Who Is A Star?

From february 2009... who is/was a star?

Every year Hollywood Reporter used to do The Ulmer List which ranked movies stars on a scale of 0-100 on several different factors that would result in, well, money at the box office. How popular the actor was in the USA, how popular overseas, whether they promoted their films, whether the actor is popular regardless of genre, etc. This chart was amazing - name the actor, and if they starred in a movie they were ranked. Producers used this to cast films - it didn't matter whether the actor fits the role, what mattered was their rating on the list.

The great thing about the list was that you might discover some "cult actor" who ranks higher than you thought... and higher than their quote (pay). You could get someone like Rutger Hauer to star in your movie, and he was way up there on the list. The ratings became a shorthand and kind of a joke among my friends (and even in business meetings) - you might be discussing casting with a producer and an actor's number would come up... or discussing a bad film with friends and mention that some actor is a "solid 35, what is he doing making crap like this?"

A few years ago Hollywood Reporter began selling the list for a chunk of cash (well, to you and me, producers have paid less for a lunch), and I lost track of who was "a solid 35!" Now Forbes has a similar list, and here are the top 100...


Rank Name Cumulative Score
1 Will Smith 10.00
2 Johnny Depp 9.89
2 Leonardo DiCaprio 9.89
2 Angelina Jolie 9.89
2 Brad Pitt 9.89
6 Tom Hanks 9.87
7 George Clooney 9.81
8 Denzel Washington 9.76
9 Matt Damon 9.69
10 Jack Nicholson 9.68
11 Julia Roberts 9.65
12 Adam Sandler 9.61
13 Tom Cruise 9.60
14 Russell Crowe 9.57
15 Will Ferrell 9.56
16 Meryl Streep 9.55
17 Robert De Niro 9.54
18 Ben Stiller 9.50
19 Jim Carrey 9.42
20 Clint Eastwood 9.33
21 Robert Downey 9.29
22 Nicole Kidman 9.27
23 Bruce Willis 9.16
24 Nicolas Cage 9.02
25 Al Pacino 9.00
26 Harrison Ford 8.69
27 Keanu Reeves 8.59
28 Mel Gibson 8.52
29 Christian Bale 8.49
30 Tobey Maguire 8.48
31 John Travolta 8.47
32 Vince Vaughn 8.39
33 Shia LaBeouf 8.38
34 Reese Witherspoon 8.24
35 Jackie Chan 8.13
36 Steve Carell 8.05
36 Daniel Day-Lewis 8.05
38 Charlize Theron 8.00
39 Cate Blanchett 7.85
40 Jodie Foster 7.78
41 Gwyneth Paltrow 7.78
42 Hugh Jackman 7.78
42 Keira Knightley 7.78
44 Drew Barrymore 7.76
44 Sean Penn 7.76
46 Daniel Craig 7.73
47 Cameron Diaz 7.72
48 Mark Wahlberg 7.68
49 Eddie Murphy 7.66
50 Sacha Baron Cohen 7.64
51 Kate Winslet 7.63
52 Jake Gyllenhaal 7.61
53 Jack Black 7.60
53 Sandra Bullock 7.60
55 Matthew McConaughey 7.58
56 Halle Berry 7.58
57 Jennifer Aniston 7.58
57 Hugh Grant 7.58
59 Robert Redford 7.56
60 Edward Norton 7.55
61 Michael Douglas 7.52
62 Richard Gere 7.50
62 Dustin Hoffman 7.50
62 Renee Zellweger 7.50
65 Anthony Hopkins 7.45
66 Clive Owen 7.45
67 Robin Williams 7.45
68 Hilary Swank 7.43
69 Jamie Foxx 7.42
70 Woody Allen 7.39
71 Penelope Cruz 7.39
72 Pierce Brosnan 7.37
73 The Rock (Dwayne Johnson) 7.37
73 Ashton Kutcher 7.37
75 Philip Seymour Hoffman 7.35
76 Bill Murray 7.35
77 Ben Affleck 7.34
78 Scarlett Johansson 7.34
79 Jude Law 7.29
80 Kate Hudson 7.27
80 Mike Myers 7.27
82 Colin Farrell 7.27
82 Anne Hathaway 7.27
84 Natalie Portman 7.27
85 Catherine Zeta-Jones 7.24
86 Seth Rogen 7.24
86 Owen Wilson 7.24
88 James McAvoy 7.23
89 Samuel L. Jackson 7.23
90 Tommy Lee Jones 7.19
90 Forest Whitaker 7.19
92 Tyler Perry 7.18
93 Steve Martin 7.17
94 Javier Bardem 7.16
94 Viggo Mortensen 7.16
96 Helen Mirren 7.15
97 Kevin Spacey 7.15
98 Uma Thurman 7.14
99 Jennifer Lopez 7.14
100 Naomi Watts 7.13

The list is several pages long and goes all the way down to 0.00. The people I usually work with are probably in the 2s and 3s...

- Bill
IMPORTANT UPDATE:
TODAY'S SCRIPT TIP: Listen. Observe..