MovieChat Forums > The Rocketeer (1991) Discussion > This is one case where a bigger Star Act...

This is one case where a bigger Star Actor would have helped

posted 11 years ago by Manth_Sigdaw
23 replies | jump to latest

Usually I'm all for the creative forces behind the film picking who they feel is best, but in the case of The Rocketeer, I feel Disney was right in that a bigger star, perhaps an A-Lister would have given the film the right boost it needed. I'm trying to think who in 1990, 1991 would have been a good A-lister for the role. Tom Cruise? Cruise would have been a huge draw in 1991. Hell even Tom Hanks would have been good, Hanks hadn't gotten his Oscars yet, but he was a more known name then Billy Campbell. If they had wanted to go younger in 1991, River Phoenix was still around and about 20 or 21 years old at the time.

The whole cast was nearly a bunch of unknowns in 1991, which I think hurt this movie. The only one I recognized at the time was Timothy Dalton as the bad guy, only b/c he had starred in the most recent James Bond films from the late 80s. So that's like today casting a movie with Daniel Craig as the villain, and the rest of the cast are near unknowns or at least, not big names in a major Disney fantasy adventure flick.

My picks are the two Toms. Cruise or Hanks as The Rocketeer in 1991. I guess you could keep Jennifer Connelly in the role, but Meg Ryan was also around at the time.

[–] rafaelgarciagonzalez01 11 years ago

Disney wanted Johnny Depp for the character of Cliff Seccord/The Rocketer, but he refused.

[–] TheSolarSailor 11 years ago

Disney wanted Johnny Depp for the character of Cliff Seccord/The Rocketer, but he refused.

I wasn't aware of the fact that Depp was a sought-after star that the studio would envision being their lead way back in 1991. At that point, he was just a guy mainly known for Edward Scissorhands and 21 Jump Street. He may have brought in the teeny-bopper crowd back then, but he would have been wrong for The Rocketeer.

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] bpmct 11 years ago

Billy Campbell did fine. He looked like Cliff in the comics, and did a great job. I guess I never really cared about the "big name actor" getting the role, just "is it a good performance".

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[–] Fluke_Skywalker 11 years ago

Disney wanted Johnny Depp for the character of Cliff Seccord/The Rocketer, but he refused.

Wow, I'd never heard that before. Interesting. Not sure Depp would've been believable as an aw-shucks 1930s test pilot, though.

I definitely get what the OP is saying about star power, and given the obscurity of The Rocketeer (at least relative to something along the lines of Batman) I can see where it might have helped at the box office.

I'm all for the formula of an "unknown" as the hero and a "name" as the villain. Not sure Dalton necessarily qualifies as a "name", but I think he and Campbell are both quite good. Campbell really sells Cliff with his cheerful heroics and Dalton steals the show as Sinclair. And I ain't replacing the luscious Jennifer Connolly for anyone.

I can see Cruise as Cliff though. And perhaps even his Top Gun co-star Val Kilmer as well.

He went to Bespin Luke Skywalker, but he left Hand Solo

[–] TheSolarSailor 11 years ago

I definitely get what the OP is saying about star power, and given the obscurity of The Rocketeer (at least relative to something along the lines of Batman) I can see where it might have helped at the box office.

Period adventure pieces just don't seem to do well unless they are Indiana Jones. Alec Balwin was star power and he didn't magically cause The Shadow to be a hit back in 1994, so I seriously doubt that a big name here would have propelled this film into anything more.

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] BertramWilberforceWooster 11 years ago

That's because The Shadow was terrible. The story was fine, but the execution was abominable. And it's a shame because I love the old radio series.

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If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go!

[–] TheSolarSailor 11 years ago

Doesn't matter. The OP thinks that star power makes or breaks a film, when obviously it does not.

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Whose idea was it for the word "Lisp" to have an "S" in it?

[–] BertramWilberforceWooster 11 years ago

A bigger star may have helped this along. The comparison to The Shadow was fallacious since it was poorly received, while this was quite well received.

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If I cannot smoke cigars in heaven, I shall not go!

[–] WeirdRaptor 9 years ago

Or killed it, because I doubt anyone would have been as great in this as Bill Campbell.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf

[–] phantomsever 8 years ago

Christian Slater would've been perfect in the lead. As for the supporting cast, I wouldn't change a thing

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[–] DracTarashV 10 years ago

Perhaps a bigger star would have helped, but Billy Campbell was perfectly cast in the role anyway. He may not have been a box office draw, but his performance is all that really matters... though, not for everyone it seems.

