If you’ve kept up with practically any movie in the last couple of years, you may have noticed a pattern in the casting. As much as you may love them, it’s undeniable that the same actors seem to be casted into the same movies, leaving newer actors in the dust.

These past couple of years, actors such as Timothée Chalamet or Jacob Elordi have been practically shoved down our throats. At first this may not seem to be an issue, but when looking beyond the screens, it’s important to recognize acting as a career and art form. 

Whether you believe these actors are good at acting or not, it becomes a problem when they are constantly being casted for roles, ignoring the talents of other upcoming actors.

For reference, the upcoming look at The Beatles biopic stars actors such as Harris Dickinson, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Joseph Quinn. I’m certainly not putting down these actors’ abilities to play such huge parts, but I’d like to criticize something that, unfortunately, takes away from the experience: appearance. 

The fact is that these recognizable faces with an absurd amount of backstory and previous roles behind them can truly take away from the experience of the story. For example, if you’ve seen “Bones and All”, “A Complete Unknown”, “Dune”, “Interstellar” (all high-grossing movies starring Chalamet) and you want to watch “Marty Supreme”, it’s going to be a little difficult to immerse yourself in the experience since Chalamet will be playing Marty Supreme, especially with such recent popular films featuring him as a lead role.

“A buffet lineup like this is sure to make IMAX seating exceptionally difficult to score because all of us know it’s going to be good. A film like this has to be. And hasn’t that knowledge become so deflating” journalist for Polyester Zine JoliAmour DuBose-Morris states. 

DuBose-Morris makes some great points in her article when discussing the disappointment in how once an actor who has been already worn out and had their time to star in their own movies, we’ve just grown accustomed to accept when a highly ranked actor is allowed the same starring roles over and over again. 

Not only does the continuation of recycling the same actors for lead roles take away from an experience because of this reason but also because of the opportunities it’s taking away from up and coming actors. 

When a new movie is going to be announced, it’s immediately assumed, and most likely true, that a mainstream actor is going to be the starring role which just isn’t fair to the potential of many new actors that could be fitted for the role instead of the immediate casting for whatever people online will deem as acceptable. 

The constant confirmation Hollywood has been seeming to need from the public is something that I believe is truly ruining movies and their original authenticity while they now seem to be more like a cash grab that they know people will sit down to watch when there’s a familiar face on the poster.

I hope that Hollywood reconsiders constantly reusing the same actors to catch one’s attention when there’s a wide variety of actors that have much potential for the future of cinema. I also encourage people to branch out more into the wide world of film and give movies a chance while their favorite posterboard actors aren’t front and center. In doing so, it will raise awareness of the recycling actors epidemic, allowing Hollywood to possibly consider the fact that you don’t need A-list actors to produce a movie people will watch.