It’s no secret that many of the most “popular” models these days are the ones most active on social media. It’s also no secret that many young, well-connected and attractive women use social media to start their careers as models – one feeds into the other, as everyone from Kate Upton to Cara Delevingne to Kendall Jenner to the Hadid sisters can all verify. But for some reason, I always thought it was a bit different when it came to actresses. I mean, if “a big social media following” was it all it took to book movie roles, then Emily Ratajkowski should be working back-to-back in movies. But according to Sophie Turner – aka Sansa Stark on Game of Thrones – she got a big role over another actress just because she (Sophie) had a bigger social media presence.
Sophie Turner has been in the spotlight since her teens after being cast as the ill-fated princess Sansa Stark in the hit HBO fantasy series, aged 14. It meant that she swiftly built up a considerable following on Twitter (1.34 million), Instagram (5.4 million) and Facebook (2 million), which she says helped her in auditions.
She told Porter: “A lot of what I have achieved is about timing and luck, but it is also, and I hate to say it, about a big social-media following. I auditioned for a project and it was between me and another girl who is a far better actress than I am, far better, but I had the followers, so I got the job. It’s not right, but it is part of the movie industry now.”
Turner admitted that she has been encouraged to tone down her social media presence by her team in the past, after not quite realising how famous she was: “It was so gradual that I still treated my life and my social media like I wasn’t in the public eye. I was a 15-year-old girl writing rash political stuff that would get a negative reaction and my team would tell me to take it down. Now I am learning to keep my mouth shut.”
I looked at Sophie’s IMDB to try to figure out which role she was talking about. Jean Grey in X-Men: Apocalypse? A weird looking drama called Huntsville? A teen-romance-sci-fi called Time Freak? I bet it was that one, Time Freak. That seems like the kind of movie where producers would be looking to cast someone with the biggest profile, just so they can properly “sell” the movie to a teenage audience. And frankly, that’s the audience which cares the most about whether an actor is on social media: teens. That’s why all of the Marvel film stars are on social media now, because those movies need to appeal to teens, etc. As for whether this should be the way movies get cast… of course not. But I sort of think Sophie was trying to be British-humble.
Photos courtesy of Porter Magazine.
Actresses with large social media followings definitely are able to leverage that into jobs. It’s all a part of the package, and it’s part of why everyone has an active social media presence. And yet… if you look at The Hollywood Reporter’s social media “Top 10”, you’ll see a lot of young actors connected to huge bombs. Look at Cara Delevigne – one of the biggest social media stars out there, and yet that made no impact when it came to Valerian.
Yeah. Plus what kind of jobs come calling is the question.
It could be any dreck by an untested, trust-fund director, that won’t get much play anyway.
She is one of the celebrities that I have an irrational dislike for no particular reason, but at least she admitted to how she got the role and that the other actress was far better than her and probably more suited for the role.
Sadly, this happens in other industries as well, such as journalism. I made a concerted effort to get thousands of Twitter followers last year because some sites are more likely to hire you if you do. This year I got tired and haven’t put in as much effort, but I’m close to 10K, which is nothing for a celebrity, but a lot for a “real” person. A major news site did reach out to me about being a social media/audience manager, but the job would’ve required me to relocate. Anyway, if this is happening in journalism and Hollywood, expect it to happen in other industries. I do know some doctors who have an active social media presence also. The problem is that a person should be hired because of their skills/experience not because of their followers on social media.
Points for self-awareness, I guess.
You’d never catch any of those reality tv trash admitting they only get jobs because of the followers and that they weren’t the best in terms of abilities, so good on Sophie for that at least.
I find that refreshingly honest and self-aware too.
Does a large social media following translate to ticket sales though? I would think in her case it’s GoT fans hoping for clues, pics from the set or something. Instagram in particular is a strange beast. I follow brands whose products I would never buy so … my following them says nothing about me as a customer.
Social media can only get so far. If the big names keep calling – in fashion, movies – it’ll have to be more than Insta presence.
The minute I read this, I had a pretty good idea of who “the better actress” was and what role: It was the role of Jean Grey, and the better actress, which was named as in the running, is Saoirse Ronan, who has no social media.
But it’s all okay, because the latter got an Oscar nod for the role she went for instead, and Sophie has really grown as an actress lately… and the X-Men movie kinda blew
That’s what I was thinking too. I didn’t really care for Sophie as jean though tbh.
Good that she talks about it.
I understand why studios would want that in theory but it rarely translates into actual BO numbers. See Cara Delevingne. Huge following and Valerian bombed.
Or Emma Watson. Her social media following was mentioned after Beauty and the Beast and I thought “Well that movie would have sold tickets with John Candy as Belle and its not like her indies are doing great.
So it does not really seem to work very well. Then again being on every late night show also is no guarantee.
I hated Sansa for so long and that spilled out onto Sophie but now i think she seems really nice and down to earth considering she is on GOT. I love how close she and Maisie are too. Usually jealousy emerges.
I don’t really think actor-s media social media is as powerful in getting asses onto seats as studios think. Unless a movie is really good or really bad. The most successful youbg actresses don’t have one – jlaw, kstew, emma Stone, saoirse Ronan … their careers are fine without it
Wait…British humble? Like a humble brag done the proper British way? Someone say more about being Britishly humble…
No, it’s just a patronizing generalization.
this has been know for quite some time. Hence many of these barely talented actors in hugely popular tv shows being so active on social media and going as far as buying followers to bump up their leverage on auditions. Often directors cast them in supporting roles, and usually the audience tends to think !how did this actress ended in a project like this? that’s when you know they have been casted based on their social media followers. No talent needed in the roles they are casted for. So it works for projects that need a little help in the promo but also for small Indies and you end up saying WTF is he/she doing here….
“Now I’m learning to keep my mouth shut.” Sad. I assume they wanted to ensure she didn’t come off as “difficult” — I wonder if a young male actor would have been told the same.
Whenever I see her, I always think she looks like a white version of Logan Browning (Sam from the Netflix version of “Dear White People”).
She is so gorgeous is so many ways
The Telegraph article referenced here stated that Sophie plays Sansa, who is a princess in GOT. Um, no. Sansa is not a princess.
She’s the sister of the King of the North, that’s enough to be described as a princess. at the very least it”s a quick way to explain her role without saying “Lady of Winterfell, Regent of the North” or whatevs.
Women who hate teen age/ young women are the worst. There is something very wrong with attacking younger women, esp when they in their teens.
Btw, she is a STARK.