MovieChat Forums > Kelly Preston Discussion > How come Kelly never became a bigger sta...

How come Kelly never became a bigger star than she was/is?


She's for better or worse, more known for being Mrs. John Travolta than her own merits. Then again, it could be argued Travolta kept her from fading into obscurity.

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She just average. Can name one RAVE review she ever got? Her talent is limited. She was also more interested in being famous than having a career. She dated many famous men before she married John Travolta.

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https://www.quora.com/How-come-Kelly-Preston-never-became-a-bigger-star-than-she-was-is/answer/Mark-Anater

Preston had the usual girlfriend roles mostly as a young actress, and didn’t really distinguish herself. Her marriage to John Travolta probably took a lot of drive out of her, and making Battlefield Earth with him couldn’t have helped.

What cooked her chances for the A-list was For the Love of the Game, where she played Kevin Costner’s ex. Her character was totally unnecessary and obviously thrown in to broaden the appeal of another Costner baseball movie. Every review remarked on how she stood out like a sore thumb, and every scene with her fell flat. Her career never recovered. It may not have been fair, but such is life in Hollywood.

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I think like Phoebe Cates, she decided to put her career on hold and be a mother first. Too bad. I'd like to see both of them come back to the spotlight.

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She cant act. Simple as that.

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https://www.quora.com/How-come-Kelly-Preston-never-became-a-bigger-star-than-she-was-is/answer/Jaimes-Palacio

As some have suggested, Battlefield Earth didn’t do ANYBODY involved any favors, but actually her part was small and there were bigger fish to fry in that movie. After B.E. Preston still worked reasonably consistently, mostly in TV. The big polka dotted elephant in the room is this: Preston is a decent actress but there isn’t a huge amount of range she has explored. Her best work is in comedies, but, sadly she also suffers often from typecasting as the b**tch in her better known movie work such as Mischief, Jerry McGuire, etc…I think even in Christine she may have played a snoot. (but, I can’t say for sure) When given the right role she can be charming like in Twins, or even the very much maligned The Experts. But whose to say it’s not the career she wanted? Sure she has no academy awards or, for many, is no household name, but it’s a solid career. Think of it this way, her first role was in 1980 on Hawaii Five-O. She is still working to this day. That is a longer career than even some a-list actors have had in the past…

https://www.quora.com/How-come-Kelly-Preston-never-became-a-bigger-star-than-she-was-is/answer/Jim-Gleeson-3

Probably it is due to her looks. It might be a bit counter intuitive, but women have a hard time being taken seriously because of their good looks, at least that’s what I have heard.

I’ve always liked her. The big stand out role for me was her role with Kevin Kostner in For The Love Of The Game. Well, there was also her role in Twins. The fact that she has and still looks great after all these years, might have actually hurt her career.

On the other hand, it might just be that she never really wanted to be a big star. The photos of her with her family shows that she loves being a mother.

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Some make it. Others don't. It happens.

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She had a successful career that lasted decades. That is far better than 99.99% of those who try to make it in Hollywood. Just because she wasn't one of the small handful of superstars, doesn't mean she didn't have a great career.

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Agree. She did very well. Her career lasted 4 decades, which is better than many actors.

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she called out hollywood producers, i remember an interview where they asked her to go topless for auditions and she said no. this was over a decade ago.

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I was just reading elsewhere that it seems like post-Jerry Maguire, Hollywood did try to make Kelly a top billed star as evidence as For Love of the Game. While Kelly was a good actress, she was at her best playing a bitch or latter mom roles. She was too pretty and symmetrical to work as the female lead/main star. To put it in another way, she needed a quirk but didn’t have one.

https://www.datalounge.com/thread/26504788-kelly-preston-dead!-

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