Who is most responsible for a great movie? A lead Actor, Director, Screenwriter, Producer, Investors

One of my favorite movies is His Girl Friday; it is one where the writing is excellent and so is the directing. I don't think any screenplay Ben Hecht had a hand in was ever bad that I know of. It was a stage play he wrote for Broadway, and as far as I can tell there wasn't a lot of money spent on sets, t mainly takes place in one room. I like the Mathau/Lemmon remake, The Front Page, as well, but the 1940's version with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell and one the best supporting casts ever in any movie is head and shoulders better. Don't know who's idea it was to change 'Hildy' into a woman, but it was a great idea in picking Russell.

Ben Hecht's life is a movie in itself.



Screenwriter​



Caricature of Ben Hecht, 1923

Film historian Richard Corliss writes, "Ben Hecht was the Hollywood screenwriter ... [and] it can be said without too much exaggeration that Hecht personifies Hollywood itself." Movie columnist Pauline Kael says, "between them, Hecht and Jules Furthman wrote most of the best American talkies".[23]: 5  His movie career can be defined by about twenty credited screenplays he wrote for Hawks, Hitchcock, Hathaway, Lubitsch, Wellman, Sternberg, and himself. He wrote many of those with his two regular collaborators, Charles MacArthur and Charles Lederer.

While living in New York in 1926, he received a telegram from screenwriter friend Herman J. Mankiewicz, who had recently moved to Los Angeles. "Will you accept three hundred per week to work for Paramount Pictures. All expenses paid. The three hundred is peanuts. Millions are to be grabbed out here, and your only competition is idiots", it read. "Don't let this get around." As a writer in need of money, he traveled to Hollywood as Mankiewicz suggested.[9]


lol
 
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Yes. All those horrible Elvis movies proved that in some cases it's all about the central character and nothing else. His movies always made money.
In rare cases did Elvis every act. His audience wanted Elvis and that's what they got.

Most people who become actors and make a living out it, have to be good at their trade which means playing many different roles convincingly, which is not easy. For those who become not just successful but stars, they often build a screen persona which may be intentional or is dictated by the roles they are given. When you develop a screen persona that audiences like, you don't have to become a new character with each new role because the roles are created for you. There are lots of examples of this, such as, Cary Grant, James Stewart, John Wayne, Harrison Ford, Tom Cruise, Denzel Washington, etc... Audience like their screen image so they go to their movies to see them play small variations of that screen persona. This is not the case with all movie stars. Some actors really like acting and enjoy playing very diverse roles with very different characters. Some actors such as Robert Ryan, Gary Oldman, Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, John Hurt, and Johnny Deep are among the actors who relish the challenge of playing many different diverse characters.

I really like most of the movies made by Harrison Ford, Cary Grant, John Wayne, Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise. I know I'm not watching great acting but it's great entertainment and that's what movies are all about.
 
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Although it takes a lot of people to make a movie, who is most responsible for it's success?
It is my firm belief the screenwriter is the most important person. Not even the greatest actor or director in the world can save a bad script, and there are plenty of examples out there which prove it.

Sadly, screenwriters are probably the least appreciated people in the industry.
 
It is my firm belief the screenwriter is the most important person. Not even the greatest actor or director in the world can save a bad script, and there are plenty of examples out there which prove it.

Sadly, screenwriters are probably the least appreciated people in the industry.
Today most movies are based on novels, true stories, short stories, comics, graphic novels, games, plays, other movies, TV programs, etc. 70 or 80 years ago screenwriters would write original stories and scripts and sell them to the studios. Thus studios would have stacks of scripts, most of which would never become movies. However, with the fall of the studio system, this all changed.

In Hollywood today, usually a movie comes about because a director, producer, or someone on their staff has an idea for a move. That idea is often adapting something to the screen. Typically the idea will be discussed with associates and if the producer(s) believe it can be sold to backers, a project is formed. If the director is not already part of the project then the producer searches for a director. However, most directors and producers are members of informal groups that work together which may include screenwriters. Typically the screenwriter will expand on the basic story idea leading to a summary which will include major characters and critical events. Most projects die at this point or they are table indefinitely.

For projects that continue, backing is obtained and a scriptwriter which may be the screenwriter who developed the summary, will write a more detailed script that will be used in hiring actors and obtaining more backing for the project.

I believe the director is most responsible for the success of the movie as he is responsible for all creative aspects of the movie. I think the producer of the movie is second only to director in importance because he is responsible for all financial aspects of the movie. Just as successes are mostly dependent on these two people, so are the failures. While the story and script is of paramount importance, I don't believe the screenwriter is because developing the story and script is a collaborative process between writer, director, and often the actors that will delivery the dialog. The script is always a work in progress. It is never completed until the movie is completed.
 
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Today most movies are based on novels, true stories, short stories, comics, graphic novels, games, plays, other movies, TV programs, etc.

Most are based on sequels which are viewed as safe bets
 
I would say the actors. If you have terrible actors and acting the movie is going suck no matter how good the script is.
If it is choice between actors, director, and scriptwriters, I would have go with the director and here's why
The director is typically either the creator or the first person hired. The director has creative responsibility for the production and that includes hiring the principal actors, approval of the supporting cast, and determining how each scene will be played . In some cases the director, producer, and scriptwriter will act as a team in selecting the actors but even then the director will make the final decision.

Once the principal actors and cast are selected the director will solidify the theme of the movie. Next the director and his associates will determine the purpose of each scene and how each actor with play their role in the scene. Since the script will usually be modified, the script writer will be a part of the process. For the most important scenes, the director may solicit input from players of the scene. At the end this process. the decision as to how ever scene will be play by each actor has been determined.

Alfred Hitchcock believed the success of a movie is determined by what is done before filming. He said, "I don't have to coach actors or explain how I want a scene played. My instructions are in the script. I hire professionals who know their job and I pay them a lot to do it."

When a movie is a great success the public often credits the success to leading actors. However, the reality is that actors, scriptwriters, cinematographers, music and sound directors, and supervisors of special effects are just tools the director uses to create a movie. In the industry, the director will bear the accolades or the blame for the public's reception of a movie.
 
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