Also, twenty years isn’t that long—not in the career of a professor or a doctor of internal medicine.

It’s important to remember that movies began as a fad—not unlike the Atari games today. No one knew what the future might bring—or if, indeed, there would even be a future—but the present was plenty lucrative enough for even the greediest executive.

Well, if half the world suddenly thinks of you as this guard’s wife thought of Redford, that’s bound to be just the least bit unsettling. You’ve spent three decades walking along being one thing, and you’re still that thing—part of you is—but no one’s seeing that. You don’t know for sure what the public is reacting to, but you do know it’s not you.

it’s crucial for a screenwriter to remember this: Never underestimate the insecurity of a star. Look, we’re all insecure, we know that. Even brain surgeons probably get the shakes when no one’s watching. But movie stars? It’s all but inconceivable. They are so blessed, and not just with physical beauty. They have talent and intelligence and command

As Mr. Fitzgerald said to Mr. Hemingway about the rich, stars are different from you and me. Yes, they get up in the morning, just like we do. And sure, they go to bed like we do too. But—big but—if they are hot, their day differs from ours in one simple way: From morning till, they live in a world in which no one disagrees with them.

1916: $10,000.00 per week—that was Charlie Chaplin’s stipend. Plus $150,000.00 in bonus money for signing. 1919: Fatty Arbuckle became the first star in history to be guaranteed a salary of one million dollars per year. Minimum.

And so, in 1910, a beautiful young girl with the mellifluous name of Florence Lawrence initiated the star system in America.

Movies help mark out our lives. Do you remember who you were when you first saw Citizen Kane? I do. Or Casablanca or Singin’ in the Rain? If you give it a moment’s thought, I’ll bet you can come up with an answer.

A star is someone who opens. (When a movie begins its run and no one comes, people in the business will say this of the movie, “It didn’t open.”) A star may not guarantee you a profit—budgets can grow wildly for reasons totally out of their control—but they will absolutely be a hedge against disaster.