Maya Hawke: Hollywood is casting movies based on Instagram followers

M

ManaByte

Banned


This has been happening for a while. Elle Fanning was up for the role of Jean Grey in Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix but lost it to Sophie Turner because she didn't have enough Instagram followers.

www.looper.com

Elle Fanning Says She Lost Out On A Major Role Because She Didn't Have Enough Instagram Followers - Looper

Elle Fanning said she lost a pretty big role for an absolutely bizarre reason.
www.looper.com www.looper.com

"I didn't get a part once for something big because – it might not have just been this reason, but this was the feedback that I heard – was because I didn't have enough Instagram followers at the time," Fanning told Horowitz.
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Angry_Megalodon said:
If only they recruited from OnlyFans...
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Shaki12345 said:
So what? Doesn't mean she's untalented.

She's just telling her experience and here you come with your "nepo baby" comment. Very productive and not childish at all.
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It's a fact though. She didn't come from the mud and have to grind, she got a free boost but is complaining the boost stops.
 
winjer said:
No wonder cinema is getting worse and worse by the year.
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There's still plenty of good stuff out there. But it seems these days the audience doesn't have much of an appetite for things they aren't already familiar with. So I guess this is another example of that.
 
A few days ago I read the news that a political leader in Poland said the party will look very closely at social media activity of each PM and to step it up…

We truly live in a retarded timeline.
 
DKehoe said:
There's still plenty of good stuff out there. But it seems these days the audience doesn't have much of an appetite for things they aren't already familiar with. So I guess this is another example of that.
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People like taking the safe route instead of trying something new and challenging. But it really doesn't matter. There are lots and lots of great smaller movies from all around the world that don't cost a lot to make and have a big impact on the viewer. These movies have a future.

It doesn't matter what the general audience wants to see or doesn't. In the end, there's still something for most people.
 
Shaki12345 said:
People like taking the safe route instead of trying something new and challenging. But it really doesn't matter. There are lots and lots of great smaller movies from all around the world that don't cost a lot to make and have a big impact on the viewer. These movies have a future.

It doesn't matter what the general audience wants to see or doesn't. In the end, there's still something for most people.
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For sure. Hopefully more people start looking beyond the biggest titles. Although, like I said, it seems people are maybe less willing than ever to do that. But there's a lot of great stuff out there for people who scratch below the surface.
 
Honestly I fail to see the issue.

Going off instagram popularity isn't the worse way to chose actors that people enjoy to look at. There's been much worse ways than that.
 
JimmyRustler said:
Why would any respectable actor even want to be in a movie that is cast with such criteria?
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It's getting harder to get films financed. Guys like Scorsese and Lynch have talked about how they struggled to get backing for their projects.

It's a cynical way to look at it but it's free (or built into their fee) advertising. If you cast someone with a big following in the film then you can have it in the contract that they need to post about it a certain number of times. If you're talking about someone with millions of followers then that's an audience who you can hit in a targeted way since they already have an interest in that actor.
 
But how many of those followers are actual human beings, same with those tiktok views, how many are real and not massively inflated botviews, those things can be bought, stupid idea tbh
 
DKehoe said:
It's getting harder to get films financed. Guys like Scorsese and Lynch have talked about how they struggled to get backing for their projects.

It's a cynical way to look at it but it's free (or built into their fee) advertising. If you cast someone with a big following in the film then you can have it in the contract that they need to post about it a certain number of times. If you're talking about someone with millions of followers then that's an audience who you can hit in a targeted way since they already have an interest in that actor.
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Those films end up being shit anyway. Assuming you are not Nolan financial backing doesn't really mean anything these days. The studio is going to butcher your script anyway before you can actually start shooting.
 
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So the casting takes into account an actor's popularity!? I'm shocked!
 
It's a new metric and much easier way for the studios to judge the actor's current popularity. Hollywood was always about reaching that top spot and then you were swimming in contract offers to star in big budget movies... that's until another actor became a bigger superstar.
 
JimmyRustler said:
Those films end up being shit anyway. Assuming you are not Nolan financial backing doesn't really mean anything these days. The studio is going to butcher your script anyway before you can actually start shooting.
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Which ones? I would guess it's quite widespread at this point. That when producers go looking for financing one of the parts of the pitch could include them using that stat to show the potential audience and how many people they can directly market to.

As for them ending up shit, Zendaya was mentioned in this thread so I'll use her as an example. Is it not entirely possible that Challengers was in part greenlit because Zendaya, with her 180 million Instagram followers, had signed on? And that film wasn't shit.
 
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They should go after Twitch and Youtube followers instead. I want to see Asmongold in a future Mission Impossible movie.
 
Assmon has the correct take on this, it is pretty crazy how he can formulate an opinion like this on the fly in real time. Where as others could only do something similar with a prepared script or with multiple cuts and still would be inferior.

