While the use of the term “stable†might conjure the image of Kevin James gently eating sugar cubes off your palm, the New York Times’ Michael Cieply paints a more interesting, albeit less adorable, picture of how Sony has actively cultivated relationships with particular filmmakers and stars, a plan that has birthed 3 Justin Timberlake films, 4 Kevin James movies, 8 Will Smith pictures and 16 Adam Sandlers, including the upcoming Jack & Jill. In fact, all films released by Sony in 2011 will involve movie makers or leads that the studio has worked with multiple times before: reassuring news for established stars, less so for all that fresh meat out there. While all studios typically like to work with proven directors and performers, Cieply writes, the degree to which Sony utilizes familiar players is reminiscent of the classic studio system of the ‘30s and ‘40s. Though I’m betting if they’d asked Joan Crawford to wear a fat suit to play her own sister, she would have just slashed their faces with her cocktail rings.
