Table Of ContentShining in Shadows
S T A R
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AMERICAN CULTURE / AMERICAN CINEMA
D E C A D E S
Each volume in the series Star Decades: American Culture/American Cinema pre-
sents original essays analyzing the movie star against the background of contempo-
rary American cultural history. As icon, as mediated personality, and as object of
audience fascination and desire, the Hollywood star remains the model for celebrity
in modern culture and represents a paradoxical combination of achievement, talent,
ability, luck, authenticity, superficiality, and ordinariness. In all of the volumes, star-
dom is studied as an effect of, and influence on, the particular historical and indus-
trial contexts that enabled a star to be “discovered,” to be featured in films, to be
promoted and publicized, and ultimately to become a recognizable and admired—
even sometimes notorious—feature of the cultural landscape. Understanding when,
how, and why a star “makes it,” dazzling for a brief moment or enduring across
decades, is especially relevant given the ongoing importance of mediated celebrity in
an increasingly visualized world. We hope that our approach produces at least some
of the surprises and delight for our readers that stars themselves do.
ADRIENNE L.McLEAN AND MURRAY POMERANCE
SERIES EDITORS
Jennifer M. Bean, ed., Flickers of Desire: Movie Stars of the 1910s
Patrice Petro, ed., Idols of Modernity: Movie Stars of the 1920s
Adrienne L. McLean, ed., Glamour in a Golden Age: Movie Stars of the 1930s
Sean Griffin, ed., What Dreams Were Made Of: Movie Stars of the 1940s
R. Barton Palmer, ed., Larger Than Life: Movie Stars of the 1950s
Pamela R. Wojcik, ed., New Constellations: Movie Stars of the 1960s
James Morrison, ed., Hollywood Reborn: Movie Stars of the 1970s
Robert Eberwein, ed., Acting for America: Movie Stars of the 1980s
Anna Everett, ed., Pretty People: Movie Stars of the 1990s
Murray Pomerance, ed., Shining in Shadows: Movie Stars of the 2000s
Shining in
Shadows
Movie Stars of the
2000
s
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EDITED BY
MURRAY POMERANCE
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY, AND LONDON
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Shining in shadows : movie stars of the 2000s / edited by Murray Pomerance.
p. cm. — (Star decades : American culture / American cinema)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978–0–8135–5147–0 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978–0–8135–5148–7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Motion picture actors and actresses—United States—Biography. I. Pomerance,
Murray, 1946– .
PN1998.2.S493 2011
791.4302'80922—dc22
[B]
2011001086
A British Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book is available from the British
Library.
This collection copyright © 2012 by Rutgers, The State University
Individual chapters copyright © 2012 in the names of their authors
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means,
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Visit our Web site: http://rutgerspress.rutgers.edu
Manufactured in the United States of America
“They never see the ventriloquist for the doll.”
—F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Last Tycoon
C O N T E N T S
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Acknowledgments ix
Introduction:Stardom in the 2000s 1
MURRAY POMERANCE
1 Wonder Boys:Matt Damon,Johnny Depp,and Robert Downey Jr. 12
DOMINIC LENNARD
2 Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman:Million-Dollar Seniors 32
ROBERT EBERWEIN
3 Jennifer Aniston and Tina Fey:Girls with Glasses 50
VICTORIA E.JOHNSON
4 Puerile Pillars of the Frat Pack:
Jack Black,Will Ferrell,Adam Sandler,and Ben Stiller 70
BRENDA R.WEBER
5 Javier Bardem and Benicio Del Toro:Beyond Machismo 90
MARY C.BELTRÁN
6 Philip Seymour Hoffman:Jesus of Uncool 108
JERRY MOSHER
7 A Postfeminist Primer:
Maggie Gyllenhaal,Hilary Swank,and Renée Zellweger 128
CORINN COLUMPAR
8 Heath Ledger:I’m Not There 147
CLAIRE PERKINS
9 Leonardo DiCaprio and Sean Penn:Acting Authentic 166
MICHAEL K.HAMMOND
10 Kate Winslet and Cate Blanchett:The Performance Is the Star 182
CHARLIE KEIL
11 Brangelina:Celebrity,Credibility,and the Composite Überstar 200
LINDA RUTH WILLIAMS
12 George Clooney:The Issues Guy 220
DAVID STERRITT
In the Wings 238
MURRAY POMERANCE
Works Cited 243
Contributors 247
Index 251
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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I must express profound gratitude to Mary Beltrán, Madison; Emmanuel
Burdeau, Paris; Andrea Eis, Oakland University, Rochester, Michigan; Ned
Comstock, Film-Television Library, University of Southern California;
Dominic Lennard, Lindisfarne, Tasmania; Adrienne L. McLean, Dallas; Ron
Mandelbaum and his loyal staff at Photofest, New York; Adam Miller,
Toronto; Jenny Romero, Margaret Herrick Library, Beverly Hills; and Sean
Springer, Brooklyn. Matt Thompson has been an incomparably deft
research assistant and a joy to work with. My colleagues at Rutgers Uni-
versity Press, Marilyn Campbell, Bryce Schimanski, Leslie Mitchner, and
Eric Schramm, have made it a delight once again to labor in their charming
company. The Office of the Dean of Arts at Ryerson University has provided
assistance, as have many of my friends, often unwittingly. To Nellie Perret
and Ariel Pomerance, my hopes that this book will bring inspiration.
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