\n\tCherien Dabis knew she wanted to bring more attention to her film, and for that, she needed star power. Her Sundance drama, All That\u2019s Left of You \u2014 Jordan\u2019s Oscar submission for best international feature this year \u2014 chronicles multiple generations of a displaced Palestinian family. But amid heated debates in the U.S. over the Israel-Gaza war, the director and actor felt her project was being overlooked. Enter Mark Ruffalo and Javier Bardem.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Sept. 24, the A-listers, established supporters of the Palestinian cause, formally joined the feature as executive producers. In their roles, they\u2019re expected to do media for the film, host screenings and post on social media. \u201cWe always knew [this] had to be the strategy in order to give this type of film the best chance at this moment,\u201d says Dabis.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt\u2019s just the latest example of a long tradition in Hollywood. From Charlie Chaplin donning a Hitler-esque uniform to send up fascism in 1940\u2019s The Great Dictator to Jane Fonda\u2019s endeavor to channel the women\u2019s movement in 1980\u2019s 9 to 5, stars have leveraged their celebrity and charisma to amplify social or political issues they care about.<\/p>\n
\n\tToday, one path for them to do so is to take on a supportive, even hype-mannish role as an executive producer on films and documentaries<\/a> tackling societal problems. <\/p>\n \n\tThis year alone, Sarah Jessica Parker is executive producing a doc on librarians fighting book banning, The Librarians, which her production company joined during its search for funding. Sean Penn is EP-ing the Brazilian and Portuguese film Manas, about the exploitation of women in an island community. Debra Messing joined the antisemitism documentary October 8. And The Voice of Hind Rajab, set during the Israeli invasion of the Gaza strip, added a glut of A-listers as EPs before its Venice Film Festival premiere: Brad Pitt, Rooney Mara, Joaquin Phoenix, Jonathan Glazer and Alfonso Cuar\u00f3n.<\/p>\n \n\tThese partnerships have become increasingly important as major Hollywood distributors shy away from titles they consider potentially controversial, partisan or uncommercial because they tackle societal concerns.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cIn a climate where human rights and social issues are under threat, we need these methods,\u201d argues director-producer Joanna Natasegara (Virunga), who has worked with the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Angelina Jolie as EPs on documentary projects.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tThe calculus for filmmakers is simple: Famous EPs can bring funding, distribution interest, media coverage and social media attention to titles that might not otherwise get institutional support or sound very sexy to the viewer (see The Need to Grow or Kiss the Ground, two star-backed docs about soil health). <\/p>\n \n\tFrom the point of view of the famous, some stars feel particularly impassioned about certain issues. But partnering with a documentary or scripted project is also a way to solidify their activist bonafides. <\/p>\n \n\t\u201cI think this offers a ton of reciprocal benefits for the celebrity in terms of strengthening their brand, in terms of reinforcing their own advocacy positions,\u201d says Woodbury University professor and media arts department chair Kristen Fuhs, who wrote a book chapter<\/a> on the EP roles that actors Riz Ahmed and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau played on the 2021 animated documentary Flee.<\/p>\n \n\tAs EPs, celebrities might do anything from simply slapping their name on a poster to glad-handing for an awards campaign to getting deeply involved in production. They might volunteer their time or be paid for their labor, depending on their deal.<\/p>\n