Tomorrow I will be able to say "I have been watching Jennifer Lawrence since Winter's Bone and it will make me sound like a snob because The Hunger Games will be making massive amounts of money and the next tween sensation will take off along with Lawrence's career and popularity. There is both an upside and downside to the actors you love becoming mainstream. The upside is they are more likely to do more films, they may get offered bigger roles, people won't look at you as though you're insane for being able to rattle off eight films that they have been in because they still have no idea who you're talking about. The downside is they will have more commercial film opportunities, which can lead to worse films, they may get typecast, and it takes a little bit of the thunder out of it when the whole world loves someone you have loved for so long.
Take Zooey Deschanel for instance. She has been an indie queen for as long as she has been around. Many people loved her as the rebellious sister in Almost Famous or as the smart ass in The Good Girl but the world has finally fallen for her as the "adorkable" Jess in Fox's TV show New Girl. There used to be almost a club for Zooey fans. When you found someone who got it you had plenty to talk about because you didn't just enjoy her movies, but the types of movies she was in. Now you have to work to find someone who doesn't know who she is. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, and her career will only blossom because of it, but it is a little disheartening to know that your little secret is a world wide celebrity.
Perhaps a more interesting example would be Twilight's Kristen Stewart. Before the film came out people were saying they didn't like the casting choice and I just assumed it's because they were jealous. I would try to defend her by saying that I liked her in In the Land of Women, which opened the year before. Little did I know that she can play one type of character and apparently that isn't what Bella is supposed to be. I went from thinking I had found an up and coming exciting actress only to find out she isn't even an okay actress without ever seeing Twilight. Now it feels almost wrong to enjoy a Kristen Stewart film, let alone two (Adventureland) all because she got too famous.
Sometimes roles that seem like a surefire hit don't end up sending an actor or actress into super stardom. Before last summer I posted on my Facebook "For the record I've liked Rose Byrne since Sunshine." I posted this after she had starred in Get Him to the Greek in the funniest role not belonging to P. Diddy and Insidious. I knew that she had both Bridesmaids and X-Men: First Class (with the aforementioned Jennifer Lawrence) coming out and wanted people to be on the lookout for her. Instead people mentioned how great Melissa McCarthy and Michael Fassbender were in the roles in those films. I still kind of enjoy finding Byrne in movies and knowing that she isn't yet the star she is almost certain to become.
Essentially all I am trying to get to is this: I liked Jennifer Lawrence before it was trendy and Jessica Chastain better stick with her artsy films and avoid the blockbusters because it's more fun to have favorite actors that make me unique rather than claiming I love the same person as the rest of the world. Plus, I really like helping people discover these actors before the world does it for them. So go watch every Andrew Garfield movie before The Amazing Spider-Man. It's worth it because they are all fantastic and you will have the ability to say "I have been watching him since I first saw Boy A."
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