Are A-list actors a waste of money?

Here's an easy one: What do George Clooney, Johnny Depp, Reese Witherspoon, Adam Sandler, Mila Kunis, Hugh Jackman and Bradley Cooper have in common?



It isn't always an actor's fault if his or her movie doesn't click with audiences. After all, no one is going to blame Emma Stone for Aloha. (That was clearly Cameron Crowe's mess.) It usually takes a village to ruin a movie.
But the fact that 2015's biggest debacles featured so many high-profile stars begs a question: Why do studios put so much faith in big-name actors when they clearly aren't reliable money-makers?

Not that long ago, actors were enough to sell tickets. People used to say they were heading to "the new Tom Hanks movie," as if the star of a film trumped the subject matter. But we don't talk in those terms anymore. No one calls "Jurassic World" "that Chris Pratt movie." If anything, it's "the dinosaur movie," and if another actor had been cast in the lead role, the blockbuster would have just as easily crushed the competition.

Part of the shift is that stars don't have the mystique they once did when our access to them was more limited. If we wanted to get our Eddie Murphy fix, we had to see his new movie, watch an old one on VHS or maybe luck out with cable. (And not so long before that, cable and VHS didn't exist, so people who wanted to see John Wayne or Marilyn Monroe just had to buy a movie ticket.)

But our relationship to celebrities has changed. We have more ways to see stars than ever - and not just because the paparazzi is supplying us with images of Robert Downey Jr. grocery shopping. Big-time actors still appear in movies, but now the ads for those movies bombard us on multiple fronts. And in case we aren't already getting enough of our favorite actor's mug, we could probably find his or her complete filmography streaming somewhere.

Nashville' Actors Prove Singing Chops at CMA Songwriters Series

The big event in Nashville this week was the 49th annual CMA Awards, of course, but the next night the five leading men of ABC's Nashville — Chris Carmack, Will Chase, Charles Esten, Jonathan Jackson and Sam Palladio — again walked the red carpet.



The actors, four of whom also write their own music, played both original tunes and those that have appeared on the show (and in some cases, the two were one and the same). Chase is the one actor and singer who doesn't write, and told reporters on the red carpet earlier in the evening that he prefers performing and doesn't harbor secret songwriter fantasies. In addition to singing, Chase functioned as the evening's emcee, and was later dubbed "banter guy" as he kept the sold-out audience entertained while Esten (who plays "Deacon Claybourne") tuned his guitar. Highlights included Chase's rendition of "If I Drink This Beer," a song Luke sang on the show, and "He Ain't Me," a cheeky Esten original.

Joining the Nashville guys were hit songwriters Chris Gelbuda, Trent Dabbs, Travis Meadows and Jonathan Singleton. Gelbuda told Rolling Stone that he saw some of elements of his own life played out in the characters on the show, particularly "Avery Barkley" (played by Jackson). He took those emotions into account while penning the wistful "History of My Heart" — which he performed with Jackson Thursday night.