| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 01/07/2008 : 18:10:01
Which actor do you think has the greatest range? Who of all time and who today? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 01/25/2008 : 06:15:52
For what it's worth, Johnny Depp has less range than his reputation suggests. Swishy pirate, cross-dressing director, motorcycle-riding teen rebel, deformed synthetic man, deranged candy maker, Hunter S. Thompson -- yes, he can play them all. But ask him to play a human being (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Donnie Brasco, Finding Neverland) and you'll get the same guy every time: a quiet, sullen loner. He does two-dimensionality very well, but he can't really get in the heads of a lot of characters. That said, he rarely gives bad performances because he chooses his projects carefully.
I've probably said this before, but I always felt that Tom Cruise could do a lot of what Johnny Depp does, and I don't feel that the reverse is true. |
| Chris C |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 20:40:40
More names for the pot, but I expect most will be shot down in flames:
Kevin Kline: Silverado, Sophie's Choice, Cry Freedom, A Fish Called Wanda
Denzel Washington: Cry Freedom, Mo' Better Blues etc.
The main thing against Denzel is that he hasn't done a lot of comedy.
Will Smith: Lots of action/comedy, but Ali proved that the boy can act as well
And has anyone mentioned Sigourney Weaver yet? |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 01/14/2008 : 07:50:44
quote:
Originally posted by Salopian
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
I'm not sure about Blanchett. She seemed the same in The Shipping News as she did in Charlotte Gray as she did in An Ideal Husband as she did in The Aviator.
I don't know whether I've seen anything else with Hepburn in, but I recently saw Bringing Up Baby and Blanchett seemed exactly the same as that in The Aviator. I think you're just such a fan of Hepburn that you cannot like someone who has portrayed her. 
Blanchett has also played the opposite sex, so that has to be considered range. Playing both fictional characters and real people must also be. We have discussed before whether it is harder to match a real person or develop a whole personality, but being able to do both must be more skilled than either one.
Okay, I'm willing to admit that I shouldn't really blame Cate completely for her horiffic portrayal of Kate - the director and screenwriter were also so off base, it isn't funny. But while you might not notice it as much (being British and all), her accent was totally inconsistant and more of a parody than an imitation. Some day I will forgive her doing this role, but I'm not ready to do so yet.
As for Tom Cruise - he did have a good range once, but his he's in danger of not growing as an actor. If he can get his ego back in check, he could pull himself out of the garbage bin. From his upcoming movies, he has a good chance to do this with a couple of comedies and then playing Col. Claus von Stauffenberg in Valkyrie. Now all he has to do is play a gay guy or transvestite...
Oh... why didn't I think of this before? Dustin Hoffman should be on the all-time list!
And what about Hugo Weaving? I can't think of more diverse movies than the Matrix trilogy, Lord of the Rings and The Adventures of Pricilla Queen of the Desert - can you?
|
| Canklefish |
Posted - 01/13/2008 : 08:12:15
Giovanni Ribisi... ever watch him cry on film?
Sorry Bafta, but Paul Giamatti will always be Paul, whether he's portraying 'Pig Vomit' in Howard Stern's flick or the sot in 'sideways'... still the same Paul.
My vote... Giovanni for men... Jennifer Connelly for women(she gets very little recognition, but she's so damn powerful)...
I wanted to say Moira Kelly, but that has more to do with fantasy than reality |
| benj clews |
Posted - 01/12/2008 : 12:49:42
Mark Kermode's podcast yesterday proposed another suggestion... Philip Seymour Hoffman? |
| demonic |
Posted - 01/12/2008 : 10:06:45
It's worth digging a bit deeper in Blanchett's filmography to find some of her less mainstream performances as comparison. In the last few years the contrast of her roles from The Aviator, The Life Aquatic, Little Fish, Elizabeth and I'm Not There... that's demonstration enough of range.
And I wholeheartedly agree about Tom Cruise. |
| Sal[Au]pian |
Posted - 01/11/2008 : 16:32:10
quote:
Originally posted by ChocolateLady
I'm not sure about Blanchett. She seemed the same in The Shipping News as she did in Charlotte Gray as she did in An Ideal Husband as she did in The Aviator.
I don't know whether I've seen anything else with Hepburn in, but I recently saw Bringing Up Baby and Blanchett seemed exactly the same as that in The Aviator. I think you're just such a fan of Hepburn that you cannot like someone who has portrayed her.
Blanchett has also played the opposite sex, so that has to be considered range. Playing both fictional characters and real people must also be. We have discussed before whether it is harder to match a real person or develop a whole personality, but being able to do both must be more skilled than either one. |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 01/11/2008 : 07:52:27
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
Jim Carrey?
Whilst I'm not seriously suggesting him as a contender for the actor having the greatest range (yet), I'm sure he's got the capability. He's proven he can act in the likes of 'Truman' and 'Eternal Sunshine' and he made his name as a chameleon comedian (chamedlian?) so if he can get enough varied roles he could potentially blow everyone else out the water.
I almost suggested him, for precisely the reasons you mention -- but I wasn't quite strong enough for the crap-storm I thought might follow
I'd love to see him attempt something non-contemporary.
