Elle magazine has a cover article on 19 year-old actress Keira Knightley, which predictably labels her a “superstar.” First a star was a star. Then non-stars became stars, and so stars became superstars. Now kinda stars are superstars, which means full-fledged stars are…what?
Knightley is undoubtedly a popular actress right now. (And, it must be said, really quite hot.) She also has some chops, having worked steadily as an actress since she was eight years old. She played Queen Amidala’s stand-in in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace when she was fourteen, starred in Bend It Like Beckham three years later, and hit the big time at eighteen by starring in the surprise smash Pirates of the Caribbean. The fact that she’s signed up for the two sequels already in production, and has other films in the can, indicated that she will keep working for a while.
However…a ‘superstar’? OK, she’s starred in one smash. Since then, she’s starred in the megaflop King Arthur, and starred in The Jacket, one of the few horror films lately to tank. Her next film, wisely, is an art house adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. It will her a breather from failed commercial pictures.
I don’t know, ‘superstar’ seems a bit much.
