Star Theory

Richard Dyer developed the idea that the viewers’ perception of a film is heavily influenced by the perception of its stars, and that publicity material and reviews determine the way the audience experience the film. He argued that stars are constructions; ‘A star is an image not a real person that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials’.

The star theory suggests that if a film includes well-known actors, people will want to go and see the film. For example, if a film that starred George Clooney was being advertised, it would most likely be a success. Not only because the film’s plot has attracted the viewer but mainly the star persona.

If I could choose stars to act in our film I would choose actors that had played similar characters before. I would choose Chloe Moretz to be in our film because she is a well-known child actor and she had the main role in ‘Carrie’ which was a successful remake of the 1976 horror film, made in 2013. She received the Best Performance by a Younger Actor Saturn Award for her role in Carrie which suggests that she is a good horror film actor. She has been in around 40 films in the last 10 years, often playing lead roles; this shows that she is often the main star used to pull in audience. The film ‘Carrie’ is about a shy girl, outcast by her peers, who unleashes terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom. The character of Carrie is extremely similar to that of Cassandra in our film so I think Chloe Moretz would be the best star to play the role.

We would use the image of Chloe Moretz that has been constructed by the media to pull in a big audience and raise the success of our film.