I go away and unplug from the internet only to discover that a current favourite actor of mine, Charlie Hunnam, has more then likely been cast in the Fifty Shades of Grey film.
I hope there was a dump truck full of money involved.
I don’t really fault him for it and honestly, having not read the book and have only heard what it was about (S&M, sex and former Twilight fan fic), I may just be making a generalization here with the thought that this movie is going to be bad. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe this will be a tour de force and sweep the awards, becoming the darling of critics and film goers alike.
Or maybe it will be a crapfest.
But it did get me to thinking. It’s okay for good actors to be in awful films. And I don’t mean just at the beginning of their career. Actors always have to get their start somewhere and I’m not going to fault George Clooney for doing Revenge of the Killer Tomatoes. He was young and needed a job to get to better and bigger roles. However, I can fault Clooney for Batman and Robin, a movie even he considers crap. But he bounced back and has done good work since. And there are plenty of good actors who have done terrible films and it doesn’t dent their career. Here’s a few examples.
Christopher Walken
The Good: Annie Hall, The Deer Hunter, Pulp Ficition
The Crap: The Prophecy II & III, Joe Dirt, The Stepford Wives
Christopher Walken is an an actor from the old school. By that I mean he seems to take jobs just for the work. As an actor, especially back a number of decades, you were taught that to do good work was great but to eat was better and if you didn’t know where that next paycheck was coming from, you might not be eating. So Walken, like a number of good actors of his generation, won’t say no even to things that must have obviously looked bad. Take The Prophecy series for instant. I can see how the first one grabbed him. On paper, it looked like a decent little blockbuster. Hell, as a teen I thought it was going to be good and in the end it turned out alright. Not great but not the worst film I’ve ever seen. But at no point did I think parts two or three were worth looking at and I was right because they are bad. There is no way you can convince me that they looked remotely good on paper. Same goes for Joe Dirt. “Hmmm David Spade is the star?… I have been wanting to buy a new solid gold rocket car. I’m sure this can’t miss.” Despite these missteps, he has still done some decent work since.
Ben Kingsley
The Good: Gandhi, Bugsy, The House of Sand and Fog, Schindler’s List
The Bad: Bloodrayne, The Love Guru, Thunderbirds
Ben Kingsley is an Oscar winner and a man who actually deserves the award. He is a great actor….who has made some horrible films. Thunderbirds I can forgive as I had hopes for that film myself but Bloodrayne, a film based on a video game directed by Uwe Bull…..well that sentence pretty much explains how bad it is. But hey, Kingsley has had a decent career since The Love Guru. The same can’t be said of it’s star.
Michael Caine
The Good: Get Carter, Hannah and her Sisters, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
The Bad: Jaws The Revenge, Get Carter (remake), The Weather Man
Who doesn’t like Michael Caine? He’s a solid actor who makes a lot of good films both in terms of acting and box office. But Caine has been one of the biggest offenders when it comes to good actors in bad movies. The Weather Man is pretty bad but Get Carter is probably the worst remake in the history of film. This classic quote from Caine sums up these choices and probably those of the other two actors on this list:
I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific.
And there are plenty more where these came from. Who’s a good actor who’s made a bad movie? Please place your suggestions in the comment box and maybe we’ll revisit this at a later date.
And remember, if you’re gonna geek out, GEEK HARD!
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