Celebrity Gods

One of the games we play is having favorite celebrities. When I was a teenager, living alone, I identified with male movie star heroes. I also confess I wrote Ingrid Bergman a fan letter.

Media heroes currently in the news: Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson, and several quite young female actors; one a daughter of John Voight, and another playing a lead in Batman. The latter, take it from not only a fan but a professional, that actress is the megastar of the near future. Primary reason? She's relaxed, self-observant, willing and able to serve a greater purpose than her own immediate desires and wants, and I base that solely on her interview with David Letterman. The last actress I saw in that milieu (actually with Johnny Carson on NBC) do as great a job was Liv Ullmann, the very great Swedish actress (Scenes From a Marriage).

There used to be a "Morals clause" in movie stars contracts. That's why, in the 'Old Days' movie stars ran off to Acapulco to let their hair down. That's a very long way to go for 'fun.' Or, was in those days. I think in the even earlier days they had to drive there! They must have really, really needed to be private. Enough gossip from the gossip columnists could ruin a career. Hedder Hopper, et al, ruled with an iron fist (acidic pen). They were courted, flattered, pampered, and even given bit parts in movies, often playing themselves.  God knows how much money it took to hush up Rock Hudson's driven, mad, compulsive homosexuality. So mad it ultimately killed him, as everyone knows.

A measure of how much things have changed, how power has to a degree shifted from studios to the actors, who often produce their own movies. Now, Tom Cruise tells reporters what they can ask and what they won't get an answer to. Howard Stern played an audiotape of Tom Cruise telling a reporter point blank he would not discuss Nicole Kidman. 

The actress in Batman, and Tom Cruise are now what used to be called 'An Item.' The actress told David Letterman that Tom was, "her man." I believe her. Not really sure what to make of Tom Cruise's acting, but he sure knows actresses and whether they can act or not. Kidman was/is superb, and the new one probably even better. The amateur gossips on message boards et al, are now 'flogging' both actors for their association with Scientology. These fans, I suspect, want to position themselves as the audience who makes them rich and famous, not the actors' own skills and education and training. What Scientology has offered them is self-determination, and the language with which to bring that about. Don't forget John Travolta similarly armed.

The only person I've ever met who has actually been to Scientology meetings complained they wanted too much of her money. That has always been the complaint; there have been scandals, especially overseas. I mention this to emphasize I hold no brief for Scientology. I do, however, know that some of the original ideas of L Ron Hubbard were adopted openly by Werner Erhard when he began the est Training in San Francisco in 1971. Out of control 'fans' Online are now declarng that Tom Cruise and his gorgeous, to-die-for Lover, and John Travolta, are members of a cult. No they're not, they seek shelter from rabid fans, and greedy Producers, and out-of-control Paparazzi who'd tear them to pieces as in the old days if they didn't have a wall of protectors: agents, managers, and enlightenment gurus. It's warfare out there. Tom Cruise is so secure he announced that he'd never work for Steven Spielberg, and then he did, more than once! Spielberg's no dummy: he knows how hard it is to be an enduring movie star.

In my listening, fans look to movie stars as guides to living, as if the stars were gods, or at the very least temporary totems. In their chatter fans dissect the supposed character of the actor, ignore the characteristics of the characters they play, and don't really give a hoot for the merit of the screenplay, or teleplay they appear in. I suppose that takes the heat off the writers. Ha!

Barry