Great Actors

dante6491

dante6491

dante6491

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So I have just been pondering, over a pint or two, but who of the current generation of actors will take over the old guard per say?

When you think of great actors you think De Niro, Hopkins, , O'Toole, Al Pacino, Michael Caine, Jack Nichelson and Clint Eastwood. All of these guys are approaching the end of their careers. Some of them are already dead like Guinness, Brando, McQueen. Now only three replacements come to mind and they are Edward Norton, Gary Oldman and Christian Bale and even then Oldman isn't that young. The likes of Shia La Beuf shouldn't be let near a camera to be honest.

Am I just not remembering some modern actors? Or is it that the quality of acting going down? I am really struggling to think of a film as good as The Godfather, Lawrence of Arabia, Once upon a time in America, Bridge over the River Kwai etc that has been made in recent years.

Now I am thinking, is it the lack of quality acting that has meant there are less films with great acting in recently. Or the lack of opportunities for actors to make themselves great?

EDIT: Don't get me wrong, (I have just looked at the oscar list of the 2000's) some of the performances are great, Daniel Day Lewis in There will be blood, Sean Penn in Mystic River and Russell Crowe who was robbed for A Beautiful mind), it just seems good acting performances are few and far between now.
 
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Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman immediatley spring to mind.

Michael Caine also.

I wouldn't class Christian Bale as a modern great.

I'd put him in the same league as Leonardo DiCaprio, Bruce Willis and George Clooney who are very very good actors but not greats imo.
 
Daniel day lewis, Leo di caprio, matt damon, kevin spacey, Ian Mc shane's performance in deadwood put him right up there with the best of them as well. I could go on and on, it all depends on what you class as a great actor really.
 
I suppose I have done this slightly wrong, there are three generations of actors now. You have the old guys, then the DiCaprios, Clooneys etc, then a distinct lack of anyway.

I only included Bale because he is quite weird. Phenomenal performances in American Psycho and The Machinist, but then Batman, Terminator :(

I mean all the people mentioned so far are great, some fantastic, other beyond all comprehension, but I was rather rambling towards the lack of young good actors. Is it something they learn with experience or are they just naturals?
 
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dante6491 said:
Now I am thinking, is it the lack of quality acting that has meant there are less films with great acting in recently. Or the lack of opportunities for actors to make themselves great?
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I think it's the lack of opportunities. Films are way too focused on the effects and far less on the dialogue these days. Actors seem to be more about muscles and looks rather than acting ability. The sad thing is that many of them could be great with the right parts.
 
I would think they'd get better with age.

Some child actors are really good though and are destined for greatness if they could just lay off the white stuff when they eventually get given a large sum of money :p
 
Cybermyk said:
I think it's the lack of opportunities. Films are way too focused on the effects and far less on the dialogue these days. Actors seem to be more about muscles and looks rather than acting ability. The sad thing is that many of them could be great with the right parts.
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That is kind of what I was thinking. Take Heath Ledger, quite an average actor I think, but then took the Joker Role and made it his own, the movie is more about him than the titular character. That is only one role though, are actors lacking initiative and ambition, only in it for the money?
 
dante6491 said:
That is kind of what I was thinking. Take Heath Ledger, quite an average actor I think, but then took the Joker Role and made it his own, the movie is more about him than the titular character. That is only one role though, are actors lacking initiative and ambition, only in it for the money?
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Heath Ledger was just coming into his own. difficult to judge how his career would have went, considering Broke Back Mountain, Im Not There and Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus were the films before Dark Knight.

i think he was heading in the right direction.

got to remember, Matt Damon is not a great actor, he gives good performances, but he's not a great actor. He doesn't adjust massively for different roles, watch all his movies, theres not a massive degree of difference.

unlike say, Sean Penn or Gary Oldman for instance.

I wouldn't put Denzel Washington into the great actors either, because every role of his is good, but nonetheless its Denzel Washington, John Q to Out Of Time to Remember The Titans on and on, its all Denzel Washington performing as Denzel Washington.

Difficult to Judge where our next line of greats will come from.

Personally i find James Franco and Emile Hirsch as two big prospects for the future.
 
I enjoy watching Cillian Murphy, Forrest Whitaker, Di caprio and Ewan Macgregor.

dante6491 said:
I only included Bale because he is quite weird. Phenomenal performances in American Psycho and The Machinist, but then Batman, Terminator :(
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Bale makes an excellent Batman, espcecially for Nolans creation. He manages to portray a life filled with sadness and a drive for justice quite well, infact he delves deeper into the complex Bruce Wayne character than any other from the live action films.
 
I'm a fan of Will Smith just because he's cool :D

I think Heath Ledger would have been a great. :(
 
shipinabottle said:
Heath Ledger was just coming into his own. difficult to judge how his career would have went, considering Broke Back Mountain, Im Not There and Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus were the films before Dark Knight.
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I thought Heath filmed Imaginarium after the Dark Knight?

I would definitely class Christian Bale as a modern great, there's no question about it as far as I'm concerned.

Gary Oldman is my favourite actor of all time, Léon, the Fifth Element, Harry Potter (yeah, I just said that), Batman Begins and the Dark Knight. There are countless more.

Morgan Freeman certainly shouldn't be granted such a title, he'd be a shoe-in for his generation's most likeable guy, though.
 
I think the fact there are so many character-weak, action-oriented blockbusters in today's cinema doesn't help us when judging possible 'greats'. When the option is available to do a lot less work, for a fair bit more money, it makes it hard to judge actors who are happy to take the bill-paying roles now and then.

For example, take Brad Pitt. Give him a decent character, like in Fight Club, Seven, Twelve Monkeys, etc, and I'd say he's easily one of the best actors of the modern age. Yet he's also just as happy to phone it in for the likes of Troy, or the Oceans films. The question is whether taking these roles makes him a worse actor? Logically you would say no, but there is always a certain amount of charm to someone who will duck mainstream roles for the more interesting ones.
 
Johnny Depp anyone?

I like Ryan Gosling. He performance in The Believer was astounding. One of the best "proper" actors of his generation. Also Joseph Gordon Leivitt and Philip Seymour Hoffman.

How about some women? My favourites are Naomi Watts and Cate Blanchett.
 
to add a few to who's not been mentioned so far - Patrick Stewart, Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis.

Out of women, I'd say Kate beckinsale, Judy Dench are a couple that spring to my mind instantly.
 
Some good names being mentioned here. Kevin Spacey, Gary Oldman, Tom Hanks, Bill Murray... all great.

While Will Smith doesn't always do really "deep" films, I do think he's one of the modern greats. He always puts in a good performance, even if they're not the most challenging roles, but then again he has done some more serious stuff, and something like Ali is pretty hardcore.
 
My issue with some of the so called greats is that they just play the same character (themselves) in every movie. Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman are two of the biggest offenders IMHO. Sure they're great at doing the same thing over and over again but surely acting is becoming a different person not just adapting slightly to fit the script/story.

A great actor for me is someone versitile not just someone who can tweak their own persona to meet the films requirememnts.
 
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