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Post by stephen on Aug 9, 2019 2:53:28 GMT
Stacy Keach is a national treasure.
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Post by TerryMontana on Aug 9, 2019 6:50:15 GMT
In happier times: 1992 Golden Globes: 1993 I think.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 9, 2019 7:43:15 GMT
In happier times: 1992 Golden Globes: 1993 I think. Oh right - I always do that - the award for 1992 films I always think is the same year but of course it's not. Thanx terry By the way this photo is 2 Americans and 2 Aussies - the other person is Lyndall Hobbs from Australia - a photographer who I think knew Kidman from before....
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 9, 2019 7:48:22 GMT
“I wanted to be Laurence Olivier.” That's right: Stacy Keach - I just got around to reading this great Variety profile (lotta high praise and quotes) from last week for his H'wood Walk of Fame star. And he hasn't been mentioned yet so here goes. One of my favorite - and I'm not kidding Keach turns is as part of the gay couple on Two and a Half Men - they are riotously funny - Keach and John Amos.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 9, 2019 11:34:50 GMT
Earlier I mentioned here that actors are mostly treated with kids gloves - not that we're never negative but we try to take the actors POV when we can. But today's actor is one I've been overwhelmingly negative to in other threads because I think he gets off far too easy and is too good for it - but he's more complicated than that too so let's give him a fair look - Russell Crowe
Crowe has not much theater background - some in the 80s, huge film success and a BA Oscar and some TV but this year a big one on TV as Roger Ailes in The Loudest Voice which I commented on - quite negatively - in that thread (TV board). But Crowe - much of whose earlier film work I am highly enthusiastic towards from about a 10 year period early 90s-early 00s is fascinating in a lot of ways. A guy who has turned to TV now to jump start his total work specifically - who may go back to the stage (and he sing or at least has a willingness to sing) and who gets into the issue of when an actor or actress is arrogant with his/her career, is his work being properly assessed in the first place - are people (me for one) treating them fairly and does anyone owe it to them to be "fair' anyway? He also gets in to uncomfortable areas like when a performer "jumps the shark" and whether that's permanent (see earlier Rod Steiger profile) - like Charlotte Rampling he could even do great work older..... Crowe in one of his best film roles with Hugo Weaving in the Australian film, Proof:
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 9, 2019 16:16:39 GMT
Mattsby - Since no one mentioned it and it wasn't mentioned in your original Keach post and Viced and stephen are apparently athiest plebs to recommend it (kidding, kidding - geesh) ......a special shout out to The Ninth Configuration maybe his film peak - as beautiful, spiritual, riotously funny at times one of a kind film. I assume everyone's seen it but if not, highly recommended. Sort of like QT if he had something that mattered on his mind kinda sorta ....
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Post by Viced on Aug 9, 2019 16:30:55 GMT
I'll give a shout out to The New Centurions. Keach carries it well, and I know we're discussing him here... but I gotta talk about George C. Scott in this. His performance goes from a very interesting swagger as a cop to such dark depths of devastating after retirement. But yeah.... love me some Stacy Keach. Very depressing to see him on some crummy Matt LeBlanc sitcom these days... dude deserves a Rip Torn in Larry Sanders-level role.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 9, 2019 19:54:57 GMT
Speaking of Scott, I wanted to go a little deeper on George C. Scott who we covered a little earlier but the conversation got side-tracked (on page 1 !!!). Scott may or may not be the GOAT US in these 3 categories but I'd call him the standard bearer here in many ways. He is one those weird ones who won and Oscar an Emmy but not a Tony but theater is where he was insanely special - he did more Shakespeare than anyone - just alone that would make him a standard bearer - no American actor did more Shakespeare until Kevin Kline. He did tons of other theater, but he also did episodic TV after 2 Oscar nominations in the 60s (!?!). He's also not really a Method actor - in fact he disliked much of it - yet in Anatomy of a Murder - his breakthrough - he's doing entirely new "feeling" acting that works opposite Jimmy Stewart or Actors Studio devotee Ben Gazzara. He's one of the few post-Brando actors who was actually more of an external actor than an internal one (not exclusively of course) and every actor that followed him and did stage/TV/Film owes something to him. I don't know if you could quite say that about any of his rivals - Henry Fonda, Jack Lemmon, Jason Robards (although Fonda needs to be revisited too because I've been looking at some interesting and unique work of his as well that ties into Scott). He also turned the Oscar for strictly artistic reasons - establishing the sort of "acting alternative" we so chersh today which alone makes him an utter bad-ass too. Scott in Hardcore:
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 9, 2019 20:43:22 GMT
One major tv project from Scott that I haven’t seen and wish they’d remaster - East Side/West Side (‘63-64) where he was Emmy nom’d and acted opposite big names here Cicely Tyson, and in guest roles James Earl Jones, Ruby Dee. Only 1 season due to its then controversial topics and Scott’s vocal dismay over CBS cuts - he stood up for the progressive themes and for actors like Dee.
