JLambert58 Posted August 19, 2017 Share Posted August 19, 2017 I'd like to differentiate between Leading Men (or women) and Character actors. Leading men essentially play themselves in every role (i.e. Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Sidney Poitier) and character actors transform themselves into something very different for every role. (i.e. Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman) The interesting thing is: There are guys like Johnny Depp who have the looks of a leading man but has had almost no success playing those parts, but is a genius at character roles. (ditto Brad Pitt) Guys that look like character actors and can play them but are actually good in leading roles like Chris Pratt. Then there are guys who play some of both successfully or a hybrid like Denzel Washington, Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro. Having said all that, my all-time favorite Leading and Character actors are: Leading Denzel Washington Tom Cruise Robert DeNiro Marlon Brando Tom Hanks Character Johnny Depp Laurence Olivier Daniel Day Lewis Paul Giamatti Gary Oldman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 As much as I like both Denzel and Tom Cruise, they are both highly overrated and neither deserve to be mentioned in the discussion for BEST actor. If they are one of your favorites, then thats perfectly fine....but favorite =/= best. Cruise and Denzel are probably both in my top 10 in terms of FAVORITES, if only because both are highly entertaining and usually in very good movies.....as opposed to a guy like Daniel Day Lewis, who is always amazing acting-wise, but not in enough great, entertaining movies. Cruise and Denzel are solid-good actors, but never anything special IMO in terms of acting ability. They dont have much range and get by mainly by being extremely charismatic and generally entertaining personalities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLambert58 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 4 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said: As much as I like both Denzel and Tom Cruise, they are both highly overrated and neither deserve to be mentioned in the discussion for BEST actor. If they are one of your favorites, then thats perfectly fine....but favorite =/= best. Cruise and Denzel are probably both in my top 10 in terms of FAVORITES, if only because both are highly entertaining and usually in very good movies.....as opposed to a guy like Daniel Day Lewis, who is always amazing acting-wise, but not in enough great, entertaining movies. Cruise and Denzel are solid-good actors, but never anything special IMO in terms of acting ability. They dont have much range and get by mainly by being extremely charismatic and generally entertaining personalities. Fair enough about Cruise. I hesitated to put him on the list. He was one of my favorites when I was younger. Kinda over it now but he is still entertaining. Think he got greedy with all the action movies. But Denzel is a different story imo. Have you seen Malcolm X? Loved him and Hawke in Training Day, and recently saw Fences which I thought he was excellent in also. You could go in a lot of different directions with this, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKTexans Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 15 hours ago, JLambert58 said: Leading Denzel Washington Tom Cruise Robert DeNiro Marlon Brando Tom Hanks Character Johnny Depp Laurence Olivier Daniel Day Lewis Paul Giamatti Gary Oldman I wouldn't have Depp in my top 5 character for two reasons. A) far too many duds B) Alice in wonderland, Pirates, Dark Shadows, the lone ranger, Charlotte and the chocolate factory. All the same character. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 3 hours ago, JLambert58 said: Fair enough about Cruise. I hesitated to put him on the list. He was one of my favorites when I was younger. Kinda over it now but he is still entertaining. Think he got greedy with all the action movies. But Denzel is a different story imo. Have you seen Malcolm X? Loved him and Hawke in Training Day, and recently saw Fences which I thought he was excellent in also. You could go in a lot of different directions with this, obviously. Cruise is just really entertaining IMO. Thats all it comes down to. Denzel has some really good performances, for sure, but I never felt like he transformed himself for a role or really stretched to be a different character. Basically what Im saying is, he never played a role that made me forget he was Denzel Washington in the same way truly great actors have made me forget who they are during their great performances. And dont get me wrong....that doesnt bother me at all. Denzel is highly entertaining and I enjoy almost all of his movies. I just think he is and always has been somewhat limited, but he gets the most out of what he is limited to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvert28 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 19 hours ago, JLambert58 said: I'd like to differentiate between Leading Men (or women) and Character actors. Leading men essentially play themselves in every role (i.e. Tom Cruise, Harrison Ford, Clint Eastwood, John Wayne, Sidney Poitier) and character actors transform themselves into something very different for every role. (i.e. Johnny Depp, Daniel Day Lewis, Gary Oldman) The interesting thing is: There are guys like Johnny Depp who have the looks of a leading man but has had almost no success playing those parts, but is a genius at character roles. (ditto Brad Pitt) Guys that look like character actors and can play them but are actually good in leading roles like Chris Pratt. Then there are guys who play some of both successfully or a hybrid like Denzel Washington, Jim Carrey, Will Smith, Matt Damon, Tom Hanks, Robert DeNiro. Having said all that, my all-time favorite Leading and Character actors are: Leading Denzel Washington Tom Cruise Robert DeNiro Marlon Brando Tom Hanks Character Johnny Depp Laurence Olivier Daniel Day Lewis Paul Giamatti Gary Oldman I would