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Post by wallsofjericho on Feb 28, 2020 18:25:23 GMT
Who to your mind are the most effortless actors on screen: For me two obvious choices are Jeff Bridges and Henry Fonda.
Struggling to think of guys from today's generation that looke truly relaxed on screen. It's a strength most people attributed to Mark Ruffalo but I never saw that.
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LaraQ
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Post by LaraQ on Feb 28, 2020 18:30:10 GMT
Isabelle Huppert.She makes acting look as easy as breathing.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 28, 2020 18:44:01 GMT
I know how you mean it but to me I might use it as a sort of negative - I personally want to see an effort tbh - I tell a story about an ex-girlfriend who hated DDL with 1 sentence "I hate him, I see him ACTING ALL THE TIME" and I'm like "(ignoring her) Yeah, I know, he's really good right sweetheart? "  In general Spencer Tracy was a master of a kind of that effortless thing...... LaraQ is dead-on about Huppert (although she can really show the effort too - she can go insanely OTT - and yeah I love it  ) along the same lines is the Huppert of our time now - Adèle Haenel - who effortlessly goes across roles in an astonishing and almost magical sort of way - modern, period, lead, support etc. |
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Feb 28, 2020 18:50:38 GMT
Tom Hanks. One of the reasons I think he's so undervalued these days, is just how good he is at his job on screen, even when he's caught in the middle of danger like in Captain Phillips and Sully, he generally acts restrained and relaxed.
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sirchuck23
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Post by sirchuck23 on Feb 28, 2020 18:58:50 GMT
Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. Two of the most effortless American screen actors ever. Just watch Crimson Tide..two masters of their craft going head-to-head.
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Post by getclutch on Feb 28, 2020 19:00:40 GMT
Michael Shannon. Theater, TV or film. He is always relaxed & does a fine job.
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Post by therealcomicman117 on Feb 28, 2020 19:17:58 GMT
Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. Two of the most effortless American screen actors ever. Just watch Crimson Tide..two masters of their craft going head-to-head. Great example, honestly I wish I had thought of it. That's why that film is an action classic, and effortlessly rewatchable for me. Seeing the two of them basically fight each other for two hours was wonderful, and very entertaining. |
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sirchuck23
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Post by sirchuck23 on Feb 28, 2020 19:39:07 GMT
Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman. Two of the most effortless American screen actors ever. Just watch Crimson Tide..two masters of their craft going head-to-head. Great example, honestly I wish I had thought of it. That's why that film is an action classic, and effortlessly rewatchable for me. Seeing the two of them basically fight each other for two hours was wonderful, and very entertaining. Exactly, and the film set-up is like a play in a way with the two of them going back and forth. Shame they never made another movie together. |
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cherry68
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Post by cherry68 on Feb 28, 2020 19:47:41 GMT
I personally think acting can be an effort, but you shouldn't show it onscreen. Like dancers - I can do lots of their movements, but you see my effort, while they look natural.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 28, 2020 20:01:41 GMT
I personally think acting can be an effort, but you shouldn't show it onscreen. Like dancers - I can do lots of their movements, but you see my effort, while they look natural. That's a good point .......it's a funny thing though. George C. Scott used to talk about seeing the "joy in the performance" and how important that was - if an audience can see the joy why not the actual effort? It's a tricky thing - in our lives we see the effort all the time - in my job I see people in meetings anxious to make a good impression, desperate to look smart or hard-working, frantic to cover up for a mistake etc. It does come up where you do want to see effort in a distinctly non-naturalistic way - ie you maybe don't want to see the effort in a particular dance, say the tango.............however you do want to see the effort in a more modern dance, you can't remove it in ALL dance..................otherwise it isn't a performance art any longer.........it's merely a performance craft. |
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Post by stephen on Feb 28, 2020 20:02:59 GMT
Jeff Bridges is probably the most effortless actor to ever grace the screen.
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cherry68
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Post by cherry68 on Feb 28, 2020 20:14:11 GMT
I personally think acting can be an effort, but you shouldn't show it onscreen. Like dancers - I can do lots of their movements, but you see my effort, while they look natural. That's a good point .......it's a funny thing though. George C. Scott used to talk about seeing the "joy in the performance" and how important that was - if an audience can see the joy why not the actual effort? It's a tricky thing - in our lives we see the effort all the time - in my job I see people in meetings anxious to make a good impression, desperate to look smart or hard-working, frantic to cover up for a mistake etc. It does come up where you do want to see effort in a distinctly non-naturalistic way - ie you maybe don't want to see the effort in a particular dance, say the tango.............however you do want to see the effort in a more modern dance, you can't remove it in ALL dance..................otherwise it isn't a performance art any longer.........it's merely a performance craft. I was thinking about ballet actually. Dancers can show passion and the emotions of their characters, but not the physical effort to reach that result. |
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 28, 2020 20:30:19 GMT
That's a good point .......it's a funny thing though. George C. Scott used to talk about seeing the "joy in the performance" and how important that was - if an audience can see the joy why not the actual effort? It's a tricky thing - in our lives we see the effort all the time - in my job I see people in meetings anxious to make a good impression, desperate to look smart or hard-working, frantic to cover up for a mistake etc. It does come up where you do want to see effort in a distinctly non-naturalistic way - ie you maybe don't want to see the effort in a particular dance, say the tango.............however you do want to see the effort in a more modern dance, you can't remove it in ALL dance..................otherwise it isn't a performance art any longer.........it's merely a performance craft. . Dancers can show passion and the emotions of their characters, but not the physical effort to reach that result. Right but in other dance forms that would not apply - it just relates to a sub-category of dance not the whole art form overall. In the same way that Opera singers must be judged on how well they hit the note but pop singers do not - there is an inherent contradiction within the discipline - the same applies across all the performing arts too. At times - you want to see a dancer sweat - not in ballet - and at some points you maybe do want an actor - in film acting, maybe not in mime for example - to express the same behavior in its specifics that I see irl in work meetings .............because well those people exist and should exist in all their peculiarities in film too. |
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Post by finniussnrub on Feb 28, 2020 21:41:37 GMT
Richard Farnsworth
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Post by futuretrunks on Feb 28, 2020 21:45:55 GMT
I have some questions. If an actor's approach consistently seems effortless, does it just mean they're coasting on something performance-wise that's easy for them to do? If so, is it an indictment of their technical adventurousness? I like every actor that's been named, but take Gene Hackman. He's very good in alot of stuff, but he definitely didn't seem in his zone in A Bridge too Far, and I think that's precisely because he was called on to do radical accentwork and struggled with it. Same with someone like Jeff Bridges; I cannot picture him going and playing a Glaswegian or something convincingly.
