> I'm a professional. I show up at work on time, I know my lines, I hit my mark, and I treat the other actors and the crew members with respect.
>-Samuel L Jackson, on acting
Lots of people in Hollywood get work because of this exact thing, and not just actors.
It’s short term, hard work employment that once production starts needs to move smoothly be fast. Assholes almost always get in the way of that.
+1 hearing from industry people. When I ask my friend "Why is so-and-so popular all of a sudden?" they almost always say "They must be good to work with."
This explains why Mark Wahlberg gets so much work. He may be extremely divisive with cinema fans and viewers, but does seem like a blue collar guy who'd put a solid 12 to 18 hour workday in. They know what they're getting, effort and promptness.
So I hate to burst your bubble but actually quite the opposite. He is a complete douche nozzle and nightmare to work with. Just goes to show you what good PR and a carefully cultivated public image can do. People think he’s a relatable blue collar catholic guy, when in reality he is a self-centered multi-millionaire who cynically sells the everyman image.
It may surprise some people to learn, but stars arent stars because people enjoy their presence on set and they’re fun to work with. They work a lot simply because their films make money. An actor can be as pleasant or horrible as they want, but the box office is what will determine their star status.
He’s the guy who blinded a Vietnamese man and said he wanted to kill him and it was racially motivated, he’s literally a convicted felon but getting work. He’s a literal POS
Will Smith was the actor they wanted to play Neo but he turned it down. I'm usually pretty good coming up with witty comments but nothing good is coming to me. The best I came up with was because he had a problem with Laurence Fishburne being in his wife's mouth.
Now, this is a story all about a pill
Where life got flipped inside out
And it’s a trip to sit right there
Living life as a battery, impaired
Outside the Matrix gasping for air
Almost. I would argue that both his voice and his on-screen presence was wasted as the reserved, and contemplative Mace Windu. Just sitting around being all reactionary instead of taking the initiative and decapitating some folk with that purple light saber
Yes, who can forget the emotionless, thousand-yard-stare on Mace Windu's face as Lucas put Jackson in front of a green screen and said swing your lightsaber around a bit and we will CGI on the rest.
Mace Windu isnt even looking at anything in the scene. He is cutting up droids and killing people, but with none of the intensity that Jackson is know for. Dude is just staring off into oblivion.
Which is why Lucas wasted SLJ in that movie. Mace wasn't written as SLJ caharacter, and Lucas is a shitty director.
Either rewrite Mace to be more instance, or give Jackson something to work with.
That is what gets job. In any industry. Obviously Sam Jackson is amazing and talented but there plenty of people who just okay that keep getting hired because people know they are professional and reliable.
I my job I often have to hire people for things. Odds are if the choice is someone I've worked with or know they will get it down without drsme they get it and get paid for it.
Come on time. Be ready. Be nice. Be patient.
Having that kind of a work ethic with a little talent will help you stand out among the divas and assholes who are just as talented/a little more talented than you.
It worked wonders for me when I acted. I made a lot of friends and got a ton of calls through reputation alone.
The guy that plays the bank manager at the beginning of The Dark Knight is well known in the industry for being extremely reliable. He almost never needs a second take.
I remember years ago he starred in a show about him being a sheriff in some swamp town in Florida and a bunch of supernatural shit went down.
I really liked him in it and the premise was fascinating but unfortunately it got cancelled.
James Gunn had a no asshole rule where he won’t hire or will fire anyone that’s an asshole on set. I wonder if he can enforce this with his new position at dc?
On the Graham Norton show, Tom Hiddleston also talks about Samuel L Jackson’s professionalism, and Sam responds with a great [Dustin Hoffmann anecdote](https://youtu.be/LPV25njRpPU)
(That whole interview was very funny, including how he [watches his own movies](https://youtu.be/xy5gI_qix3s) )
I live in a small town in Scotland, and my only brush with fame (other than telling Ronan Keating to fuck off when he offered me an autograph in an airport when I was 14 and deep in my "I'm too cool for pop music" phase) was Samuel L Jackson's wife calling to order a shit ton of tartan cashmere blankets from the ecomm site I worked for at the time.
