(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Sun 15 February 2026 23:45, UK
There’s something vital about having ‘star power’ if you want to become the ultimate Hollywood icon, and some actors just seem to possess it without even trying.
Acting should simply be about performance, getting into the mind of a character and delivering your lines convincingly. In the realm of Hollywood, though, where money rules and image is essential to securing ticket sales, actors only reach certain heights when they surpass being relatable and instead take on a mythic, larger-than-life persona. They become idols to be put on pedestals, to be worshipped and to be treated like Gods among us normal folk.
This star power involves being palatable and likeable to a wide audience, charming and down-to-earth, but inevitably much cooler, richer, and more untouchable than us. These days, people like Margot Robbie have ‘it’ – a flash of her smile is all she needs to have fans screaming and reaching out for autographs as the sound of cameras clicking becomes white noise. A proper movie star needs to be glamorous and gorgeous, carrying themselves with a certain weightlessness, gliding from interview to red carpet without a single complaint.
It’s not a natural way to be, but some stars have just mastered it, and Chloë Sevigny has her own opinions on who fits the mould – and who definitely doesn’t. The actor has always possessed a striking ‘it factor’ herself, but not in this typical Hollywood star way. Rather, Sevigny has long been revered for her alternative roots, appearing in Sonic Youth music videos, sometimes sporting a boyish haircut, and appearing in controversial movies like Kids and Gummo.
Sevigny was never going to become the next Julia Roberts, but she knows a thing or two about the importance of image – something that has followed her throughout her career as one of the internet’s most beloved and long-standing it girls and fashion icons. So, talking to V Magazine in 2015 about celebrities who harness a certain star power, the actor was a little brutal, dragging Jennifer Lawrence down in her explanation.
“I understand that star quality, how much value that carries. I love when a movie star is a great movie star. I think Angelina Jolie is a great movie star,” she revealed. “I don’t think I can be that, or just be an actor. I don’t think I have the charisma. Which is probably why I never reached another level. I like Emma Stone. Whenever she’s herself, she’s really cute.”
Sevigny was much less forgiving of Lawrence, who at this point was well-known for her role as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games series, and she had also won an Oscar in 2013 for Silver Linings Playbook, causing a stir when she famously fell up the stairs as she took to the stage to collect her award.
Only in her early 20s at the time, Lawrence played into the quirky young star image a little too much for Sevigny’s liking, what with her also discussing her love of pizza whenever she got the chance. With outlets like The Hollywood Reporter publishing headlines like ‘Jennifer Lawrence Wears Pizza-Stained Dolce & Gabbana Dress to Derby Party’, the actor wasn’t exactly synonymous with pure class.
This is why so many people liked her, though. But not Sevigny. “Jennifer Lawrence, I find annoying. Too crass,” she said. Perhaps her opinion has since changed, with Lawrence coming a long way since then. She has been nominated for two more Oscars and matured significantly, with her recent turn in Die, My Love demonstrating just how incredible her talents really are. Back then, however, Sevigny wasn’t convinced that Lawrence had what it took to be a proper Hollywood star.