What crap storm would that be? I disliked him to begin with but he really has shown that he's more than a rubber-faced slapstick comic. And after seeing him in The Man in the Moon I really began to see just how talented he really is. Go back and look at him in his first movies again and you'll see that underneath the flash, bells and whistles is an intelligence of humour that hinted at this to begin with, as well as gave us a glimpse of his possible dramatic abilities. You can't say the same of Steve Carrell, whose bland, dead-pan humour will take him just so far and then he'll probably drop off the face of our screens. Sure, he's funny today but in 10 years time he'll be old hat unless he can branch out and do either a different type of comedy or push into drama, and that's going to take a whole lot of work on his part. Carrey didn't need to make that effort, he had it in him the whole time.
quote:
BTW - we ought to include John C Reilly ... after seeing him be truly solid in lots of minor roles, I was blown away by his number in Chicago. I'm really looking forward to Dewey Cox.
Hm... |
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 16:43:01
quote:
Originally posted by benj clews
Jim Carrey?
Whilst I'm not seriously suggesting him as a contender for the actor having the greatest range (yet), I'm sure he's got the capability. He's proven he can act in the likes of 'Truman' and 'Eternal Sunshine' and he made his name as a chameleon comedian (chamedlian?) so if he can get enough varied roles he could potentially blow everyone else out the water.
I almost suggested him, for precisely the reasons you mention -- but I wasn't quite strong enough for the crap-storm I thought might follow
I'd love to see him attempt something non-contemporary.
BTW - we ought to include John C Reilly ... after seeing him be truly solid in lots of minor roles, I was blown away by his number in Chicago. I'm really looking forward to Dewey Cox.
|
| benj clews |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 15:31:33
Jim Carrey?
Whilst I'm not seriously suggesting him as a contender for the actor having the greatest range (yet), I'm sure he's got the capability. He's proven he can act in the likes of 'Truman' and 'Eternal Sunshine' and he made his name as a chameleon comedian (chamedlian?) so if he can get enough varied roles he could potentially blow everyone else out the water. |
| MisterBadIdea |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 15:04:36
Range is overrated, I think -- Keira Knightley has demonstrated far more range to me than Kate Winslet but no one better tell me that Keira is the better actress.
And also, I don't think Kevin Spacey has much range at all. All the roles listed are variations on his smug persona, perhaps a little angrier here or insecure there, but he's always recognizably Spacey.
Someone who I think is far underrated for his range is Tom Cruise. Yeah, seriously, he doesn't get credit for it because he recycles the stereotypical Tom Cruise role a lot, but compare the dork in Risky Business to the hotshot in Top Gun to the hobbled veteran in Born on the Fourth of July to the vampire king in Interview with a Vampire to the resigned hitman from Collateral. I don't think Tom Cruise gets enough credit as an actor. |
| lemmycaution |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 14:13:20
quote:
Originally posted by BaftaBabe
quote:
Originally posted by lemmycaution
Kevin Spacey?
I refer the honorable gentleman to my previous posting.
The honourable gent's Senior Moments are becoming more frequent. Damn that nurse for substituting Skittles for my meds. |
| ChocolateLady |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 09:47:59
quote:
Originally posted by dem08nic
Some people seem to be confusing range with actors they like, because a few names being thrown about haven't really demonstrated anything like the range of the truly chameleonic actors, which is sort of what we're talking about - not if they can appear in a musical - it's more than that - it's the ability to appear utterly transformed between roles not whether they can surf, juggle or tap dance. That's not acting, that's skills.
For that reason Charlize Theron is definitely in the list - her performance in Monster, with make up or without was absolutely a Protean feat of character. That's also the reason Catherine Zeta Jones absolutely wouldn't be on the list for me. Cate Blanchett, yes. Johnny Depp, yes. Daniel Day Lewis, yes.
I'm not sure about Blanchett. She seemed the same in The Shipping News as she did in Charlotte Gray as she did in An Ideal Husband as she did in The Aviator. In the latter film, her accent was totally horrid and over the top, and all I could see was Cate trying to be Kate. Streep sometimes does that with her more dramatic roles, but when she does comedy the character overrides her own ego and personality - with the exception of her work on "Angels in America" but that was mostly due to the marvelous direction by Mike Nichols.
But this chameleonic ability is exactly why I mentioned Allison Janney - I've never seen her look or feel the same from part to part. She really gets into the characters and forgets herself.
Joanne Woodward is another actress who could do that. Look at some of her earlier work, especially The Three Faces of Eve and then take a look at her in The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds as well as her version of The Glass Managerie, and you'll see what I mean. She might be an excellent candidate to get the award for all-time range for an actress.
These are actresses who make you forget you are watching an actress, and give you the feeling that you're seeing a real person on the screen.
|
| BaftaBaby |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 09:15:05
quote:
Originally posted by lemmycaution
Kevin Spacey?
I refer the honorable gentleman to my previous posting.
|
| randall |
Posted - 01/10/2008 : 03:10:14
Lon Chaney. |
|
|
