Good God
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Post by Good God on Jun 19, 2019 17:39:10 GMT
LOL, it's funny how Pup Scrud gets his panties in a bunch over pacinoyes doing the same things he does. I remember when Jake Gyllenhaal suddenly became the best actor of his generation right after he praised Denzel Washington.
Either way, Jeff Bridges is closer in age to Washington than to any of Hackman/Nicholson/Hoffman/Pacino/De Niro and Washington is closer in age to Bridges than to Penn. This isn't an exact science. If it's okay to consider Washington and Penn to be from the same generation or Nicholson and Bridges to be from the same generation, it's also okay to consider Washington and Bridges to be from the same generation. It's all subjective. If they were more than 10 years apart in age, then we could have asked some questions.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jun 19, 2019 17:45:01 GMT
In all seriousness, why do you think Mortensen didn't "happen" sooner? I'm guessing his looks were his ticket in the door, but Don Johnson and Richard Gere may have sank those ships for him... I'm seriously thinking he might have lost roles not having a phone or a fixed address - I mean that sounds funny but he literally was a bohemian drifter/poet for much of the 80s......like a more talented Vincent Gallo Well that explains how he was so good in Captain Fantastic...
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Post by pupdurcs on Jun 19, 2019 17:45:16 GMT
Ahh...the sweet smell of blocking!
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Good God
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Post by Good God on Jun 19, 2019 17:45:17 GMT
Anyway, on topic, I'm surprised at De Niro not being mentioned (much). Menacing in Goodfellas. Timid in a very similar role in Casino, though I'm more partial to his performance in Mad Dog and Glory.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 19, 2019 17:46:20 GMT
Back on topic - Viggo is great here and alarmingly timid and weak - earlier I mentioned how sometime a disability makes it ok for actors to play this way ala DeNiro is Awakenings. Also on the issue of why it took him so long to break - I remember a lot of people mocking his Brooklyn accent when they saw the trailer for Green Book (scrudpup actually, look it up) because that didn't make sense until you saw his whole characterization - the trailer didn't really show a sweetness that was part of it too.
He can do that - I didn't get it at all in Captain Fantastic when I saw clips, later it made sense and he took that and made something of it. He can have great big scenes but sometimes there's something else going on with him. May be a candidate for the poetic thread too .........
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Good God
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Post by Good God on Jun 19, 2019 17:46:24 GMT
Ahh...the sweet smell of blocking! LOL, like you didn't log out and read what I had to say the moment I posted. I see right through you, dummy.
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cherry68
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Man is unhappy because he doesn't know he's happy. It's only that.
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Post by cherry68 on Jun 19, 2019 17:51:48 GMT
Oh honey, Peter Lorre had all that going on at the same time in M (1931). Great choice, Ma belle. Bruno Ganz too, in Der Untergang. Bruno Ganz is a good choice
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jun 19, 2019 20:19:54 GMT
a shame he didn't get naked in that one
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Post by HELENA MARIA on Jun 19, 2019 21:15:58 GMT
I'm seriously thinking he might have lost roles not having a phone or a fixed address - I mean that sounds funny but he literally was a bohemian drifter/poet for much of the 80s......like a more talented Vincent Gallo I really did laugh out loud at this. At work. At least he got the part of the hot blonde Amish boy in Witness... LaraQ Tommen_Saperstein HELENA MARIA Completely forgot he was in that one. Thanks for the reminder 😁 I fell madly in love with him in RUBY CAIRO. Not a very good film but boy he was hot. I genuinely thought he was the most beautiful man alive. I was so jealous of Andie MacDowell. 😂😂😂
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 24, 2019 13:55:53 GMT
Longtallsally wisely mentioned Bardem earlier and I'd like to add that his performance in Biutiful which I consider the very best of this whole decade - is basically a masterclass within this thread topic in a single role. This part is maddeningly difficult to play logically from scene to scene - a guy who's typical day takes him from being tough and intimidating among criminals/thugs, but also being convincingly romantic and loving, to sensitively interacting with his children at times playful even, to coping with a ravaging disease, to being gutted and haunted by his past, and evoking a symbolically aching sadness and poetry that isn't always guided that way by the script even. All the while you have to believe he's the same guy across all of those things. Basically it's a be everything all at once portrayal and he never one time misplays it even though there's a million traps he has to sidestep, it's just miraculous acting work - all-time stuff imo.
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Post by SZilla on Jun 24, 2019 16:54:37 GMT
James Gandolfini, who can go from menacing to timid with Tony Soprano alone, although I'd also like to point to his voice work in Where the Wild Things Are as an example for Sensitive/Timid.
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Jun 24, 2019 18:27:26 GMT
John Hawkes Ben Foster Edward Norton Gene Hackman
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Post by PromNightCarrie on Jun 24, 2019 18:31:10 GMT
Kathy Bates. One of the most scaring villains in Misery and a lovely shy lady in Fried green tomatoes. Dolores Claiborne is borderline both. That's a good choice. It really is an amazing range.