be hesitant to put Depp in that Character category then if you have DeNiro and Brando in there. For quite a few years now he has had a tendency to play himself, the most notable being Lone Ranger. He was basically Jack Sparrow all over. Leading men that always play themselves, while not always a bad thing. Is different from the method actor. The 3 most successful Leading Men of all time IMO are Charlton Heston - Who I think takes the cake he was basically the epitome of A-List actors for a long while when he did movies. I think he was the original A-List actor. John Wayne- I mean this was beyond obvious right? Jack Nicholson- Great actor, but relied on his own charm in so many roles. Basically being himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mission27 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Deniro probably Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvert28 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 4 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said: Cruise is just really entertaining IMO. Thats all it comes down to. Denzel has some really good performances, for sure, but I never felt like he transformed himself for a role or really stretched to be a different character. Basically what Im saying is, he never played a role that made me forget he was Denzel Washington in the same way truly great actors have made me forget who they are during their great performances. And dont get me wrong....that doesnt bother me at all. Denzel is highly entertaining and I enjoy almost all of his movies. I just think he is and always has been somewhat limited, but he gets the most out of what he is limited to. I don't think he's been limited. He picks roles best suited for him. But he's never challenged himself. Not like Forrest Whitaker in Last King of Scotland. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
43M Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Just now, Calvert28 said: I don't think he's been limited. He picks roles best suited for him. But he's never challenged himself. The bolded is a bit contradictory. If he has never challenged himself (which I agree with), then he has limited himself. Anyway, Ive had debates about this in the past, and I know not everyone will agree with me, but even with all of his great performances, Ive always felt he was limited. COULD he be more? Perhaps....but in most of his roles....it just feels like Denzel Washington playing an alternate version of Denzel Washington....not playing a completely different character. Same applies for Tom Cruise. Like I said....I love both of them....but it is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Calvert28 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Just now, FourThreeMafia said: The bolded is a bit contradictory. If he has never challenged himself (which I agree with), then he has limited himself. Anyway, Ive had debates about this in the past, and I know not everyone will agree with me, but even with all of his great performances, Ive always felt he was limited. COULD he be more? Perhaps....but in most of his roles....it just feels like Denzel Washington playing an alternate version of Denzel Washington....not playing a completely different character. Same applies for Tom Cruise. Like I said....I love both of them....but it is what it is. Oh the way you made it come across, is that there was outside influences that have limited his performance. Quote I just think he is and always has been somewhat limited, but he gets the most out of what he is limited to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
O'Doyle Rules Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 We've had this discussion before in the old site about Denzel before and I have to agree. While he is a great actor, he usually just plays a version of himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mse326 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 Actor - Tom Hanks Actress - Katharine Hepburn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRider Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 I'll say Marlon Brando. Everything he did was phenomenal acting. Great range, too. He went from musicals to live theater to the Godfather. My wife and I just watched Guys and Dolls the other night; Brando put Frank Sinatra to SHAME. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLambert58 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 8 hours ago, FourThreeMafia said: Cruise is just really entertaining IMO. Thats all it comes down to. Denzel has some really good performances, for sure, but I never felt like he transformed himself for a role or really stretched to be a different character. Basically what Im saying is, he never played a role that made me forget he was Denzel Washington in the same way truly great actors have made me forget who they are during their great performances. And dont get me wrong....that doesnt bother me at all. Denzel is highly entertaining and I enjoy almost all of his movies. I just think he is and always has been somewhat limited, but he gets the most out of what he is limited to. That's why I made the distinction between Leading and Character actors. Denzel is the quintessential leading man. Always Denzel but always good imo. I used to joke around about Tom Berenger. (Announcer's voice: "Starring Tom Berenger playing... Tom Berenger! playing... (whatever role)" lol Favorite Denzel line: "King Kong ain't got **** on me!!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devils1854 Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 3 hours ago, O'Doyle Rules said: We've had this discussion before in the old site about Denzel before and I have to agree. While he is a great actor, he usually just plays a version of himself. Denzel plays Denzel in a Denzel movie. @HorizontoZenith is gonna jizz his pants from this mention, but at least Gary Oldman goes out of his way to play different characters and challenges himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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