James T Kirk school of overacting???
- Thread starter edisraf
- Start date
Oh good. Let's propagate this old hoary load of tripe.
I'm not going to say that Shat did a lot of overacting in Trek, but I find this clip to be a prime example of him doing just that.
http://youtu.be/toG6aSQFF7Y
Its very obvious from this clip Shatner is theatrically trained. However, you cannot use the same method of acting onstage on the screen. You need to be big onstage. You have to make it big so you can fill a theater. You don't have to do that in front of a camera. I just think a little more control would have been nice.
http://youtu.be/toG6aSQFF7Y
Its very obvious from this clip Shatner is theatrically trained. However, you cannot use the same method of acting onstage on the screen. You need to be big onstage. You have to make it big so you can fill a theater. You don't have to do that in front of a camera. I just think a little more control would have been nice.
Yeesh. That's perhaps the best speech Kirk ever gave. overacting?? Horseshit.
As it happens, I channel this speech whenever I argue before a jury. So far, so good.
As it happens, I channel this speech whenever I argue before a jury. So far, so good.
So many comedians and impressionists have imitated Shatner that, as he sailed past middle age, Shatner ended up going them one better and becoming a parody of himself.
He’s actually given some excellent performances throughout his career. Check out The Intruder, for example, in which he played a smooth-talking, rabble-rousing white supremacist.
He’s actually given some excellent performances throughout his career. Check out The Intruder, for example, in which he played a smooth-talking, rabble-rousing white supremacist.
The Risk speech as an example of over-acting? Hardly, it is inspirational, Kirk at his best. One of my favorite roles of Shatner's that does have that rather staccato quality folks claim is in 'The Andersonville Trial' In playing Kirk I'd say it is a great exaggeration.
The Andersonvill Trial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ola-Uy-nTGk&feature=related
The Andersonvill Trial
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ola-Uy-nTGk&feature=related
A
Amaris
Guest
I love the "risk" speech, and consider it to be some of Shatner's best on screen work both then and now. To me it sums up the spice of danger, the cool air of authority, determination, grit and adventure, and does so compellingly. Now, I love Kevin Pollak, and love his Kirk impersonations, but I know they're just caricatures, nothing more.
I'm in the minority. I'll probably be the only one who sees it that way, but I think the delivery of the "Risk" speech is overacting. I love the words, but Shatner hams it up a bit. Long pauses and getting way too into it? That's overacting to me. That's my opinion and you guys disagree. That's cool.
While I'm presently revisiting TOS and I'm currently nearing the end of season 1 I'm really enjoying watching Shatner as Kirk onscreen. He is magnetic and really pulls you into the story and very little of it could be caricatured as has been overdone. He really symbolizes TOS as a series: dynamic and energetic.
That was all way back in the 60s.
Nice choice. How could you lose?You could command people to run through brick walls for you if you made a speech like that.
There are other moments in the series where Shatner goes a bit too far, usually in the dreadful episodes where there wasn't much point taking a subtle approach (thinking Gamesters and Spock's Brain here), but his performance in the 'risk' speech is just perfect, and one of my favourite moments in TOS.
You do realize women didn't start popping out TV trained actors when the first TV signal was broadcast? Many of the actors in the fifties and sixties started on the stage.
I actually miss that type of acting on TV. Most of what we have today is just dull.
While I've never acted on TV before, I have done my share of acting onstage. I firmly believe that there's a fine line between acting dramatically and chewing the scenery. I love dramatic screen actors who can show things with their eyes that most can't show in delivery of lines when its right there on the page. I think that subtelty is amazing. I cannot stand actors who are so over-the-top that it hurts the production.
A prime example of an excellent bit of emotional acting from this year on TV is Jason Segal in How I Met Your Mother. The episode, "Bad News," where his character Marshall discovers that his father dies, was so pitch perfect in every way. What he did with his eyes, his posture, his words... It was spot on. I can't say that I don't disagree that there are very dull actors on the screen today, and we certainly don't have a lot of people I would consider to be amazing actors on film or TV today.
Shatner can be extremely nuanced. I think his first season performances are excellent. The second season, not as good. The third season is where he really hams it up. He does well in Motion Picture and Wrath of Khan (but I put that more on Meyer for reigning him in). Once you get to Search for Spock, forget about it.
Agreed. Shatner struck just the right chord with that speech. Nothing overdone about it at all.
A lot of today’s television writers and actors prefer a “naturalistic” style -- meaning that they try to approximate how people talk in real life. The problem is, the way people talk in real life is usually boring.
I thought Shatner was also pretty good in the other Nicholas Meyer-directed Trek movie, The Undiscovered Country. Maybe Meyer deserves a special Academy Award for getting a restrained performance out of the Shat-man -- twice!
Oh, and it’s “reining,” not “reigning.” Like controlling a horse.
Well thanks! I didn't expect this much of a response, but it all really makes you think!
I can see the point about how stage acting differs a lot from TV in terms of how the actors have to project themselves.
Enjoyed the Kevin Pollak clip. Thanks!
The more I think about my original request, the more I think the clip I am looking for was actually Shatner parodying himself.
I found this quote from an interview.
I can see the point about how stage acting differs a lot from TV in terms of how the actors have to project themselves.
Enjoyed the Kevin Pollak clip. Thanks!
The more I think about my original request, the more I think the clip I am looking for was actually Shatner parodying himself.
I found this quote from an interview.
Agreed!
I don't see anything naturalistic about the way characters interact on tv today. They say their piece, then stop talking while someone else says something, then get their turn again... and all in a dull monotone to indicate their brains are as lobotomized as their faces are botoxed (who needs expression in face or voice? No wonder people think CGI can replace actors).
I see the banter, interplay, debates and arguments of TOS as FAR more naturalistic. It's certainly how people I know talk.
Pausing, as Mr. Shatner does, is actually naturalistic. Often we have to think about what to say next. I've read that that was his motivation. I've also read it was from his star turn at Stratford as an understudy when he really had to think hard what the next line in Julius Caesar was.
What Mr. Shatner does is "acting," not overacting. He was the hottest thing on Broadway when they hired him. Later Trek series could have used more acting IMHO.
Be well, O fellow BBS-ers.
What Mr. Shatner does is "acting," not overacting. He was the hottest thing on Broadway when they hired him. Later Trek series could have used more acting IMHO.
Be well, O fellow BBS-ers.
Similar threads
