Why A-list Hollywood stars like Michael Douglas, Julia Roberts and Nicole Kidman are happy to take more TV roles – it’s not just the money

Battle for talent between streaming networks Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Disney and Apple, and their big budgets, is drawing top scriptwriters, directors, and actors

With shows like Homecoming, Big Little Lies, The Morning Show, and Ozark, quality of TV in US exceeds that of most movies now, says director Michael Mann

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Julia Roberts in a scene from Amazon drama Homecoming. Some of Hollywood’s biggest stars are now appearing in a variety of television series. Photo: AP

Published: 3:00pm, 1 Nov 2019Updated: 3:00pm, 1 Nov 2019

From Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep to Reese Witherspoon and Michael Douglas, Hollywood movie stars are being lured to television by higher production values, wider opportunities … and massive pay days.

Once the vastly poorer cousin of film, the small screen has enjoyed a stunning renaissance as members of the binge-watching generation swap trips to the multiplex for nights on the couch streaming the latest “premium” hit show.

Hollywood’s top A-listers are increasingly making the same switch.

Michael Mann, the acclaimed director of films Heat and The Last of the Mohicans, says the quality of TV in the United States has now overtaken that of movies in many cases – something that was not common when he produced television’s Miami Vice in the 1980s.

Nicole Kidman and Meryl Streep in a scene from season two of Big Little Lies. Photo: TNS

“The perception here was quite parochial – you were categorised as one thing or another,” he says. “It was cinema looking down on TV, for good reason, because TV was pretty abysmal.”