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Hollywood relies heavily on networking. Older actors have larger networks. Prolific actors tend to also own their own production companies. Adam Sandler and
by mywittyname 4y ago
Hollywood relies heavily on networking. Older actors have larger networks.
Prolific actors tend to also own their own production companies. Adam Sandler and Tom Cruise both own the production companies for their movies, which means they can have basically any role they want. Adam Sandler stars in dopey comedies set in on tropical islands with all of the same people because he likes getting paid to hang out with his friends in nice places.
Also, I think we can't discount how amazing plastic surgery is anymore. We don't see "old" actors hardy ever anymore. Even in the 90s, balding actors were pretty common, now you never see them. TC looks 35; same with Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Paul Rudd, etc. Why go with someone new when Brad Pitt looks just as young, but is a known quantity?
- rr888 4y ago> Adam Sandler stars in dopey comedies With the hottest actresses, you can definitely notice he does casting.
- conductr 4y agoHe owns it all https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Happy_Madison_productions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Happy_Madison_producti...
- Spooky23 4y agoAdam Sandler is like the modern version of the Stratemeyer Syndicate behind the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. Most of his movies are exactly the same with different dressing. I think Happy Gilmore was the prototype. Same plot, same type of girl, same jokes, different SNL buddies making an appearance.
- maroonblazer 4y agoThat may have been true in the past but his latest work, like "Uncut Gems" and "Hustle" are far from "Happy Gilmore".
- stonogo 4y agoIn Uncut Gems, he was only an actor, as opposed to the vast majority of his work, which comes from his production company (Happy Madison Productions). Of the films from that production house, "Hustle" is the only one that stands out as a quality production; the rest very much adhere to the formula described above.
- pilsetnieks 4y agoReign Over Me was actually good; but it also doesn't use the same formula as others.
- jedberg 4y agoAs my friend pointed out, he had a strangely age appropriate wife in Hustle. :) But mainly I'd say Adam Sandler is a good actor when he's acting in things other people have written, and he's just having fun getting paid to hang out with friends in nice places when he's in movies he writes. As long as he keeps switching off between good and dopey, I think he can run his con for a long time.
- kurupt213 4y agoHe deserves more credit for the art films he does like ‘the cobbler’
- OJFord 4y agoI remember seeing that and thinking wow, a Sandler film can be good! Other than that I think you have to go a long way back for toned down 'dopey' though, before he hit that particular stride. Or maybe I was just younger and not so bothered by it - can't think of an example at the moment.
- lotsofpulp 4y agoI am 35, and none of those people look close to 35. There is a certain look to the youthfulness of the skin on the face that always gives it away. Whatever that subcutaneous fat layer or whatever is that deteriorates and makes things sag or deflate has yet to be fixed in a believable way. I also assume the films have heavy digital editing to make them look younger.
- majormajor 4y ago35 is an exaggeration but Tom Cruise in the new Top Gun, and Brad Pitt in Bullet Train, look closer to 35 than to 60 or 58. Cruise taped a "thanks to coming to the theaters" thing that ran before Top Gun when I saw it, and it definitely looked about a decade older. Call it 50, while his character looked 40, and he's actually 60. I found it useful to calibrate my guess around how much was due to makeup and movie magic, and how much due to skincare and surgery.
- brandall10 4y agoThey look good for their age but it's not shocking they're pushing 60, at best I might accept late 40s. Very much Cruise in Maverick and even thought that about Brad on a recent viewing of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood which he filmed at 54.
- anitil 4y agoHe was in ridiculous shape for Top Gun, I could hardly believe it. I should add my favourite detail about the movie - during and after any pilots perform a manoeuvre, listen to their breathing.
- eatonphil 4y ago> Cruise taped a "thanks to coming to the theaters" thing that ran before Top Gun when I saw it, and it definitely looked about a decade older. Yeah I noticed this too. His speech was slower and forced (it seemed like he was having trouble breathing). The skin around his neck was tight in a way that you only see in more elderly folks. The movie was nothing like this but in that tape it was just completely obvious he was a 60 year old dude. Nothing wrong with that of course you just don't normally see him looking like that and didn't even in the movie itself.
- asdff 4y agoYou go with someone new because they are the fraction of the price and headache as someone with star power. That's why when it comes to quantity over quality productions in the streaming era, all the leads are people you've probably never seen before.
- silisili 4y agoI get your drift, but having just watched Lost City, Pitt definitely is showing his age. I'm guessing tons of makeup, lighting effects, and editing are responsible for his looking younger in other films. Check the trailer @ 2:21 or so - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfKO9rYDmE8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfKO9rYDmE8 Don't get me wrong, dude looks amazing for his age, but definitely not 35.
- spaceman_2020 4y agoYou can go back a few years and watch him in “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”. He looks late 30s, early 40s.
- karaterobot 4y agoBut that doesn't explain a trend. If it was mainly networking, why wasn't this true in the 1980s?
- dragonwriter 4y agoISTR lots of articles around and since the turn of the millennium about the TV/Film desirability gradient starting to reverse, at least for people not already at the pinnacle of movie stardom, with young actors with modest early career movie success actively working to love to TV, rather than vice versa. EDIT: And, though less frequently, I've seen similar things for other jobs in making filmed entertainment, with TV getting a lot more respect as a medium for storytelling.
- brandall10 4y agoBecause it's bullshit. They're bankable stars in an era where bankability is key (ie. superhero movies). Their production companies exist as a vehicle to get a piece of that pie and have more creative control.
- xeromal 4y agoyeah, I'm sure the networks were as strong or stronger since hollywood became a thing
- mywittyname 4y agoIt's networking, plus the fact that they often own their own production companies, plus the ability to portray a younger role well into their 50s. Brad Pitt is older now than Marlon Brando was in The Godfather. You have a lot more professional options if you can pull off a younger character.
- lumost 4y agoI’d also be curious how much of this is simply the influence of modern sun protective practices. Are actors apparent ages naturally changing more slowly than in the pre sunscreen days?