Laura Dern vs Toni Collette

I am sorry my beloved French minx to whom I almost actually proposed marriage to the other day btw - how do you feel about 172 year olds? - oh nevermind - that was after you defended Nicholson in The Shining ....but Laura Dern has this intangible thing that separates her from a lot of actresses......it's that she acts like she's major and did even before she actually was major......you see it in great bands all the time and sometimes in actors......The Strokes on their first album acted like they had made 10 great ones already and it made them better......Laura Dern was giving performances that screamed LAURA FNCKING DERN.........before she was Laura F.......well you get the idea.

Dern, quite easily. Collette can be incredible but Dern could easily stake a claim at being the best actress of her generation.

Quoi ? Quand ? 😂

Collete. 

Collette is a virtuoso actress. Wheras as excellent as Dern is, I think it'd be a stretch to call her a virtuoso. Dern is incredibly good at what she does best (dramedy pathos), but not only can Collete do what Dern does best, but she can do things way beyond Dern's capability (like Herdiatary). 

Collete had the incredible misfortune of being born in the most remarkable generation of Australian actresses ever, where the two actresses considered by most to be ahead of her (Kidman and Blanchett) are also regarded as virtuoso talents, but have more intangibles on their side as well. In a less special generation, Collette might not only be considered the best her country had to offer, but perhaps the best the world had to offer. But she is in the shadow of her two countrywomen, who are seen by many as being world beating talents. But even that shadow is too big for Dern to match, and I'm a fan of Dern...who has an appealing presence.

I'm struggling with the answe, as I think they're surprisingly quite different, despite being both character actresses.

I think Collette works better than Dern as a lead actress. This is a tad subjective, but I just think she has a more commanding energy and presence that makes her feel like a more definitive main character when that's what she's playing. She seems so at ease at the center of attention in very difficult things like Hereditary and United States of Tara, and even when she's playing a supporting part, she's so interesting to watch I can see a version of that movie in which she's the focus (like in The Sixth Sense). I truly think that, if she was more traditionally good-looking like Julia Roberts or Julianne Moore, she'd get more offers in big movies.

Dern, to me, is the opposite. She stands out like a pro in ensembles, and when she takes the main parts, she usually blends perfectly with the style of very idiosyncratic storytellers - like Lynch or Jennifer Fox. She has a very cerebral, intellectual approach to her acting that makes her simply "get" whatever it is that the directors are going for, and she knows when her acting doesn't have to be the talking point of the movie. She can get so unconventional and strange, but also in a not showy way at all, in a way I haven't seen Collette doing. When Dern plays leading parts, she usually does so by representing the director's vision, as their vessel, instead of drawing attention to herself - whereas Collette is better at playing strange people in a more conventional way and making herself the center of attentions, if that makes any sense.

But, at the same time, both have a similar quality that I always think is so precious: they're incredibly chamaleonic. Other than their undeniable talent and charisma, they don't really have any trademark, or a defining trait in their acting. In this aspect, they're very similar to someone like Meryl Streep, as in you don't think of their looks, or their height, or their real-life personality or previous work when they're on screen. They can pretty much play any kind of person in any time period or place.

I'll vote for Dern, though, 'cause I think her more specific talents are harder than Collette's.

For me, easily Dern. I sort of like Collette less and less the more perfs I see, which is a really bad sign. Even back when I watched US of Tara while it aired, I was always questioning whether I liked what she was doing or not, which points to what I think of her now - an uneven actress who can be extremely unlikable on screen, often with amateur overacting (cough, Dinner with Friends, Hereditary).... but she's not untalented, and can sometimes solidly level out (Sixth Sense, Unbelievable).