This had me thinking after seeing the trailer for A Most Wanted Man. I think in some cases I'll give a movie a pass especially if I really liked the Actor/Actress. With "The Dark Knight" If Ledger was still alive when the film released my opinion of his performance wouldn't change. I thought It was honestly his best work. I also wouldn't be mad if they had a new actor play the Joker in TDKR where I can see hardcore fans would've flipped their shit if that happened.

With John Candy, I will not view his last films because I want to remember his great performances in the classics and not taint my view of him.

Paul Walker I already think the Fast and Furious movies so If there's ever a day I watch the last movie no amount of fandom will change my view of those crappy movies.

Actually 5 and 6 are pretty good. This is coming from someone who didn't and just couldn't jive with 1-3. Haven't seen 4. 5 and 6 are pretty good action flicks

And to answer the thread question. No. Dead or Alive, I take the performance for what it is. In the case of someone like Hoffman, the more I see of his posthumous stuff... I get sad cuz he kept doing solid work. Gandofini keeps getting movies out after his death that it pleases me he liked to work and did good for it.

To take into account their death is like taking into account their personal lives. That shit shouldn't ever be in a person's mind when critiquing a film. It has nothing to do with each other. Most of the time.

James Dean was already dead when his second starring role, REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE was released. A year later, his third starring role, GIANT, came out.

Bruce Lee was dead when ENTER THE DRAGON was released. (A Warner Bros. film like James Dean's three starring roles.)

Alexander Fu Sheng died after a car accident during production of 8 DIAGRAM POLE FIGHTER. It's one of his greatest acting jobs and, arguably, the best film he made. (Fu Sheng's death in Hong Kong occurred ten years to the month after Bruce Lee's death.)

Edward G. Robinson was dead when his last film, SOYLENT GREEN, was released.

If it's an actor we revere, who would not want to see more of them?

With THE CROW, I was going to skip it, so as not to support a production that heedlessly caused an actor's death, but Brandon Lee's mother and wife urged fans to see it, so I went. The Crow comic itself is very dark and melancholic and arose out of the death of someone close to the artist. I tend to remember that more than the film.

I have never seen TWILIGHT ZONE: THE MOVIE because of the carelessness of John Landis and the crew that resulted in negligent manslaughter in the deaths of Vic Morrow, an actor I cared a great deal about, and the two children hired for the scene, Renee Shinn Chen and Myca Dinh Le (who aren't even listed in the cast on IMDB). And I never will.

I'm not sure this answers the OP's question.

(And what are Solid Snake and I both doing awake at such an ungodly hour?)

I just got off of my work shift. Sucking dick on a corner is a hell of a business.

Shame about TZ:TM. I understand the moral objection, but the other three directors involved didn't do it, and as a piece of filmmaking, it's wrong watching.

Hips or lips, or is it just lips?

Both movies were pretty even on the negligence; on the Crow they cut corners by letting the gun expert leave before finishing the scene with the gun play and working the children on TZ beyond what the child labor laws allowed was even worse.

BTW Brandon was never married.

Considering I have never known any of these actors personally, their performances themselves have always trumped death. I didn't think Health Ledger was well liked because he was dead before TDK was released. I just don't buy it. Maybe some people did have that attitude, but it makes me believe they don't know what good work is if it slapped them in the face.

I could tell Ledger's performance was going to be great from the moment I first heard his voice in TDK teaser, and that was good half year before he died. I also thought The Crow was a somewhat good movie with a (at the time) great soundtrack and Lee didn't have any impact on my opinion.

However, I do think that the deaths of these actors did play a part in driving interest of the casual movie goer towards these films.

Oh, undoubtedly.

I'm sure TDK was going to be huge but his deth added some money to it. I wouldn't assume massive amounts but some.

No.

I also have zero interest in celebrity gossip.

I also don't vote because someone puts up a sign that blocks my view of traffic. I vote based on their convincing lies.

Must have been his girlfriend then.

Only feel guilty about dead porn actresses. Fapping to a dead girl feels wrong and awkward.

Seeing a dead actor just makes me sad that I'll never see them again. I still find it tough to watch a movie with JT Walsh this long after his death because he was my favorite character actor for years.

It feels weird to me when the actor dies on the set, as is the case with THE CROW and THE TWILIGHT ZONE, otherwise it doesn't have much of an impact, other than knowing that this is the last (or one of the last) pieces of new material you're going to see from the actor or actress.

I love John Candy but his last few movies were crap, dead or alive.

So, no.

I don't understand. It seems fairly common that an old actor dies in between principal photography and release, and the movie has an In Memoriam card. That has no effect on whether I'll see the movie.

Does it make a difference if the actor died after the release? If not, you must not watch movies that are more than 40 years old.

No. Next question ...

I think there are three different things being discussed in the thread:
*altering your view of the film
*altering your opinion of the actor
*altering your opinion on the actor's body of work

My answer is still no. Even in the case of porn.

John Candy is one of my favorites, but I know Wagons East! was crap so I've only seen it once. Doesn't change my love for Planes, Trains and Automobiles or any of his other films.