What on earth possessed a whole bunch of us to think pink on Monday night?
Its following hot on the turbo-charged heels ofTom CruiseinMission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One.
It was still wrapped in cellophane and cardboard from when it had last passed through a hotel laundry.
Tom Cruise in ‘Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two’; Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’; Charlize Theron in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’Everett Collection
You get thats its not my regular color of choice?
There was nothing in the WB invitation that stated I must blush in pink.
[I do blush on occasion.]
The London screening of ‘Barbie’Baz Bamigboye/Deadline
OK, I do wear a tux toJames Bondmovie world premieres.
Why the pink shirt though.
My wife had something to do with it.
We bet each other to pop on some pink forBarbie.
Mrs. Bs silk striped blouse had a hint of peach and coral.
We enjoyed laughing at ourselves.
Clearly, others felt the same.
There were a lot of whoops and applause at our screening.
I did want to see the film though.
Margot Robbiewas third on my list for wanting to see it.
Got me thinking about somethingQuentin Tarantinotold me during a long conversation we had in Cannes.
Wed gotten onto the subject of movie stars.
Tarantino said that we still have some.
Sometimes movie stars make themselves, but usually the studios invested in an actor.
They gave them a few chances because they saw something in them.
And sometimes it didnt pan out, right?
But there was an investment, he told me that day.
Now, not so much.
I dont think that theres just a giant investment in different actors to have them be movie stars.
I think theres an investment in popular leading men and women, but theyre popular.
They themselves are not going to bring an audience to go see a movie, he argued.
Theres a chapter about Flynn in Tarantinos splendidCinema Speculationbook.
There wasnt time then to include this segment of our chat in my columns from Cannes.
And, of course,Barbiewasnt uppermost on our minds then.
But Tarantinos point sticks.
The point of Robbie asBarbieis to help sell products.
Thats not to diminish Robbies star power.
Undoubtedly, Robbie did yeomans work forBarbie.
All of those appearances were underpinned by a toy doll in her seventh decade.
I think Margot has become a movie star, he declared.
I think Bradley Cooper has become a movie star, he continued.
Julia Roberts will always be a movie star, he said with a gleam in his eye.
Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio are movie stars, Tarantino asserted.
He nodded affirmatively as I reeled off Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington and Harrison Ford.
Well, Im not saying that the guys who are movie stars arent movie stars, he stressed.
What about George Clooney, I ask?
When was the last time that he had a hit in this millennium?
I expressed a yelp of surprise.
Well, Im asking you, when was his last hit where he drew an audience?
Ticket to Paradise, I blurted wanly, but before I could babbleGravity, Tarantino had folded his arms.
We were on the clock.
No time to really get into greatest all-time movie stars, though Barbara Stanwyck warranted a quick mention.
Im not making a blanket statement, he cautioned.
Deliberately, this column has decided to bury the lead.
Theres a contemporary actor that Tarantino rates above all others.
Charlize Theronstill alone, he intoned.
Far more than the boys, the director insisted.
The titlesMad Max: Fury Road, Atomic BlondeandThe Old Guardquickly come to mind.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Well, just her action movies, he agreed.
Oh yeah, the one you said:The Old Guard.
She carries those movies.
Theron sure did carry those movies.
Meanwhile,Barbies being carried by a childs toy.
Not for the first time.
Were in the age of the industrial toy complex.
