Working With Publicists Who Push the "Rising Star" Label
When you are trying to get coverage for an actress like Berenice Marlohe, the first thing you learn is that the term "rising star" is basically currency in this industry. It shows up in press releases, it gets past initial editorial filters, and it tells editors exactly what angle to take before they even read the pitch. I have been doing talent publicity for about twelve years now, and I have seen this exact framing work — and fail — enough times to know where the cracks are. Berenice Marlohe is a French actress and former model who gained international attention after being cast as Sévérine in the 2012 James Bond film Skyfall. Before that, she had spent years working in French television and theater with very little visibility outside Europe. The transition from obscurity to a globally recognized franchise role is the kind of career pivot that publicists love to build campaigns around, but it is also one of the trickiest positions to manage because the expectations shift overnight. I ran into a real problem with one of our talent deals a few years back that mirrors exactly what happens when you try to position someone who was relatively unknown and then lands a massive franchise role. The studio wanted her on every talk show circuit in North America and Europe within a six-week window, but the agent team had not prepared any secondary materials — no lookbook, no updated reel, no talking points for international press. The first press junket was a disaster because the interviewer asked about her classical training and she had been coached only on franchise-related talking points. We lost three days of coverage that we could not get back. The workaround was simple but expensive: I pulled in a Paris-based fixer who had worked with her on the French press leg, we recorded a thirty-minute personal interview in her native language, and then we fed translated soundbites back to the English-speaking outlets. It was patchwork, but it kept the campaign alive.
What most people do not understand about building a profile around someone like Marlohe is that the "enigmatic" quality is not something you manufacture. It is something you protect. Her approach to interviews has always been notably restrained. She does not overshare. She does not perform vulnerability for the camera. In an industry that rewards confessional behavior, that restraint reads as intrigue to the press, which in turn generates more stories. This is a double-edged sword, though, because the same outlets that are drawn to her mystery are the ones that will eventually call her out for being difficult or uncooperative if the strategy is not handled carefully. The practical reality of pitching a "rising star" angle comes down to timing and scarcity. You want to place the story when interest is peaking but before the talent appears too available. I typically recommend a four-to-six-week exclusive placement strategy where you secure one major feature — preferably in a publication that aligns with the talent's actual demographic, not just the biggest name on the shelf — and then follow it with a tighter set of targeted placements. The mistake most agencies make is spreading the talent thin across twenty small outlets instead of consolidating into three or four meaningful features. The math simply does not work in your favor when you are competing against bigger names for cover slots. Another nuance that beginners miss is the difference between a rising star campaign and a established star maintenance campaign. With a rising star, you are selling potential and narrative. With an established star, you are selling relevance and longevity. These require entirely different media lists and entirely different types of outlets. Marlohe's post-Skyfall trajectory is a case study in this distinction because she chose to remain selective rather than chase blockbuster roles, which means any spotlight campaign around her has to lean harder on the artistic credibility angle rather than box office reach.
The main limitation of this entire approach is that it depends heavily on the talent actually having work to promote. Without a current project or a timely announcement, the rising star frame collapses within about ninety days. The press will move on, the algorithm stops caring, and you are left with nothing. There is no workaround for that except genuine momentum. The best strategy I have found is to keep a pipeline of evergreen angles — festival submissions, mentorship announcements, cultural commentary — that can be activated quickly when the talent's schedule allows, so you are not starting from zero every time.
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