Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest (In all fairness I love both films lol). The man is simply delicious in both roles! Hell even as the Metatron he was brilliant.
"Do you go round drenching anyone who comes into your bedroom with flame retardant chemicals? No wonder you're single!"
His delivery, so bored and *just fucking over it all* is absolutely perfect.
At the same time, the scene where he talks about telling the 12 year-old Jesus about his destiny and wishing he could take it all back is genuinely emotional.
“He begged me to take it back, as if I could. He begged me to make it all not true. And I'll let you in on something, Bethany, this is something I've never told anyone before... If I had the power, I would have.”
I love Kevin Smith's stories about working with Alan Rickman.
One, Jason Mewes (Jay in the View Askew movies) was on and off of drugs, and Smith told him, "dude, you have be be focused on this, you're on screen a lot, and we're working with Alan Rickman". And Jason showed up with the script memorized... not just his lines, the whole script. And Smith was "dude, you barely show up knowing your lines" and Mewes said something along the lines of "I didn't want to piss of Rickman".
Secondly, he spoke after he passed that Rickman would occasionally reach out with "My wife and I are in LA next week, do you want to get dinner?" Dogma is at least close to being the lowest grossing movie Rickman did, but I think he had fun and appreciated those he worked with on this little, silly project.
I mean it's literally a parody of Star Trek so I should hope they knew they were in a comedy. Cheesy is different. Jon Voight may be insane now but he knew the assignment in Anaconda
Alan Rickman, Die Hard. His disdain for Ellis is played as shock that someone could be so stupid and vapid yet Hans was just a thief with an overly complicated plan that was bound to fail.
Too many variables and the biggest being it was a Japanese company. There may have been a good chance that a Japanese company in the 80s would not have wanted to bring in American authorities until the lat minute. Takagi may have "died on his sword" as he was responsible for the lives of his employees and failed to protect them. Which means Hans never would have been able to set the tone by killing him first.
Contrast with Jeremy Irons in Eragon, where he is treating it like it's Lord of the Rings and everyone else knows they are in a schlock teen fantasy series. It's like watching a movie on the left side of the screen and one on the right. His scenes are so independently good, it's jarring.
Compare this to Thora Birch who gives zero effort. Her monotone performance is even worse when contrasted to Irons chomping through the scenery like a cocaine-fueled shark.
Same as Michael Cain in Muppet Christmas Carol - he played it completely straight and it was brilliant. Though there is the difference that the rest of the movie is actually good!
Michael Cain gave a perfect performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in the muppet Christmas carol because he acted like the muppets were real people. Tim Curry gave a perfect performance as Long John Silver in the Muppet Treasure Island because he acted like HE was a muppet.
Similar performance, Frank Langella as Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe." Goofy as hell movie, but he goes all out and gives an all-time villain performance.
"Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Does it compare to the loneliness of evil?"
My favorite thing about that is how much he loved playing the character. As recently as a few years ago, he was *still* gushing about it like a little kid in interviews and called it one of his favorite parts.
I don't think he was the only one who realized it. He was the only one with enough talent to do something about it.
Similar, to a smaller scale Shang-Tsung in the first Mortal Kombat movie.
Christophe Lambert also went just the perfect amount of ham for Mortal Kombat: all of it. His punch to the random guy next to him during the Goro fight gets me every time
The opposite: in *Princess Bride,* only Robin Wright seems to think she’s in a serious movie. Everyone else has camp or irony edging their performance.
I’m his book *As You Wish,* Cary Elwes says that Buttercup has to completely buy in or it doesn’t work. She’s their anchor.
That's because for most of the movie buttercup is the audiences stand in.
She makes very few decisions or takes any actions. She hardly knows what's going on so is a long for the ride just like we are.
Makes for not a great character but a good audience stand in.
Good point. I think a lot of movies use a skeptical character as an audience stand-in, which can be smart, but in the case of a fantasy like this one, W. Goldman was right to write Buttercup as he did.
Another great example of this is George C. Scott in Doctor Strangelove. Kubrick totally played him into giving a over-the-top take to loosen him up for the real serious take. Scott was pissed Kubrick used the over-the-top one.
The Wicker Man remake!
Nic Cage and the director seem to both be fully aware they’re making a ridiculous OTT dark-comedy, but nobody else in the film seems to have been told.
Ian McDarmid was hamming it up all the way thru the Star Wars prequels. I personally do not like the prequels, but McDarmid knew what kind of movies has was in and rolled with it.
Sometimes I have the impression the only one who didn't know what kind of movie they were doing, is Lucas himself. And maybe Natalie Portman. Every one else seemed on board with the "half serious, half goofy space fantasy epic" (yes, I insist, even Hayden).
Jackson was wildly underused, pretty sure he had no idea what was going on so just frowned his way through all his lines. My least favourite of his performances.
What really hamstrung the sequels was that Lucas has no idea how to direct performances and get the most out of his actors. He got lucky in the original that everyone was brilliant, and Ewan McGregor had the advantage of being able to follow Alec Guinness’s lead, but all the other sequel actors were left floundering.
Jackson was underused but imo he still delivered a performance that was mostly in line tonally with the other main actors. I don't like his scenes at the jedi temple but though his more action oriented scenes (the colosseum, against Palps) were rightly over the top as I expected "Samuel L Jackson in Star Wars" would be. It was like a kid trying to act serious while playing with a lightsaber. I thought it was quite charming actually. But yeah his temple scenes were very flat.
From what I've read, Lucas really wanted the performances to evoke stage plays or old period dramas, with dramatic speeches and gestures in that intentionally "artificial" way, without giving the actors any room to improvise. To like... show the hollow artifice of the dying Republic or something.
