"Busted" - Could Hollywood Have the Same Fate?

China Bans Abusive Actors From Screen

China Bans Actors

The current Chinese government crackdown on corruption and moral abuse has targeted actors with a history of drug or other substance issues, as well as moral abuses, and has ban them from appearing in any film or TV production.

An edit issued by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film, and Television (SARFT) ordered cinemas and TV networks to halt all screenings of movies featuring stars with "morally dubious pasts".  These moral transgressions include: drug use, alcohol abuse, illegal acts (such as DWIs), sex with prostitutes, indecent exposure, and other moral offences.

It was reported that over 40 performing arts organizations have agreed with the government's new policy and will not employ actors with a history of drug or other substance abuses.  In its official statement, SARFT announced that the new regulations were introduced because actors "corrupted the social atmosphere through their behavior and create a detrimental influence on the development of many young people."

There has been both critical and pro support for the new law.  As of now, there is no indication that the new regulations will apply to actors outside of China, but it may come to that.  Currently China and Hollywood are having a love-affair, and given China's huge market H'wood may succumb to new moral standards of its own.  OH NO - if that were the case most of the 'A' listers would be in trouble.
Abuse, loose morals, domestic strife, these are worn by U.S. actors as badges to reflect their, 'I'm just a common person' guilt trip.


"Hollywood is a Whorehouse"

At least according to John Cusack, the 25 year vet actor who knows all about the dark-side of tinsel-town.

In his latest film, 'Maps to the Stars', Cusack does just that, exposes the dirty under-belly of H'wood and it is a film not to be missed.  In the movie, Cusack plays a millionaire self-help guru and his clients paradox current personalities in very thinly veiled terms.  It is a brutal expose' of how the studio system works and vilifies those obsessed with fame.

As Stafford Weiss, Cusack does a great job at playing a therapist who gets rich using a mixture of "Freudian psychoanalysis, deep-tissue massage, and generous amount of bull-shit".  The glitterati want a quick fix for their insecurities, and as Stafford tells his clients, "If we can name it, we can blame it."

According to Cusack, 'Maps' reflects the surroundings. "LA seems to be a place where a guy can say he's a "life-coach -  channeller - masseur" and be believed.  People are looking to turn pain into art, but they also want to be famous, and there is so much money to throw at their problems."

In H'wood, age is currency.  Says Cusack, "I got another 15, 20 years before they say I'm old.  For women its brutal.  If your 26, you're menopausal - it only a little absurd because it's a little bit further than the truth.  I have actress friends who are being put out to pasture at 29.  The studios just want to open up another can of hot 22.  It's becoming almost like kiddie porn. It's fucking weird."

Cusack made his film debut at 16 and has been in movies ever since. "Back then people looked after you.  There were good people in the business. I was mentored by Rob Reiner and Al Pacino.  Now it's different. The culture justs eats young actors up and spits them out."

'Maps to the Stars' shows us that H'wood is no longer a place, it's a nostalgic idea. Now it's a corporate culture of risk-aversion.  It's the era of the 50-producer movie. In modern H'wood the franchise is king - the actor just leverage. "You can't make it up", says Cusack.

'Maps to the Stars' is a must see film where everyone's too hungry for fame and riches to question motive.

Best
Jim