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Post by pupdurcs on Feb 28, 2020 21:50:18 GMT
I have some questions. If an actor's approach consistently seems effortless, does it just mean they're coasting on something performance-wise that's easy for them to do? If so, is it an indictment of their technical adventurousness? I like every actor that's been named, but take Gene Hackman. He's very good in alot of stuff, but he definitely didn't seem in his zone in A Bridge too Far, and I think that's precisely because he was called on to do radical accentwork and struggled with it. Same with someone like Jeff Bridges; I cannot picture him going and playing a Glaswegian or something convincingly. You make some very sound and interesting points. Has Bridges ever played a non-American? I'm not sure. |
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Post by wallsofjericho on Feb 28, 2020 21:51:49 GMT
I have some questions. If an actor's approach consistently seems effortless, does it just mean they're coasting on something performance-wise that's easy for them to do? If so, is it an indictment of their technical adventurousness? I like every actor that's been named, but take Gene Hackman. He's very good in alot of stuff, but he definitely didn't seem in his zone in A Bridge too Far, and I think that's precisely because he was called on to do radical accentwork and struggled with it. Same with someone like Jeff Bridges; I cannot picture him going and playing a Glaswegian or something convincingly. You make some very sound and interesting points. Has Bridges ever played a non-American? I'm not sure. The Vanishing. He was trying some kind of accent in it. One of his worst and futuretrunks does bring up a good point which I'm struggling to find an answer for right now lol. |
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cherry68
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Post by cherry68 on Feb 28, 2020 21:52:22 GMT
I was thinking about ballet actually. Dancers can show passion and the emotions of their characters, but not the physical effort to reach that result. Right but in other dance forms that would not apply - it just relates to a sub-category of dance not the whole art form overall. In the same way that Opera singers must be judged on how well they hit the note but pop singers do not - there is an inherent contradiction within the discipline - the same applies across all the performing arts too. At times - you want to see a dancer sweat - not in ballet - and at some points you maybe do want an actor - in film acting, maybe not in mime for example - to express the same behavior in its specifics that I see irl in work meetings .............because well those people exist and should exist in all their peculiarities in film too. Let's put it this way. I can hear a tennis player screaming when he's hitting the ball, but if a dancer did the same when he's lifting up a ballerina it would be awkward. |
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Post by futuretrunks on Feb 28, 2020 21:59:32 GMT
As a concession, I'll grant that I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman seemed comfortable almost all the time. Maybe that's close to effortless, but I'd hesitate to use the latter word because he had so many clearly strenuous performances.
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Post by pacinoyes on Feb 28, 2020 22:08:55 GMT
I have some questions. If an actor's approach consistently seems effortless, does it just mean they're coasting on something performance-wise that's easy for them to do? If so, is it an indictment of their technical adventurousness? I like every actor that's been named, but take Gene Hackman. He's very good in alot of stuff, but he definitely didn't seem in his zone in A Bridge too Far, and I think that's precisely because he was called on to do radical accentwork and struggled with it. Same with someone like Jeff Bridges; I cannot picture him going and playing a Glaswegian or something convincingly. Yes to the part in bold - and while I like actors who can (usually) be effortless and it's fun to talk about too (it's a good thread) it reduces acting to a mere style only. Hackman, Washington, are mostly kinetic actors - not really effortless imo - Bridges is that more but even he has worked very hard at the edges of his work (Fisher King, Tucker etc.) to distinctly not appear effortless at all. "Effortless" would be more like Costner and Eastwood - actors working a style into character - and they are noticeably lesser screen actors where Washington and Bridges flirt with the top ~15 US film actors ever and Hackman even higher than that. The best actors - especially the very best - are never able to be simply reduced to an acting style like that to me - because in effect it requires them to turn off their imagination to "fit" and using your imagination almost always HAS to show on screen. Some actors were great and effortless exclusively but not many - Spencer Tracy is the best example of it I can think of in that way. |
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Post by TerryMontana on Feb 29, 2020 14:38:33 GMT
Many of them: Hanks, Denzel, Bridges, Maggie Smith...
But the ones that first come to mind are Garbo, Bogart and Stewart. Especially the latter.
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demille
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Post by demille on Mar 2, 2020 11:13:19 GMT
I don't think this is necessarily what you mean, but in regards to coming across as relaxed on screen, Gary Cooper comes to mind. His laid back and carefree attitude was a central aspect of his screen persona, and he did it very well.
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Post by Johnny_Hellzapoppin on Mar 2, 2020 13:11:12 GMT
Patricia Clarkson always falls in this category. It all just seems so seamless with her.
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) along the same lines is the Huppert of our time now - Adèle Haenel - who effortlessly goes across roles in an astonishing and almost magical sort of way - modern, period, lead, support etc. 
