The sad thing about the actors and filmmakers involved in the movie business is that everything is to do with a 'name'. I know actors who are wonderfully talented in Los Angeles, who have worked so hard and yet have nothing substantial to their achievements. In other parts of the world too where I have worked, mainly in Asia, actors are having the same problem, to cross that border-line from 'no-name' to 'name'. A personal friend of mine for over twenty years, whom I consider a good performer and has perfected his craft to a very efficient degree, is now today getting only 'acting' jobs once a year and being paid around US$200 - 400 per day for his services.
The problem is with producers and film financiers, who in their intention to raise the film product to the highest level of marketability and saleability, always buy only 'name' actors to ensure a loyal string of film fans who will be there in the cinemas when a certain film with that 'name' person opens. That is only good business sense, isn't it? Still, I find it, the situation, and them totally gutless and boring. The faces from HK never change, that Kaneshiro guy, the two Tony Leungs, the same genre over and over again, just because these few people have been lucky at some point in their lives and have somehow crossed the line to 'name' territory.
The difference between being a 'name' in this industry and not, is that when you're not, they let you feel that you're an ass (whether done in a polite manner or not), and when you are, they all want a piece of it (your ass, that is).
Are we to assume that there are no other talented actors in the whole world, people with whom we have not heard, just because these film financiers are so 'tight-assed' about opening new doors to new people?
For some women, those who are pretty of course, there was and always will be the 'I sleep with you for the role' deal, and these nocturnal agreements have in fact created two of the biggest female names in showbiz today, both of whom I have had the pleasure (or misfortune, depending on how you see it) of meeting briefly in my life, and whose names I shall definitely not mention here for fear of getting sued by them. After their successes, I had asked both of them, each of them only once, for help in my career, and they have, and this should not be a surprise at all for us, pushed the requests out of their minds, one of them politely and the other in a more blunt manner through her personal assistant.
My material submission as actor for the re-make of a classic HK film actually received a positive appraisal from a few executives in L.A., but upon further discussion with their peers, was rejected simply because they want a 'name' star; the issue was not whether I was good or capable, but for sale marketability for the future finished product.
Sometimes, an actor or filmmaker will wonder whether it is worth remaining in an industry of production factories, buyers, marketeers and exhibitors who have nothing but only 'cash-registers' where their hearts and minds should be, and of audiences who are so selective today and expect the whole world to be poured on to them in 100 minutes in a dark hall when they only part with ten dollars, or less, of their earned salaries.
Do actors, real artists, and other dedicated film technicians remain, or do they say 'to hell with everyone'? I, for one, still choose to be a practitioner in these arts. The last person who would understand 'why' would be myself.
