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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 15, 2019 12:08:07 GMT
Well in a different way, today's actor marries our previous mention (Faye Dunaway) with several GOAT American contenders - Ben Gazzara - an actor of bad luck at first but who later made his own too.
Gazzara made his impact in movies in ways like a young Brando - in The Strange One and especially Anatomy of a Murder he a bundle of naturalistic tics and Brando evocations. But Gazzara had made his name earlier as the original Brick in Cat on a Hat Tin Roof but was passed over for the film version. He didn't let that stop him and he slowly built a career that transformed into one he could work as he wanted.
Gazzara did a lot of Broadway and got Tony nods for it too - also a lot off Broadway - and in the 70s his film work with Cassavetes especially that was expressly designed for acting chops and heavy emoting though not without humor too. He did TV consistently won an Emmy and he was sort of that type of actor who could triumph in small ways and yet fail in very big ones too.
A short clip from 1979's Saint Jack - one of his best - which shows two of Gazzara's great strengths - he can improvise and you notice him when he listens and those two gifts often resulted in his better character work:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 16, 2019 16:57:43 GMT
With today's nominations for the Emmy an update on those covered before and where they are for the Triple Crown or inching closer to it: * Alan Arkin has a chance to be the next Triple Crown member and join Pacino as the only living US male to do it. * Olivia Colman, Mahershala Ali and Sam Rockwell look to add to their Oscar hardware - Ali does not really do much theater (yet), Rockwell does it more. * Benecio Del Toro (not yet covered) is like Ali with even less on stage - and 1 less Oscar Del Toro and Ali are in the same category so one will stay as is..........
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 16, 2019 17:42:39 GMT
So I guess it's time we cover Del Toro.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 16, 2019 20:10:40 GMT
We don't seem to have Ali on here either! So let's do an entry now where we compare these two guys and right these 2 wrongs : Ali is a clear example of the type of actor we've talked about very much though - a non-triple crown winner who is accumulating awards attention so fast he may soon maybe. The so called "rapid risers" - he already has 2 Oscars in 3 years and is the favorite perhaps in this Emmy category which puts him 2/3rds of the the way there. He did stage recently once and in his earlier episodic TV career rise. Del Toro never really had a TV imprint before this year - also like Ali - but a win for him would be crucial and get him 2/3rds the way there. His stage work is more limited but I don't know if he intends to do that in the future. Both are somewhat similar - biggest impact on film, not "much" on stage (though not equal) and have entered TV with quite a bang. Ali has 2 Oscars, only Denzel Washington can match that for African American males, Del Toro is also one of the very few Latino actors with an Oscar himself. How exciting is that! - Viola Davis is the only African American Triple Crown winner and Rita Moreno the only Latina. In their Emmy nominated roles this year :
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flasuss
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Post by flasuss on Jul 16, 2019 23:39:43 GMT
I fear if Ali wins he might begin to feel over-rewarded and have people sour on him.
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 17, 2019 13:17:09 GMT
I fear if Ali wins he might begin to feel over-rewarded Which would not be a total lie...