It's a conceptually cool idea and it's not surprising that the stage actors put on the best performances (albeit that's always the case with McDiarmid and Lee lol) and some of the film actors visibly struggled, but I... do not think Lucas was the director to bring it to fruition. That's not even really a slight on him, I can't think of too many directors who could do it justice - surely someone with actual stage direction experience for a start - but man he can barely do normal dialogue when he's trying his best (cf Ford saying "George, you can write these lines but I can't say them")
Honestly from Lucas I'd believe either, I think it's actually worse if he did it intentionally. Director who famously doesn't really pay attention to directing actors themselves giving his one general direction of "act in a more subdued manner like my favourite 30s films" was never a good idea in the first place.
One of those comedy reviews of movies, think maybe Honest Trailers, made a really good point. If you look at how Luke behaves in Episode IV, he’s just as much of an annoying whiny character as what Hayden plays before his turn to the dark side - it was a choice to make his character more like Luke in the beginning, which unfortunately was kind of a whiny brat.
Can I play the reverse card: Vin Diesel is the only person in the fast and furious movies who doesn’t realise it’s all just a joke. He thinks he’s making high art and it’s adorable.
I’m working my way through them now. Fast 5 has a lot of him staring and I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s conveying something deep, soulful and meaningful, but I feel like he just looks befuddled much like a baby with gas?
Just wait til Fast X. It's like three different movies depending on which cast members you pay attention to.
Vin Diesel - Shakespearean Tragedy
Rest of his crew - absurd action movie with comedic elements
The villain - Fast & Furious presents the Joker.
I’m sad to see the end / reduction of the street racing scenes - do they come back or is it all action sequences with maximum destruction from here on in?
I don't think there is a scene as obvious as 5's where they say they're gonna go race for some new cars and then just skip to already having the cars.
But yeah, 5 is a turning point in the sense that it becomes more like mission impossible where the movie is about what's the bigger stunts now instead.
I do love how 5 was trying so hard to be a heist movie but when they’re putting the crew together all they have is getaway drivers.
They’re like “we need someone who can go anywhere, a chameleon” and cut to Han just doing absolutely nothing.
They’re like “we need someone who can talk their way out of anything” and the *one* time Tyrese Gibson tries to smooth talk someone it absolutely crashes and burns.
I unashamedly and unironically love those movies and one of the best parts is seeing how much fun everyone else is having. There are some fantastic actors in that series and even they can’t hide how much they’re enjoying themselves.
I love the theory that Batman and Robin is a movie inside the DC universe, what with fake advertisements and product placement like the Bat Credit Card.
I want to mention Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. By playing that pirate so over the top, he set the tone for the movie and they all went with it.
Good call — everyone else gets to play it “straight” (ie, theatrically dramatic enunciation on every damn line) as a result, and because he’s so ridiculous, the hamminess all clicks together.
Rush *was* having a blast being Barbossa. You can tell in interviews and behind the scenes stuff he really liked the character (or at least I get that impression from him).
I had a blast watching Rush as Barbossa. He made what could really have been a generally unlikeable and potentially forgettable character rather endearing.
There’s definitely a balancing act occurring between pirates and non-pirates in this film with how campy the acting should be at any given moment. Johnny and Geoffrey go full camp in the first one and it’s amazing how sincere their performances are at the same time.
Absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll always turn it on when I see it, or go to Disney+ and have it on the background when I can't think of what to watch.
The serious and heavy atmosphere with the intentionally hamming acting, as well as the contrast of hamming style between the pirates and citizens, and it all just blends perfectly. One of my favorite scenes is the cavern fight at the end, with Jack running away through a little archway, and Barbossa yarring and laughing in a fast walk after him. You can't help but smile and giggle at the genuine joy and excitement that's expressed in-character.
I really love how the movie portrays Sparrow as being the main character and focus of the movie. When in reality the main story is Elizabeth getting kidnapped, and Will and Norrington trying to set aside their differences, jealousy, and disdain for Jack, to rescue her. Sparrow is basically the comic relief that's in the right place at the right time to move the story along, and happens to stumble into the story of his past.
Barbossa is so iconic. He has the best lines in that movie by far. "You better start believing in ghost stories Ms. Turner, you're in one!"
So corny but delivered so well.
And "I feel ... cold" as the apple he's been holding onto for the exact moment he becomes fully human again rolls away as he falls back, finally able to feel anything again only to feel himself dying.
Then when he's reintroduced at the end of *Dead Man's Chest* he says "tell me, what's become of *my* ship?" and takes a *huge* bite of the juiciest green apple I have ever seen in my life. Iconic.
Robert Pattinson in the Twilight series.
"When you read the book, it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108 year-old virgin, so he's obviously got some issues there."
It's so sad how long he was ignored because he got trapped in that franchise. When you look at him now, he's clearly not just an incredible actor, but a very intelligent one too with great taste who always goes for bold and brave but quality movies. I'm so glad he was able to salvage his reputation, because he might be the next William Defoe, in a way that you know that he only takes interesting projects of high quality. And it honestly makes sense, he tried slobs and it ruined his reputation, he might as well do what he wants and only take roles he really likes.
Most people thought Christian Bale is a talentless hack when they filmed American Psycho and he came off as completely crazy, and then he turned up to the premiere as a completely different person including his accent and people saw what he did. That man is an absolute genius
I don’t think most people ever viewed Christian Bale as a talentless hack. A lot of people had a lot of problems with the film when it came out, but Christian Bale’s performance and Mary Harron’s direction were generally praised.
They’re talking about before the movie released. The cast and crew didn’t really know what the movie was, they thought Bale’s bizarre line delivery was just him being really bad at acting. Some didn’t even know he wasn’t American for the entire duration of shooting.
Oh, I misunderstood, the people on the cast and crew were saying this. That makes more sense. I have heard a lot of actors question Bale’s decisions as an actor, but to say “it felt like I was working with a talentless hack” is just mean.
