Post by Regolyth on Nov 22, 2013 14:10:15 GMT -5
I just got back from the theater with the wife. We went to see The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (which was excellent and I highly recommend going to see it). At some point in the movie I got to thinking... movies seem to be better off without big name actors/actresses. Maybe it's because without those big named people, you don't have a preset of how a character will be played. Most actors can play quite a few different roles, but only a very few can play a good guy you love, a bad guy you hate, and most anything inbetween and make you forget about all of the other movies he was in. Then, of course, you have the actors that can't play anything but themselves. *coughs*KeanuReeves*cough* 
It seems to me that the fewer big named actors you have in a movie, the better the movie is. If Angelina Jolie is in a movie, I'm looking for her character to be tough and sexy. If Bruce Willis is in a movie, I'm looking for his character to show honor and to be able to get out of the most ludicrous of situations with extreme explosions. It's more than type-casting, it's just who they play. I've seen Bruce Willis play characters of a non-action orientation, but that's not his usual forte.
With lesser known actors, there is the potential for that character to be anything. They could be cold and hard, or loving and self-sacrificing. You never know! Now I know The Hunger games feature two really big actors, Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson. However their characters, at least in the first movie, don't have a lot of screen time. Donald Sutherland probably has all of ten minutes in the first movie. Also, neither of their characters are the characters in the movie. The lead, and majority of the supporting roles, are given to lesser to unknown actors.
I do realize that Jennifer Lawrence is, at this point, a huge name in Hollywood. But at the time of the original Hunger Games, she was still mostly unknown. When big names enter a movie, the movie tends to take a different direction. I know that Terminator: Salvation was going to be mainly focused on the humanoid terminator that was with the rebels, but when Christian Bale signed on, he said he would only do the movie if he could make some changes. Those changes gave him a bigger role that he was supposed to have (there was supposed to be another one after Salvation, focusing more on Bale's character). And doesn't it seem that a movie only focuses around one or two big named actors? It's like you can't fit too many in there, or the movie will explode (I'm sure it's a money and ego thing).
However, this is one exception to all of this: The Avengers. That was a great movie with lots of big names floating around. I might be missing another here or there, but this seems to be par for course for the most part.
It seems to me that the fewer big named actors you have in a movie, the better the movie is. If Angelina Jolie is in a movie, I'm looking for her character to be tough and sexy. If Bruce Willis is in a movie, I'm looking for his character to show honor and to be able to get out of the most ludicrous of situations with extreme explosions. It's more than type-casting, it's just who they play. I've seen Bruce Willis play characters of a non-action orientation, but that's not his usual forte.
With lesser known actors, there is the potential for that character to be anything. They could be cold and hard, or loving and self-sacrificing. You never know! Now I know The Hunger games feature two really big actors, Donald Sutherland and Woody Harrelson. However their characters, at least in the first movie, don't have a lot of screen time. Donald Sutherland probably has all of ten minutes in the first movie. Also, neither of their characters are the characters in the movie. The lead, and majority of the supporting roles, are given to lesser to unknown actors.
I do realize that Jennifer Lawrence is, at this point, a huge name in Hollywood. But at the time of the original Hunger Games, she was still mostly unknown. When big names enter a movie, the movie tends to take a different direction. I know that Terminator: Salvation was going to be mainly focused on the humanoid terminator that was with the rebels, but when Christian Bale signed on, he said he would only do the movie if he could make some changes. Those changes gave him a bigger role that he was supposed to have (there was supposed to be another one after Salvation, focusing more on Bale's character). And doesn't it seem that a movie only focuses around one or two big named actors? It's like you can't fit too many in there, or the movie will explode (I'm sure it's a money and ego thing).
However, this is one exception to all of this: The Avengers. That was a great movie with lots of big names floating around. I might be missing another here or there, but this seems to be par for course for the most part.
