Masters of the Air (Apple)

Oh, fuck you Apple...

If you liked Band of Brothers then definitely check out The Pacific. I thought they were pretty close in terms of quality and between the two shows it's The Pacific that I think features the strongest episode.

Glad they're doing a third part, but not sure why they have to go to Apple?! Also, it sounds lame. But I'll watch it anyway, and I'm sure it'll be awesome.

Ngl, I didn't buy this dude as Elvis any more than I buy 3/5ths of the FakeElvis dudes in Vegas much less do I guy him remotely here as a "man" and yet........ on some level I'm hoping the mods unlock that "Is Austin Butler Hot" thread just so I can work through some disturbing memories of a towel snapping locker room incident from 10th grade

Looks good. 

Butler's agent steered him immaculately post-Elvis (the best starmaking performance of the last decade, imho). ....  Dune 2, The Bikeriders, Masters Of The Air.

He's going to be incredibly hard to derail as Hollywood's "chosen one" for the next 2 decades, with the likes of Leo, Pitt, Clooney,  Damon etc no longer spring chickens. Dude's basically the complete package. And and acclaimed Broadway stage actor as well.

Has Timothee Chalamet opened any movie based on his name first yet? Not really. Dune was a success, but it's a recognisable sci-fi IP. If Willy Wonka  is a hit, the IP will play a huge part. Yet Chalamet is also positioned to be given the keys to Hollywood leading man parts for the next decade or two. It's incredibly obvious when someone is going to become a " chosen one" in the movie industry.

That's how this works. Butler has already done that hard part as far as the Hollywood powers that be are concerned. He's been the lead in a big movie and has the acting cred, with the Oscar nod etc. Gotten co-signed by acting legends. He also "looks" like a "movie star". He'll get chance after chance after chance to get in hit films. He may have a few flops along the way, but so did Clooney, Pitt, Damon, Depp etc. Hollywood will make Butler your next iconic movie star or die trying.

He's off to a good start for sure. I still haven't been wowed by him yet, but he's hungry and he wants it, and ambition is key. This kid has the fire in his belly and it's good to see.

I know that already about Butler. That was the point Pittsnogle_Goggins was making, and I wasn't disagreeing with it. Elvis is an IP of sorts (though if his performance wasn't so strongly reviewed, it still could have flopped). I was just pointing out that everyone seems to have accepted that Hollywood has decided Chalamet will be one of the premiere next generation leading men/movie stars, when he hasn't carried a single hit film of his name alone either. The Industry believes in his talent and star quality, so they will keep putting him in things designed to do well, even if it requires known IP to do so ( ie Dune, Wonka).

So why on earth wouldn't the same approach apply to Butler, who if anything feels like an even more natural fit to Hollywood's search for the next generation of movie stars than Chalamet. Butler will be given a lot of help along the way. Elvis and his general reputation as a nice guy and a dedicated actor has engendered a lot of good will. 

I don't think The Bikeriders will be a test of much. It's a Jeff Nichols mid-budget drama, and they aren't exactly known to be money-spinners ( ie Mud, Loving ). That's a project that needed to do well for Butler critically, which it has. Whether it makes money or not won't make much difference to his trajectory, imho. Whatever big studio project he's lined up to lead will be his test. But again, like with Chalamet, studios may just give him projects with recognisable IP's, so there's not much of a test to face.

Kilmer was considered to be a nightmare as a person to work with by a lot of people (even though I love a lot of what he did an actor). Notably Joel Schumacher and John Frankenheimer.  The reason for his decline in Hollywood was obvious. A lot of people thought he was a hellacious prick, and his reputation was in the mud as a result. By contrast, Butler has a reputation for being humble and a nice dude, and his professionalism on set is respected. As long as he doesn't suddenly turn into a diva that directors despise and openly badmouth like Kilmer, he should be fine. Kilmer, imho, if he had the same rep for professionalism and being easy going to work with as Leo/Pitt, would have stayed a permanent A-lister, even with the flops

The lack of Keoghan in that trailer is a bit concerning.

Maybe Keoghan isn't in it much (or maybe he is. We'll see). But he's still a rising young star and recent Oscar nominee. So yes, him not being featured much in the trailer is telling, but also somewhat predictable.

The fact that the people marketing this project don't care to even take advantage of Keoghan's status (regardless of his actual screen time), boils down in a nutshell the problems/opportunities Keoghan is likely to face compared to peers like Butler (which has been talked about in detail on the Butler vs Keoghan thread). For all Keoghan has done to date, he's probably not percieved by people in this project's marketing department as someone who will move the needle or make the project seem more enticing, so they'll just roll with newly minted movie star Elvis guy as the main attraction.