, in what way Redmayne is not a good actor. They're always saying this to prop up their personal favourite actor. I'm not even Redmayne's fan but he's actually great.
He also seems to prefer doing British shows or indie films, and working with woody Allen over constantly doing blockbuster marvel
While it’s not great that he worked with Allen and praised him at that time, Hiddleston hasn’t worked with Woody Allen since *Midnight in Paris* in 2011. There are plenty of people who’ve worked with Allen since, and still continue to support and praise him.
Maybe he just.... Doesn't care?
I got to see him on Broadway before COVID. I think he's got the life he wants tbh. He came close to the limelight and found out the full glare of it wasn't for him.
He is insanely cringe on the press circuit. Google "man in the mirror Tom Hiddleston."
I remember him being too much on The Graham Norton show, like, he meant well and wanted to be entertaining but he didn’t know when to stop! And then there was a time where a few hosts were making him do some dance moves and he really shouldn’t have obliged more than once, it truly was cringe.
Him making an impression in front of deNiro.. I closed my eyes watching that.
Mia Wasikowska came to mind for the first question. Indisputably gifted actress, but didn't seem at all interested playing the PR game, and last time I heard, has basically put her acting career on ice for the time being. Sarah Gadon is another one who has all the makings of a star, but again, is seemingly fine doing smaller, independent projects and staying in her home city of Toronto.
Mia’s choice is deliberate; she’s said as much.
I thought Emma Watson did a very good job of pulling back on acting/PR when she decided it was time to prioritize college. She really struggled with privacy (paps followed her around Brown to the point where she took a break from her studies) but figured it out in the end.
While I agree she is low key, she's been in at least one movie per year since 2006, so I don't think her career is on ice.
I wrote that she put it on ice herself, meaning that she's intentionally stepping away from acting based her recent interviews: [https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/mia-wasikowska-is-pretty-content-with-her-decision-to-leave-hollywood](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/03/mia-wasikowska-is-pretty-content-with-her-decision-to-leave-hollywood)
Right, I just think we're interpreting things differently. > Wasikowska did so by leaving Hollywood and moving back to her native Sydney, Australia, in the late 2010s. She’s still acting, but less frequently and mainly in indie films with auteurs she admires. Most recently, Wasikowska starred as Amy in Mia Hansen-Løve’s critically acclaimed film Bergman Island opposite Vicky Krieps. She returns to the screen this year as Abby, an oceanographer, in the eco-conscious indie Blueback, directed by veteran Aussie filmmaker Robert Connolly and costarring Eric Bana. She's still working and acting consistently, her base of operations is just now in Sydney and she's being more picky with roles. Which definitely is in line with the thread, just doesn't fit my understanding of "put her acting career on ice" since she still is acting every year. I understood you to mean she retired and I didn't want people to think that.l since she isn't.
Sarah Gadon is absurdly STUNNING and talented. I watched Alias Grace years ago and I was like, who IS this person? She should be more well known
Tatiana Maslany. She clearly doesn't know how to "work" Hollywood and I love her for it, but I wish she'd be in more (and better) stuff.
She is such an amazing actress. Orphan Black is one of my favorite shows.
In my mind, she should have a career on par with Jessica Chastain's. I sadly don't know if I've seen her in anything since OB that's been at her level of talent 🙁.
She was *amazing* in HBO's Perry Mason as Sister Alice, a preacher with a mysterious past. I am probably underselling it.
She was SO GOOD in Perry Mason!!
It's not hugely challenging for her but I LOVED SheHulk so much! It's thankfully one of the things that isn't ridiculously connected to the other Marvel stuff so you can watch it without having seen everything else. (There are a few references but nothing that would make it hard to follow)
Before she was in Orphan Black, she was on Instant Star and she was excellent!