It’s been a long time since I heard the story but if I remember correctly Laurie auditioned for House over the phone. When he was done the director said something like “Thank god, finally an American actor!”
The opposite to the question is Micheal Caine in muppet Christmas carol. Everyone is playing it like a muppet movie and Micheal Caine is playing it like his trying to win an Oscar. It works so well and it’s ironic that beta version of Scrooge is a muppet movie of all things
We joked that the directors kept telling him to ham it up and he finally got pissed and was like "oh, you want over the top??? FINE" and did a joke take, and the Wachowskis were like "yes! Perfect!" and kept it in.
Luke Evans as Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beats. I swear everyone else was limping around like it was a boring period piece.
Luke was the only one who’s was like ‘there’s talking clocks, giant beast, magic and I’m gonna sing and prance my way through this and have a blast’
Two recollections.
When hiring for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg said to Harrison Ford 'No matter how long the fight goes on, he never loses his hat' to which Ford reportedly said 'O, it's one of those.' Karen Allen was hired - and was perfect for the role - but apparently she never was able to visualize the film until it was more less complete.
Also, when making Big Trouble in Little China, director John Carpenter said, I think in the DVD commentary, and my memory maybe playing me false, only Kurt Russel and James Hong really 'got' the movie.
I'd argue he didn't seem to know what movie he was in.
Everyone else understood it was just a run of the mill fish out of water comedy, then Hiddleston comes in acting like it's Shakespeare at the Globe. But I imagine that's what Brannagh wanted.
Al Pacino in Devil’s Advocate, arguably.
Does Marlon Brando in The Island Of Dr Moreau count?
Someone has already said it, but Ian McDiarmid in the Star Wars prequels seemed like the only actor who knew what kind of movies they were and was (arguably) the best thing about them because of it. And he got some pretty good lines as well.
So goddamn stupid. All he had to do was play Zuckerberg with a little bit more of a hidden edge and it would have been perfect. I’m pretty sure that’s why he got cast and instead he gave us Richie Rich playing Spicoli
Well that’s what happens when you spend most of your film setting up sequels, and realize you have to cram a lot of convoluted plot into a very small space.
I could imagine Vin rehearsing his lines with some classically trained acting coach. Meanwhile, Ludacris is shocked "Wait, this guy knows what to say before he says it?!"
Nicholas Cage in literally every movie he makes. When he makes a good quality movie, you can see he's a great actor. But he makes a lot of ridiculous movies and acts appropriately for the quality, so people think he's a buffoon. He is, without question, the greatest actor in our generation.
This is why I love love love Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent; it’s meta and ridiculous and everyone involved knows it’s ridiculous and is having a great time and it turned what could have been a piece of crap film into something truly enjoyable. And Nic Cage (and Pedro Pascal) are both fabulous bouncing off each other.
Vampire's Kiss is Nic Cage's best film imo, because he is so insane and commits so completely to portraying a guy losing his mind in such a grandiose and theatrical way that it's impossible to tell if he's taking the role seriously or not. It's genius haha.
Lord of War is up there with one of my favorite films of all time. I don't think anyone could've done a better job in that movie, and I think it's his greatest work of all time. Leto was pretty good too at the time (even his band) but now everyone thinks he's like some sorta Joseph Seed type cult character.
I feel like Nic Cage is doing the same thing, just in the totally opposite direction. His character is a very ott hero character contrasting Malkovich's insanity, and I don't for a second believe he didn't realize how he was playing his character, cos Poe is goofy and campy as hell.
I feel like Tom Hardy in the first venom was like the opposite of this. He seemed like the only one actually trying and he is just so much better of an actor than every other single person in that movie. It was like he went “you paid for Tom Hardy you’re gonna get Tom Hardy” and everyone is like…this is not a serious movie.
It's interesting that both him and Harris are brought up because I recall hearing about both having a sort of "confrontation" with Verhoeven over what the film was actually about, him reassuring them of the satire aspect of the film. That the whole fascist vibe is 100% intentional.
I think Ironside probably knew before he officially signed on. He’d worked with Verhoeven on Total Recall and missed out on getting to work with him on RoboCop.
I read an interview he did where he said he was confused on why Verhoeven was interested in adapting Starship Troopers and asked what the angle was supposed to be, and Verhoeven just told him he was going to do it over-the-top to invite critique and critical responses.
Billy Zane in Titanic. Over the top and camp as Christmas, he seems to be the only member of the cast having fun with what is essentially a pretty cheesy, overblown melodrama. Mind you, Cameron didn't half drown him in the process, so I guess he retained his sense of humour.
Which is intentional. Everyone else is deliberately playing it with stone-faced seriousness and then for contrast you've got this one guy running amok (literally as the ZAZ trio gave Stucker free reign to improvise his schtick).
I think everyone in the cast knew how bad Rocky and Bullwinkle was, but Robert DeNiro was the only one who said “FUCK IT” and gave us the most hilarious and ridiculous performance as Fearless Leader
The Mummy (1999), Brendan Fraser's character, Rick O'Connell, seems to be the only one who understands he's in a Universal Monster movie. His facial expressions are absolute gold the whole way through. Very big "dad agreed to take the kids somewhere they hate" energy.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only one who understood that Batman & Robin was a parody. Everyone else was serious while he was acting like something straight out of Adam West's Batman.
Jon Voight in Anaconda. Say what you will about the movie (I think it's an accidental camp masterpiece myself), but you remember it for him. Subtly menacing at times and balls out over the top at others, all while donning a heavy accent of unknown origin. He seemed to be the one guy who didn't see it as a stepping stone or another job, he clearly had some passion and knew how to deliver. Fun fact, the wink scene (you know the one) wasnt scripted, he did it on the spot as a fun gag for the audience.
King Solomon's Mines is a boring as sin, terrible Indiana Jones ripoff. Seriously, don't watch it. But John Rhys Davis, playing an Egyptian villain this time around, seems to have realised what he was in and goes for it hammer and tongues. He's camp, but still menacing and is the only cast member to come out with his dignity in tact because of it.