 
Werewolf Jones said:
It's a fact though. She didn't come from the mud and have to grind, she got a free boost but is complaining the boost stops.
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You have to be very cynical to take that away from what is being said.

Maya Hawke getting a jump start years ago because of her lineage is in no way relevant to something that affects directors.

If what she's saying is true, it would be just as valid coming out of any actor's mouth.
 
Werewolf Jones said:
It's a fact though. She didn't come from the mud and have to grind, she got a free boost but is complaining the boost stops.
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Eh, barely any big stars come from the kind of background that people who approve of hard work as a method of progression would approve of.

They all benefit to varying degrees from having wealthy parents who are prepared to fund classes and coaches, but most crucially knowing people or even being part of the industry themselves. It's why barely any working class kids make it, not because they're not any good at acting, but because their families don't know anyone in the business to give them a leg up and there's also less chance that a parent has the free time to spend their life driving their child around to various classes, coaches and amateur productions.

Having celebrity parents makes it more obvious, but it doesn't mean that other actors don't benefit in very similar ways.
 
Not surprised. This and other metrics are probably why "hot" new actors get so over saturated.

Chalamet, Zendaya, Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal, Jenna Ortega, etc. Like, just think about how many goddamn projects Zendaya has had in the last 4 years, and how many more she has lined up. And it's big shit too.

In the 2010s, there was a lot of consternation about the death of the movie star. Social media has given these people a lifeline. They're not stars, but they're pseudo influencers.

I've noticed it the worst in the MCU where the casting has been way off, and I have no doubt this is part of the reason why.
 
ProtoByte said:
In the 2010s, there was a lot of consternation about the death of the movie star. Social media has given these people a lifeline. They're not stars, but they're pseudo influencers.
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I think that the debate about the death of the movie star was more about the way in which cinema had become more focussed on the franchise and as a result the impact of a particular actor, who in the past could have driven real interest in a film, has become secondary to producing films that are part of a universe or brand that would resonate with people.

So though Zendaya, et al, can still achieve celebrity and wealth that at most only a handful of people in a generation can, even a star in her position can't be expected to dramatically influence the trajectory of a movie that isn't part of a comic book franchise, a reboot of an already known quantity, or the tenth instalment in a long running series.

Or to put it another way:

Zendaya starring in a film called... I don't know... "Whispers of the Nebula" would probably generate less interest and do less business than a Spiderman reboot starring new unknown actors in the role of Peter Parker and Mary Jane. Whereas in the past you might think that audiences might go to see a film starring an actor they have a fondness for.
 
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The core concept here is hardly new. The popularity of actors has always been a big factor in casting, no one is paying The Rock $40 million to be in a movie because of his acting.

Social media has basically just given movie executives a way to quantify that popularity
 
I mean, yeah, duh.

A lot of regular folk fail to realize a lot of people dont just use IG to post stupid selfies, or their morning breakfast.

It is an actual BUSINESS that millions use to make an income, advertise (get more eyes on their own business), and get more business from.

IG is a godsend for small business as well

In my industry your follower count is also quite important. It 2025. This is the world we built. Adapt or die.
 
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Mr Reasonable said:
Zendaya starring in a film called... I don't know... "Whispers of the Nebula" would probably generate less interest and do less business than a Spiderman reboot starring new unknown actors in the role of Peter Parker and Mary Jane. Whereas in the past you might think that audiences might go to see a film starring an actor they have a fondness for.
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Yeah, that's why I said they're not stars, but pseudo influencers.

I think they serve as symbols of tangible accessibility to that level of society.
 
Shaki12345 said:
So what? Doesn't mean she's untalented.

She's just telling her experience and here you come with your "nepo baby" comment. Very productive and not childish at all.
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Yet, the nepo baby in question is moaning about follower counts giving other people roles.
You know, like being a nepo baby and getting roles over others.

Two sides of the same coin haha.
 
Actors chosen based on popularity sometimes is sort of a "well you don't say?" kind of thing.

There's now just some metrics to pull from that didn't exist before.

But I imagine this is mostly for big budget roles for younger actors anyways.

There's way too much of a focus on teen-twenties characters in Hollywood too so there's a lot of bad actors getting jobs. Talent pool is nowhere near large enough to fill all the streaming shows "young" roles. And trying to hit not just young demographics but across ethnic groups hasn't helped either. Not that I'm against diversity but there's only so many good young actors and actresses let alone trying to somewhat over-represent minorities (at least as English speakers without accents.)
 
Hookshot said:
Telling that she seems to find this worse than fucking Harvey Weinstein.
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Come now, I'm sure IG fans is a better metric than the casting couch. Point is that given the vast pool of folks WANTING the job and being at least adequate to the task (which, for young women, is primarily attractiveness) it's just enough to just have some talent, you have to bring other skills/talents to the table and if she isn't willing to boost her social media value...well maybe acting in films isn't for you. Get a 9-5 job and liven up your community theater.
 
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