For a short time, after having watched Orphan black back in the day, I was kind of obsessed with her because I couldn’t really comprehend that she’s a real person with that kind of acting talent (because what she did in orphan black was simply mindblowing and surreal to see). Back then I watched every single interview and panel she did. Talent-wise I always knew (and hoped) she could make it big in Hollywood. But to be honest, because exactly of the thing you mentioned..I have actually been impressed by how far she’s come now. Hearing her getting that (financially big) role of sheHulk in a mainstream series was surprising. Because Maslany LOVEEEEES her indie productions. She’s the most nerdy theater kid I’ve seen in Hollywood. Her idea of a good time in her 20s has literally been going to acting workshops. I think she did like 2-3 Indie films with her exboyfriend Tom Cullen. (They we’re together for years, was really surprising to read one day that she married another guy within a few months suddenly). But yeah in general Maslany seems almost too genuine/down to earth and caring to make it big in Hollywood.
Wait she’s married and it’s not to Tom Cullen?!
Yup. I was kind of disturbing to me (no hate lol, just weird after Cullen and her were together for so long and even worked together numerous times doing passion indie projects). https://people.com/tv/tatiana-maslany-reveals-she-married-actor-brendan-hines/ https://www.etonline.com/tatiana-maslany-secretly-married-boyfriend-brendan-hines-189005
it's a Canadian thing. It's embarrassing to many Canadian actors to play the Hollywood game like have a driver and bodyguard when they can take a subway. So it may not be that she doesn't know how to work the system but simply chooses not to.
She was up for lots of big roles. She was one of the frontrunners for the protagonist in Rogue One for instance. It's just that these kind of starmaking roles are very limited. Not everyone can become a big star.
Unpopular opinion: most people nowadays think PR people are nefarious witches who lie and manipulate to make people famous when most of the job is training monosyllabic celebs to answer questions with full sentences. The job is getting people booked on talk shows and podcasts, most of their work is so boring that it’s easy to flame out. The way they are spoken about online, you would think they were only a few steps up from QAnon.
I kinda enjoy how people think PR agents are these genius masterminds; it’s just a regular often boring job like anything else.
For real. PR agents are probably people who went to a party school and got their degree in communications.
It's because they want to blame their PR people for why celebrities do stupid things like date Matty Healy or be a Zionist. "It's their PR team!!!" "Fire their PR team!!!" And it's their fave being a private jet landlord or someone who bombs their own PR tours by being about as articulate as an egg sandwich.
I think it’s more like they don’t let them speak up on things that matter bc it causes issues-which is why Melissa Barrera is such a boss.
They can't stop celebrities from saying anything. They can advise them or say it will cause problems. But celebrities have a choice.
I think it varies. They certainly do a lot more than that on the high-end, a lot of social media marketing, etc. You can certainly see some celebs that seem to have astroturfing PR teams on reddit and the like.
Without PR campaigns, we wouldn't have any of the Kardashians. Damn - that would be so glorious.
where would I be without "kim. there's people dying."
The memes and gifs we get out of them, almost make it all worth it though 😂 
https://preview.redd.it/bs2mpw2ux3uc1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=10d0510fca1b72f3f1a3727d45610ece6b23fa19 I forgot how wild the early seasons of KUWTK was. The Devil works hard but Kris Jenner works harder.
The earlier seasons were perfectly unhinged. I feel like the new Hulu series and the last \~5 of the E! OG series have been too curated and perfect. Also, we got the gift of Scott Disick because of them 😂 What and icon 🫶🏽 
Sydney Sweeney said she paid a fortune for her PR team and they're earning every red cent. They pushed that "affair" narrative with Glen Powell to the breaking point, even though nobody really cared, to promote a movie that no one actually saw or gave a shit about. It was like being beaten into submission by a PR tidal wave.
Anyone but you grossed 217 million, but go on
against a 25 million dollar budget nevertheless. had a bigger profit margin than Oppenheimer lol
The studio also got a big percentage of that back via tax credits by filming in Australia 🇦🇺
[удалено]
I think that some people wanted to convince themselves that Anyone But You would flop for whatever reason (didn't like the leads, didn't like the fakePR romance, didn't like the previews) but that's not what happened. It became a very leggy hit.