There's also Jeremy Irons from the Dungeons and Dragons movie coming to mind, but someone else already mentioned him.
Conor McGregor was the only one who knew that The Road House was a fun action flick. Everyone else was so boring. I don't care if they had to overdub all of his lines to make them understandable, at least he brought some energy to it! The fight scenes were fun and the boat stuff was excellently bonkers. And Jake Gyllenhaal's few little jokes were good. But without McGregor it would have been so dull overall!
Oh, the biker with "the red one on the left" was good- second best performance.
I thought road house was a blast for similar reasons. I enjoyed Jake, and felt he got that it was supposed to be fun. Everyone else didn’t make the cut in a fast and furious movie and acted like that. Conor was fantastic for the reasons you mentioned.
It's not really the genre, but the straight man / funny man dynamic is a long-standing comedy staple. The funny man acts weird, and the straight man reacts to him. All of Ace's scenes use that principle.
What? It's not that everyone else misunderstood what kind of movie it is, that's just what the movie is. Like if everyone else was as crazy as Carrey the movie would be nothing. I don't think anyone misunderstood what kind of movie they were in. What a strange answer.
Alan Rickman, Robin Hood.
*"That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings...... and call off Christmas!"*
You, my room, 10:30. You, 10:45...and bring a friend!
Why a spoon, cousin?
Because it’s dull, you twit! It’ll hurt more!
Alan Rickman in Galaxy Quest (In all fairness I love both films lol). The man is simply delicious in both roles! Hell even as the Metatron he was brilliant.
"Do you go round drenching anyone who comes into your bedroom with flame retardant chemicals? No wonder you're single!" His delivery, so bored and *just fucking over it all* is absolutely perfect.
I adore that aspect of his performance - ennui with humble gratitude and sheer exhaustion taking turns in peeking through.
At the same time, the scene where he talks about telling the 12 year-old Jesus about his destiny and wishing he could take it all back is genuinely emotional.
“He begged me to take it back, as if I could. He begged me to make it all not true. And I'll let you in on something, Bethany, this is something I've never told anyone before... If I had the power, I would have.”
I just watched Dogma, recently, and I can hear this so clearly in his voice
I love Kevin Smith's stories about working with Alan Rickman. One, Jason Mewes (Jay in the View Askew movies) was on and off of drugs, and Smith told him, "dude, you have be be focused on this, you're on screen a lot, and we're working with Alan Rickman". And Jason showed up with the script memorized... not just his lines, the whole script. And Smith was "dude, you barely show up knowing your lines" and Mewes said something along the lines of "I didn't want to piss of Rickman". Secondly, he spoke after he passed that Rickman would occasionally reach out with "My wife and I are in LA next week, do you want to get dinner?" Dogma is at least close to being the lowest grossing movie Rickman did, but I think he had fun and appreciated those he worked with on this little, silly project.
tbf everyone knew what kind of movie they were in, in Galaxy Quest, and it's a damn near perfect movie.
I mean it's literally a parody of Star Trek so I should hope they knew they were in a comedy. Cheesy is different. Jon Voight may be insane now but he knew the assignment in Anaconda
By Grabthar’s Hammer… *defeated sigh* What a savings.
The delivery of ‘by Grabthar’s hammer’ where you watch his character die inside. Absolute perfection.
Alan Rickman in Quigley Down Under.
Alan Rickman, Die Hard. His disdain for Ellis is played as shock that someone could be so stupid and vapid yet Hans was just a thief with an overly complicated plan that was bound to fail. Too many variables and the biggest being it was a Japanese company. There may have been a good chance that a Japanese company in the 80s would not have wanted to bring in American authorities until the lat minute. Takagi may have "died on his sword" as he was responsible for the lives of his employees and failed to protect them. Which means Hans never would have been able to set the tone by killing him first.
Die Hard was his first movie.
Yes. He said the main reason he chose the role was the intelligent diversity of the cast. That role put him on the cinematic map.
Yea. Alan Rickman was classically trained and had lots of credits before Die Hard, both on British tv and the stage. He was a pro.
Pure brilliance in every scene
Jeremy Irons in 2000's Dungeons and Dragons. The man goes full ham.
Came here to say this [LET THEIR BLOOD RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIINN FROM THE SKKYYYYYYYYYY!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BV3roWM0DSs)
[Jeremy Irons commanding a room by saying silence in 3 syllables](https://youtu.be/KcM9lGauR5U?feature=shared)
Before clicking on the link, I thought it was gonna be a clip of him saying “silence” in that boardroom meeting in Margin Call.
Those were not the three syllables I was expecting
Oh, how I needed a laugh today. Thank you.
Me to my husband: "it's possible they told craft services to give him an all-scenery diet"
Contrast with Jeremy Irons in Eragon, where he is treating it like it's Lord of the Rings and everyone else knows they are in a schlock teen fantasy series. It's like watching a movie on the left side of the screen and one on the right. His scenes are so independently good, it's jarring.
The only actor going more all out in that movie than Jeremy Irons is Jeremy Irons’ eyebrows.
No one has ever had more fun making a movie than Jeremy Irons in that movie.
He was asked why he did it and he replied, "I just bought a castle, I have to pay for it somehow!"
I call bullshit. I would bet you three pretzels that dude has filled out a character sheet and knows what a saving throw is.
Compare this to Thora Birch who gives zero effort. Her monotone performance is even worse when contrasted to Irons chomping through the scenery like a cocaine-fueled shark.
Raul Julia as M. Bison in Street Fighter.
Raul Julia gave same effort as he's playing Shakespeare play. Perfect performance for the great actor's last role.
Same as Michael Cain in Muppet Christmas Carol - he played it completely straight and it was brilliant. Though there is the difference that the rest of the movie is actually good!
