New Generation of Action Stars Needed, German Distributor of ‘Expendables,’ ‘John Wick’ Movies Says: ‘It’s on Us to Build Up New Stars Again’
variety.comEd Meza @edmezavar Fred Kogel, CEO of leading German film and TV group Leonine Studios, which distributes the “Expendables” and “John Wick” movies in Germany, made the case for a new generation of action stars during the Zurich Summit over the weekend, where he was presented with Zurich Film Festival’s Game Changer Award.
He noted that many of today’s action stars are the same ones he watched on the big screen back in the 1980s, among them Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford and Tom Cruise.
Action movie fans identified with these actors because they could believe they were doing their own stunts, he added. There was “a great deal of identification with the type of the actor, with the physicality of the actor, so you could relate to that.” By contrast, in modern CGI-laden superhero movies, “the younger generation doesn’t even know who does what.” “I think it’s on us to build up new stars again, with the physicality, with the looks and with the sympathetic, great-acting factor – you need that.
It’s in our own hands. “See ‘John Wick.’ ‘John Wick’ really created a completely new kind of action genre. Who would have known 10 or 12 years ago, after ‘Matrix,’ that Keanu would be able to pull it off again with his most successful franchise?” During his Zurich talk, Kogel said he expects “huge consolidation” in the streaming sector as well as “further consolidation in the German media market,” although noted that long-term forecasts remained murky.
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