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 17, 2019 13:17:55 GMT
We don't seem to have Ali on here either! So let's do an entry now where we compare these two guys and right these 2 wrongs : Ali is a clear example of the type of actor we've talked about very much though - a non-triple crown winner who is accumulating awards attention so fast he may soon maybe. The so called "rapid risers" - he already has 2 Oscars in 3 years and is the favorite perhaps in this Emmy category which puts him 2/3rds of the the way there. He did stage recently once and in his earlier episodic TV career rise. Del Toro never really had a TV imprint before this year - also like Ali - but a win for him would be crucial and get him 2/3rds the way there. His stage work is more limited but I don't know if he intends to do that in the future. Both are somewhat similar - biggest impact on film, not "much" on stage (though not equal) and have entered TV with quite a bang. Ali has 2 Oscars, only Denzel Washington can match that for African American males, Del Toro is also one of the very few Latino actors with an Oscar himself. How exciting is that! - Viola Davis is the only African American Triple Crown winner and Rita Moreno the only Latina. In their Emmy nominated roles this year : Nice post!! Actually I don't see any of them wining this year.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 17, 2019 13:18:22 GMT
I fear if Ali wins he might begin to feel over-rewarded and have people sour on him. Yes and that has occasionally happened to people mentioned in this thread - Sandy Dennis for one was like that in her career. Ali is going for an Oscar win AND an Emmy win in the same voting season - extremely rare to pull that off and he got his 2 Oscars very quick. It will be a very interesting Emmy category imo .......and what happens in him with his career too.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 18, 2019 11:17:01 GMT
Drish gave me this idea with his Gandolfini vs. Cranston comparison for their TV roles. We've covered Cranston a lot so let's look at James Gandolfini overall because he totally fits too. Gandolfini was a Tony nominee for Carnage and he did stage work fairly often too, he gives arguably the best performance in TV history and he had a small but sturdy career in film and he was only 51 when he passed - a whole career was open to him and he may have been giving Cranston a run if fate hadn't intervened. If you ever see him present Al Pacino with his Angels in America Emmy, look at the way he looks at Pacino.........he's not looking at him like he's Michael Corleone, he's looking at him because he did what Gandolfini wanted to be an actor who worked all media and excelled. It's lovely to see that moment between actors if you can find it on Youtube. Below, from Enough Said with Julia Louis Dreyfuss:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 19, 2019 13:58:28 GMT
Let's take a look at that Ali "too much too quickly" argument and specifically look at Kevin Spacey and Michael Douglas - both overrated to me a bit but not in the same way - I think Spacey is a far (far) better actor than Douglas but they oddly mirror each other too in fun ways.
Douglas 1 BA Oscar win off 1 nod - most overrated 1 nod person ever imo. 1 BA Emmy win of one TV film appearance (as Liberace, his best work). Nothing for stage. But Douglas's move to series TV has opened up so much now and he's ahead of the curve - the Kominsky Method is a big deal and he's aces in it.
Spacey 2 BA Oscar wins off just 2 nods (unheard of basically when he did it he had played 0 solo leads even and got a lead win) 1 Tony off (at the time)1 nod.
So even these guys both 2/3rds of the Triple Crown winners who maybe you would say got awarded too easily have interesting quirks and sides to their career (and Spacey of course we just covered). Douglas won't go onstage you would think and Spacey may never get the chance on TV again.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 20, 2019 13:40:29 GMT
Going a different way today and actor Richard Dreyfuss an Oscar winner and a guy who's made some in-roads into TV but not much on the stage. Dreyfuss has a Best Actor win for playing and actor (quite a coup actually) and onstage one major triumph in Death and The Maiden (one of Glenn Close's Tony winning roles). He recently starred as Bernie Madoff on TV which got a bit overshadowed by the DeNiro-Pfeiffer-Levinson film but to me featured his finest acting in a long while. Also memorable in his arc on Weeds at 71 Dreyfuss may be on the verge of heralding some great work on TV if he pursues that. With Barbara Streisand in Nuts:
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Post by stephen on Jul 20, 2019 15:49:49 GMT
In the wake of the news that he will be taking on the role of LBJ left by Bryan Cranston in Robert Schenkkan's upcoming sequel to All the Way, let's talk Brian Cox.