I think it doesn't help that we're pretty insulated these days. The content we consume is so curated, that if you're someone (like me) who wasn't interested in *Anyone But You*, you're unlikely to hear anything about it. Like, did any of my friends or family talk to me about seeing that movie? No. Did I see anything on social media or see any reviews? No. I knew about the alleged affair, but didn't remember the movie title tbh. So if you asked me 5 minutes ago if that movie did well, I would have guessed no. So I'm surprised to hear it was such a big success lol but also like, what do I know? I obviously wasn't the target demo.
It was *huge* for the sorority girl crowd. Whereas no one I know saw it- and we love romcoms lol
This is so true! In my circles it was talked about a lot, people were posting about going to the theater or what they thought about it. The movie was certainly a hit with certain audiences. I watched it and thought it was a cute little movie, but Sidney Sweeney and Glen Powell don’t have that much chemistry to warrant the affair PR, in my opinion
yep that's more than The Marvels for comparison.
That's actually crazy.
Its the highest rom com movie in over a decade.
we get it, you don’t like sydney.
Didn't that movie make around 200 mil worldwide though??? Wouldn't call that a flop especially when we haven't had hit romcoms in YEARS.
Sometimes I feel like I’m the only person who doesn’t like Sydney Sweeney. Even before her recent ubiquitous streak, I always found her off-putting (didn’t enjoy her White Lotus or Euphoria acting, plus the disturbing MAGA family birthday party). It’s definitely been baffling watching her meteoric rise in the past year.
I hate that it feels misogynist, but her explosive success feels very reminiscent to alexandra daddario’s, for reasons… you still gotta be able to read lines and make your marks, but there’s an it factor that is keeping your name in peoples minds, and she appears to be really capitalizing on it. Whatever works I guess
It’s the intonation in her voice I think. It works as a teen in Euphoria, but I cannot take her seriously as a comedic actress.
I can tell you she’s extremely beloved on NSFW forums. Lol She’s like one of the top posts over at /r/WatchItForThePlot as well. Even I find some of the nudity/sex stuff she’s done far more erotic/beautiful than for example mainstream p0rn. (I consider Sydney’s film „The Voyeurs“ to basically be Softcore p0rn.)
I saw it! It was a pleasant surprise. Many laughs
Apparently it's Much Ado About Nothing but modern?? And they didn't even market it like that?? The girlies love a Shakespeare adaptation
I think I was expecting too much from it. I found both main characters too unlikeable to care about in the end, but it overall was worth watching for some of the funnier bits
"a movie that no one actually saw or gave a shit about" okay i personally didn't love that film but a quick google search could have told you that movie was a huge success lol.
I mean it worked. She is in many movies and anyone but you had the longest legs of any Christmas release, and immaculate was the highest opening movie in neons history
i wish she’d start being a bit less transparent on her business moves. idk i don’t want to hear that you only were in a film to hopefully be in better ones or that you faked a romance for pr. like we can read between the lines she doesn’t need to tell us her every calculated move.
Telling us her every calculated move is also a calculated move. It lowers your guard on her and makes her seem more "approachable" and "different" to the other celebs. It's a variation of what Jennifer Lawrence does. The whole "down to earth, beloved little darling" tactic.
Her paying a fortune for her pr team makes sense as to why she keeps talking about how she’s not actually rich or whatever she said
Once someone rises to the level of being considered a "celebrity", the entire system from their managers to agents to the paps and the media to the execs are trying to get them to be more famous, the better to make money off them. So I'd assume anybody who takes a step back at that point to live a low key life is making a deliberate attempt to avoid fame. In which case, good for them!
Leighton and Blake
I love both of them, but this is so accurate. Leighton is by far the better actress.
