SwiftDeath
Member
They want name recognition, they want to be able to put random guy A in a picture and sell the movie on his name.
What modern actors have the kind of sway that throwing some of the big actors back in the day into a movie did?
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Hollywood now views action movies stars as disposable (New York Times)
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They want name recognition, they want to be able to put random guy A in a picture and sell the movie on his name.
What modern actors have the kind of sway that throwing some of the big actors back in the day into a movie did?
He's had a pretty great television career already for someone his age. He's extremely attractive and has a good screen presence. Not to mention he'll end up headlining a long-running television series. No question he's set.
Sectorseven
Member
He has the FF franchise, although that's more of an ensemble cast.
Liam Neeson has been doing well.
Father_Brain
Banned
That primarily applies to blockbusters that aren't based on existing IP, and while such films won't completely disappear anytime soon, they're much rarer than they were 15 or 20 years ago.
Rookje
Member
All of those movies/tv shows are basically glorified alpha male worship. All brawn and no substance. I'm a huge marvel fan, but the only movie I really liked was Iron Man. Mostly cause of RDJ's personality. Hemsworth is great, but Thor is just kind of uninteresting. He's a God.
GAF doesn't exactly help, they always analyze the size of the actor's biceps than the plot. "He doesn't look big enough" I've seen numerous times in superhero movie threads.
GAF doesn't exactly help, they always analyze the size of the actor's biceps than the plot. "He doesn't look big enough" I've seen numerous times in superhero movie threads.
I'm not big on the action movies, but I get the sense that Hollywood has been trying to create action stars by taking a handsome face and pumping him full of steroids and chicken breast and throwing him in a stupid comic book movie, and then they wonder why nobody gives a shit about him. Charisma is more important than looks/muscles, as well as actually having good roles/movies.
SwiftDeath
Member
Hollywood is still using the same playbook but instead of trying to make it work on actors names, they upsell the directors and often even do voodoo with the executive producers being someone "interesting" simply because the actors of modern times don't carry the same weight as the older generations did.
If only we could inject charisma.
This was actually a huge issue with WWE's recruiting over the past decade. It's starting to get corrected now.
CassidyIzABeast
Member
I knew this after Adrien Brody played the bad ass team leader in Predators.
Father_Brain
Banned
And the two Taken films had budgets of $25m and $45m, respectively. Not blockbusters by any means, at least not in the sense that this article is about.
SlickShoesRUCrazy
Member
That's unfortunate.
The best action stars are still those of the 80's and 90's.
Like I pretty much will watch anything with Arnold or stalone or willis
The best action stars are still those of the 80's and 90's.
Like I pretty much will watch anything with Arnold or stalone or willis
BadAss2961
Member
That's a lot of chicken.
ZeroGravity
Member
If you're playing an existing, pre-established character, you should probably look at least somewhat like that character, including their build.
Sectorseven
Member
That series borrowed a lot from the Bourne films which helped.
BadAss2961
Member
I see potential in Momoa. Not Arnold or Stallone type potential, but his look stands out and he has a lot of charisma in interviews. He's not a forgettable baby face like the many others.
He just hasn't landed that right part yet. Maybe one of the rumored DC roles could be it.
Warm Machine
Member
I think we find that good action stars have to first appear in good movies. It took The Terminator to make Arnie not typecast as a barbarian and Stallone had to write Rocky himself. Bruce Willis would have gone back to TV if not for Die Hard making his film career. Kurt Russel needed a bunch of tough guy who doesn't give a shit roles to make him a non Disney actor. After that a handful of good action directors more or less dictated who became stars by their investments in the material.
Never have breakout action stars appeared without at least a decent film to back them up. The last Conan was terrible. Why was Conan a nice guy hanging out with some modern woman?
Never have breakout action stars appeared without at least a decent film to back them up. The last Conan was terrible. Why was Conan a nice guy hanging out with some modern woman?
I think that is more Hollywood's problem than theirs. You look at that side column of the stars they talk about, and they could be the same person. I'm surprised they aren't, really.
Generic Hunks // QB Jocks // Action Stars. Ill take Bruce Willis tanks.
Don't discuss the endgame.
