Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, who directed Sean Penn as a faded rock star in This Must Be The Place, is in the running with his film The Great Beauty.

BBC: Cannes Film Festival line-up is announced

He saw things he recognized but his brain, befuddled with chemicals released by fear, couldn't locate the words to describe them: the twin stacks spewing plumes of dirty white smoke, the abandoned custom's station with a faded red star painted above the door, the line of white-washed bee hives on a slope near a copse of stunted apple trees.

NPR: Excerpt: 'Legends'

But like silver, its star faded, and in recent years it grew tired, more popular for its historic charms than actual niceties.

FORBES: Hotel Jerome, Aspen

But Travis' star faded in the years that followed, as subsequent discs failed to excite and Coldplay became the "It" band of the moment.

NPR: Travis: The Once and Future 'It' Band Returns

But these days there is no such talk, as Mr Schwarzenegger's political star has faded.

BBC: 'Hasta la vista' for California Governor Schwarzenegger

Today, by contrast, the French are proud to consider Camus a towering figure, while Sartre's star has faded.

ECONOMIST: In search of the real Camus

Switzerland once dominated the drug industry, but its star has faded somewhat.

FORBES: Magazine Article

That star has faded, perhaps more than it should.

FORBES: Favre Files for Retirement. Let's Look At His Severence Plan.

Nixon was the first Republican president to tap into the electoral appeal of the cowboy star as the faded mascot of the silent majority, the gentleman of the rugged West who got by fine without welfare and who shot bad guys when he had to.

CNN: Can today's gonzo GOP celebs help Romney win?