The lack of star power in Hollywood’s current landscape shows during an event like the Oscars

Dear Gossips,

Now that the Oscars are over, it’s time to autopsy the Oscars. In Variety, Daniel D’Addario asks, Why were the movie stars in hiding? While the headline irritated me, D’Addario is actually onto something, particularly in the capital-letter Movie Star department.

There was a time, not even that long ago, when legendary actors of older generations—the elder statesmen and women of Hollywood—could reliably be counted on to appear at the Oscars. Jack Nicholson was almost always in the front row, even through the 2010s. Amid rumors of declining health, though, he has stopped attending, and nobody from younger generations is picking up his Oscar-attendance baton.

We’ve talked a lot over the last fifteen-ish years about the death the Movie Star, and how few new real stars we’re minting in Hollywood these days. That is a huge reason we’re so excited about Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, they are legit Stars launched overnight out of seemingly nowhere, a reminder that New Stars CAN still be born. New Stars, in capital letters and bright lights, do emerge, but where we used to have crops of them every generation, we now have, let’s call it “peaks” of them. A peak here and there, a high-water mark achieved with less frequency than before.

And that lack of star power shows during an event like the Oscars. It’s not like they’re not there—both Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, peaks in their cohorts, were at the Oscars. But they skipped the red carpet and weren’t in the audience for cutaways. They did their required appearance as part of promotion for The Drama and disappeared. They’re not just there watching the show as Jack Nicholson once did.

I don’t blame them for this. Jack Nicholson was mostly available to the public through his movies, and random appearances at the Oscars and Lakers games. We were not inundated with Jack Nicholson. But if today’s stars aren’t careful, we are inundated, and that quickly turns into overexposure and exhaustion. Look no further than Timothee Chalamet for a very recent case study in how fast the worm can turn on even a beloved New Star when overexposed. The social politics of celebrity are different now, with the internet and social media, the New Stars are incentivized to be careful with their appearances.

Zendaya, for instance, has four films and a TV show due out this year. She will be doing a TON of press. It is in her best interest, then, to avoid the cycle of overexposure and exhaustion, to manage her appearances carefully. Not making herself a story on Oscar night, when she is not a nominee, is smart. Maybe it’s why she chose a rather boring dress, to better fade into the background once she’s out of the spotlight. She doesn’t even get a real break, as Dune: Part Three is launching press today.

Worrying about the depletion of star power at the Oscars is legit, because the New Stars aren’t filling seats like previous generations did. And in this case, I’m not talking about movie theaters and audiences, but the stars being willing to just go to an event like the Oscars for the sole purpose of being an audience member.

The New Stars basically don’t go unless they have a reason—they’re nominated, they’re presenting, or they’re repping a fashion contract (like Hudson Williams and Balenciaga). I don’t agree with calling the Oscars “small”, because the show can still deliver plenty of magic—look no further than Michael B. Jordan’s winning moment—but there has definitely been a shift in the role Stars play on Oscar night.

And sure, the length and intensity of awards season is a factor, but I think the biggest issue is just one of access. Stars are so much more accessible now than they were thirty years ago, seeing them at the Oscars isn’t that special anymore. With that allure diminished, and with the specter of public backlash ever looming, why risk an appearance that you don’t have to make? For an event like the Oscars, the question is less “where are the stars” and more “how do we move forward without them”? Because year-to-year, no single Star is going to “save” the Oscars. The Oscars are on the brink of a totally new era anyway, it’s the perfect time to redefine the event for a new generation of Stars and fans alike.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah