Introducing New York Night School: Performance Studies

"The actress Mae West captured the elusive magic of movie stars best: "It isn't what I do, but how I do it. It isn't what I say, but how I say it. And how I look when I do it and say it." Stars are alluring but contradictory in nature, as much emblems of cinema's intimate magic as they are products of their time and place."

"In classic Hollywood, the best stars had a firm grasp of the filmmaking process. They were technicians, acting for the eye of the camera with a keen understanding of how to create intimacy with the audience. Stardom has splintered, expanded, mutated in the decades since the fall of the studio system that minted and owned its stars under contract. Recently, the prevailing wisdom became that Hollywood couldn't make stars the same way anymore."

"We'll explore all of this and more in Performance Studies, the latest installment in our subscriber-exclusive newsletters series, New York Night School. Over the course of five weeks, we'll examine stardom across time and place. We'll focus on one star a week: Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Cruise, Pam Grier, Alain Delon, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Each edition will be a conversation between myself, Angelica Jade Bastién, and senior newsletter editor Jasmine Vojdani. And every week, you'll work your way through our syllabus of selected films so you can revisit or get to know the greatest cinematic performances from these stars."

Movie stardom blends ephemeral charisma with craft, audience reception, and historical context. Iconic performers create intimacy through camera technique and controlled presence. The studio era developed stars by training and contract ownership, producing consistent screen personas. In later decades stardom splintered and expanded as the studio system declined. Contemporary star value depends on financing clout, box-office and streaming performance, and social-media influence. A five-week syllabus centers on one star per week—Elizabeth Taylor, Tom Cruise, Pam Grier, Alain Delon, and Tony Leung Chiu-wai—paired with selected films to study defining cinematic performances.

Read at Vulture