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[–] HarveyManfredSinJohn 10 years ago

I agree VlacDrac. Billy Campbell was perfect in the role.

I won't deny that the public, and by extension Hollywood (or maybe it's the other-way-around), was star-obsessed at the time, and a bigger marquee name would presumably have added some more dollars to the film's eventual box-office, but I'm more interested in taking a film on its own terms regardless of how well it does at the box-office and as a one-off movie the notion of casting a relative unknown, who nevertheless looks and acts like a square-jawed, raven-haired hunk does, for me, work far better than casting a quirky name like Michael Keaton, or star-of-the-moment like George Clooney, as 'Batman'. I'm a big advocate of picking the right actor/actress for a given role, regardless of name-familiarity, relative popularity at a given moment it time, or general studio politics.

If an unknown is right for a big role, particularly where he/she embodies the look and attitude of a pre-existing character, especially one that was originally established in another visual medium like comic-books, I'd prefer to see them chosen over a less suitable 'big name', and none of the bigger names mooted for this project, including Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Matthew Modine, Kurt Russell, Bill Paxton, Emilio Estevez or Vincent D'Onofrio would IMHO have been right for the part, for various reasons that I could happily go into. Of the alternative choices that could have played 'Cliff Secord/The Rocketeer' at the time I think Johnny Depp would have been the best 'name' in terms of the mooted possibilities, and even he doesn't strike me as coming close to Bill Campbell in terms of uncanny suitability.

[–] pawtrax67 10 years ago

Did anyone know Sean Connery before Dr. No?

Did anyone know Harrison Ford before Star Wars?

Mel Gibson in Mad Max?

The problem was it should have been released as a Touchstone Pictures film, so it didn't get the "Disney" tag.
It also was up against Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (which is was way worse), City Slickers (that's tough). And it really wasn't marketed all that well.

[–] stevewyzard (1583) 4 years ago

The real competition that summer was T2 - that steamrolled over just about everything else that was action/adventure-oriented.

[–] cyguration (3951) 3 years ago

I'll be honest, I thought the marketing was great; they had toys everywhere. But you're right that T2 was certainly the bigger film.

There was a problem, though, in the movie itself: We just didn't get much of the Rocketeer.

As an origins story it seemed like the antics of the jetpack-powered super hero were kind of far and few between. So people looking to be dazzled with a great showing of heroics specifically involving the jetpack may have been disappointed. I remember thinking that after seeing the film I didn't really need to see it again. As opposed to say, Batman or T2, where I absolutely loved re-watching Tim Burton's Batman and I could watch the theatrical cut of T2 almost all day.

I may have to re-watch this film again, but I just don't remember the Rocketeer having any standout action sequences, which should have been paramount for an action-adventure flick of this kind.

[–] thewildfire 9 years ago

I don't think that would have changed the box office results of the movie, unfortunately. I think Billy Cambell did just fine though. And he looked like the part the character from the comics, too. I was only 9 when it came out, but I don't ever remember seeing much on it. Advertising failed big time.

[–] WeirdRaptor 9 years ago

Bigger name star =/= better at the role. No one can top what Bill Campbell did for this movie.

"All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to you." -Gandalf

[–] lexicron 9 years ago

No. They would put Jason Priestly in the role and his hair would ruin the movie. It wouldn't have fit in the helmet for one thing. :)

[–] 5535 8 years ago

Not sure I agree OP. I mean, a bigger name would have helped make this a hit, but I liked Billy in the role and like that fact that I'd never seen him before until this movie. I was nine when I went to see this, and thought "Who's the cool new actor?", and I loved the movie. I had seen all of the Indiana Jones movies prior to this, and loved them to pieces, but I also liked how innocent The Rocketeer was, and I love that time period on film.

The cast was great, Lothar was a terrific Dick Tracey esque villain, the action was good, soundtrack excellent, and the locations were fun to watch.

Definitely Joe Johnston's best film from my view, and it's his most consistently good movie.

Always wanted a sequel, and Billy is still in good shape and looks good for his age, same with Jennifer, but I don't think that will ever happen.

[–] HarlemEagle42 (17735) 4 years ago

Billy Campbell looked the part of the comic book character. At that time, he was known mainly as a television actor in stuff like Dynasty and that episode of ST:TNG. My guess is they wanted it to be a star vehicle for him.