ReturnOfTheRAT
Member
Too much of the same thing. That's the problem with Hollywood. You might say, variety, I'd say lack of quality and maybe most importantly in this instance: their individuality. At one time there were a dependable crop of male and female actors that you could go to delivery the goods. The differences were discernible. They had also done things on the screen or played characters that you can hang on to. Nowadays, anyone, no matter what is thrust into the spotlight because attention spans are short and the next big thing is needed. I'm not going to slight the list of guys drawn for this article for what they can or can't do in front of the camera, but come on, you can swap most of them out and not even notice. The field is completely diluted with a lot of sameness these days. These producers have a one-track mind and keep hitting on the same look hoping for different outcomes. Actor #1 didn't work? get their clone who can do relatively the same thing.
teruterubozu
Member
RDJ sells only as Iron Man. His last movie, Due Date, with Zach Galafianakis didn't do squat. Another Sherlock is supposedly coming but, come on, Cumberbatch is Sherlock at this point.
I don't know why Hollywood insists on casting 'young muscular football player types' for all of these action roles.
Bruce Willis looked like your normal everyday guy in Die Hard. Kiefer Sutherland doesn't seem all that intimidating physically but when he snaps into Jack Bauer mode you feel like he could take on anyone. Liam Neeson is friggen 61 years old and probably the most badass action star today.
I realize those examples are all older guys and hollywood execs want younger dudes to lead their big new franchise, but still... I'd like to see these casting directors think outside of the box a little.
Bruce Willis looked like your normal everyday guy in Die Hard. Kiefer Sutherland doesn't seem all that intimidating physically but when he snaps into Jack Bauer mode you feel like he could take on anyone. Liam Neeson is friggen 61 years old and probably the most badass action star today.
I realize those examples are all older guys and hollywood execs want younger dudes to lead their big new franchise, but still... I'd like to see these casting directors think outside of the box a little.
If Ghostbusters 3 ever gets made, he can be the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man.
Kinda this. It's probably cheaper for them to get a new batch of generic dudes who look the part who they only have to pay a fraction of the money.
Then use the director or the IP as the draw of the movie instead of the stars.
Sounds like there trying to increase profit margins. There unable to increase profits externally through prices or more customers so there going for the internal margins. Being careful not to make too big of stars, not giving them many or decent roles and not paying them well. I bet Arnold would have no chance of getting through now. I wouldnt be surprised if this was an offical unwritten strategy through all the studios, similar to the deals in the tech industry where they did a deal not to poach each others staff. Instead they have a list or something of generic throw away people they pick from.
I think that has more to do with Marvel being super cheap.
Tragicomedy
Member
So...he used steroids.
Why do you say that?
After seeing the 300 regimen I can't doubt numbers like that.
Booty Patrol
Banned
Well the majority of recent Hollywood action films are disposable, so I suppose the actors in these films also being disposable isn't a surprise.
Like the article in the op says, any actor can "bulk up" if sufficiently motivated, look at Christian Bale. Trying to scout high school athletes and saying they'll be movie stars just because they're ripped is pretty backwards. You can look like the Rock, but if you've got the charisma of John Cena, you're going nowhere. That's why Willis and Neeson are so great. Any big dude can convince you he's big, but it's something else entirely to convince you he's got a particular set of skills, so yippee-ki-yay motherfucker.
Tragicomedy
Member
You don't doubt that an already muscular man can put on 30 pounds of muscle in 6 weeks? Based on a crossfit-like 300 workout where all the guys were using gear, and they had makeup applied to accentuate their abs in the film?
The McDonald Model (the dude coaches bodybuilders for a living) says that an average beginner can max out at roughly 25 pounds of muscle gain in a year. We're supposed to believe an already accomplished bodybuilder naturally put on more than that in 6 weeks?!?
Even using steroids, I find the claim extremely dubious.
SwiftDeath
Member
As much as gaf loves Chris Hemsworth I really don't think his name can sell the masses on a movie
I've seen Momoa in two roles:
Stargate: Atlantis. Brooding rageaholic badass dude who grouses about everything.
Game of Thrones: Brooding rageaholic badass dude who rapes his child bride until she loves him and then dies.
Not exactly dynamic characters. Seems like a totally cool dude IRL though!
Stargate: Atlantis. Brooding rageaholic badass dude who grouses about everything.
Game of Thrones: Brooding rageaholic badass dude who rapes his child bride until she loves him and then dies.
Not exactly dynamic characters. Seems like a totally cool dude IRL though!
Conan should have been it, but Lionsgate spent a ton of money yet failed to spend where it really counts: on the director and screen writer. So they wound up with a shit script and a shit director and low-and-behold, a poor film. I don't blame Momoa for a weak performance...it's likely a result of the direction, as is often the case, I suspect.
See You Next Wednesday
Banned
You do know he has been making action movies since the early '90s?
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