ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "inception said: "I wonder if it isthe current economics of film making, where smaller "art house" films are notseen as profitable, that is causingA-list actors like George Clooney & Robert Downey Jr look at performing on Broadway?
Looking at the box office for Mr. Clooney's most recent directorial effortThe Boys in the Boat,its receipts likely did not cover production & marketing costs."
None of Clooney's directorial efforts have been major financial successes, and only one got real awards traction. He's a pretty bad director, imo. Good Night & Good Luck is the best thing he's done by a long shot, and even that's just okay.
Big stars come to Broadway regularly. Remember all the yelling around 2010 when"celebrities took over Broadway" - Denzel, ScarJo, Catherine Zeta Jones, Daniel Craig, Hugh Jackman, Chris Walken, Jude Law, Kelsey Grammer, Sean Hayes, Carrie Fisher,and others.
Clooney, Downey, and Carell are an interesting case study:Broadway may have been a goal for a while, they're hovering around 60, all could use a career pivot, and 60 is a good time for an agent to say "hey, why don't you try that thing you've always wanted to do before you're too tired or before it looks like a desperate cash grab?"
I do think GN&GL feels like a bit of a cash grab. But it's got lead producers who know their way around limited-run plays (the prolific team of Seaview & Wagner/Johnson,alongside Jean Doumanian and Robert Fox)."
Robert Downey Jr hardly needs a career pivot. With The Sympathizer following his Oscar for Oppenheimer, I'd say he is in a position any actor, even any star, would envy.
Clooney hasn't starred in a hit movie since The Descendants in 2011 (his appearance in Gravity two years later is pretty much a cameo). None of his subsequent projects, and there have been many, have caught on. His career definitely needs a jump-start. I'm not sure if Good Night and Good Luck on Broadway is likely to be it, but I wish him luck.
His politically correct vibe has done a lot to sustain his celebrity, so his comments on Biden are likely to rattle a fair share of people. After the election, no one is likely to remember or care. If Trump is re-elected, there will be far too many other worries on our minds. If Biden is, we'll be holding our collective breaths to see how long he can be propped up while wondering who exactly is doing the propping.
It's a shame Broadway has become so unaffordable at a time when more and more people are likely to need it.
Updated On: 7/11/24 at 07:51 PM
