acting
Legend is a word that is batted around pretty easily these days, but one person who is fully deserving of that title is Robert De Niro. One of the most celebrated actors of his generation, the New York born actor has ascended Hollywood’s ranks and is now considered by many to be on par with the likes of Marlon Brando. With seven Academy Awards nominations (two wins), as well as being nominated for eight Golden Globes (one win) and six BAFTAS, De Niro is held in high regard by the industry and public alike, in spite of some questionable career decisions in recent years.
How do you categorize Maggie Gyllenhaal’s career? The answer is, you don’t- she does it for you. At first glance, her filmography may seem atypical to the average movie viewer.
Being an actor is hard – and most people should notice this. Spend a few moments trying to learn that exchange of dialogue from that movie you watched the other day, and you’ll quickly realize that regurgitating lines while maneuvering your face in a way that matches what you’re supposed to be feeling is like trying to rub your stomach and pat your head simultaneously (although I can do that flawlessly.) Good acting should capture your soul.
Despite his iconic status as James Bond’s most celebrated foe, Ernst Blofeld has a chequered history in the 007 franchise. It seems as though no one really quite knew what to do with him. The fluctuating, inconstant persona gifted to him by so many various actors was not helped by a legal skirmish in the wings that flared up seemingly every six months.
As Oscar Wilde said, life imitates art far more than art imitates life, and that’s certainly true when it comes to Carey Mulligan’s recent outspokenness on women’s rights – hot on the heels of her stunning performance in Suffragette (2015). In recent media interviews, she’s talked about the inequality that exists in Hollywood, including the wage gap between male and female actors and the lack of films by female directors. But she’s also gone beyond that, to talk about Hollywood’s lack of interest in telling stories about the lives of women.
Have you ever thought to yourself – who is my favourite actor? Whose films do I enjoy the most? What is it about him and his performances that make me enjoy his films the most?
Earlier this year, while getting all excited for the release of Kingsman, I decided to watch Colin Firth and his still unheard of co-star being interviewed on The Jonathan Ross Show. I think it only took five minutes for me to fall for Taron Egerton. His familiar soft Welsh accent, his charisma, his wit, but also his modesty really touched a chord with me.
How is it that so many people remain unaware of the mighty Roger Livesey? This peerless actor was the centrepiece of many of the finest films in British history. Born in Barry, South Wales in 1906, Livesey is rarely invited into the superclub of immortal Welsh greats like Richard Burton, Anthony Hopkins, Rachel Roberts and Hugh Griffiths.
Having recovered from the shock upon discovering that summer 1990 was a quarter of a century ago, I recently reacquainted myself with one or two of the cinematic treats that I first enjoyed at the tender age of 15. Darkman got a repeat viewing, as did the sorely underappreciated Quick Change with Bill Murray. I was especially pleased to find that my personal favourite alumni from the class of ’90 had aged so well:
Madonna is (was, depends on who you ask) at one point considered one of the biggest pop stars in the world, so it came as no surprise when she decided to try her hand at acting. I’m no person to criticize another person’s acting ability (particularly when I have crippling stage fright), but I’m just perplexed about how her films were critical and commercial disasters. If she was one of the biggest pop stars of her time, why didn’t her film career match that same success?
Have you ever found yourself loving the bad guy in a movie? Villains come in many different forms, whether it’s the combined protagonist/antagonist situation like Mickey and Mallory Knox in Natural Born Killers, or the complete polar opposite of the hero, a dark and vicious villain like Heath Ledger’s astounding role as The Joker in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. And with the recent trailer release of the movie Suicide Squad (a team of DC comic villains coming together to take on the missions deemed too horrific for the heroes), it provokes the question:
Have you ever met a person who is simultaneously hot and cold? Beloved and hated? How about celebrated and condemned?
In 2007, I was a zombie and I was murdered by a man named Graham Clarke. Okay, I was actually a hungry film student in Los Angeles and I was working on a short film in which Graham played the hero. In student films, “working” also means being the token extra and that’s how I ended up doing my best zombie shuffle in Among the Dead.
Joe Strummer, born John Grammar Mellon, is best known as the scowling, screaming, warrior-poet who sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar for the “only band that matters”: The Clash. The man with the gravel voice and the idealist political agenda was never afraid to voice his opinions on current events.
Maps To The Stars is about the aspects of Hollywood that, as a film fan, I‘d rather not think about. Written by the acerbic Bruce Wagner, it is about the cynicism of the industry, about the actors who are motivated by vanity and the money-minded executives who exploit them. These people’s heads have been long removed from their shoulders, their molly-coddled lives are run by other people as they incessantly try and top up their serotonin through drink, drugs, sex and bastardised spiritualism with increasingly less success.