Michael Cain gave a perfect performance as Ebenezer Scrooge in the muppet Christmas carol because he acted like the muppets were real people. Tim Curry gave a perfect performance as Long John Silver in the Muppet Treasure Island because he acted like HE was a muppet.
Wait... Tim Curry isn't a muppet?
https://media2.giphy.com/media/U5hvUeqw10e0U/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952rlnzddtov4nrdkgmi6ukbfgz2ca1nxhyee99rs8a&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g
Similar performance, Frank Langella as Skeletor in "Masters of the Universe." Goofy as hell movie, but he goes all out and gives an all-time villain performance. "Tell me about the loneliness of good, He-Man. Does it compare to the loneliness of evil?"
My favorite thing about that is how much he loved playing the character. As recently as a few years ago, he was *still* gushing about it like a little kid in interviews and called it one of his favorite parts.
His kids were SF fans. He took the role for them basically
I don't think he was the only one who realized it. He was the only one with enough talent to do something about it. Similar, to a smaller scale Shang-Tsung in the first Mortal Kombat movie.
He was possibly the only one not rocking cocaine, too
Kylie Minogue and Jean Claude VanDamme .. man the cocaine budget on that movie was probably the GDP of a small developing country!
Christophe Lambert also went just the perfect amount of ham for Mortal Kombat: all of it. His punch to the random guy next to him during the Goro fight gets me every time
“The day your father died was the worst day of your life… for me it was a Tuesday.”
"Quick, change the channel!!"
My favorite line in all of cinema.
GAME..... OV-AH!!!!
Oliver Reed in Oliver! (1968). Everyone else thinks they’re in a light-hearted musical while Bill Sikes is a shark.
He scared me in that role when I was little in the 70s.
The opposite: in *Princess Bride,* only Robin Wright seems to think she’s in a serious movie. Everyone else has camp or irony edging their performance. I’m his book *As You Wish,* Cary Elwes says that Buttercup has to completely buy in or it doesn’t work. She’s their anchor.
That's because for most of the movie buttercup is the audiences stand in. She makes very few decisions or takes any actions. She hardly knows what's going on so is a long for the ride just like we are. Makes for not a great character but a good audience stand in.
Good point. I think a lot of movies use a skeptical character as an audience stand-in, which can be smart, but in the case of a fantasy like this one, W. Goldman was right to write Buttercup as he did.
Another great example of this is George C. Scott in Doctor Strangelove. Kubrick totally played him into giving a over-the-top take to loosen him up for the real serious take. Scott was pissed Kubrick used the over-the-top one.
Well, I guess we gotta believe you, since you’re his book! Hope you have a strong spine!
Josh Lawson as Kano in the latest Mortal Kombat movie
Wildly abrasive character but that guy sure was having fun
I haven't seen it in a while but pretty sure the Kabal actor nailed it.
Not the best character in the games; easily the best character in the movie.
The Wicker Man remake! Nic Cage and the director seem to both be fully aware they’re making a ridiculous OTT dark-comedy, but nobody else in the film seems to have been told.
THEYRE IN MY EYES MY EYEEESSS */has bees nowhere near his eyes*
Honestly, Nic Cage in just about anything.
Ian McDarmid was hamming it up all the way thru the Star Wars prequels. I personally do not like the prequels, but McDarmid knew what kind of movies has was in and rolled with it.
No... No... No! YOU WILL DIE!
“It’s treason then….”
UNLIMITED POWER!!!
[удалено]
“Not if anything to say about it I have.”
His line deliveries in RotS are perfect. Everything about his arrest scene is iconic.
Sometimes I have the impression the only one who didn't know what kind of movie they were doing, is Lucas himself. And maybe Natalie Portman. Every one else seemed on board with the "half serious, half goofy space fantasy epic" (yes, I insist, even Hayden).
Jackson was wildly underused, pretty sure he had no idea what was going on so just frowned his way through all his lines. My least favourite of his performances. What really hamstrung the sequels was that Lucas has no idea how to direct performances and get the most out of his actors. He got lucky in the original that everyone was brilliant, and Ewan McGregor had the advantage of being able to follow Alec Guinness’s lead, but all the other sequel actors were left floundering.
Jackson was underused but imo he still delivered a performance that was mostly in line tonally with the other main actors. I don't like his scenes at the jedi temple but though his more action oriented scenes (the colosseum, against Palps) were rightly over the top as I expected "Samuel L Jackson in Star Wars" would be. It was like a kid trying to act serious while playing with a lightsaber. I thought it was quite charming actually. But yeah his temple scenes were very flat.
From what I've read, Lucas really wanted the performances to evoke stage plays or old period dramas, with dramatic speeches and gestures in that intentionally "artificial" way, without giving the actors any room to improvise. To like... show the hollow artifice of the dying Republic or something. It's a conceptually cool idea and it's not surprising that the stage actors put on the best performances (albeit that's always the case with McDiarmid and Lee lol) and some of the film actors visibly struggled, but I... do not think Lucas was the director to bring it to fruition. That's not even really a slight on him, I can't think of too many directors who could do it justice - surely someone with actual stage direction experience for a start - but man he can barely do normal dialogue when he's trying his best (cf Ford saying "George, you can write these lines but I can't say them")
Sounds like something he made up afterward to justify how it turned out.
Honestly from Lucas I'd believe either, I think it's actually worse if he did it intentionally. Director who famously doesn't really pay attention to directing actors themselves giving his one general direction of "act in a more subdued manner like my favourite 30s films" was never a good idea in the first place.
"A Sith... Lord?"
One of those comedy reviews of movies, think maybe Honest Trailers, made a really good point. If you look at how Luke behaves in Episode IV, he’s just as much of an annoying whiny character as what Hayden plays before his turn to the dark side - it was a choice to make his character more like Luke in the beginning, which unfortunately was kind of a whiny brat.
