Christian Bale as John Connor

Off Topic
101

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Professor X wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:

I wouldn’t include Denzel in that group just 'cause he’s always the same guy no matter the role [in every film he’ll do the “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!” bit at least once], but to say he’s not a good actor is absurd. He’s a damn good actor, he’s just right below the top rung of actors out there.

That has to do with “range”, though, and most actors, unless they are damn near schizophrenic like Johnny Depp and even Bale come across as being considering how they fall into roles, won’t exactly be that expansive in range.

Anthony Hopkins seems like Hannibal Lecter in every single role he plays. I don’t care what he’s in, he can be wearing a toga in Alexander and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he let out a “Clarise” and started talking about father beans.

The same goes for nearly all of them. Is Tom Cruise ever NOT Tom Cruise? Is Tom Hanks ever anyone but Forrest Gump…only a little smarter (unless you fall on the “Gump is a genius” side of tracks).

I don’t think most actors have that much range at all.

I also honestly think the ones who do might be a little insane…which is cool as shit.

I know what it has to do with, and I just don’t think Denzel has that kind of range.I see what you’re saying, but with some of those people I think it’s that YOU [not you specificaly, you in general] see them as that character you remember them as, and it’s hard for you to see them as anything else. Tom Cruise sucks though. Oh, it’s “farva” beans.[/quote]

Which all just means we wouldn’t know how much RANGE Denzel has until he is cast in more movies that show it. The man has acted in sci fi movies (Virtuosity) and thrillers. His range is pretty damn broad and his role in Training Day was the first time he really had a part as a “bad guy”…and he did great at it.

I am really not sure how much more “range” he could even show without it looking ridiculous. What hasn’t he played?

I think “alien” is the only thing he hasn’t touched yet.

102

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Bauer97 wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:

Get his actor cred up? WTF does the guy have to do, win an Oscar in the remake of Citizen Kane? As far as actors with credentials, you can’t really get much better than Bale. I’d put him right up there with Johnny Depp as the two guys of this generation with the widest range and the most skill at their craft. Is anyone else even close?

Hmm, I don’t know about “range”, but I’d lump Denzel Washington in with those 2, as far as talent/skill.

I know Denzel is good, but he’s not from the same generation as Bale and Depp. At least not in my opinion.

I would throw Will Smith into the mix with Bale and Depp. He has a lot of talent, but he’s just so damn popular and marketable that he always ends up in the huge blockbuster-type roles. Because of that he has never done anything really out of his comfort zone, but I think he could if he wanted to. Hell, I don’t blame him for not doing little indie films when he can make $20 million starring in and producing stuff like I Am Legend.

Ed Norton is one I forgot. Good catch there to whomever it was that corrected me. Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent as well, but I still wouldn’t put him with Bale and Depp.[/quote]

Will Smith’s very first acting role was as a gay guy. He has shown a good deal of range…but I agree, it will be less now that he is seen as Big Bucks in Hollywood.

103

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Bauer97 wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:

I would throw Will Smith into the mix with Bale and Depp. He has a lot of talent, but he’s just so damn popular and marketable that he always ends up in the huge blockbuster-type roles. Because of that he has never done anything really out of his comfort zone, but I think he could if he wanted to. Hell, I don’t blame him for not doing little indie films when he can make $20 million starring in and producing stuff like I Am Legend.

[/quote]

Actually, one of Will Smith’s first movies was Six Degrees of Separation, where he played a gay con artist. Playing that role got a lot of people to notice him as a serious actor and did a lot to remove him from being associated as the Fresh Prince. His first movie following Six Degrees was Bad Boys.

104

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:
Bauer97 wrote:
Steel Nation wrote:

Get his actor cred up? WTF does the guy have to do, win an Oscar in the remake of Citizen Kane? As far as actors with credentials, you can’t really get much better than Bale. I’d put him right up there with Johnny Depp as the two guys of this generation with the widest range and the most skill at their craft. Is anyone else even close?

Hmm, I don’t know about “range”, but I’d lump Denzel Washington in with those 2, as far as talent/skill.

I know Denzel is good, but he’s not from the same generation as Bale and Depp. At least not in my opinion.

I would throw Will Smith into the mix with Bale and Depp. He has a lot of talent, but he’s just so damn popular and marketable that he always ends up in the huge blockbuster-type roles. Because of that he has never done anything really out of his comfort zone, but I think he could if he wanted to. Hell, I don’t blame him for not doing little indie films when he can make $20 million starring in and producing stuff like I Am Legend.

Ed Norton is one I forgot. Good catch there to whomever it was that corrected me. Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent as well, but I still wouldn’t put him with Bale and Depp.

Will Smith’s very first acting role was as a gay guy. He has shown a good deal of range…but I agree, it will be less now that he is seen as Big Bucks in Hollywood.[/quote]

The Fresh Prince was gay??? I love this place, I learn something new every day!

Seriously, I think he has shown some good range, and he doesn’t always seem like the same character to me. Compare Mike Lowery to Chris Gardner or Robert Neville and it’s pretty obvious. He also did a dammn good Cassius Clay/Ali, and those are tough shoes to fill.

He just hasn’t, from what I’ve seen (which is a lot), done much that would really test his skills.

I think you are right that Depp and Bale must be pretty much fucking psychotic to be able to pull off the shit that they do. Seriously, Trevor Reznick and Edward Scissorhands? That is batshit crazy.

105

[quote]WhiteFlash wrote:
Oh, it’s “farva” beans.[/quote]

Uh, no. It’s “fava” beans

106

Prof, I’m not talking about his roles. I know his roles are broad, but he always plays them the same. I said something similar to this in one of my posts.

