What distinguishes a movie star from an actor? In brief, the answer is acceptance speeches.
The 19th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday was one of many nights in Hollywood when performers of all kinds distinguish themselves as an actor or as merely a movie star.
An actor gives a high-quality performance, is grateful for the opportunity to be in the work he’s in and accepts any gift with grace – but more importantly, with sincerity.
“Whoa. This sure does an old man a lot of good,” actor Dick Van Dyke gushed as he took the stage to accept the SAG Lifetime Achievement Award.
With absolute ease, Van Dyke commented on the constantly increasing level of quality in the work of his fellow SAG members. He also thanked his family and the Guild for their support before making his way offstage.
The speech was a simple and efficient display of humility balanced with pride in his work, the signs of an actor.
Movie stars on the other hand, regardless of the quality of their performances, will give an overly emotional and oftentimes scattered acceptance speech, no matter what they are receiving.
Be it an Oscar, a SAG award or merely a glass of water, a movie star will exhaust the moment by drowning it in faux humility, overdone gratitude and oftentimes a shattering of emotions.
Performer Anne Hathaway slid comfortably under the umbrella of the title “movie star” as she accepted her award for Best Supporting Actress.
It’s too bad that she didn’t cut herself off with the seemingly definite “thank you” she voiced about a minute into the speech.
Instead, while various artists thanked each other and promoted each others’ work in their speeches throughout the night, Hathaway promoted her own film “The Dark Knight Rises” and forgot the names of the representatives she wished to thank.
A movie star opens an acceptance speech with a cheeky one-liner that requires one to have seen his or her film in order to understand the joke.
For instance, Hathaway’s coy opening line, “I’m just so glad I have dental” refers to her character’s plight in the recently released “Les Misérables.” It was a rocky battle between Hathway’s attempts to charm her peers with cleverness and her very obvious personal goal to appear dignified.
Refined images aside, actress Tina Fey took the stage screaming, “Oh my goodness! This is so nice!”
In a moment overcome with pure ecstasy, Fey’s speech was brief and true, right down to the crowning moment in closing when she mentioned the season finale of her television series and added, “Just tape the ‘Big Bang Theory’ for once, for cryin’ out loud.”
Also in no rush to mold her reputation into that of a groomed movie star, actress Jennifer Lawrence accepted the award for Best Leading Actress by thanking MTV for giving her a SAG card when she was 14.
She followed up with, “Now I have this naked statue that means that some of you even voted for me.”
Script or no script, an actor is honest with the audience.
Movie stars? Their outfits are often more polished than their own personal text.
Paige Pelonis is a sophomore journalism and international studies double major and a contributing writer for the Daily 49er.