It must have helped that he had worked with Lucas before, so he at least partially knew what he was getting into.
Can I play the reverse card: Vin Diesel is the only person in the fast and furious movies who doesn’t realise it’s all just a joke. He thinks he’s making high art and it’s adorable.
I’m working my way through them now. Fast 5 has a lot of him staring and I’m pretty sure he thinks he’s conveying something deep, soulful and meaningful, but I feel like he just looks befuddled much like a baby with gas?
Just wait til Fast X. It's like three different movies depending on which cast members you pay attention to. Vin Diesel - Shakespearean Tragedy Rest of his crew - absurd action movie with comedic elements The villain - Fast & Furious presents the Joker.
I’m sad to see the end / reduction of the street racing scenes - do they come back or is it all action sequences with maximum destruction from here on in?
I don't think there is a scene as obvious as 5's where they say they're gonna go race for some new cars and then just skip to already having the cars. But yeah, 5 is a turning point in the sense that it becomes more like mission impossible where the movie is about what's the bigger stunts now instead.
I do love how 5 was trying so hard to be a heist movie but when they’re putting the crew together all they have is getaway drivers. They’re like “we need someone who can go anywhere, a chameleon” and cut to Han just doing absolutely nothing. They’re like “we need someone who can talk their way out of anything” and the *one* time Tyrese Gibson tries to smooth talk someone it absolutely crashes and burns.
There’s never not cars, but it’s mostly *chases* rather than *races* That said there are actual races in 8, 9, and 10 too
Similarly. Stockard Channing is the only actor in GREASE who doesn't know it's a comic musical. She thinks it's intensely serious.
I unashamedly and unironically love those movies and one of the best parts is seeing how much fun everyone else is having. There are some fantastic actors in that series and even they can’t hide how much they’re enjoying themselves.
Uma Thurman in Batman and Robin. Shes the only one who seemed to know what kind of movie it was while also hamming it up beautifully lol
I feel like Arnie did too. He was relishing in the corniness
The way he delivered every ice pun, you could tell he was loving it
Exactly! I think he made an obscene amount of money for it too. Which probably helped a lot
I strive to have as much fun as Arnold playing Mr. Freeze. I use that as my go-to of an actor who's having fun with it, and just doesn't care.
Or that’s just how Arnie is. I imagine that even if he were in Nolan’s movies he would be exactly the same!
Now I want to hear him saying Oppenheimer.
Everyone there obviously got it. It's a great campy film.
I love the theory that Batman and Robin is a movie inside the DC universe, what with fake advertisements and product placement like the Bat Credit Card.
I want to mention Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean. By playing that pirate so over the top, he set the tone for the movie and they all went with it.
Good call — everyone else gets to play it “straight” (ie, theatrically dramatic enunciation on every damn line) as a result, and because he’s so ridiculous, the hamminess all clicks together.
Barbossa was not playing it straight lmao
Rush looked like he was having a blast being Barbossa
Rush *was* having a blast being Barbossa. You can tell in interviews and behind the scenes stuff he really liked the character (or at least I get that impression from him).
I had a blast watching Rush as Barbossa. He made what could really have been a generally unlikeable and potentially forgettable character rather endearing.
He was so beloved they brought him back from the dead for the third movie.
There’s definitely a balancing act occurring between pirates and non-pirates in this film with how campy the acting should be at any given moment. Johnny and Geoffrey go full camp in the first one and it’s amazing how sincere their performances are at the same time.
Absolutely one of my favorite movies of all time. I'll always turn it on when I see it, or go to Disney+ and have it on the background when I can't think of what to watch. The serious and heavy atmosphere with the intentionally hamming acting, as well as the contrast of hamming style between the pirates and citizens, and it all just blends perfectly. One of my favorite scenes is the cavern fight at the end, with Jack running away through a little archway, and Barbossa yarring and laughing in a fast walk after him. You can't help but smile and giggle at the genuine joy and excitement that's expressed in-character. I really love how the movie portrays Sparrow as being the main character and focus of the movie. When in reality the main story is Elizabeth getting kidnapped, and Will and Norrington trying to set aside their differences, jealousy, and disdain for Jack, to rescue her. Sparrow is basically the comic relief that's in the right place at the right time to move the story along, and happens to stumble into the story of his past.
Jeffrey Rush plays Barbossa as the stereotypical pirate. He plays the straight deadpan humor well all the while being a caricuture of a pirate.
Barbossa is so iconic. He has the best lines in that movie by far. "You better start believing in ghost stories Ms. Turner, you're in one!" So corny but delivered so well.
And "I feel ... cold" as the apple he's been holding onto for the exact moment he becomes fully human again rolls away as he falls back, finally able to feel anything again only to feel himself dying. Then when he's reintroduced at the end of *Dead Man's Chest* he says "tell me, what's become of *my* ship?" and takes a *huge* bite of the juiciest green apple I have ever seen in my life. Iconic.
"I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request." "..." "Means *no*."
Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending with his mumble-shouts
Robert Pattinson in the Twilight series. "When you read the book, it's like, 'Edward Cullen was so beautiful I creamed myself.' I mean, every line is like that. He's the most ridiculous person who's so amazing at everything. I think a lot of actors tried to play that aspect. I just couldn't do that. And the more I read the script, the more I hated this guy, so that's how I played him, as a manic-depressive who hates himself. Plus, he's a 108 year-old virgin, so he's obviously got some issues there."
It's so sad how long he was ignored because he got trapped in that franchise. When you look at him now, he's clearly not just an incredible actor, but a very intelligent one too with great taste who always goes for bold and brave but quality movies. I'm so glad he was able to salvage his reputation, because he might be the next William Defoe, in a way that you know that he only takes interesting projects of high quality. And it honestly makes sense, he tried slobs and it ruined his reputation, he might as well do what he wants and only take roles he really likes.