Another Emmy nom, a so-so TV Movie version of Jane Eyre (‘70) as Rochester, I’ve seen and like him there and love one scene in particular when he visits his insane first wife, the ‘way’ he speaks to her... there’s a dark and exhausted and wistful quality, in his pretending, in his movements.
GCS I already put highly among my fav actors, and still gotta lot to see!
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 9, 2019 21:44:14 GMT
By the way - who's the equivalent to Scott's big influence for Shakespearean actresses? I'm not sure we have one until much later but it could very well be Streep/Close actually AGAIN -they cross connect everywhere Scott's wife can be another of our acting couples too - 4 Emmy's, 2 Tony's Colleen Dewhurst was big on both and held back a bit on film but some memorable appearances there too. Like Burton-Taylor they made the same mistake twice, twice married to each other, twice divorced. Together in 1971's The Last Run
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Post by Mattsby on Aug 9, 2019 22:35:21 GMT
Dewhurst, smaller role but she’s very good in When a Stranger Calls - charming and confident and then she plays those traits almost as a survival tactic when she realizes she’s in danger. She has some scenes opposite Durning too - and there’s Carol Kane who hasn’t been mentioned yet and has some major works across TV-Film-Stage!
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 10, 2019 10:16:36 GMT
Another acting "couple" and yet another where, right now at least the female has the Oscar - Angelina Jolie and Brad PittA controversial pairing that became something of a tabloid frenzy worthy of Liz Taylor-Eddie Fisher they were as Bill Maher so famously put it, "What business is it of ours that the worlds most beautiful people decide to **** each other?" - they epitomized the way the public and our star perceptions rise and fall. Neither has done theater to speak of .......Jolie has a great TV one and Emmy nominated role in Gia and Pitt has dabbled in TV to not much effect (quite funnily in his one Friends appearance imo) but on film both have been major and Jolie won a BSA Oscar for a scene stealing turn in Girl Interrupted. Pitt though now has all the heat in 2019 - a leading contender to win for OUATIH - a performance that is surface "movie star" great in its own way and which on what could be his 4th nomination could pay dividends with a win. Before the divorce, at their most photogenic:
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 10, 2019 11:20:49 GMT
Pitt's co-star in OUATIH is another example of someone whose "type" we've covered before too - someone who only does film at least right now but that we need to look at it because film is so enormous - Leonardo DiCaprio. But he is quite different because there are plenty who would argue him as the best film actor in the world right now AND the biggest actor too. DiCaprio has flirted with doing stage work - that would have been a really bold move - but has not done it and we may need to wait for Devil In The White City to see him make the TV move. For now, the acclaim continues to pile up - he likely will end up the most Oscar nominated male actor ever at this pace (this year would be his 6th and he's just 43) - he has his pick of roles it seems. He also in many ways, outside of awards is getting better and more assured as an actor. He gave a a marvelous star turn this year (that's 2 with Pitt in OUATIH for a film I don't like THAT much) and did it playing an actor - that stuff goes a long way. DiCaprio as Rick Dalton in OUATIH as an actor and acting like he's dancing!
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Post by stephen on Aug 10, 2019 13:30:12 GMT
I wanna talk about an actor who might very well have his picture in the dictionary next to the word "dependable": Lieutenant Dan himself, Gary Sinise.
Sinise has always struck me as a less oddball version of Willem Dafoe: with those hooded eyes and intense demeanor, he'd be well-suited for playing villains (and he's so damn good at it), but he's also got a knack for playing salt-of-the-earth heroes and everymen. He's tackled Steinbeck and Stephen King and succeeded in equal measure, he's played diametrically opposed political figures in Harry Truman and George Wallace to great acclaim, and he's cropped up in ace projects and is often the best thing about them.
