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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 25, 2024 21:38:53 GMT
* I am not sure if I'm right about this but I believe the only DDL film completely "current" was The Boxer ....even My Beautiful Launderette is set in the "recent past" iirc ...regardless though - he has an overwhelming amount set in the past............does anyone know why he was attracted to those roles or was it just a fluke in the small amount of roles he actually took? * Is there another GOAT level actor who has anything like this to this extent in modern times? I don't mean like Clint Eastwood and Westerns I mean an odd strand or theme maybe that runs through their work - almost like an auteur but as an actor? * Generally in "modern" movie actors the public looks for actors who "reflect their time" - people want to see themselves on screen - but DDL very much reflected something else aside from that - do you think it's a weakness, a strength - it certainly made him unique from everybody else.............. and don't be a smart-ass and say "3 Oscars - so it's not a weakness pacinoyes, -you moron"  ................. * What modern roles would you have liked to have seen him play? He "almost" played Vincent Vega right - or is that just a myth? Any other "modern" roles?  |
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Nikan
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Post by Nikan on Mar 25, 2024 21:44:32 GMT
Almost wanted to type "so glad he didn't play Vincent lol" but he's such a wizard that I don't know... I'd kinda love to see it.
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Post by franklin on Mar 25, 2024 21:57:30 GMT
I read somewhere that the only time he lobbied for a part was Vincent Vega, but thank god Travolta took it, it would have become a completely different film. And the iconic dance scene wouldn't have hit as hard with audiences.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 26, 2024 12:17:10 GMT
This even extends btw to his biggest stage roles too:
1982 Another Country Guy Bennett Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue
1983 Romeo & Juliet Romeo Royal Shakespeare Company
1984 Dracula Count Dracula Half Moon Theatre, London
1986 Futurists Volodya Mayakovsky Royal National Theatre, London
1989 Hamlet Hamlet Royal National Theatre, London
Fangs for the memories - Dracula: |
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Post by stephen on Mar 26, 2024 13:27:13 GMT
The man likes playing dress-up.
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 26, 2024 18:57:25 GMT
"The man likes playing dress-up." Well sure but he missed out on some cool suits........... and that's a kind of dress up too........   |
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Post by mikediastavrone96 on Mar 27, 2024 14:38:44 GMT
It is a bit curious to me. I think part of it just comes down to what was easier to cast him in: he doesn't really play as an actor of modern sensibilities. Some actors just fit better in specific milieus and DDL excelled in costume dramas and historical epics as opposed to, say, contemporary dramas or sci-fi. Maybe that's just what he was attracted to, maybe that's what filmmakers/producers thought of him, maybe he recognized that's where his brand was, idk.
There could also be argued to be a bit more freedom in taking on a role from the past - a bit more opportunity for creation (dude loved keying in on period-specific accents), or distance to allow the time period to infuse the part whereas contemporary roles are always bound by having to key in on what is happening right now that will endure in its resonance which is just hard to always gauge. This may be a part of why there aren't as many contemporary films from major filmmakers these days - stuff's just too fragmented to really dial in on what "the culture" or more importantly what the counterculture is so even if one wants to speak to today it's easier to try to draw it from similar(ish) examples in the past.
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Post by stephen on Mar 27, 2024 14:47:37 GMT
It is a bit curious to me. I think part of it just comes down to what was easier to cast him in: he doesn't really play as an actor of modern sensibilities. Some actors just fit better in specific milieus and DDL excelled in costume dramas and historical epics as opposed to, say, contemporary dramas or sci-fi. Maybe that's just what he was attracted to, maybe that's what filmmakers/producers thought of him, maybe he recognized that's where his brand was, idk. There could also be argued to be a bit more freedom in taking on a role from the past - a bit more opportunity for creation (dude loved keying in on period-specific accents), or distance to allow the time period to infuse the part whereas contemporary roles are always bound by having to key in on what is happening right now that will endure in its resonance which is just hard to always gauge. This may be a part of why there aren't as many contemporary films from major filmmakers these days - stuff's just too fragmented to really dial in on what "the culture" or more importantly what the counterculture is so even if one wants to speak to today it's easier to try to draw it from similar(ish) examples in the past. There's this as well. I mean, can you imagine Daniel Day-Lewis touching a cell phone? Have you seen what the guy wears when he's out in public? He's entirely out of the modern era. (Breaking up with Isabelle Adjani via fax machine sounds like something a character of his would do.) |
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Post by pacinoyes on Mar 27, 2024 15:21:33 GMT
One of the things that lends itself to DDL playing modern roles if he chose to do that I mean - is this idea that in his closest modern film roles he's evoking a "Punk" or contemporary youthful persona - My Beautiful Laundrette and The Boxer (especially in it's one great line "I'm not a killer but this place makes me want to kill")
Now even if you don't buy that -and it's not much to go on - his film rival evoked those contemporary roles a bit more early on - Gary Oldman (State of Grace, The Firm, arguably Oldman's 2 best perfs - or even the "Johnny Boy" type role f De Niro which I know influenced DDL - or he liked it a lot at least).......
I think everyone would like to see what DDL would have done with a role like State of Grace......
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