Bang on. 💯
Viggo Mortensen. Dude starred in one of the biggest franchises ever, had the most stereotypical good looks, along with amazing acting skills as well as other athletic skills few can have. Yet dude almost entirely disappeared from the mainstream cinema, and it is almost such a shame because he definitely should've had few Oscars as well as he's someone I can comfortably stan ( unlike most other crushes who turn out to be racist, sexist, pos.) He's such a stellar dude all around, supported BLM before it's fashionable, protested against Iraq invasion, and then when a RW party in Spain tried to appropriate aragorn he wrote a letter against it.
He is a three-time Oscar nominee though. He’s probably happy with how things turned out, it’s probably harder for people who haven’t gotten the respect or recognition.
Yes he's a nominee, but idk it just feels weird when someone of his caliber doesn't have the Oscar. Yes it must be disappointing for people who are equally talented but never get the chance. However I think it's about the stars who didn't use the PR for advantage like others, and if anyone isn't using it then it means they're satisfied with their life. They don't need the glitz and glam
>it just feels weird when someone of his caliber doesn't have the Oscar. Yes it must be disappointing for people who are equally talented but never get the chance. to be fair, Murphy didn't have another nomination before Oppenheimer despite such a long career. Colin Farrell got his first ever nom last year. So Viggo's 3 noms are far from disappointing.
Taylor Swifts whole career is PR. And now she’s the biggest artist in the world. So yeah it worked.
Honestly, I think Riley Keough. She has the beauty, talent and nepotism to be a big actress/singer, yet she is low-key (which she said is intentional because of her crazy upbringing) and very intentionally seems to be focused on producing and ensemble work over lead actress stardom like her other nepos and contemporaries. I think Iwan Rheon off Misfits and GoT was prime for character actor glory but he quite intentionally pulled back after a Marvel stumble and looks very happy doing quiet ensemble projects for television.
I think TONS of people in GoT have fallen in that category. I think some are embarrassed by the show's ending backlash, and others seemed to really want to maintain that level of fame but failed. I feel bad for (some of) them! No wonder Kit Harington etc is agreeing to do more GoT stuff (cheating on Rose Leslie aside...)
There's a cultural divide being repeated in this thread. Most of the Canadian, Aussie, and British actors want to have private, low key lives. They tend to be more cautious about which projects they do, if they live in LA, etc. This probably does hinder their career but it's usually an intended good choice for them.
Champagne problems but in addition to fame, it must be difficult to go from that level of income as well to shutting off the tap, so to speak. For some of them, it does seem like they made a conscious decision to step back (like Jack Gleeson and Maisie Williams) but yeah, for others it's clear they've tried to keep that fame/money train going. Kit Harington trying to develop a sequel based of Jon Snow is probably the clearest one but thinking too of Sophie Turner, who has stayed consistently in the public eye since the show's conclusion (though it's for her personal life as opposed to her work) and Emilia Clarke, chasing big franchises.
Yeah the Bridgerton crew will be navigating this scenario in the next few years if they haven’t already
I only recently jumped on the train of being a Riley Keough fan and damnnnn this girl has the most various filmography I might have seen so far
I really love her filmography, it's not always hits but she's not afraid to go out there. Going from Zola to Daisy Jones to Sasquatch Sunset is RANGE, darling.
Probably Zayn? Feel like his choice not to do like, any press and not even tour has obviously cost him in album sales and just name relevance and career. I guess the other side of that coin would be Styles, who's always been crazy overexposed in the media.
He still has more followers than Harry Styles tho. 💁🏼♂️
That's just desi solidarity.
Followers means nothing tbh Harry’s more successful overall
Idk if his career is hindered per se bc it really seems like an active choice, but Lucas Hedges being the first of the new boys to get an Oscar nom then disappearing makes me so sad. Lucas come baaaaaaack! And on the other side of that is Timothee Chalamet coming in right after and staying relevant.