An Emmy and Olivier winner, Cox is one of the most gravitas-laden actors alive. He originated the iconic Hannibal Lecter role and even though Hopkins and Mikkelsen made it their signature roles, Cox’s Lecter (sorry, Lecktor) is still compelling and stands on its own merits. He’s the consummate character actor, taking on small roles in major films like Braveheart and Zodiac and making quite the mark. He’s accomplished across multiple genres and styles—he can be darkly riveting and terrifying, or he can be hilariously goofy, and everything in between. He’s played major historical figures: Churchill and Hermann Goering. He’s done work in important television works such as Deadwood and Frasier. When everyone was falling over themselves to praise and predict Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus, I was baffled that Cox—the film’s true MVP—wasn’t getting that exact same praise. Now he's on Succession and could make a play for a future run at the Tony for his LBJ, if Cranston doesn't return to the role on Broadway.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 22, 2019 14:19:05 GMT
In the wake of the news that he will be taking on the role of LBJ left by Bryan Cranston in Robert Schenkkan's upcoming sequel to All the Way, let's talk Brian Cox. An Emmy and Olivier winner, Cox is one of the most gravitas-laden actors alive. He originated the iconic Hannibal Lecter role and even though Hopkins and Mikkelsen made it their signature roles, Cox’s Lecter (sorry, Lecktor) is still compelling and stands on its own merits. He’s the consummate character actor, taking on small roles in major films like Braveheart and Zodiac and making quite the mark. He’s accomplished across multiple genres and styles—he can be darkly riveting and terrifying, or he can be hilariously goofy, and everything in between. He’s played major historical figures: Churchill and Hermann Goering. He’s done work in important television works such as Deadwood and Frasier. When everyone was falling over themselves to praise and predict Vanessa Redgrave in Coriolanus, I was baffled that Cox—the film’s true MVP—wasn’t getting that exact same praise. Now he's on Succession and could make a play for a future run at the Tony for his LBJ, if Cranston doesn't return to the role on Broadway. I'll pick up this thread more when I'm back from cocaine and mamosas - kidding...........sort of........but Cox not only overlaps with Anthony Hopkins in "that" role he is one of the only actors who can compete with Hopkins in terms of the pause, or hesitation.
In fact, I can't think of any actors who have that quality where you can read their face - gravitas - is the right word for it, the way they choose the words that follow it so precisely - the way they listen. I don't mean it as a trick, I mean that that they find a way to incorporate it across characters. It's really quite a special quality - ominous silence - they are peerless in this regard, but if anyone has any other contenders I'd love to hear them.
Hopkins' Lear did this to marvelous effect just recently - it was the best part of that performance - and rather uniquely his own.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 23, 2019 13:59:10 GMT
I wanted to add a scene for Brian Cox which shows how he can do that listening, pause technique - next time you see him in a film it's a great thing to look for and one of the great actor techniques currently:
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Post by stephen on Jul 23, 2019 15:14:35 GMT
And now to talk about an actor that I think works as a younger contemporary of Cox's -- or, at least, with a similar energy and dominating screen presence (and an eerily parallel career in terms of roles and films). Let's talk about one of the greatest Irish actors: Brendan Gleeson.
Gleeson got his start relatively older—he was thirty-four when he got his first role on film. Before that, he’d done a bit of work in the Dublin theater. His first big screen role was as Michael Collins in a TV film called The Treaty, which I haven’t seen but really want to. His major breakout came three years later in Braveheart (also featuring Cox), where the big Irish chap had to play a big Scottish chap—and he did it so wonderfully. Gleeson’s ruddy cheer infuses so many of his characters, and after Braveheart, he positively exploded.
Spielberg. Scorsese. The Coens. Jordan. Scott. Petersen. Minghella. Shyamalan. Woo. These are but a handful of the major directors that Gleeson has worked with in his storied career. He won acclaim for John Boorman’s The General (where he was utterly robbed of a nomination), and took home an Emmy for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in Into the Storm (a performance I considered the definitive portrayal of the man until Lithgow). He hit mainstream success by playing Mad-Eye Moody in the Potter films (one of the peak performances in a storied ensemble).
And then there’s his work with the McDonagh brothers. Six Shooter is a marvelous short that hints at the strength of future Gleeson collaborations. In Bruges, which I consider Gleeson’s finest work, is a masterclass of acting that shows the staggering depth of Brendan’s range (the phone call with Fiennes, where the camera lingers on his face for five full minutes, is one of the best scenes of the 2000s, acting-wise). The Guard flips all of that on its head and shows how much of a comic genius the big lug is, and Calvary shows how much of a classical presence that Gleeson possesses—the man could’ve been a major figure in Golden Age cinema if he’d been around. Plus the guy has an amazing singing voice that needs to be taken advantage of more often.
