Actors who don't act

D

delaneyy !_!

New member
That's probably an unfair thread title but I couldn't think of anything shorter.

What i'm on about is actors/actresses who can't, won't or don't take on a character.

One of the most famous examples would have to be Sean Connery with his Spanish and Russian excursions :D

Maybe it's just that these days it's the name and not always the talent.
e.g. Jamie Foxxx was pretty good in Ray. He got an Oscar for it. I don't like anything else he's done and that include music and interviews. It seems that once they make it they just run off their name and own personality.
Another example of this is Nicholas Cage. All his performances seem to be the same nowadays.

Alot of movies these days grab talent from TV and that is usually comic talent. Adam Sandler, Chris Tucker, Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson and that whole new pack of comic actors.
Some of the films are good but obviously no Oscars in line.


Just a couple of decent actors off the top of my head who will immerse themselves into a role.
Gary Oldman
Phillip Seymore Hoffman


Anyway, just wondered what you think.
 
I don't feel an actor has to immerse him/herself in a character to put in a great or good performance in a movie/play,it comes to down to style of ability.It's very likely that with movies,the actor can be so well known or iconic oRABcreen it can hinder the abilility to see them as anything other than their real life persona.

Jack Nicholson (to me) always seems to play himself,but he nearly always puts in a great performance.The same can be said for Robert Redford,Tom Hanks,Warren Beatty amongst many others.

Before Brando kickstarted a new era in screen acting,this was much more common than it is presently.
Errol Flynn never played anyone other than Errol Flynn.The same can be said for Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart.

Actors that have often truly immerse themselves in a role include Marlon Brando,Johnny Depp,Anthony Hopkins,Heath Ledger,James Dean,Edward Norton,Robert De Niro,Dustin Hoffman,Al Pacino.
 
Great list. Depp is another one who stanRAB out for me in the roles that he accepts.

I would be a bit suspect about Pacino in his last few roles (that i've seen anyway). Devil's Advocate, Recruit, Two for the Money, Oceans Thirteen seem to be the same day at the office for him.
 
I love Michael Caine to bits but he's always just Michael Caine.

And Woody Allen's been playing the same neurotic Jewish New Yorker (i.e. himself) for the past 40 years.
 
Dare I say Meryl Streep? :o

I tend to find that it is always a case of Meryl Streep as....

I see the actress rather than the character.

I think she's great and all that, and it may just be my thing.




*gets coats*
 
I guess that's one of the things to consider. Some of these actors may know their limitations and choose the right parts for them.

I remember Caine (on Parky?) saying that one of the marks of a good actor was to do nothing. Just stand still with no emotion until it's your turn to do something.

Gambon said the same because he was in a play where he was bed ridden and there was a close up on his face for the whole performance projected on to a big screen.
 
I often wonder about that. Given that none of us (I assume) have ever met any of these people, how do we know what they're really like? They may not be anything like they are in real life, Rock HuRABon anyone? What we take to be their supposedly "real" image on is also something we see on a screen at second hand, so we may comparing two equally false images.
Being yourself in front of a camera isn't that easy, as is demonstrated every time someone interviews a police office or member of the public on tv.
Appearing natural on camera is something that has to be worked at; if it were as easy as it looks we wouldn't need actors.
Playing yourself may actually be the most difficult role of all.:)
 
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