Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
Actors Who Always Seem to Be Playing Actors. Specifically, Themselves.
Note: I’m going through old drafts, trying to clean them up. Here’s one. It doesn’t look worthless enough to pitch, nor bad enough to say, “I think I’ll save this one, and clean it up sometime in the future”. I’ll just mash the Publish button, and have one less box of stuff in my Ricochet basement.
To be honest, I’m afraid that I’ve actually published it at some point. I don’t care. It’s not staying in the basement.
= = = = = = = =
We just watched a post-WWII film, Clementine, directed by John Ford. It stars Henry Fonda.
Whenever Henry Fonda is in the scene, I forget the story and the character he is playing, and I see Henry Fonda playing the part of an actor who is portraying Henry Fonda acting in a film.
Robert Redford is another actor like that. Did he ever do what an actor has to do in a movie, get you to suspend disbelief and get into the story? Forget that he’s acting?
Not that I recall, but if he did, let me know. I may be forgetting or I may have missed the movie. If your reply mentions Butch Cassidy or The Way We Were, The Horse Whisperer, or the one about the cute Mountain Man, do not expect a response.
There are other actors like that, though I can’t think of them at the moment. If you do think of one, your comment will get at least a Like. Promise.
There are other actors who started out that way, but grew in their skills and put on some age, and got to be pretty good actors. I’m thinking of Richard Dreyfuss as an example, but don’t quote me on that. I could probably come up with some examples of movies where he did not play Richard Dreyfuss after he got older, but I would have to fall back on doing a Lifetime Database Query (asking Kate) to name one where he played the role, not the self.
[EDIT: That sentence may be the reason that I decided to save this for necessary fixes before publishing months ago. But I have no regrets. It is one less box in the Ricochet basement, and if the writing quality is horrid enough to earn me a job writing under my own byline on the front section of the WSJ, bring it on. They pay good money.]
Jack Nicholson got famous for Easy Rider. Barf me back to the Sixties. But I think he got better, and that I’ve seen at least one flick where he performed well, an old actor playing an old guy. The Marine Colonel one maybe yes, but the lefty propaganda nature of that movie prevents me from thinking of it as a movie, instead of as a brainwashing project. But if I force myself to think of it as a movie, I have to admit it was a great movie, and Nicholson did a masterful job of playing his role, with not a moment of distraction from the story. One reason is that he wasn’t playing himself, the impudent counter-culture Jester.
[EDIT: I fixed an error. Memo to self: Henry Fonda. Not Henry Ford.]
Published in General
Two modern examples of this – showing two different readings of the same material – that come to mind (because they both took my breath away) were:
Naomi Watts in Mulholland Drive.
Edward Norton in Birdman.
I have confirmed with the Auxiliary Storage Device that Gary Oldman does indeed disappear into a role.
My name is Camper and (though I have no idea who he is) I approve of this message.
Tom Cruise- always the cocky young guy-can he do it in his 70s?
One of the best (and truest) observations about acting comes from the great Uta Hagen in her seminal book, Respect for Acting: “It’s not about losing yourself in the role. It’s about finding yourself in the role.”
Here is her more in-depth explanation: “In 1947, I worked in a play under the direction of Harold Clurman. He opened a new world in the professional theatre for me. He took away my ‘tricks.’ He imposed no line readings, no gestures, no positions on the actors. At first, I floundered badly because for many years I had become accustomed to using specific outer directions as the material from which to construct the mask for my character, the mask behind which I would hide throughout the performance. Mr. Clurman refused to accept a mask. He demanded ME in the role.”
I have coached theatre actors for the majority of my professional life, and I would say that this is the single greatest discovery most actors must make as they develop their craft. Acting is an inside-out process, not the other way around.
Haven’t been able to think of him as cocky since his divorce from what’s-her-name (Suri’s mom) exposed how utterly brainwashed he is by Scientology.
Mark Metcalf (“Nedermeyer” from Animal House, “The Maestro” from Seinfeld) used to be a semi-regular guest on local morning radio show. He said the two best pieces of direction he ever got were:
“You’re an actor – try acting like a good one”
and
“Don’t just walk around the stage saying your lines. I can hire the janitor to do that.”
His best work, at least that I’ve seen, is Collateral.