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demonic 
"Cinemaniac"
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 Posted - 01/09/2008 : 18:20:19
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Some people seem to be confusing range with actors they like, because a few names being thrown about haven't really demonstrated anything like the range of the truly chameleonic actors, which is sort of what we're talking about - not if they can appear in a musical - it's more than that - it's the ability to appear utterly transformed between roles not whether they can surf, juggle or tap dance. That's not acting, that's skills.
For that reason Charlize Theron is definitely in the list - her performance in Monster, with make up or without was absolutely a Protean feat of character. That's also the reason Catherine Zeta Jones absolutely wouldn't be on the list for me. Cate Blanchett, yes. Johnny Depp, yes. Daniel Day Lewis, yes. |
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Sal[Au]pian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/09/2008 : 23:36:47
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Yep, I agree. Singing, dancing, the ability to do accents etc. are not what I think really count here. Brando could pick up accents really easily, but that wasn't what made him a good actor. The vast majority of actors play such a narrow range of personalities. Bale made me think of this from portraying both indefatigable enthusiasm and utter dourness.
The other extreme isn't necessarily bad - Morgan Freeman always plays the same character, as do Robert Downey, jr. and Owen Wilson, which is fine by me. |
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Whippersnapper. 
"A fourword thinking guy."
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 00:55:05
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Did anyone mention Vincent D'Onofrio?
Oh yeah, I just did. 
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lemmycaution 
"Long mired in film"
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 01:59:54
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| Kevin Spacey? |
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randall
"I like to watch."
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 03:10:14
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| Lon Chaney. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 09:15:05
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quote:
Originally posted by lemmycaution
Kevin Spacey?
I refer the honorable gentleman to my previous posting.
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 09:47:59
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quote:
Originally posted by dem08nic
Some people seem to be confusing range with actors they like, because a few names being thrown about haven't really demonstrated anything like the range of the truly chameleonic actors, which is sort of what we're talking about - not if they can appear in a musical - it's more than that - it's the ability to appear utterly transformed between roles not whether they can surf, juggle or tap dance. That's not acting, that's skills.
For that reason Charlize Theron is definitely in the list - her performance in Monster, with make up or without was absolutely a Protean feat of character. That's also the reason Catherine Zeta Jones absolutely wouldn't be on the list for me. Cate Blanchett, yes. Johnny Depp, yes. Daniel Day Lewis, yes.
I'm not sure about Blanchett. She seemed the same in The Shipping News as she did in Charlotte Gray as she did in An Ideal Husband as she did in The Aviator. In the latter film, her accent was totally horrid and over the top, and all I could see was Cate trying to be Kate. Streep sometimes does that with her more dramatic roles, but when she does comedy the character overrides her own ego and personality - with the exception of her work on "Angels in America" but that was mostly due to the marvelous direction by Mike Nichols.
But this chameleonic ability is exactly why I mentioned Allison Janney - I've never seen her look or feel the same from part to part. She really gets into the characters and forgets herself.
Joanne Woodward is another actress who could do that. Look at some of her earlier work, especially The Three Faces of Eve and then take a look at her in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds as well as her version of The Glass Managerie, and you'll see what I mean. She might be an excellent candidate to get the award for all-time range for an actress.
These are actresses who make you forget you are watching an actress, and give you the feeling that you're seeing a real person on the screen.
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lemmycaution
"Long mired in film"
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 14:13:20
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by lemmycaution
Kevin Spacey?
I refer the honorable gentleman to my previous posting.
The honourable gent's Senior Moments are becoming more frequent. Damn that nurse for substituting Skittles for my meds. |
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MisterBadIdea 
"PLZ GET MILK, KTHXBYE"
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 15:04:36
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Range is overrated, I think -- Keira Knightley has demonstrated far more range to me than Kate Winslet but no one better tell me that Keira is the better actress.
And also, I don't think Kevin Spacey has much range at all. All the roles listed are variations on his smug persona, perhaps a little angrier here or insecure there, but he's always recognizably Spacey.
Someone who I think is far underrated for his range is Tom Cruise. Yeah, seriously, he doesn't get credit for it because he recycles the stereotypical Tom Cruise role a lot, but compare the dork in Risky Business to the hotshot in Top Gun to the hobbled veteran in Born on the Fourth of July to the vampire king in Interview with a Vampire to the resigned hitman from Collateral. I don't think Tom Cruise gets enough credit as an actor. |
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benj clews 
"...."