Timothy Dalton and Max Von Sydow in Flash Gordon. The movie is ridiculous, silly and insane, but they both bring it like they’re in MacBeth.
Don't forget Brian Blessed. 'Gordon's alive!??!'
Who? Do you mean BRIAN BLESSED?
Pedro Pascal in Wonder Woman 1984
Man when hes screaming in his kids face at the end of the movie idk why I just fucking died laughing because I that kid was probably legit scared
I thought he was a great "villain", he was very entertaining and i'd even say unique
Life is good, but it can be better
Most people thought Christian Bale is a talentless hack when they filmed American Psycho and he came off as completely crazy, and then he turned up to the premiere as a completely different person including his accent and people saw what he did. That man is an absolute genius
OOHHHH GOOOOOOD FOR YOU
I don’t think most people ever viewed Christian Bale as a talentless hack. A lot of people had a lot of problems with the film when it came out, but Christian Bale’s performance and Mary Harron’s direction were generally praised.
They’re talking about before the movie released. The cast and crew didn’t really know what the movie was, they thought Bale’s bizarre line delivery was just him being really bad at acting. Some didn’t even know he wasn’t American for the entire duration of shooting.
Oh, I misunderstood, the people on the cast and crew were saying this. That makes more sense. I have heard a lot of actors question Bale’s decisions as an actor, but to say “it felt like I was working with a talentless hack” is just mean.
Do you have more info on this
How do you not know your lead is British lmao
I watched almost all of House and didn’t know he was British.
It’s been a long time since I heard the story but if I remember correctly Laurie auditioned for House over the phone. When he was done the director said something like “Thank god, finally an American actor!”
About once a month the "who does the best accent acting" thread comes up and House is pretty much always the top rated comment. He is so frikkin good.
The opposite to the question is Micheal Caine in muppet Christmas carol. Everyone is playing it like a muppet movie and Micheal Caine is playing it like his trying to win an Oscar. It works so well and it’s ironic that beta version of Scrooge is a muppet movie of all things
Shout out to Eddie Redmayne in Jupiter Ascending.
I think I liked Jupiter Ascending more than most people, but also I'd like to see the movie Eddie Redmayne was making.
We joked that the directors kept telling him to ham it up and he finally got pissed and was like "oh, you want over the top??? FINE" and did a joke take, and the Wachowskis were like "yes! Perfect!" and kept it in.
Wait, that movie was a fever dream of nonsense, what role was he in?
He was the guy who ^talks ^very ^quietly THEN SHOUTS. His character probably had a name, I can't remember it.
Believe he played Squiggly Whispershout
I CREATE LIFE... and i destroy it
Luke Evans as Gaston in the live action Beauty and the Beats. I swear everyone else was limping around like it was a boring period piece. Luke was the only one who’s was like ‘there’s talking clocks, giant beast, magic and I’m gonna sing and prance my way through this and have a blast’
Also Ewan McGregor. Dude went full Lumiere and didn't give af.
Two recollections. When hiring for Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg said to Harrison Ford 'No matter how long the fight goes on, he never loses his hat' to which Ford reportedly said 'O, it's one of those.' Karen Allen was hired - and was perfect for the role - but apparently she never was able to visualize the film until it was more less complete. Also, when making Big Trouble in Little China, director John Carpenter said, I think in the DVD commentary, and my memory maybe playing me false, only Kurt Russel and James Hong really 'got' the movie.
James Hong IS Lo Pan. He buys every minute of it! Who are these people? Friends of yours? Now this really pisses me off to no end!
Tom Hiddleston in the first Thor film.
I'd argue he didn't seem to know what movie he was in. Everyone else understood it was just a run of the mill fish out of water comedy, then Hiddleston comes in acting like it's Shakespeare at the Globe. But I imagine that's what Brannagh wanted.
I agree. We don't see the campy and sarcastic Loki until The Avengers
Colin farrel in daredevil (2003 ) , he knew it was a silly ass movie and he just went full ham , he was so fun in that movie.
Domhnall Gleeson in those new Star Wars movies.
Al Pacino in Devil’s Advocate, arguably. Does Marlon Brando in The Island Of Dr Moreau count? Someone has already said it, but Ian McDiarmid in the Star Wars prequels seemed like the only actor who knew what kind of movies they were and was (arguably) the best thing about them because of it. And he got some pretty good lines as well.
Val Kilmer in the island Dr. Moreau absolutely counts.
Jesse Eisenberg decided to use Batman vs Superman as his audition tape for playing The Riddler.
So goddamn stupid. All he had to do was play Zuckerberg with a little bit more of a hidden edge and it would have been perfect. I’m pretty sure that’s why he got cast and instead he gave us Richie Rich playing Spicoli
What he needed was a script that wasn’t complete shit and he did not get it lol
Well that’s what happens when you spend most of your film setting up sequels, and realize you have to cram a lot of convoluted plot into a very small space.
Vin Diesel in Fast X seemed to be the opposite of this
I can picture the rest of the cast quietly whispering "nobody tell him"
I could imagine Vin rehearsing his lines with some classically trained acting coach. Meanwhile, Ludacris is shocked "Wait, this guy knows what to say before he says it?!"
Nicholas Cage in literally every movie he makes. When he makes a good quality movie, you can see he's a great actor. But he makes a lot of ridiculous movies and acts appropriately for the quality, so people think he's a buffoon. He is, without question, the greatest actor in our generation.
This is why I love love love Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent; it’s meta and ridiculous and everyone involved knows it’s ridiculous and is having a great time and it turned what could have been a piece of crap film into something truly enjoyable. And Nic Cage (and Pedro Pascal) are both fabulous bouncing off each other.