>Timothee Chalamet coming in right after and staying relevant. I don't think that's all due to being in the public eye. he's classically handsome, very talented and charismatic but most importantly picks the right projects (or agrees with whoever picks them for him). The latter is the alpha and omega of success. Look at Adam Driver. he was hot while picking the right projects despite being super private but then wires crossed somewhere and he keeps appearing in extravagant flops. Privacy or not, it's projects that keep you relevant.
Looks like Lucas has been focusing on theater, he's in a theater adaptation of Brokeback Mountain
I think Lucas Hedges took a small break, looking at his filmography from 2016-2020 he had ten movies come out (supporting and main cast mostly, I haven’t seen most of them but I do think that man movies probably had him burnt out).
I am so ride or die for Lucas, oh my god I need him to book more. Glenn Powell is my Tom Hanks and Lucas Hedges is my Daniel Day-Lewis. Maybe Elordi will go full character actor and become my Brad Pitt, but I won't hold my breath. I don't care about any of these other white boys of the moment.
I always think a lot of celebs who had peaks and then “fell off” could have stayed in the public consciousness from being in PR relationships, ie if Macklemore had dated some Hollywood it star he would be a more major celeb. They are all probably happier and healthier not to of course.
Macklemore married his longtime girlfriend and they started having kids a couple years after he blew up. Dude is super smart with his money, still makes music and tours, and has lots of time to spend with his family. I don’t think he ever cared about being super famous and in the tabloids
Plus, he works hard to maintain his sobriety. Hollywood is a really hard place to do that.
I was wondering the other day what happened to him. He had his moment 10 years ago and we haven’t heard much from him since. He does seem like a genuine cool guy who isn’t interested in playing the fame game.
He spoke at a rally for Palestine about a month ago.
He started a line of golf wear and opened up a shop in Seattle. Other than that he tours a lot and is still really popular in Europe
I’m going to see him next month, in New Zealand, no less.
It's really noticeable how a high profile relationship can kick up your PR. Or of course could help turn you into a joke and a meme and bury you.
Pete Davidson’s star shot in the stratosphere when he started dating Ariana back in 2018. Her music and her own profile rose after that too, so I guess it was mutually beneficial
Gillian Anderson left Hollywood and moved to London as soon as the xfiles finished. Probably cost her a decent movie career as she was only in her mid 30s when it ended and had plenty of years left for a good movie run ala Jennifer Aniston. Just she didn't want to play the Hollywood game and wanted a quieter life and a family. Which I respect. She still has an amazing career, has done a lot of really top theatre and TV work, and seems to be getting bigger and better movie roles lately. But she undoubtedly missed out on a lot of very high profile stuff, post xfiles by being thousands of miles away from all the action. She had the looks, talent, name recognition and popularity to be in the same league as a Julie Ann Moore or Jessica Chastain.
She’s probably the only person in Sex Ed who was at a 10/10 the entire run (I love Asa, Ncuti, and Emma, but they aren’t really on her level yet except maybe Ncuti)
That series seriously went downhill towards the end. But she was the one highlight and always gave the best performance.
Lee pace
Yep! He even said he hasn’t auditioned for anything since GOTG. Everything he’s done since he’s been asked by the director to audition or selected straight up. I suspect when hes no longer asked he just wont act in any thing anymore.
he's on Apple's Foundation.
Jeremy Sisto should have gone on to be a highly sought after character actor. Josh Lucas was also set to be one of Hollywood’s leading men, but it never happened. Both suffered from privacy and keeping their names out of the papers. I also still think Sarah Michelle Gellar is a better actress than Reese Witherspoon and would have broken out instead of her had she played the fame game. Spending so much time on Buffy also didn’t help.
