OT: Re: bigger names + bigger pay = smaller budget?

[Pernille]

You have a really good point. Not only about the money, but I think 
also the big Hollywood names takes attention away from the story. 
That's when, IMO they did wrong with Troy and right with LOTR.

I think one of the main reasons LOTR worked so well was that Peter 
Jackson and the others choose actors they thought would be perfect 
for the part even if no one had heard of them before. They had Elijah 
Wood, Viggo Mortensen and Christopher Lee in the cast, but they 
weren't word-movie star names at the time. Actors like Karl Urban and 
David Wenham were perhaps known to a wide Australian audience, but 
the wider audience had not heard about them. I think, (sertenly in my 
case), that made people see the characters and not so much the actors.
 
Troy was the right opposite for me, (and many others as I understand 
it), the big Hollywood names ruined the whole thing.

Take care
Pernille 

--- In HPFGU-Movie at yahoogroups.com, "Severina Amadenna Salem-Snape" 
<onceupona_party at y...> wrote:
> Hi Sassy Snape - first post here, but I was wondering:
> 
> Does anybody else think the movies are becoming more of a bigger-
> acting-names-must-be-seen-to-be-cool sort of thing. 
> 
> I loved that Quirrel and Tom Riddle were not played by big names 
> (sorry, taking this from a North American perspective)and some of 
the 
> other characters were peppered with some interesting character 
> actors. I know they had some other big names for the unknown youths 
> to play off of, but now the kids are names, so do we really need a 
> big name to add to the production?
> 
> Now with bigger names for key characters (Gary Oldman, Ralph 
Finnes, 
> Julie Christie, Dawn French, Miranda Richardson) comes bigger 
> paycheques and less of the budget for the actual film. And these 
> actors may be in the position to ask for more money for future 
films. 
> (Madam Hooch thought she should get more and she wasn't exactly 
huge 
> in NA or had a big part)
> 
> Let's just hope Prince Charles doesn't want to do a walk-on at one 
> point...a little too trendy. Also, I am not saying these actors 
> aren't good actors, just that it could pull the focus from the 
films.
> 
> Sassy