Honestly, the only fault I have with Gleeson is he can’t really do an American accent, and Lake Placid is a legitimately bad film . . . but he’s so bad that he’s actually awesome in it. At one point, he actually reads a stage direction as dialogue. No shit.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 24, 2019 7:33:43 GMT
Gleeson is also fairly wonderful on TV in the current series Mr. Mercedes which has sort of been bubbling under the radar a bit in the US so far but seems poised for something of a breakthrough with its next season later this fall. That show gives him a lot of room to create a character and to show off a lot of his talents in a way that seems organic.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 24, 2019 12:14:03 GMT
Today's actress is missing the "easiest" award to win for the Triple Crown but not for her, and that's with 2 Emmy nominations - in fact she pulled off a couple of rather shocking wins. Marcia Gay Harden snagged a Tony in a stacked cast of Carnage (see James Gandolfini above) and an Oscar for a plum role in Pollock. She'd be considered a sturdy actress in ensemble pieces although she's a personal fave of mine in the underrated 1992 film Crush and if she can find herself in the company of a strong TV film or series, the Triple Crown will be hers. She's a throwback to an older type of actress doing what is asked of her, often without much fanfare but I'd guess you couldn't think of a role she didn't embody completely on target. At her most "Nicole Kidman-ish" in the 1992 film "Crush" playing sexed up and in many ways messed up too:
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Post by stephen on Jul 24, 2019 12:40:43 GMT
I remember always getting confused by which one was Marcia Gay Harden, which one was Lili Taylor, and which was Siobhan Fallon. All three are tremendously talented, but I still think Marcia Gay was miscast in Miller's Crossing and is the one thing that keeps that film from utter perfection to me. She is terrific in her Oscar-winning turn, though, and one of the few things about Mystic River that doesn't blow chunks. Still, her defining performance is as Mrs. Carmody in The Mist.
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 24, 2019 16:13:50 GMT
I rewatched Mystic River a few hours ago and I must say I loved the film and even more I loved Harden's exceptional performance.
A fantastic actress overall, I don't really know if she's considered underrated but imo she could have done much more in her career. Extremely talented.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 24, 2019 21:59:26 GMT
Earlier when we covered James Woods I had said there should have been more for him - that goes double for today's person a major Emmy and Oscar winner whose quirks - often unrelated to the work - played an unfortunate game with her career - Faye Dunaway. Big success in film - Bonnie & Clyde, Chinatown, Network. Her film career hit a brick wall with a rather ferocious, go for broke portrayal of Joan Crawford in Mommie Dearest. That performance was roundly mocked and worse - imitated - it never had a chance like Scarface did to even get reappraised because females in movies don't have that luxury. It has its defenders too (me for one) but it's hard to get any traction against the negative wave and it resulted in a career spinout that she never really shook off. Some good work in movies subsequently followed but mostly she was relegated to having to explain Mommie Dearest and her temper tantrums and she was constantly trying to constantly regroup. A weird cross-connection started to happen as she herself began to be seen as having the worst aspect of her Network and Mommie Dearest characters in real life. She won an Emmy for an unforgettable turn in Columbo and several times tried for a Glenn Close-type theater career resurgence too although that never caught fire in Terrence McNally's Master Class and currently on stage in a languishing production in Boston in Tea At Five. She has 2/3rds the Triple Crown for Leads and major roles in all three media, and I would argue for a time she had the best face in all the movies not merely for beauty but for the camera itself to capture. With Warren Beatty in Bonnie and Clyde: Yikes - Dunaway fired from Tea at Five. For the exact reasons covered in the post - her temper, slapping - this is kind of a mind blowing story. @tyler deadline.com/2019/07/faye-dunaway-fired-broadway-tea-at-five-1202652868/
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Post by Mattsby on Jul 24, 2019 22:19:33 GMT
Is it awful that I'm already thinking.... What a movie this would be! A former A list actress unraveling while preparing to play one of the greatest most lauded of actresses, in a Broadway-hopeful show that rests on her shoulders....... like a female The Dresser; cast Judy Davis..... or Faye Dunaway herself !
