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Under what criteria do some of you people decide that Tim Robbins, Daniel Day-Lewis haven't made it? I suggest that alot of you seem to equate success wholly and entirely on money. Tim Robbins is a superb actor with versatilty in supporting roles and more importantly he can lead a movie with great verve and depth. Look at Bob Roberts, Short Cuts and the Player. Any actor, a director like Robert Altman considers to be at the top of his field, is, as far as i can see.
Daniel Day-Lewis, A man famous for the dedication he puts into his roles is one of the finest actors around. He went to prison for God knows how long to prepare for his role in "In the Name of The Father". Training with Ex- British Featherweight boxing champion Barry Mcguigan for The Boxer, again reveals his dedication. Barrry even remarked that after several months of traing him that, "He would have beaten several of the top ten featherweights of my era". Day-Lewis doesn't seek money and a way into Hollywood to rub shoulders with the big-wigs he works on the projects that intrest him with the directors he admires (Michael Mann, Martin Scorses for example), and he always delivers a performance of great emotional depth (My Left Foot, Last of the Mohicans).
Alec Baldwin seems to be a name thats reuccuring on these fine pages. Despite his pentchant for slicked back hair as already documented, he is an actor of prescence... a MOVIE STAR whereas I would argue that the aforementioned actors are not quite movie stars in terms of their appeal to the mainstream which meassures success by the latest Julia Roberts performance. Well that was the idea, Hollywood pumped millions into Baldwin after seeing potentially the new Rock Hudson, throwing him some big roles that he never quite pulled off. Hunt for Red October is a good example of the way he went: a big role in a box-office cert, one film in a series. It was obvious that the big-wigs had finally lost faith in the creation and decided that Harrison Ford would play Jack Ryan in Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger. Baldwin is always excellent in supporting roles, perhaps this is where his talent lies, as a team player, rather than the star Quarterback (check out Glengarry Glen Ross).
My nomination for the actor who didn't quite make it in terms of my interpretation of the debate, is Michael Biehn. "Always the Bridesmaid, never the Bride" is the story of his life. Fine performance in Aliens and in particular The Terminator, should of elevated him to leading status man, rather than being a tough but vunerable male lead to the strong empowered woman (Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hamilton). His big chance came in the form of Navy Seals. Unfortunatley he played second fiddle to Charles Sheen in a film that was even worse than Charlie's performance (maybe I should have written about him (Platoon, Wall Street, Major League... Post Mortem!). His fall from grace was sudden and harsh, I recentely went round a friends house to see Biehn turn up in a computer games FMV sequences (just like Mark Hammill!) and the other day I saw him in an awful Magnificent Seven Spin-off TV series. Cherry Falls tops it off.
To see an idol of mine when i was growing up, resorting to crap like this is a sad reflection of the way the movies work, so fickle. Yesterdays news.
The rich get richer, the poor get poorer and if the poor get rich, Hollywood'll make a film out of it.
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