EVERYTHING used to be so much better – entertainment was more interesting and celebrities were greater. But was it, and were they really, or are we just looking back through rose-tinted spectacles?
Someone who’s been involved with celebrities for over 30 years is Barry Norman, on a flying visit to Jersey for a show at the Opera House. He insists that the films and the celebrities are as good as they ever were: what’s changed is our access to them. Ironically, our ‘open’ media prying into celebrities’ lives actually means fans now know far less about the things that matter.
‘I think the best films today are as good as any that have ever been made and technically, of course, they are far, far better, but remakes, prequels and sequels are just laziness and cowardice on the part of the studios. They’ve established that the public likes this kind of film, so they think “We’ll do it all over again: change the names a bit, change the location, maybe give a little story twist but, by and large, it’s going to be exactly the same as the one they saw before.”
‘There is a law of diminishing returns with sequels and franchises – except Bond and Harry Potter. But, on average, the sequel will take at least 60% at the box office of what the first one took. If the first one was very successful, they’re looking at a profit before they start making the film. What they ought to do is to look at films that should’ve done very well and didn’t, analyse what went wrong, put that right and remake the film – that would be very interesting.’
Surely film stars don’t shine as brightly today? ‘Every generation has a tendency to put down its own stars but I think that the biggest stars of recent years stand comparison with anybody who’s gone before. Johnny Depp is a much better actor than many of the so called “great stars” of the 30s and 40s; Tom Cruise should’ve won the Oscar for Rain Man, not Dustin Hoffman.’
Today’s huge number of television programmes, gossip magazines and multi-media interrogations swamp us with details but Barry believes we know less than ever about the films and far too much about the actors.
‘One of the reasons I was very happy to give up the day job was that the publicity arm of the film industry had taken over – the tail was wagging the dog.
‘Days were when people like me could get in touch with somebody like Harrison Ford, Spielberg, Scorcese and say “I’ve seen your latest film, rather like it, love to come along and talk to you” and we would talk for as long as we needed.
‘Those days are over because, with this absurd worship of celebrity, everybody just wants to talk to the A-list movie stars. What you get now is a junket in a hotel with, if you’re very lucky, 15 whole minutes to talk. It’s rubbish, it’s nonsense – which is why, when a big film opens, you switch from one TV channel to another and see the same star asked exactly the same questions and giving exactly the same answers. Nobody gets anything exclusive and nobody gets anything very interesting.
‘I really enjoyed my 30 years on television but I do feel I got out at the right time. The one I would’ve liked to have met was Marilyn Monroe – a woman of limited talent but, within those limits, she used every inch. She had this wonderful quality of vulnerability and, curiously, of innocence – women wanted to protect her and men wanted to protect her too. They wanted to do other things as well, but that’s something else again.’
So, why are we presented with so much information about a celebrity’s private life – doesn’t that mean the audience wants to know?
‘We are a rather brutish and prurient society. You meet some of these celebrities – I won’t say they’re disappointing because I never went along with any great expectations, but they certainly don’t walk on water. Sometimes they’re really quite dull – which is a shame because, on the screen, they’re the very opposite – that’s all one really needs to know about them. What they’re like is their business entirely.’
So, what does Barry Norman think will be the hot plot for 2009? ‘It’s impossible to tell. Every now and again original films will turn up like No Country for Old Men, which I thought was a terrific movie. That’s the great thing – every year there’ll be a few films that are really, really good movies. There’ll be an awful lot that are not, but I think that’s always been true – ever since day one in the film industry.’
Barry Norman’s Favourite Films is at the Opera House on Wednesday night. And why not?
Article posted on 2nd September, 2008 - 3.00pm