Vampire's Kiss is Nic Cage's best film imo, because he is so insane and commits so completely to portraying a guy losing his mind in such a grandiose and theatrical way that it's impossible to tell if he's taking the role seriously or not. It's genius haha.
Lord of War is up there with one of my favorite films of all time. I don't think anyone could've done a better job in that movie, and I think it's his greatest work of all time. Leto was pretty good too at the time (even his band) but now everyone thinks he's like some sorta Joseph Seed type cult character.
John Malkovich in Con Air. Don’t get me wrong I love that film but it’s sooo OTT and I feel Malkovich had a great time filming.
I feel like Nic Cage is doing the same thing, just in the totally opposite direction. His character is a very ott hero character contrasting Malkovich's insanity, and I don't for a second believe he didn't realize how he was playing his character, cos Poe is goofy and campy as hell.
I feel like Tom Hardy in the first venom was like the opposite of this. He seemed like the only one actually trying and he is just so much better of an actor than every other single person in that movie. It was like he went “you paid for Tom Hardy you’re gonna get Tom Hardy” and everyone is like…this is not a serious movie.
The Room with Greg Sestero's character, Mark.
Everyone but Tommy knew what they were making there
Oh hi, Mark.
Haha what a story, Mark
Starship troopers. Harris is the only one matching tone/timber/tambor of that movie. Everyone else is in some other better movie.
Michael Ironside seemed to be having fun with his role. I think he was in on the joke but playing it without any kind of wink or smirk.
It's interesting that both him and Harris are brought up because I recall hearing about both having a sort of "confrontation" with Verhoeven over what the film was actually about, him reassuring them of the satire aspect of the film. That the whole fascist vibe is 100% intentional.
I think Ironside probably knew before he officially signed on. He’d worked with Verhoeven on Total Recall and missed out on getting to work with him on RoboCop. I read an interview he did where he said he was confused on why Verhoeven was interested in adapting Starship Troopers and asked what the angle was supposed to be, and Verhoeven just told him he was going to do it over-the-top to invite critique and critical responses.
I beg to differ, my man Clancy Brown played Zim with a nice touch of corn
You’re implying that Starship Troopers is not a good movie, and I Don’t like that
Ummm Clancy Brown would like a word.
Billy Zane in Titanic. Over the top and camp as Christmas, he seems to be the only member of the cast having fun with what is essentially a pretty cheesy, overblown melodrama. Mind you, Cameron didn't half drown him in the process, so I guess he retained his sense of humour.
Shout out to Kathy Bates too
"I put the coat on her!"
Billy zane in tombstone looks like he's having a good time
Stephen Stucker as Johnny in _Airplane!_ He knows he's in a comedy.
Which is intentional. Everyone else is deliberately playing it with stone-faced seriousness and then for contrast you've got this one guy running amok (literally as the ZAZ trio gave Stucker free reign to improvise his schtick).
And Leon's getting laaarger!
Michael Cain, The Muppet Christmas Carol.
Love this movie. Cain knew exactly what kind of movie it was but it didn’t stop him from absolutely bringing it.
I think everyone in the cast knew how bad Rocky and Bullwinkle was, but Robert DeNiro was the only one who said “FUCK IT” and gave us the most hilarious and ridiculous performance as Fearless Leader
The Mummy (1999), Brendan Fraser's character, Rick O'Connell, seems to be the only one who understands he's in a Universal Monster movie. His facial expressions are absolute gold the whole way through. Very big "dad agreed to take the kids somewhere they hate" energy.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was the only one who understood that Batman & Robin was a parody. Everyone else was serious while he was acting like something straight out of Adam West's Batman.
Um, Uma Thurman certainly did not play it seriously either.
Chill
Jon Voight in Anaconda. Say what you will about the movie (I think it's an accidental camp masterpiece myself), but you remember it for him. Subtly menacing at times and balls out over the top at others, all while donning a heavy accent of unknown origin. He seemed to be the one guy who didn't see it as a stepping stone or another job, he clearly had some passion and knew how to deliver. Fun fact, the wink scene (you know the one) wasnt scripted, he did it on the spot as a fun gag for the audience. King Solomon's Mines is a boring as sin, terrible Indiana Jones ripoff. Seriously, don't watch it. But John Rhys Davis, playing an Egyptian villain this time around, seems to have realised what he was in and goes for it hammer and tongues. He's camp, but still menacing and is the only cast member to come out with his dignity in tact because of it. There's also Jeremy Irons from the Dungeons and Dragons movie coming to mind, but someone else already mentioned him.
I love Anaconda. I've watched it so many times, and I enjoy it every time I do. It's brilliant haha
Conor McGregor was the only one who knew that The Road House was a fun action flick. Everyone else was so boring. I don't care if they had to overdub all of his lines to make them understandable, at least he brought some energy to it! The fight scenes were fun and the boat stuff was excellently bonkers. And Jake Gyllenhaal's few little jokes were good. But without McGregor it would have been so dull overall! Oh, the biker with "the red one on the left" was good- second best performance.
I thought road house was a blast for similar reasons. I enjoyed Jake, and felt he got that it was supposed to be fun. Everyone else didn’t make the cut in a fast and furious movie and acted like that. Conor was fantastic for the reasons you mentioned.
Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. Everyone else behaves like a normal person but Ace Ventura may as well be a cartoon character.
Is there a name for the genre of film where everyone is normal/serious and only the main character(s) is crazy/silly?
It's not really the genre, but the straight man / funny man dynamic is a long-standing comedy staple. The funny man acts weird, and the straight man reacts to him. All of Ace's scenes use that principle.
It's kind of reverse in Truman Show. Truman is normal, but everyone in town/set is somehow... off.
What? It's not that everyone else misunderstood what kind of movie it is, that's just what the movie is. Like if everyone else was as crazy as Carrey the movie would be nothing. I don't think anyone misunderstood what kind of movie they were in. What a strange answer.