Some Actors who were really famous in the 80s for example, have slowly disappeared from the face of the cinema world!
Sometimes its a real shame (Christian Slater, Michael Keaton, Michael J Fox)
Sometimes it's a relief (Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren)
For me, I want to see Michael Keaton make a comeback, he was one of my favourite actors: he was hilarious in Beetlejuice and Multiplicity and was excellent in the Batman films and Jackie Brown.
I can't say that I think it's a shame that Christian Slater has disappeared from movies, in my opinion he is a worse actor than Dolph Lundgren. I can't think of any movie where Slater actually put in a good acting performance, regardless of the quality of the film it was in. On the other hand Dolph was great as Ivan Drago(definately better than Mr.T, and certainly not the worst aspect of Rocky 4), filled his role perfectly in Showdown in Little Tokyo, and was absolutely the best thing in Johnny Mnemonic! Ripping on action stars is easy, but it's even simpler when they don't come from North America originally, as in the cases of Van Damme and Lundgren. Dolph's acting accomplishments should be looked at in an even greater light considering the guy speaks five languages! Christian Slater speaks one and still only manages to play himself in every movie. On the other hand, it is truly a shame that a great actor like Michael Keaton does not get more roles, and that Parkinson's has affected Fox's career and life so much, and at the same time Van Damme is filming another movie here in Vancouver, uggh! I wonder if conversations like this are how Tarantino does his casting?!
"If it were beneficial, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect." -Jesus, from the Gospel Of Thomas
It's hardly worth mentioning, since I have always considered him a second-string actor, but I have enjoyed Christian Slater's lovable-loser-who-gets-some-confidence roles in both True Romance and Pump Up the Volume. He's a little too smirky to do it now (he did NOT grow up into Jack Nicholson), so unless he develops another personna, he may be out of luck. John Cusack, on the other hand, was able to make the transition to "adult."
Posts: 41 | Location: Chicago area | Registered: 14 July 2004
That's funny, those were the two films I had in my mind when I made the "regardless of the quality of the film it was in" remark! Great point about Cusack too, he did make the transition that Slater seemingly could not, although I always thought Cusack had a little more talent than Slater to begin with.
"If it were beneficial, their father would produce children already circumcised from their mother. Rather, the true circumcision in spirit has become profitable in every respect." -Jesus, from the Gospel Of Thomas
Although he has made a bit of a comeback with "The Village", you don't see much of William Hurt anymore. Ditto Val Kilmer, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, and Geena Davis.
If one believes gossip columnists, all of the above I mentioned have reputations for being extremely difficult to work with. So when they were hot properties, they were still going to find work. But when they were no longer hot properties, I'm sure most felt that it wasn't worth dealing with these prima donnas anymore.
Posts: 178 | Location: Mercer County, NJ | Registered: 22 May 2004
I actually liked Christian Slater and I think he was occasionnally great, in that movie for example: Very bad things (I think that was it) in which he plays a guy who becomesa psychotic murderer.
I liked Val Kilmer even though I don't think he's a very good actor, he is very average. As for Sharon Stone she made her come back with Catwoman and wants to do Basic Instinct 2!!! (noooooooo!) As for Geena Davis, where the hell is she? The last time I saw her was in Stuart Little!!!
quote:Originally posted by asc85: Although he has made a bit of a comeback with "The Village", you don't see much of William Hurt anymore. Ditto Val Kilmer, Demi Moore, Sharon Stone, and Geena Davis.
If one believes gossip columnists, all of the above I mentioned have reputations for being extremely difficult to work with. So when they were hot properties, they were still going to find work. But when they were no longer hot properties, I'm sure most felt that it wasn't worth dealing with these prima donnas anymore.
I read somewhere like the NY Times, several years ago, that William Hurt's main problem was alcohol; that is why he seemed to disappear for many years. I don't know if it's true....but I was sorry that there was such a long hiatus in his career. NO ONE speaks quite the way he does!
And I have no idea what happened to the women, but one feminist's theory (mine) is that there are many, many fewer roles for women in their 40's (or older). One mother, mature love interest, etc. per movie; unless you get the "whacky old broads" like The Banger Sisters or Hanging Up. If they were additionally prima donnas...well, there's always Meryl Streep and Kathy Bates.
Posts: 41 | Location: Chicago area | Registered: 14 July 2004
I also feel bad for him. I, personally am I a good friend of him and his family and have not seen him drinking anywhere but have noticed his drop in big hits. He has actually been doing a lot of movies but not that big roles and not that big movies.
Posts: 635 | Location: California | Registered: 24 August 2004
I think Mickey Rourke owns this thread. Though not so gradual I guess. He's still in plenty of movies but generally bad ones and with supporting roles. Hopefully "Sin City" fixes that.
Someone mentioned actors/actresses from the 1980s disappearing and I think of all the Brat Pack actors in films like THE BREAKFAST CLUB, ST. ELMO'S FIRE, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH & Francis Ford Coppolla's THE OUTSIDERS.
C. Thomas Howell was a ubiquitous presence back then, but he has disappeared. And the two brothers, Charlie Sheen & Emilio Estevez, both disappeared. Sheen broke the bank with PLATOON and WALL STREET, but has done little else and now is a tv star. Estevez was in the interesting REPO MAN as well as ST. ELMO & BREAKCLUB, but he has fallen out of feature filmmaking.
The queen of John Hughes films such as THE BREAKFAST CLUB & 16 CANDLES, Molly Ringwald faded.
I never liked the bland Andrew McCarthy, but he faded. Rob Lowe also was big in the eighties and was in actually a couple of good films, BAD INFLUENCE & ABOUT LAST NIGHT, but he proved that he didn't have any staying power.
Judd Nelson was also always awful and he faded after being in ST. ELMO'S FIRE & BREAKFAST CLUB. Ally Sheedy also was in a lot of those films, including BREAKFAST CLUB, ST. ELMO (I think) and several other brat pack films. She has done little in recent years.
She wasn't associated with the BRAT PACK, but whatever happed to Bridget Fonda? She hasn't seemed to be around much in recent years.