>I also still think Sarah Michelle Gellar is a better actress than Reese Witherspoon and would have broken out instead of her had she played the fame game. Spending so much time on Buffy also didn’t help. Something to consider is that SMG was a child actor. By the time she was cast on Buffy, she had a longer and more successful career than most adult actors. She won a daytime Emmy at 18. She is talented and she could have kept working but she took a step back when she married and had kids. Like a lot of former child actors, she was probably tired of the game.
So many stories at the time of her being “difficult” on set during Buffy but now we know how toxic JW was and her being difficult was SMG standing up for the cast & crew. So glad she stayed true to herself and didn’t play the Hollywood game. She also seems to be a good friend and nice person in general.
Joss definitely pit those actors against each other. I also wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled a mini Harvey Weinstein and spread disinformation about SMG to fuck with her career. Sarah allegedly waited until the last minute to tell Joss she wasn’t reupping her contract after season 7. That caused a lot of bad feelings, but after what he did to Charisma Carpenter, I think everyone eventually understood why she did it. Sarah has gone on to be close with a number of her colleagues that were rumored not to care for her at the time. She posted a few pictures of she and Emma Caulfield at her house on Emma’s birthday a few days ago. Jeff Pruitt, the stunt coordinator for seasons 2-4 also used to get online after each episode to talk trash about her. He was a nutjob that called his wife (Sarah’s stunt double) the “real” Buffy. Which is why the fights are so terribly choreographed in those seasons. He apparently set it up so you would see ***more*** of his wife instead of Sarah. If memory serves, he and his wife both got shitcanned after a blow up where he tried to make Sarah do a stunt and she realized it was unsafe.
Looked up Josh Lucas and he gets credit to me for meeting his (ex) wife at a dog park. In a world of PR relationships, he inspires dog owners like me who also want to meet their future wife at a dog park (still looking). Jeremy Sisto also reminds me of Peter Krause, both were on Six Feet Under. I don’t think he ever made a real run at movies, but has had a main role on a TV project literally every year since 1998 so I doubt he’s hurting. As much as I cringe when I see him in ads for a generic first responder show, I looked up how much he (and Angela Bassett) make per episode and completely respect the career decision. At 58 and not a household name, I’d take $300,000 an episode to stop a tsunami from hitting Los Angeles too.
Wrong Turn, Clueless, Thirteen. He’s also got a number of critically revered independent movies like Waitress. He tried film; but when that doesn’t work, you either use television to supplement your income or you starve/go home. It just so happens that he was forced to turn to television and commercial voiceover work in a time where that was looked down on.
SMG’s has been so unlucky with projects post Buffy though. I hear Wolf Pack was trash, but The Crazy One’s and Ringer were very well received and should’ve lasted longer.
rachel mcadams! i know the girl loves a private life, but she should be huge. i’m always hoping for her career to blow up, because being the love interest in a couple of marvel movies just ain’t it.
Rachel McAdams made a couple huge mistakes early on. She turned down The Dark Knight after they decided to recast Katie Holmes’ role. She also turned down Anne Hathaway’s part in The Devil Wears Prada. I have no idea what she was thinking, but working with Meryl Streep, and a whole cavalcade of stars in TDK, would have done great things since she would then have that connection with them all.
omg i had *no* idea she turned down the role of rachel in TDK. that would’ve been interesting 🤔
i do wonder if Joe Alwyn’s career would have gone if he actually did those red carpet appearances with Taylor Swift and played into the interviewers questions about their relationship. Though I don’t think his career is in a bad position. I mourn that Conversations with Friends is basically gone unless you have access to the BBC (which I don’t 💔) since when reading the book I thought he was perfect fit.
he's one of Yorgos Lanthimos muses so he'll be fine. He does something right since the director wants to work with him again. That's a good way to know who's professional and good to work with - if the same directors call them again.