107

[quote]Madman2 wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:
Oh, it’s “farva” beans.

Uh, no. It’s “fava” beans[/quote]

I thought it was Favre beans. :slight_smile:

108

[quote]Professor X wrote:
It wasn’t even a blockbuster movie so I doubt money was his greatest motivating factor.
[/quote]

In the special features on the DVD, he said that he basically approached the production people for The Machinist and asked for the role becuase it was intriguing to him. They told him that they would love to have him but there was no way they could pay him, and he said it wasn’t a problem. I doubt he even made $500,000 after all was said and done. Just about everyone attached to the project was fearing for his health and well-being while filming because he looked so terrible. He actually wanted to lose MORE weight, but nobody would let him. Doing that to his body probably took a few years off of his life, and he barely even made bank on the damn thing. Fucking unbelievable.

109

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Doing that to his body probably took a few years off of his life, and he barely even made bank on the damn thing. Fucking unbelievable.[/quote]

Slight Rant:

It annoys the crap out of me when actors/actresses who get fat for a role get the same (or more) ‘dedication’ credit as Bale or Matt Damon get for severe restrictive weight loss.

Charlize Theron said she ate a dozen doughnuts a day to get fat for her role in “Monster”, and everyone raved about how amazing she was for it. I would LOVE to eat a dozen doughnuts a day, that’s not sacrifice, that’s doing what 50% of Americans do on a daily basis anyway: get fat.

Rant over.

110

Did anyone see Indiana Jones and not think “That’s the janitor from Scrubs!” when they saw Neil Flynn? It’s incredibly hard to develop a broad range of roles and get people to not scoff at you when you do so. Those who are able to pull it off get my respect.

111

[quote]AngryVader wrote:
Madman2 wrote:
WhiteFlash wrote:
Oh, it’s “farva” beans.

Uh, no. It’s “fava” beans

I thought it was Favre beans. :)[/quote]

HA!

112

[quote]Bergman wrote:
Did anyone see Indiana Jones and not think “That’s the janitor from Scrubs!” when they saw Neil Flynn? It’s incredibly hard to develop a broad range of roles and get people to not scoff at you when you do so. Those who are able to pull it off get my respect.[/quote]

As a Scrubs fan, I thought the same thing when I saw Neil Flynn. I loved how they worked his role from The Fugitive into an episode. Now if only The Todd would start making movies.

113

What I want to see is Terminator VS Batman. Now THAT would be a movie.

114

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:
Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent as well, but I still wouldn’t put him with Bale and Depp.[/quote]

True, I’d put him ABOVE both.

115

[quote]gatesoftanhauser wrote:
Unless they use Urkel[/quote]

I’d prefer Urkel over some of the actors they’re likely to put in.

And I dare say Urkel has bigger guns than most of the people on the RMP forum.

116

Urkel now.

117

[quote]Magarhe wrote:
What I want to see is Terminator VS Batman. Now THAT would be a movie.[/quote]

Not quite, but:

http://www.theforce.net/fanfilms/nonsw/batman_deadend/index.asp

118

[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
Slight Rant:

It annoys the crap out of me when actors/actresses who get fat for a role get the same (or more) ‘dedication’ credit as Bale or Matt Damon get for severe restrictive weight loss.

Charlize Theron said she ate a dozen doughnuts a day to get fat for her role in “Monster”, and everyone raved about how amazing she was for it. I would LOVE to eat a dozen doughnuts a day, that’s not sacrifice, that’s doing what 50% of Americans do on a daily basis anyway: get fat.

Rant over.[/quote]

Bobby DeNiro gained like 50-60 lbs for the END (only maybe 30 min of the film) of Raging Bull. THE END. He was like 160-170 throughout 90-100 min of the movie, and then POW, he’s old, retired Jake LaMotta and he’s a 220 lb fatass. Scorsese wanted him to just wear a fat suit, but naturally DeNiro insisted that actually gaining the weight was the only way it would be real enough. They actually took a few month break in filming the movie so he could gain the weight. Afterwards, nobody even recognized him when he walked in to start shooting again.

If completely ruining your body for the sake of your job isn’t dedication and sacrifice, I don’t know what is.

119

[quote]Steel Nation wrote:

Bobby DeNiro gained like 50-60 lbs for the END (only maybe 30 min of the film) of Raging Bull. THE END. He was like 160-170 throughout 90-100 min of the movie, and then POW, he’s old, retired Jake LaMotta and he’s a 220 lb fatass. Scorsese wanted him to just wear a fat suit, but naturally DeNiro insisted that actually gaining the weight was the only way it would be real enough. They actually took a few month break in filming the movie so he could gain the weight. Afterwards, nobody even recognized him when he walked in to start shooting again.

If completely ruining your body for the sake of your job isn’t dedication and sacrifice, I don’t know what is.[/quote]

A fair example, but my opinion persists: Getting fat means eating a bunch of indulgent food. Doing what Bale did means starving yourself for months on end. They’re both “ruining your body”, but one takes a HELL of a lot more dedication than the other.

120

Terrence Howard definately needs to be mentioned with great contemporary actors. I hear they may be working on him having a larger role in the next Iron Man or something, because his character becomes the “Steel Giant”, right? He’s a great actor too. I didn’t care for Hustle and Flow, but his performance was awesome nonetheless. And who can forget his performance in Crash? It was amazing, IMO.

And for the record: Matthew McConaughey DOES suck. He was good in Reign of Fire (opposite Bale) and that’s the only wink of “acting” he’s ever done.