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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 11, 2023 15:33:55 GMT
His birthday is tomorrow August 12, 1935What roles since he passed away woud he have been great in? I always thought he'd make a great Poe........
* Would he have continued to act with Pacino - who he acted with a lot - not just in 3 films? I think you can assume he would have been likely to be in American Buffalo with him at least..........would he have acted with his fiance Meryl Streep? * Where do you rank him in the guys who died before we could really know: Dean, Ledger, Cazale (I don't count Clift and PSH - they were great and longer in careers)? * Can we judge him on those 5 films or is it too hard based on the limited work? Can you picture him in lead roles or just a character actor?
* Probably - along with Duvall and especially Clift the most recessive American actor ..........with Streep onstage in a still below:  
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Post by HELENA MARIA on Aug 11, 2023 15:47:06 GMT
It's very hard to tell but I can speculate that he would have become an incredible character actor , mainly meaty supporting roles with occasionally brilliant leading roles. I could see him shining on stage ( he did have a theatrical background after all ) and on TV as well .
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Post by HELENA MARIA on Aug 11, 2023 15:50:24 GMT
Ranking :
LEDGER
CAZALE
DEAN
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Post by finniussnrub on Aug 11, 2023 16:29:16 GMT
I don't think he would've broken out into a leading man (though maybe could've led some "Indie" character pieces). It's fair to say even while he was alive I'd say those who worked with him respected him more than the industry as a whole, as you could easily say he was snubbed for Dog Day Afternoon and especially The Godfather Part II. And Cazale's film roles all came connected to someone he knew in some way.
So I think he would've kept working as a character actor with Coppola, Pacino and Streep. Of course one can't help but ponder if him being around might've influenced where the latter two went career wise in at least some way.
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Post by stephen on Aug 11, 2023 23:32:43 GMT
It's tough to say. Cazale was already forty-two at the tail end of the '70s, so his window as a potential leading man would've been a short one regardless. And there are very few roles in the '80s that stand out as something that he would've immediately been "right" for, if that makes sense. If we look at the Oscar-winning roles of that decade, the only one that feels like something he would've been potentially in contention for would've been Rain Man (which, to be fair, I can totally see). But honestly, I just feel like he would've been one of those character actors who would've cropped up here and there and maybe bagged a supporting nomination here and there, and we would be revering him for his unsung talent the way we do for Donald Sutherland or John Goodman.
In terms of where I would rank him in regards to "what could have been" among the others who died as they were starting:
1. Heath Ledger / River Phoenix. These guys are kind of tied inextricably in my mind. Not only because they exhibited generational talent at such a young age, but we can see now which actors benefited from the void they left, and it gives us a sense of where their careers would've gone.
2. John Cazale. More performances than Dean to assess his versatility and skills, but the trade-off is a shorter window to work with.
3. James Dean. Instant iconography aside, Dean was such raw talent but we don't know how that would've molded itself as he aged. It's just not enough to really gauge for me.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 12, 2023 7:00:13 GMT
I think the most obvious things he'd have been in are the Martin Bregman produced Pacino film vehicles in the 80s - Scarface / Sea of Love and Pacino's stage plays in that era - since Pacino had something like a troupe of character actors he liked around him in the 70s a lot (Dominic Chianese, Larry Bryggman, Penny Allen, Sully Boyar, Richard Lynch, Jack Kehoe etc.)....... I think Cazale could have played the Robert Loggia, Paul Shenar, Harris Yulin Scarface parts - and Pacino's career was such a mess he'd have wanted Cazale around him for support for Scarface - or especially the John Goodman Sea of Love part maybe......Bregman had done Dog Day Afternoon so Cazale had a relationship with "Pacino's team".....so that makes sense from "connections" imo If he was getting bigger parts - away from his connections - I think he'd have been great in True Confessions in the De Niro part ......but that one is just a random pick....... He loved Shakespeare - and would have been an obvious Buckingham to Pacino's Richard (Broadway 1979) in addition to Donnie opposite Pacino's Teach in Mamet's American Buffalo on stage in the early 80s.......his one play with Streep is Shakespeare - Measure for Measure (1976)  |
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Post by finniussnrub on Aug 12, 2023 22:34:41 GMT
A random thought I had was that John Cazale looks a bit like Fredric Forrest, the two also only being one year apart in age, though I would say Forrest is more traditionally handsome, at least somewhat. They were both in The Conversation though, with Cazale having the slightly bigger role. So I kind of wonder if Coppola considered him for Chef in Apocalypse Now at all.
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