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Post by Longtallsally on Jun 24, 2019 20:07:52 GMT
Longtallsally wisely mentioned Bardem earlier and I'd like to add that his performance in Biutiful which I consider the very best of this whole decade - is basically a masterclass within this thread topic in a single role. This part is maddeningly difficult to play logically from scene to scene - a guy who's typical day takes him from being tough and intimidating among criminals/thugs, but also being convincingly romantic and loving, to sensitively interacting with his children at times playful even, to coping with a ravaging disease, to being gutted and haunted by his past, and evoking a symbolically aching sadness and poetry that isn't always guided that way by the script even. All the while you have to believe he's the same guy across all of those things. Basically it's a be everything all at once portrayal and he never one time misplays it even though there's a million traps he has to sidestep, it's just miraculous acting work - all-time stuff imo. Agree with you on everything you said. I thought to mention it in my previous post, but wasn't quite sure whether Bardem was really that menacing. It's been a while since I watched Biutiful.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 24, 2019 23:59:53 GMT
I've really been thinking about this thread and how much physical ailment or disability frees up actors to play "weak" but not in a typically "weak" way and they get a license to go outside themselves. This is a clip from Francis Coppola's "The Rain People" which I think is his first great movie from 1969. Here's a scene where James Caan who has suffered a head injury (from football) so he is somewhat "slow" is sad and heartbreaking and I'd never call James Caan "timid" or "sensitive" in most things he's done.
The clip isn't ideal but if you never saw, I'd recommend this. It's a downer but it's a pivotal film in Coppola work, feminist even and signals towards a very famous ending he'd use later in his career. Highly recommended particularly for fans of Wanda, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Diary of A Mad Housewife etc.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 26, 2019 1:16:14 GMT
I think the John Lithgow callout in this thread really might be the best example. I just recently watched him watched him with his small supporting role in Last Night and he was so sweet and touching in it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 30, 2019 15:15:34 GMT
I sometimes (gently) make fun of the expression "Greatest Living Actor" - but whatever that means - Ralph Fiennes is on any list of it. His big asset is how he incorporates theater work into his film acting - he's like Ian McKellan in that way (another who'd be on that "Greatest Living" list btw)- these 2 videos shows how good Fiennes is at extremes and why.
Here he suffers sensitively and monumentally - with no dialog to act but this would work in any medium - film or stage.
Below is a scene I've posted before in another thread and I completely love this - it's a short ad - not a film but it's ON film - for his Richard III just reading the text and it's blood-chilling, beyond menacing and of course there's Schindler's List and In Bruges etc. He knows how to play text to the camera but the camera is the audience too. His stage craft and his film craft is impeccably precise.
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Post by TerryMontana on Jun 30, 2019 16:58:39 GMT
Beloved actor!!!
He can play caricature characters or comic roles in movies such Holmes & Watson, Nanny McPhee, In Bruges or the Harry Potter/James Bond movies and then he plays in The Constant Gardener, Red Dragon, End of the Affair, Schindler's List or The English Patient the same way: With the same seriousness, gravity, with the same approach to his characters.
And that's why his performances are so unique and unforgettable.
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Post by jimmalone on Jul 1, 2019 9:09:31 GMT
Russell Crowe, Al Pacino, Anthony Hopkins are the best at it.
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Post by theycallmemrfish on Jul 3, 2019 20:20:56 GMT
John Goodman.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 3, 2019 20:34:41 GMT
so this poll so far has been a massive sausage fest, but has anyone mentioned Faye Dunaway yet? Sensitive and vulnerable in Chinatown, ice-cold in Network.
Ingrid Thulin also comes to mind. Winter Light to Cries & Whispers is a pretty wide berth.
And then there's Geraldine Page. Bitchy and menacing in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (these psycho-biddy roles must've been a blast to play), deeply cynical in Sweet Bird of Youth, and quite soft-spoken in most of her other work (that I've seen) compared to those roles. Not sure if she played any more of those kind of villain parts, but if not it was a missed opportunity.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jul 3, 2019 20:42:26 GMT
Also not sure if she's been mentioned yet, but if not how could we forget Vivien Leigh, who operates on both ends of this spectrum in Gone with the Wind.
and oh my god, Shelley Winters is the epitome of this subject. She's often presented as vulnerable, anxious and needy (Poseidon Adventure, Next Stop Greenwich Village), but Patch of Blue confirmed her ability to play a downright cruel and evil bitch, ranking up there with Mo'Nique for most brilliant and disturbing depictions of parental abuse.
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Post by SeanJoyce on Aug 12, 2019 20:47:18 GMT
Joan Crawford
John Garfield
Mickey Rourke
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Post by Johnny_Hellzapoppin on Aug 16, 2019 13:16:05 GMT
If we are talking a more subtle sort of menace, rather than a thug / bully who is stopping just sort of violence kinda deal, then I would throw a vote to Gene Wilder, specifically for his Willy Wonka. The guy veers from sensitive to menacing within the same line sometimes, nevermind from line to line or scene to scene.
I'd also shout out Chris Meloni who has proven himself across the spectrum of his TV work in terms of these two things.
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Post by TerryMontana on Aug 16, 2019 14:08:24 GMT
I'd also shout out Chris Meloni who has proven himself across the spectrum of his TV work in terms of these two things. +1.
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