Which great actor is currently slumming it hardest?
- Thread starter CaptainCanada
- Start date
The Devil Wears Prada is probably the best regarded "chick flick" of the last decade, and Streep got an Oscar nomination for it.
As I mentioned, I have no regard for luvvie gong ceremonies, and "chick flicks" hold no appeal for me. I have my opinion and others have their opinions. There are no absolutes in personal taste so let's leave it at that.
No--in this case, your opinion is clearly wrong.
The reason you're wrong is because, as you yourself admit, you haven't even been paying attention to the full range of movies in which Streep has been starring lately.
You said:
While she was hardly stretching herself in any of these roles, these are not the only roles she has been taking lately. In just the last two years, for example, she has taken on much more challenging roles in Julie and Julia and Doubt. Her performances in both movies were almost universally acclaimed.
The honest thing for you to do at this point would be to say, "Hmm, I guess I was wrong, I didn't have all the facts." Intellectually-honest people are willing to change their minds in the face of new information. And nobody thinks any less of them for doing so. In fact, being willing to do so is taken as a sign of integrity.
Instead, you've first dismissed this new information as irrelevant, and then finally retreated into pure subjectivity--the last refuge of the obstinate.
And I say that as someone who is ordinarily willing to defend the relativism you articulate in your post.
Slumming does not mean "acting in movies I didn't like". Sorry, it just doesn't. And she probably has enough money that she never has to work again, let alone worry about being a "working actor".
"Streep's performance drew rave reviews from critics and later earned her many award nominations, including her record-setting 14th Oscar bid, as well as the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. Blunt also drew favorable notice and nominations, as did many of those involved in the film's production. While critical reaction to the film as a whole was more measured, it was well received by the public, becoming a surprise summer box-office hit following its June 30 North American release. The commercial success and critical praise for Streep's performance continued in foreign markets, with the film leading the international box office for most of October. The U.S. DVD
release likewise was the top rental during December. Ultimately, it would gross over $300 million, mostly from its international run, and finish in 2006's top 20 both in the U.S. and overseas. It is also the second highest-grossing film in Streep's career."
That's not slumming it, it just isn't.
And that was Glenn Close in 101 Dalmations, not Meryl Streep. Great eye you have there, I look forward to more of your brilliant opinions that have no factual basis in reality.
Since Ben Kingsley, king of all paycheck actors has already been mentioned...
Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
IIRC, he said that he just got fed up making low-budget British movies that nobody saw. He still liked that kind of movie but it was so disheartening making them and then nobody watching them. He wanted to do something high-profile.
Perhaps the thinking is that by being linked to a high profile gig like the SG franchise, it might make it easier for his indie efforts to find an audience.
Wasn't he in that 24 TV movie? That's pretty high profile. However, I really get the feeling that he wanted to do something in space, since he turned down tons of other offers to do SGU. I just think he made this choice at the wrong time; had he done this a few years ago, he might have been able to get on BSG, a show that could've definitely given him a great deal of exposure and been worthy of his talents.
Keeping on the SGU note, Lou Diamond Phillips has been slumming it pretty hard these past few years, being on that George Lopez show (the one that's on Nick at Nite now IIRC) and of course being on SGU.
Well I can't knock him for wanting to make a living or be seen by more people.
He's probably the ultimate example of a guy winning an Oscar and then going absolutely nowhere.
You mean--he's a male Mira Sorvino?
I was going to say 'Marisa Tomei,' but Tomei seems to have made a reasonably successful career for herself as a supporting player.
(The fact that she's a well-preserved forty-six, and seems to be willing to show more skin now than she was when she was younger, hasn't hurt her, I'm sure)
He was. he and Kiefer are friends of old, from another movie in their past. Again, IIRC, Sutherland extolled the virtues of working for US tv during the making of 24: Redepmtion, which may have led Carlyle to take the SGU job.
I've never watched SGU and have no views on it; though I do think that it's cool that they got someone of his calibre to star (I still wish he'd been JJ Abrams' Scotty). But yes, Begbie on BSG would have been pretty awesome: 'Ah'm gunnae twat that Cylon c*nt if he doesnae stop chasin' me up the urse!'
Isn't LDP another friend of Kiefer Sutherland's? Young Guns, Season 1 of 24 etc. It's all part of Sutherland's great plan to take over tv!
I haven't seen Dalmatians or Mamma Mia, but Streep's role in Devil Wears Prada is actually a pretty tough one to pull off without being hammy. She gives Miranda Priestly enough nuance to make her human, which cannot have been easy.
You're probably correct and I lack good critical insight -- okay. Meryl, I take it back, You aren't slumming it. However, Ben, I don't think that Gandhi Returns will get funded.
On that, I think we can all agree.
Yeah, Philips and Sutherland are friends. I think in nearly every season of 24 at least one of Sutherland's friends had a role on 24.
My favourite role of his has to be him playing Hitler in Hitler: Rise of Evil. He was brilliant in that.