Nick Nolte attacks 'corrupt' Hollywood

The American actor Nick Nolte used the launch of his new film at Cannes yesterday to make a scathing attack on Hollywood's "star system".

Nolte, whose films include 48 Hours and Prince of Tides, accused studio bosses of churning out the same scripts over and over again as a way of making easy money. And he warned that up-and-coming actors were being lured into betraying their art by the promise of big bucks.

Nolte was addressing reporters yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival launch of his new film, The Golden Bowl, a Merchant-Ivory adaptation of a Henry James novel costarring Uma Thurman.

Nolte said: "The star system sucks ... Hollywood boils down to four or five male leads. They're making giant films because they want huge returns. It's the same scripts they do over and over again. I hope it all blows up in their face."

Nolte said the promise of a top role with a generous pay deal attached was corrupting aspiring actors. "Most actors are not rich kids. They're middle-class or lower middle-class guys who want to buy into the dream," he said.

He revealed that he was about to embark on his first project for "zero money". The film, Inventing Sex, will focus on Man Ray and the surrealists of the 1920s and will be made by a collective, including the actress Neve Campbell.