Hot property
The Hollywood curse of the 'next big thing' and the problem with Hype
Esohe Ebohon
When he first hit our screens there was a buzz about Actor Matthew McConaughey. Some critics tipped him as the next Tom Cruise following an electrifying performance early on in his career with Joel Schumacher’s adaptation of John Grisham’s first novel ‘A Time to Kill’. Today the only comparison he has with Tom Cruise is the fact that he is currently dating his ex-girlfriend, Spanish Actress Penelope Cruz.
She too was another star tipped for the top. Barely out of Madrid she appeared on the cover of American Vogue and as a result landed a Ralph Lauren modelling contract. When her relationship with Tom Cruise started the sky was the limit for Ms Cruz.
Let’s not forget about Hayden Christensen, the actor chosen out of thousands to be Anakin Skywalker in the Star Wars trilogy and Ryan Philippe and Sarah Michelle Gellar of Cruel Intentions whose performances took them both from teen stars to movie stars.
Many stars come and go but there are a few who arrive on the scene surrounded by a buzz, critics are certain that they will be big stars, the next generation to take over from the last. That is what these actors had in common; they were tipped to be ‘the next big thing’.
Indeed we do have this generation of actors with stars like Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom, Resse Weatherspoon, Angelina Jolie, Cameron Diaz and Scarlett Johansson to name a few but ironically they broke through without the buzz which leaves us to ask, Are you doomed if you are hyped?
The problem with hype is just that, it is often just hot air. By definition it means “exaggerated publicity” and although the subject on the receiving end might benefit from the initial buzz in the end it usually leaves them with more to prove and an awaiting public with raised eyebrows.
It is not just actors who suffer from the Hollywood curse of the next big thing or the hype machine. There are celebrities who make their name and career entirely on hype based on whom they are dating, which brings us to curse number 2. The ‘Liz Hurley Curse’.
They say that the heart wants what it wants and we cannot help who we fall in love with and there is no fault in that but in the cases of Liz Hurley with Hugh Grant, Sienna Miller with Jude Law and Pete Doherty with Kate Moss they rose very quickly up the social and career ladder because of their relationships.
The public knew of them firstly based on the publicity from their love lives not on their career. They then have to make a name for themselves afterwards while the critics and public alike wait to see if there is more to them than just a famous boyfriend or girlfriend (or class A drug habit in P.D's case).
The thing about curses is that they evolve, get passed down and manifest in different forms and with different people. Hollywood curses are by no means new to the public. We have seen it with the child star curse involving stars like River Phoenix and Macaulay Culkin and the family name curse where the relatives and children of famous and well-respected stars try to make it on their own and get rubbished by the press before they begin like Lisa Marie Presley. Some will manage to break the curse like Drew Barrymore and Kate Hudson whilst others will ultimately and in some cases tragically perish.
Who knows why some make it and others do not, that is the mystery of Hollywood but one thing we can be sure of is there will always be those willing to try.
