Actors/Actresses who never Really Made it Big!

I agree that William H. Macy is an excellent actor, as is Steve Buscemi (who may not have been mentioned) but these are not leading men. They are supporting men. Jeremy Piven is another guy I really like (The Family Guy, PCU).

Daniel Day Lewis is an excellent example however. I was reading entertainment weekly's fall movie preview and he will be in Gangs of New York this fall. (as an aside they also talked about how fall movies would actually have actors who knew how to act)

As for actors like Matthew Broderick, who has picked some very bad movies, they sometimes do stuff on Broadway for awhile.

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Chris Beasley
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I agree with your point about selling out in relation to Robbins and Antitrust. It is certainly hard to see actors of Robbins stature indulging in roles of such a low calibre.

It is perhaps though too an idylic thought to think that they wont do it because of their artistic integrity. Could get by and do what they want to do creatively without generating cash from stalwart acting jobs as we Brits call it?

The only way I can hope to explain it is through a comment a mate of mine somewhat flippantly remarked about Christopher Walken's (suprised no-one mentioned him as someone who should have commanded better roles in recent years) decision to star in Excess Baggage, "when Abel Ferrara's not around he needs to work on whatever he can get his hands on...the man's got to eat!"

In an age where movies get green-lighted more and more on their ability to garner money from the paying public, originality, uniqueness, and creativity are often treated by the studio's with a lack of trust in the public's ability to choose quality films. Speaking of Tim Robbins and this subject, I'd suggest to anyone whether you've seen it or not (especially those who haven't) to watch the Player. Maybe I'm trying to take this discusion in a direction that people don't want it to go, but the idea that many of the actors we grew up with cant get work or decent roles for some reason or another fascinates me. I know that if I ever get to make films I'll hire as many of them as I can (maybe I'll even hire Alec Baldwin!). Anyway enough of the fantasy...

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Don't ever apologize about going off on a tangent or talking about improbabilities,that's what this is all about,US the FANS,fantasizing about what we would do if we had all the control.A scary thought none the less.However we both have come to a mutual agreement.Some stars need to eat I guess;but it just makes me have that much more respect for those actors who seem to never do a bad movie.Like my personal favorite,Kevin Spacey(we don't talk about Midnight in the Garden of ...-K-)he rarely turns out shoddy work.Johnny Depp too,off-beat ones maybe,but not bad.

Jeremy Piven. Did anyone see Jeremy Piven in that excellent NBC show "Cupid"?

Sorry, I know this is a Film forum but he was just fantastic in this show: he played Cupid.

I think it only ran for one season, maybe less. But it was GOOD. Kind of a Calvin and Hobbes relationship between him and his female costar (who was also in a show called Due South, I believe), fantastic writing, and it got canned.

The last movie I saw him in was Gross Point Blanke, he did a small supporting role but got a funny line, at least. I like the guy, wish he did more. In "Cupid" he showed how good he was at delivering very intellectually challenging lines very quickly, to good effect.

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America, 1988

Jeremy Piven rules!
From PCU to Rush Hour 2, Jeremy Piven has been hillarious forever.