What film made them a star?

Many of our favorite actors have been around for years. Many have been great for years. But there is always that one film that makes their careers – bumps them up into a whole new tier (pay grade).

What is a “star” – lets call it being able to draw a multi-million (3 or more) dollar salary for one movie.

Tommy Lee Jones – The Fugitive
Anthony Hopkins – Silence Of The Lambs
Russell Crowe – Gladiator
Liam Neeson – Schindler’s List
Christian Bale – Batman
Benicio Del Toro – Traffic
Kevin Spacey – The Usual Suspects
Harrison Ford – Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Johnny Depp – Pirates Of The Caribbean
Brad Pitt – A River Runs Through It

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R.I.P.

Angelina Jolie--Girl Interrupted
Nicole Kidman--Dead Calm or Days of Thunder though I didn't take notice of her until To Die For.
Cate Blanchett--Elizabeth I
Maggie Gyllenhall--The Secretary Not a mega star but I am sure she became more bankable after this.
Toni Collette-- Muriel's Wedding got her noticed and the madly funny Cosi, which came fast on the heels of Muriel's Wedding helped as she played a thin girl in that.
Charlize Theron--Monster maybe? She certainly got to display her chops (no pun intended) in this film. She has been around awhile, she is a good actress and a beautiful women but never seemed to become a big star.

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Louise Vale first woman to play Jane Eyre in the flickers.

Cary Grant--The Awful Truth
Paul Newman--Somebody Up There Likes Me
Bruce Willis--Die Hard (one of my favs)

(You already mentioned Harrison Ford)

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Kathy Bates--Misery
Demi Moore--the soap opera General Hospital made her a star and St. Elmo's Fire made her bankable.

Ya think maybe he was a star after Star Wars? How much money did the flick make and how cool was Han Solo?

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Carbiean that's a little far off the mark. What about Edward Sissor Hands, Jhonny Depps pretty much been a star since the beggining.

It all depends on whether you're talking about a film that brought someone to the public's attention or whether it put them at the top. For example, I'd say that Ace Ventura made Jim Carrey a star, Dumb & Dumber was a huge pay bump, but it was his role in The Cable Guy which put him among the best paid Hollywood stars.

With tv stars it can be even more complicated. CQ mentioned Bruce Willis, who was a huge star because of Moonlighting. Blind Date is the first film I remember him starring in, but it was Die Hard that made him a movie star, though it was probably Die Hard 2 that put him in the top bracket earners. There's a similar 'problem' with Johnny Depp.

Marlon Brando: A Streetcar Named Desire
Leonardo DiCaprio: Titanic
Al Pacino: The Godfather

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Star Wars did not make Harrison a "star". He was a co-actor. Luke was the lead character. The character of Indiana Jones made Ford a huge leading man. How cool was Luke? Did Mark Hammil become a big star? - no. He remained Luke and no big leading roles for him afterward. He didn't have a Raiders to set him off on his own - Lucas and Spielberg didn't throw him that bone. On top of which, without Indiana Ford's career has been rather limp.


Depp and Pirates; sure, he had many good rolls before this. Mostly lowbrow stuff, like Ed Wood. Depp took roles he thought were interesting or artful - which is why I have always liked him. Pirates made him a huge star. He was one of my personal favs long before this - but most people didn't know who he was or if they did, thought of him as merely an ex-teen idle from 21 Jump Street. I ask you, where is Richard Grieco today? He is not a big "star" but their names used to go hand in hand. Of course Tim Burton's fans all tend to be Depp fans from way back. Having a long time "cult" following is not the same as drawing a multi million dollar paycheck for being in a movie - which is what Pirates did for him.


Ace Ventura was Jim's big break. No-brainer there.

Regardless of whether he was a co-star or a leading man in the first two Star Wars movies, they made him a superstar. And I doubt that if Selleck had taken the role of Indy, Harrison's career would have gone "limp".

But enough of this, I'm outta this thread. Carry on.

Whilst I disagree with a lot of what you've said here, this bit is undoubtedly wrong when judged by your own critieria. Dumb & Dumber was the first film which paid him over $3m ($7m I believe) and he'd made The Mask before that, for which he was paid less than $1m but, going by the quoted part of your post, not only was he already a star (because of Ace Ventura), but a bigger star than before. Yet, I think I'm right in saying that he was paid less than $1m combined for those films. This all goes towards my point of having difficulty judging how someone went over.

That's not to say that this isn't a topic for conversation or debate, but I don't think it's clear cut (which is good) and by making how much they were paid for a film as the criteria of what film made them a star, there is in fact no debate to be had at all.

I don't think payment is an especially good measure, because nobody gets paid for a breakout role; the breakout role is what leads to bigger paydays. As Gods says, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective was undeniably the film that brought Jim Carrey to fame, even if he wasn't paid much for it. It makes sense that the payday, almost by definition, comes after the star-turn.

By the by, I agree with Harry completely about Harrison Ford. We can quibble over the word "star," but I don't think whether or not he was technically the lead really changes the fact that Star Wars launched his career into the stratosphere.

I agree, you can't judge a star by how much money they made. I think a star would be an actor who has become well known and is sought after by filmmakers to be in there films. Harrison Ford was a star before Raiders there's no question there. I agree with Harry.

kate hudson--almost famous
gerard butler- p.s i love you
steel magnolias-julia roberts
red dawn- patrick swayze

Gerard Butler? I think we'd have to go with 300 for him.

i was saying p.s i love you made women sit up and take notice of him.

How about Nicolas Cage? It would have to be Face/Off

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No way did Red Dawn make patrick swayze. Road House is when he took off.