And yet, I feel like Hollywood is still dragging its feet to give Sinise his due. The guy deserves a Florida Project or The Lighthouse of his very own. Let's make it happen.
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Post by Viced on Aug 10, 2019 14:11:56 GMT
Gary Sinise is the man. Love how he can play both sides of the good/evil coin... sometimes even in the same movie (Ransom, Snake Eyes). And he almost single-handedly made Reindeer Games worth watching.
Was just looking at his IMDb and getting depressed... then saw he's gonna be in something written by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana so maybe there's hope.
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Post by stephen on Aug 10, 2019 14:49:23 GMT
Gary Sinise is the man. Love how he can play both sides of the good/evil coin... sometimes even in the same movie ( Ransom, Snake Eyes). And he almost single-handedly made Reindeer Games worth watching. Was just looking at his IMDb and getting depressed... then saw he's gonna be in something written by Larry McMurtry & Diana Ossana so maybe there's hope. He is so, so close to being my Supporting Actor win for Ransom. That movie is better than it has any right to be.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 10, 2019 14:52:12 GMT
I wanna talk about an actor who might very well have his picture in the dictionary next to the word "dependable": Lieutenant Dan himself, Gary Sinise. Sinise has always struck me as a less oddball version of Willem Dafoe: with those hooded eyes and intense demeanor, he'd be well-suited for playing villains (and he's so damn good at it), but he's also got a knack for playing salt-of-the-earth heroes and everymen. He's tackled Steinbeck and Stephen King and succeeded in equal measure, he's played diametrically opposed political figures in Harry Truman and George Wallace to great acclaim, and he's cropped up in ace projects and is often the best thing about them. And yet, I feel like Hollywood is still dragging its feet to give Sinise his due. The guy deserves a Florida Project or The Lighthouse of his very own. Let's make it happen. He's a major actor and it's sad there hasn't been more for him - though he did get a TV hit and some TV cash I'm sure. He has a great gift as an actor that he can communicate a lot of stuff real quickly - if he's playing Truman, he embodies him in such a way that you are immediately clued into the performance. He then goes one level deeper and uses that to pivot a character - even if the whole movie doesn't work his characterizations are often marvelously sly in the way. You can tell he gives a lot of thought to how he's playing/conveying something and why - I think it may be impossible for him to sleepwalk through a performance or just cash a check. The Steppenwolf theater company alone is important in this thread too - and as a company goes across Stage/TV/Film. They have had a lot of representation and hopefully some people are curious about the whole troupe because they did some special work. From De Palma's Snake Eyes - marvelously sly - you saw him one way at first and you'll see him another way, just like that:
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Post by TerryMontana on Aug 10, 2019 15:13:51 GMT
Pitt's co-star in OUATIH is another example of someone whose "type" we've covered before too - someone who only does film at least right now but that we need to look at it because film is so enormous - Leonardo DiCaprio. But he is quite different because there are plenty who would argue him as the best film actor in the world right now AND the biggest actor too. DiCaprio has flirted with doing stage work - that would have been a really bold move - but has not done it and we may need to wait for Devil In The White City to see him make the TV move. For now, the acclaim continues to pile up - he likely will end up the most Oscar nominated male actor ever at this pace (this year would be his 6th and he's just 43) - he has his pick of roles it seems. He also in many ways, outside of awards is getting better and more assured as an actor. He gave a a marvelous star turn this year (that's 2 with Pitt in OUATIH for a film I don't like THAT much) and did it playing an actor - that stuff goes a long way. DiCaprio as Rick Dalton in OUATIH as an actor and acting like he's dancing! I honestly don't think Leo belongs in this thread. He's a top movie actor but nothing more than that. He has never done stage, neither tv. Don't get me wrong, I love Di Caprio and consider him the best of his generation. I'm sure he'll be aces if he decides to do theater and television. But until now he hasn't. Leo is off topic
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 10, 2019 15:17:57 GMT
But until now he hasn't. Leo is off topic - Very true actually........but then again he's exactly like Garbo was too and you liked that one and called her a "Legend" Geesh, I can't win terry!!