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 25, 2019 10:17:15 GMT
Today's person is one of the few who started in theater and then walked into film as a lead from her stage role but she didn't do it in the traditional way. Jessica Chastain - unforgettable in her film debut in Salome/Wilde Salome who then took that break into a major film career while the film was held up while word spread in the industry about her. Chastain had big film success and did some more stage has not really done TV though you'd think she'd be perfect for it - she's not that big of a star to look past it and she's of the age that it could pay huge benefits for her. Instead she's attached herself to a big sequel (It) and that could in a way act as what a prestige TV drama would do for her. Certainly no one "sees" that for her but it does contextualize her and expand her audience - potentially. A major actress, supremely talented - sort of wasting her time a bit lately who could use a little more ambition but that ambition, in all 3 mediums maybe has to maybe wait for the release of her next film .........and whatever dividends that pays for her. From Salome below:
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 25, 2019 14:51:14 GMT
Is it awful that I'm already thinking.... What a movie this would be! A former A list actress unraveling while preparing to play one of the greatest most lauded of actresses, in a Broadway-hopeful show that rests on her shoulders....... like a female The Dresser; cast Judy Davis..... or Faye Dunaway herself ! Cate Blanchett .........imagine the meta-insider stuff ...........best actress of her era who won an Oscar for playing Hepburn and then could win a second one as an actress .................playing Hepburn. Hmmmmmmmm
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Post by TerryMontana on Jul 25, 2019 16:22:17 GMT
Today's person is one of the few who started in theater and then walked into film as a lead from her stage role but she didn't do it in the traditional way. Jessica Chastain - unforgettable in her film debut in Salome/Wilde Salome who then took that break into a major film career while the film was held up while word spread in the industry about her. Chastain had big film success and did some more stage has not really done TV though you'd think she'd be perfect for it - she's not that big of a star to look past it and she's of the age that it could pay huge benefits for her. Instead she's attached herself to a big sequel (It) and that could in a way act as what a prestige TV drama would do for her. Certainly no one "sees" that for her but it does contextualize her and expand her audience - potentially. A major actress, supremely talented - sort of wasting her time a bit lately who could use a little more ambition but that ambition, in all 3 mediums maybe has to maybe wait for the release of her next film .........and whatever dividends that pays for her. From Salome below: Didn't know her when I learned she was playing Salome in \pacino's filmed play and I was pleasantly surprised by her. After that it wasn't a surprise that she became a movie star and got two Oscar nods (both 100% deserved). I believe being in such a blockbuster sequel will help her to get more job offers, even for tv work. She'd be perfect on television, having the (actual and screen) time to work with her character (more than in a movie), develop it and "make it hers".
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Post by pacinoyes on Jul 25, 2019 18:08:17 GMT
Here is a list of the full current Triple Crown of Acting Winners since this comes up often and Alan Arkin may join this year also.
Name, year achieved and total Triple Crown Wins - Triple Crown = Oscar, Emmy, Tony and those with an * have all 3 in Lead.
We still have some of these to get to for their profiles too - figured it would be nice to have in the thread since it gets referenced often.
Helen Hayes 1953 5 * Thomas Mitchell 1953 3 Ingrid Bergman 1960 6 * Shirley Booth 1962 6 Melvyn Douglas 1968 4
Paul Scofield 1969 3 * (Oscar and Tony for same role) Jack Albertson 1975 4 Rita Moreno 1977 4 Maureen Stapleton 1951 4 Jason Robards 1988 4
Jessica Tandy 1990 5 * Jeremy Irons 1997 4 Anne Bancroft 1999 4 Vanessa Redgrave 2003 4 Maggie Smith 2003 7 *
Al Pacino 2004 5 * Geoffrey Rush 2009 3 * Ellen Burstyn 2009 4 * Christopher Plummer 2012 5 Helen Mirren 2015 6 *
Frances McDormand 2015 4 * Jessica Lange 2016 6 * Viola Davis 2017 4 Glenda Jackson 2018 5 *
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