Darkfriend

I have a problem.

Some actors BECOME the character they portray on screen and enhance my movie-watching experience. Movies are all about escapism and entertainment.

However some actors I just don't get. I see the actors doing their thing INSTEAD of seeing their characters. For example:

-Julia Roberts: always does the same wacky laugh, always cries the same way and you always see JULIA ROBERTS, not her character (Even in Erin Brockovich with the enhanced cleavage).

-Demi Moore: you know when the director yells "CUT!" she's on her cell phone, getting a manicure and washing her hair with Evian water .

-Jennifer Lopez: she can be a cop, a maid, an astronaut or a plumber I DON'T CARE!! All I see is J-LO getting a paycheck.

-Al Pacino: ever since "Scent of a woman" where Al got his "gruff" voice all he ever does is play himself it seems...

Please feel free to add your own actors who don't seem to cut it...

hmurchison

Deniro- I love the guy but he's pretty much the same in every movie.

Hugh Grant-

SunMonkey

Morgan Freeman is that way for me. He acts well, but for the most part, his characters seem interchangable.

inVectiVe

I've become aware of a vocal minority that feels this way about Jack Nicholson...

Rogue588

well, I only see one thing on Jenny and it's NOT her paycheck...

my list would be too long to comprise..I agree with most of the choices [except Morgan Freeman], but add Jim Carrey to that list..

einTier

Deniro and Nicholson and Pacino. They are all very good actors, but in reality, they are just playing themselves.

To Deniro's credit, he usually takes roles that fit his stereotype, so I don't mind it too much.

jarofclay73

Al Pacino - He's a pretty different guy in "Glengarry Glen Ross," "The Insider" and the Godfather series. I can't speak for his other movies.

Robert DeNiro - You need to watch "The Mission." It's the character which is the most UNLIKE him. You haven't seen his full range until you see this.

Morgan Freeman - He's a pretty different kind of guy in "The Dreamcatcher." For how people hated this movie, I think Freeman was just trying something different.

D-Ball

Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe.

Parcher

Russell Crowe?!?!?

You are strange.

Groucho

Russell Crowe is the only example I don't agree with.

hgar78

harrison ford and clint eastwood.

Flay

Russell Crowe?

Show me the similarities between Bud White, John Nash, Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, Maximus, and SID 6.7.

Rocky_Stallone

Ah, I see what you're saying, you're saying that actors playing the same damn characters in almost every film....my votes:

Adam Sandler
(This is the reason I don't care for him anymore. Adam Sandler is boring now. In every movie he's the same damn person. Can they give him something new? The only new thing they gave him was the devil in "Little Nicky" but other than that was all. He also played a different character in "The Waterboy" and "The Wedding Singer" but all of his other films, he just plays the same old boring shaved head idiot who thinks he's funny. All of his other movies, Sandler is just playing his real self.)

Robert Redford
(He's an excellent actor, don't get me wrong, but a lot of his movies, it seems like he's always the same to me)

Tom Cruise
(I love the guy myself, Cruise is another one of my favorite actors but most of his new movies as of late, it seems like he's just playing himself, but I think we're going to seem something different finally when "The Last Samurai" gets released)

Michael T Hudson

Darkfriend

Was about to say Sly Stallone myself, but his performance in "Copland" was a good effort to change his "image"... Or was it really that good? Hmmm I'll have to see it again.

Rocky_Stallone

Is it just me, or you guys are blind? Stallone plays a different character in every movie he does. I swear it's my screen name that makes people want to start bashing Stallone everytime I post something in the boards. I'm thinking about getting a screen name change again so people won't bash Sly everytime I post something. This is getting seriously old.

Sly is always different in every role.

His character in "Cobra" was different. In "Rambo" he didn't play his ownself, he was different. In "Copland" he was different. In "Driven" he was different. In "Cliffhanger" he played a different character. He was different in "Judge Dredd" and "Demolition Man". He was different in "Get Carter". In "Spy Kids 3-D" he plays a totally different image rather than himself.

Some roles he did play his ownself were "Daylight", "Assasins", and "The Specialist". Those roles were pretty much his same old character but that's about it.

Think before you post after you see my screen name just to bash Sly for fun. Sly doesn't count in this topic, sorry.

Sunday Morning

I think most actors in hollywood strive for the julia roberts syndrome because it involves gigantic paychecks, academy awards, becoming a director's darling and getting a high listing on hollywood's power list.

That is not to say the actors are fully to blame, of course the hollywood system is something that facillitates this and encourages it. It's a shame very few actors care about
the actual character. Perhaps they believe that later in their career, when they have all the money and power, they can do
whatever they want, but it becomes the actual opposite.
With fame and power comes the responsibility to have every single member of the audience relate to your character. Boo hoo.

I can name quite a few... but that just is too depressing.

SunMonkey

Is it me, or do you not respect other people's opinions as you complain in other threads that others don't respect yours?

Is it me, or if you didn't fly off the handle everytime someone said anything you didn't like, a lot less would be said against you?

Alien Redrum

I think you are being just a little biased.

Groucho

I agree that Stallone fits perfectly in this category. Sorry, but it's true. The one exception is probably Copland. Everything else is just "Yo, this" and "Yo, that."

SCHMEGGA

Man, no Ahhhhnold votes yet.


One here for Schwarzenegger (sp?).

Michael T Hudson

I was about to ad Copland as the exception but the rest are all the same.

Mittman

Oh come now . . .

In End of Days, Batman and Robin, and Collateral Damage he played a man who lost his family.
In The 6th Day he plays a man who, for a time, loses his family.
In Terminator he plays a machine with no family.
In Terminator 2 he plays a machine who learns the meaning of family.
In Kindergarten Cop he plays a cop who learns the meaning of family.
In Total Recall he tries to remember if he has a family.
In Junior he plays a man who creates his own family.
And in Last Action Hero he plays a fictional character who learns the meaning of having a family, while in the process spoofing his other films.

Now you can't tell me this guy doesn't have range.

ArchibaldTuttle

It seems like Denzel Washington always plays a righteous, highly motivated, preachy heroic figure


I love actors like Robin Williams, Danny DeVito, Brad Pitt that play a variety of different characters, and for the most part have been pretty successful

wm lopez

Al Pacino is 63 give him a break.
All his 1970's movies you'll find differnet performances.
But as for Jack Nicklson his 60's,70's,80's,90's are all the same except for HOFFA, FEW GOOD MEN.
You have to wonder why he has 3 Oscars and Al only 1.