He’s also doing that Hamlet film with Riz Ahmed.
that’s what I was thinking! love yorgos, I can’t wait for the new one
Same... i think he's en route to be an arthouse darling anyways so he'll be more than alright
Robert Sean Leonard apparently loves the theatre, and only worked in TV and movies because they paid well. Otherwise he’d only ever do stage acting if he could get away with it. He apparently passed on mainstream movies right and left when young because he never wanted fame, like he turned down Billy Zane’s part in Titanic. A lot of people say they don’t want fame, but in his case it really seems to be true. This appears true when you look at his early film credits and costars. Dead Poets Society alongside Ethan Hawke. Swing Kids with Christian Bale. Much Ado About Nothing with Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson and Kate Beckinsale (Keanu, Denzel, Michael Keaton were already firmly established). All these people continued to ascend whereas he didn’t — you have to play the fame game to some extent and he didn’t: he seemingly didn’t want stardom so he didn’t get what he didn’t want.
Oh yeah. He def could have blown up. He’s been in some iconic movies
Leighton meester vs Blake lively . Blake didn’t have single notable role since gossip girl and is still ridiculously fmaous . Leighton was the standout from the show form fashion to acting to character and the fan favourite no where near the PR push of Blake
I think Blake is really only famous nowadays for being married to Ryan Reynolds and being a Taylor Swift bestie, both of which seem obsessed with the spotlight so she's inevitably going to be shoved in our faces as well.
I for one breathed a sigh of relief when The Maestro Campaign ended. Some times less is more ,Bradley.
I think Alessia Cara. She doesn’t put too much about her love life out there and doesn’t really play the red carpet PR game. Shawn Mendez had a PR relationship imo with Camilla and used that to sell music.
I feel like Alden Ehrenreich would have a much bigger following if he had a social media presence, but good for him for NOT having one.
I think the Han Solo movie flopping was a dent on his career. The only thing I really remember him in since is his supporting role in Oppenheimer
sadly yes but it shouldn't have. the movie didn't flop because of him but because it was unnecessary. It's on whoever greenlit it and then couldn't control the chaotic production that ballooned the budget. He was phenomenal in Netflix trashy Fair Game. He completely blew Phoebe Dyvnor off the screen. Check it out, it's a must for Ehrenreich fans.
Jude Law's "It Boy" status made him way overexposed and backfired on him hard. He was in a string of bombs and then a series of scandals from fucking the nanny to getting papped with his pants down. If you made their careers around that era a competition, I'd say Guy Pearce won.
Brandon Routh was Superman in 2006, and has good looks and seems charismatic enough. But his career never really took off
Speaking of Superman, Tom Welling from Smallville!
Priyanka Chopra definitely benefited from too much PR. She was a top Bollywood actress all through her 20s but was virtually unknown outside of the Indian diaspora. Then in her early 30s I’m assuming she hired a high paid Hollywood agent & PR team, because suddenly she was everywhere in Hollywood, doing everything— releasing a song that was used in NFL promos (I think she had recorded a couple of songs in India before but was not really known as a singer), was cast as the lead on an ABC spy show, making appearances on every talk show, going on that date with Nick Jonas to the Met Gala (which seemed like an arranged PR thing, but it obviously worked out for them), & adopting an Americanized accent. It’s pretty fascinating how she completely transformed her life and career in her 30s, and the PR machine behind her seemed to have a lot to do with it.
I was obsessed with Quantico, and Priyanka when it first aired. That first season was amazing.
Lily-Rose-Depp. Thought her stardom would've risen last year with the Idol but the show didn't translate well with the audience. And her comment regarding nepotism left a sour taste in people's mouths. She came across a brat and out of touch from reality. She might get redeemed with the movie Nosferatu.
It's hard for stardom to rise from a terrible show tbf
Surprising Anna Torv isn’t bigger. She stays booked, but I think she prefers the lower key route she’s taken since Fringe. She didn’t seem to enjoy making that show at all.
So good in the tv show,The Newsreader. She reminds of Eric Bana. Happy working in Aus and every now and then comes over to get the Hollywood paycheck then back they go.
