[Mb-civic] CBC Arts - NORMAN JEWISON HEAPS SCORN ON 'MOVIE STARS'

[CBC Arts]

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NORMAN JEWISON HEAPS SCORN ON 'MOVIE STARS'
WebPosted Mon Apr 25 13:26:27 2005

MONTREAL---There is a big difference between serious actors and movie
stars, renowned director Norman Jewison said on Sunday.

Jewison, 78, made the comments in an interview with the Canadian Press at
a literary festival in Montreal where he was promoting his autobiography.

Jewison said he doesn't even know the names of half the movie stars under
the age of 30 who are currently working in Hollywood.

"It's all a hype. Come on. How do you know whether anybody can act?
You're told that they're a big star, you know, or somebody's got a cute
ass or they've got great boobs," he said.

"I can't buy it. I think we're living in an age of such
manipulation," he added.

According to Jewison, programs like Entertainment Tonight and magazines
like People are machines that generate buzz around celebrities so they
can stay in the public eye, thus remaining employable.

"Someone's hot. Then it becomes, 'Who have you got?' Then it becomes a
compromise and you have to put a star into your [movie]."

Jewison is the Canadian filmmaker known for such films as Moonstruck ,
the original Rollerball , and In the Heat of the Night .

The director said that he would rather work with real actors, especially
those with stage experience who can fully inhabit a character even if
they're in supporting roles.

He named Annette Bening, Michael Caine, Christopher Plummer and Denzel
Washington as belonging in this category.

People like Arnold Schwarzenegger, on the other hand, are movie stars, he
said. He declined to name any of the young performers who he considers to
be movie stars.

"There's something about their heads — the camera likes
them," he said.

Jewison was speaking at Montreal, World Book Capital 2005. His
autobiography, which details his life in Hollywood, is titled This
Terrible Business Has Been Good to Me .

A cut below movie stars, in Jewison's hierarchy, are celebrities.

"We're all being suffocated. I can't believe that people are obsessed
like they are now with celebrity. I don't know what's going on," he said,
adding that the singer Madonna is an example of a person with "a small
amount of talent" who made a career out of being a celebrity.

"I'm sounding so grouchy. Am I wrong?" he then asked.

"Celebrity is celebrity. We live in an age of celebrity, for God's sake.
It's craziness. It's exploitation. It's the media for God's sake that's
responsible for most of the exploitation."

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