Hollywood paychecks can buy actors Malibu mansions and private jets but there are some things that even the largest of them cannot stretch to — the kudos that comes from a critical hit.
In today’s Tinseltown, such projects can seem thin on the ground. Hollywood’s large studios are besotted with expensive superhero sequels that do well overseas. They have stopped making the kind of intelligent, mid-budget dramas that regularly used to win Oscars.
So if an actor such as Bradley Cooper, or Brad Pitt, or Leonardo DiCaprio wants to appear in a truly memorable film, it is increasingly likely that they will have to produce it, too — which means immersing themselves in the dark art of assembling the cash, script and talent on which movies are built.
Such was the case with American Sniper, a nominee last month for best picture at the Oscars and the most lucrative war film ever made.
It was produced by Cooper, who persuaded Chris Kyle, the former US Navy Seal on whose life story the film is based, into selling the rights to his memoir. Cooper then played Kyle, a part for which he got his third Oscar nomination in three years.
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Vanity projects are nothing new, says David Styne, a veteran Hollywood executive who has represented Michael Mann and Oliver Stone. In recent years, however, actors have become involved in production for more pragmatic reasons.
There is no real alternative for an actor “looking for the edgy, esoteric material that the studios are running away from”, Mr Styne explained.
For women, the hunt for substantial roles is even tougher. The actress Reese Witherspoon started her own production outfit, Pacific Standard, four years ago when she realised that only one Hollywood studio had a project for a film with a female lead who was over the age of 30.
“My daughter was 13, and I wanted her to see movies with female leads and heroes and life stories,” she told Variety in the autumn.
Last year her company was behind the box office hits Gone Girl and Wild, dramas that earned Rosamund Pike and Witherspoon an Oscar nomination apiece.
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Actors have long dabbled in production. In 1967 Warren Beaty produced Bonnie and Clyde, a film that broke the Hollywood mould.
Decades later Tom Cruise produced his Mission Impossible films, bagging himself a huge share of the profits.
Now every actor seems to lead a double life as a producer — and not only for the extra money.
Leonardo DiCaprio owns Appian Way Productions, which made The Wolf of Wall Street. It exists, said one insider, to find projects that pique DiCaprio’s interest — “challenging pieces, the pieces that the studios are loathe to make”.
Brad Pitt has become something of a doyen. Last year his production company, Plan B Entertainment, backed Selma, the fêted civil rights epic.
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A year before that it made 12 Years a Slave, which won the best film Oscar.
In the process he has won the kind of acclaim that cannot be bought. “Brad is a great producer because he’s a film-maker, he’s an artist,” said Steve McQueen, the director of 12 Years a Slave, when his film won its Oscar. “12 Years a Slave wouldn’t have happened without him”.