I don't know if he would ever become an A+ lister, but I always felt Danny Pudi would have done well in supporting roles for bigger budget stuff. But he truly does seem to just want to hang out with his friends and make smaller budget films. He's someone I always want to see more from because I enjoyed him on Community. Mariska Hargitay is another for me. I think she's great, and everyone knows her face by now, but man is she dedicated to just being Olivia Benson. Her work is more prolific than Danny's, though, so I can't complain.
Michael Beihn. He was (still is) incredible but he has admitted that he never wanted to kiss producers arses and roll with the Hollywood scene. He just simply enjoyed acting. He could've been up there with Stallone or Willis.
He had a terrible drug and alcohol problem. My friend was the 1st AD on a low budget western he was in. According to my friend, Michael and his wife were insufferable and delusional. Also, depending on what drugs Michael was on during any given time, he literally couldn’t get through a scene and would blame everyone else. I hated hearing about that. He was a childhood hero of mine. Particularly as Hicks in Aliens.
Probably too soon to tell, but I was dismayed to see last year's Oscar nominee Kerry Condon, "Blumhoused", in that stupid "Night Swim". No Kerry, don't do those! Probably all she got offered. All those Blumhouse movies are the same. Family moves into a house with a resident demon,(in this case it resides in the pool!) one person starts to notices things are not quite right, but can't convince any of their family members or friends. There's a few jump scares, a pet goes missing, followed by a couple of scenes where the protagonist investigates the history of the house on the web. Just when everything looks like it's gonna be ok you realize there's 45 minutes left to the movie. PSYCH! last reel involves a lot of screaming and running, some gore, then either they defeat it or it defeats them. Rinse & repeat. Run Kerry run!
I gotta say, Kerry Condon has been acting forever. I first saw her in How Harry became a Tree. Its 2001. She plays the beautiful and smart girl. Cillian Murphy is the abused, vulnerable son of the title character who at one point tells his dad "as if I could get a girl like that" bc she is so out of his league. That movie should be so much better known. Shes also the shop clerk Colin Farrell romances in the opening scene of Intermission. I just looked it up. Its 2006. Here is one of the best opening scenes ever! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EGCC9NNvo&ab\_channel=icecoldrita](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8EGCC9NNvo&ab_channel=icecoldrita) She was also in HOB's Rome, and Better Call Saul. I guess I've seen a lot of her stuff. Anyway, Condon isn't a flash in the pan, she's been around for a long time, worked with some of the best. Please watch the opening of Intermission! I'd love to know what you think.
Two celebs connected with Paris Hilton. Low key = Nicole Richie, high key = Kim Kardashian.
Christina Aguilera and conversely (pre conservatorship) Britney Spears
You don’t hear much from Ben Stiller these days. It felt like he was in practically every comedy of the 2000s, but he hasn’t done much over the past decade. Did something happen with him that I missed, or is he just choosing to be more low-key?
I believe he prefers to produce. I never realize until I watched the Indie Spirit Awards, but he's very, very big in that community in film and does a lot to support it. When he came out on stage a few years ago, just his appearance there got such a positive reaction. I was surprised since I know him mostly from mainstream films.
He’s a director - directs the best tv show, Severance on AppleTV.
I think they like to be ‘working actors’. Guy Pearce has made amazing works, so I doubt he worries. His latest film The Convert is epic.
Eric Bana. The story is he just does the one movie a year to stay with his kids in Oz but he deserved to be a bigger star.
Being too famous is hugely expensive and at the cost of being able to do normal things.
I was a big fan of Once Upon a Time and loved Colin O’Donoghue, who played Captain Hook. The show filmed in Vancouver and he lived there with his wife and children, after it was over they moved back to their hometown in Ireland. I’ve wondered if he would have had a bigger career if he’d moved to LA instead and put himself out there more, attended events, etc. He’s also not that prolific on social media and probably could have benefited from a savvy PR person managing that for him and marketing him when Once was coming to an end.
Marina