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 15:31:33
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Jim Carrey?
Whilst I'm not seriously suggesting him as a contender for the actor having the greatest range (yet), I'm sure he's got the capability. He's proven he can act in the likes of 'Truman' and 'Eternal Sunshine' and he made his name as a chameleon comedian (chamedlian?) so if he can get enough varied roles he could potentially blow everyone else out the water. |
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BaftaBaby
"Always entranced by cinema."
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Posted - 01/10/2008 : 16:43:01
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quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
Jim Carrey?
Whilst I'm not seriously suggesting him as a contender for the actor having the greatest range (yet), I'm sure he's got the capability. He's proven he can act in the likes of 'Truman' and 'Eternal Sunshine' and he made his name as a chameleon comedian (chamedlian?) so if he can get enough varied roles he could potentially blow everyone else out the water.
I almost suggested him, for precisely the reasons you mention -- but I wasn't quite strong enough for the crap-storm I thought might follow
I'd love to see him attempt something non-contemporary.
BTW - we ought to include John C Reilly ... after seeing him be truly solid in lots of minor roles, I was blown away by his number in Chicago. I'm really looking forward to Dewey Cox.
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ChocolateLady
"500 Chocolate Delights"
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Posted - 01/11/2008 : 07:52:27
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quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
Jim Carrey?
Whilst I'm not seriously suggesting him as a contender for the actor having the greatest range (yet), I'm sure he's got the capability. He's proven he can act in the likes of 'Truman' and 'Eternal Sunshine' and he made his name as a chameleon comedian (chamedlian?) so if he can get enough varied roles he could potentially blow everyone else out the water.
I almost suggested him, for precisely the reasons you mention -- but I wasn't quite strong enough for the crap-storm I thought might follow
I'd love to see him attempt something non-contemporary.
What crap storm would that be? I disliked him to begin with but he really has shown that he's more than a rubber-faced slapstick comic. And after seeing him in The Man in the Moon I really began to see just how talented he really is. Go back and look at him in his first movies again and you'll see that underneath the flash, bells and whistles is an intelligence of humour that hinted at this to begin with, as well as gave us a glimpse of his possible dramatic abilities. You can't say the same of Steve Carrell, whose bland, dead-pan humour will take him just so far and then he'll probably drop off the face of our screens. Sure, he's funny today but in 10 years time he'll be old hat unless he can branch out and do either a different type of comedy or push into drama, and that's going to take a whole lot of work on his part. Carrey didn't need to make that effort, he had it in him the whole time.
quote:
BTW - we ought to include John C Reilly ... after seeing him be truly solid in lots of minor roles, I was blown away by his number in Chicago. I'm really looking forward to Dewey Cox.
Hm... |
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Sal[Au]pian
"Four ever European"
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Posted - 01/11/2008 : 16:32:10
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quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
I'm not sure about Blanchett. She seemed the same in The Shipping News as she did in Charlotte Gray as she did in An Ideal Husband as she did in The Aviator.
I don't know whether I've seen anything else with Hepburn in, but I recently saw Bringing Up Baby and Blanchett seemed exactly the same as that in The Aviator. I think you're just such a fan of Hepburn that you cannot like someone who has portrayed her. 
Blanchett has also played the opposite sex, so that has to be considered range. Playing both fictional characters and real people must also be. We have discussed before whether it is harder to match a real person or develop a whole personality, but being able to do both must be more skilled than either one. |
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demonic
"Cinemaniac"
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Posted - 01/12/2008 : 10:06:45
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It's worth digging a bit deeper in Blanchett's filmography to find some of her less mainstream performances as comparison. In the last few years the contrast of her roles from The Aviator, The Life Aquatic, Little Fish, Elizabeth and I'm Not There... that's demonstration enough of range.
And I wholeheartedly agree about Tom Cruise. |
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benj clews
"...."
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Posted - 01/12/2008 : 12:49:42
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| Mark Kermode's podcast yesterday proposed another suggestion... Philip Seymour Hoffman? |
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Range
