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Reddit question: Is Kim Basinger still a star?


https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/l0b0ec/is_kim_basinger_still_a_star/

Whatever happened to Kim Basinger? She never achieved & maintained grade A movie star level like Michelle Pfeiffer or Julia Roberts, but she did win an Oscar. She even followed her Oscar win with a performance in 8 Mile, which did very well at the box office. Since then, I never hear about her. So, is Kim Basinger still a star?

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She's a star of the 80s and 90s

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I'm not talking about the 80s and 90s and talking about today, in the year 2021.

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No

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Was she ever?

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Batman was undoubtedly, the pinnacle of Kim's career (outside of her Oscar win of course). If Kim Basinger wasn't considered A-list then (i.e. somebody whose comes before the title of the movie in the opening credits/is above the marquee), she was definitely considered one after Batman. I think that Kim was certainly an A-list star from 1989 (she was gradually climbing up the ladder in the five years leading up to that) up until she 1994, when she went on her three year sabbatical from appearing in movies.

When she did that movie Cool World, Ralph Bakshi, the director originally wanted Drew Barrymore for her part. But he was overruled by the studio because Kim Basinger was considered a bigger box office draw than either Drew or Brad Pitt (who Bakshi desperately wanted) at the time. Also, when Kim infamously got involved with that movie Boxing Helena, a lot of that movie being greenlit hinged on having a major star attached to it.

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I never really thought of her as a star. At least, not top tier (despite the Oscar).

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Well, the problem with Kim Basinger is that many of the movies that she starred in and was the lead flopped hard and got tepid reviews. I mean let's be real here, can you without looking it up on your computer, name and recall all of the movies that Kim Basinger appeared in at least in-between Batman and LA Confidential? Kim was probably more of a tabloid star due to her financial and legal issues and her relationships with Prince and Alec Baldwin than a genuine box office attraction.

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I'd say that sums it up pretty well.

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