The latest definitely real movie star to join in the debate is Harrison Ford, although he ironically doesn’t seem to think he’s a star at all. “Oh, I think it’s rubbish,” the Shrinking actor told GQ of the theory. “I don’t think the question is whether or not there are any movie stars. There’s wonderful actors coming up every day. Whether or not they become movie stars is really not the point,” he continued. “If movies need stars, they will find them. I’ve never fucking understood being a movie star. I’m an actor. I tell stories. I’m part of a group of people who work together, collaborate on telling stories. I’m an assistant storyteller. That’s what I am.”
Perhaps coincidentally, this has been a frequent talking point for Marvel actors in particular—a story Ford is now assisting to tell. In a clip that circulated on Twitter/X in 2019, the MCU’s Anthony Mackie neatly summed up one major aspect of this argument. “Anthony Mackie isn’t a movie star; The Falcon is a movie star,” he said, explaining that people used to buy tickets for the topline name but are now courted by the franchise the movie is a part of. “The evolution of the superhero has meant the death of the movie star,” he claimed. Maybe he has a point, but counterpoint: how many people will buy tickets just to see Big Red Harrison Ford?