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Post by TerryMontana on Aug 10, 2019 15:38:53 GMT
But until now he hasn't. Leo is off topic - Very true actually........but then again he's exactly like Garbo was too and you liked that one and called her a "Legend" Geesh, I can't win terry!! Yeah because she is!!! She deserved a mention by default
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Post by stephen on Aug 10, 2019 15:57:13 GMT
An addendum to my thoughts on Gary Sinise: he's so good as an antagonist that I wish that Denzel or Cruise would give him a ring to play the baddie in their next franchise outings. He just brings so much gravitas and intensity that he's automatically gonna elevate whoever he's squared off against.
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Good God
Badass
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Post by Good God on Aug 10, 2019 23:49:09 GMT
Here they are in 1992 with Pacino and his date (the Golden Globes where he won for Scent Of A Woman) - now Cruise and Kidman were a relatively new couple here. When they divorced in the early 2000s both insanely threw themselves into their careers. Many people will always see them as a couple - but it's hard to argue that things didn't get better for them career wise.......apart. Kidman with a varied career (Oscar and Emmy) and Cruise with historic box office. Like the other couples they worked together too in high profile films. I think it's easy to argue that, in Tom Cruise's case. His historic Box Office had already happened by 2001, which was when they got divorced. To keep it somewhat objective, 13 of Cruise's 20 appearances on the Quigley lists were by 2001. And 5 of his 7 #1 placements already happened by 2001. I think raw Box Office numbers will also back this up, for the most part. 2001-2005 was just a continuation of that, before his domestic star power took a massive hit as an eventual consequence of Couch-gate and Lauer-gate (though it took a little while longer for their effects to be felt overseas). Needless to say, his best period of acclaim was also before his divorce with Kidman.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 11, 2019 0:10:11 GMT
Good points - although to me somewhat mitigated in a way by the fact that he had box office success in a genre as he got older which is impressive in itself (approaching his 60s now) and maybe had his best lead role (though not nodded) is in Collateral. But yes points well taken.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 11, 2019 10:45:59 GMT
stephen - Who posted Stephen Rea in the underappreciated actors thread and I've copied part of his post in bold at the bottom in bold. Sort of "stealing" Rea here to make a broader point for this thread. He was in a TV project I think was crucial not just within TV but for what it said about film and how it was changing - the big budget, large scale (on location) and star packed Citizen X for HBO which would have been a feature film at one time (Sutherland, Rea, Von Sydow) and Rea could be cast depending on what how you look at it, as a co-lead or part of an ensemble. You now see this film done all the time on TV - not the subject matter of size of the film but in the presentation and the kind of movies they won't do anymore - I think it's a crucial film historically so an odd entry here - it was the Netflix of its day in a way - the paradigm shifting project + the actor who fits across TV and film : Citizen X and Stephen Rea The perpetually dour-looking Irish legend who looks like he should've remade every Robert Mitchum film while set in the Troubles has always been a delight for me to watch. The Crying Game rightly put him on the map, and he did go on to be something of a muse for Neil Jordan, but I always felt he should've been far more prolific and high-profile than he is. Maybe it's because of his personal life (he was married to an IRA bomber, and their relationship really could've fueled an amazing film on its own merits; I suspect he drew on those experiences when he made The Crying Game). He's a perennial favorite of some excellent BBC series, and he recently cropped up in one of my favorite films of 2018: Black '47.
His back catalogue is also deceptively rangy. He's made his mark in film, TV and the stage. Not bad for a glum fellow from Belfast.
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Post by pacinoyes on Aug 11, 2019 18:52:59 GMT
Gary Oldman has gotten a lot of mentions in this thread but he's been undervalued here too - badly. We've compared him to other actors and talked about what the Oscar meant to him and other periphery things but let's take a look at how he really fits in here - because he is something of the new model - and likely will be again when he returns to TV. A stage actor in the 80s to much acclaim like his generational rival Daniel Day Lewis - in some ways surpassing him even - he promptly stopped when his film career kicked in. But he was also very memorable for Alan Clarke and others on British TV which is where he gave what I think is his very best performance - The Firm. Oldman also did curveballs like Pontius Pilate on US TV and worked his own very singular, very idiosyncratic film career which paid off with 2 BA Oscar noms and a win. Below, from The Firm where he is a force of nature - a complete tour de force that doesn't compromise at all. A must see performance:
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