Politics & Power Quote by Jeremy Brett

A curious kind of praise: not “best actor,” not “most interesting,” but “greatest star.” Jeremy Brett is talking about gravitational pull, the almost archaic Hollywood metric of who can make a room tilt toward them before they’ve said a word. Coming from an actor defined by craft, precision, and a prickly intelligence, it reads less like fan talk and more like a diagnostic—an industry insider clocking where power has settled.

The timing matters. If Brett is speaking in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Kevin Costner isn’t just successful; he’s a referendum on what America wants to see itself as. He plays competence without smugness, authority without obvious menace: the steady man in a shaky era. “Star” here is a cultural job description. Costner’s persona reassures audiences that decency and dominance can share the same face, that bigness can still feel plainspoken.

Brett’s phrasing—“I think,” “at the moment”—softens the claim, hinting at performance even in the compliment. Stars rise and fade; the crown is provisional. There’s also a sly, actorly acknowledgement that stardom isn’t purely earned. It’s conferred by a volatile mix of timing, narrative, and national mood. Brett, forever associated with Sherlock Holmes and an almost obsessive dedication to character, seems to be admiring a different art: the ability to embody a country’s self-image so convincingly that the camera treats it as fact.