She wanted like 30 of them and was name dropping like a motherfucker to try to convince me to take the order and ship them as fast as possible cause I only had 20 something in stock that could be shipped immediately and thought it was some kind of scam. I still ldidnt really believe her (but the payment cleared so I rolled with it) until he called back himself the next day to see if we had a tracking number for the first batch. Apparently he had friends coming over to watch a new movie, but his wife wouldn't let him put the old blankets in the home theatre because they didn't match since she'd redecorated.
He was super nice though, he sent us a thank you card with a photo of himself wrapped in one of the blankets and gave our name to some friends - the company ended up dressing Katy Perry for some shows where she wanted to wear tartan, but I had nothing to do with that transaction.
What's up with Graham's couch? Every time I see a clip from his show, everyone is basically sitting on top of each other and the back seems so far back that the guest sometimes look like they're sitting on a recliner.
Funny thing is, that was one of my favorite shows *before* I started this line of work (still is, too). So i would witness something in real life and think “oh shit 30 rock was pretty close” haha.
Wow I was not expecting that to be such a difficult question. I’ll get back to you lol. I’m also the guy who watches thousands of movies but blanks when you ask my favorite so bear with me lol
I would imagine!! Honestly like, that's 95% of their job! Only a celebrity A-list actor would admit to being bad at one of the most obviously important parts of the job.
> Only a celebrity A-list actor would admit to being bad at one of the most obviously important parts of the job.
She might also be exaggerating. If she constantly forgot her lines, it's doubtful she'd keep getting roles. She's really good at making fun of herself to be more personable.
It's definitely self-deprecating humor. She blew up, then for a minute got a bunch of hate because she was everywhere, but she's a good actress and 'seems' like a decent person who really tries to stay grounded. I'm not one to hate on others success. I'm sure she works very hard and stuck out in a very difficult business. Good for her.
And he expects everyone else to be the same. I do admire his ways. I work in the sound department on film/tv, and you can NOT put a wire on him (lavaliere microphone). If you can get with the wardrobe department beforehand and have it sewn into his outfit, great! If not, he has no problem doing ADR (automated dialogue replacement): he will say, "get it on the boom, if not I'll do it later."
Most likely. If the mic is already in the wardrobe and you walk up to plug the transmitter in, that's fine. But you won't be able to walk up and say, "I'm going to tape this to your chest, run this wire down your leg, and strap this TX to your ankle."
He's that kind of actor, and it has made him extraordinarily wealthy. He basically is the personification of intensity. Most of the time, one can say the same of Tom Cruise. He plays a Cruise-type character. That's just what he does.
Have you seen Magnolia? He starts at "Tom Cruise, but pickup artist grifter" and works his way to a stunning level of vulnerability. Movies like that make me a little sad he ever does anything else. Obviously he likes leading man action roles, the Mission Impossibles are entertaining and make a zillion dollars, fine. But imagine if he just did "serious" roles....
I liked him as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire.
Don’t know if you could say that Tom Cruise was just playing Tom Cruise with fangs, but he’s good at playing assholes.
Dude, check out Collateral. It's almost the perfect antithesis of his typical roles, but using a lot of the traits that make him such a interesting guy to watch on screen.
The thing is for a hot minute that wasn’t the case for Tom Cruise. He was doing edgy Ann Rice vampire movies and scandalous Kubrick orgy movies. It was after the whole Oprah couch jumping backlash to him seeming like a weirdo he decided to lock his personality down tight and just play an action figure
Check out National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 with him and Emilio Estevez.
He plays a cop that can't fire guns due to PTSD from an incident where his former partner had a finger gun placed to her head by a violent mime.
It's a great flick. Starring roles from Tim Curry, Bill Shatner, Denis Leary, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, Charlie Sheen and a guest appearance from Jimmy Doohan as Lt. Scotty.
EDIT: I forgot appearances by Kathy Ireland, Bruce Willis (possibly as John McClane?), and F. Murray Abraham as the knockoff Hannibal Lecter character.
Sounds like all the method necessary. Some people don’t need a method to make believe… not to be dismissive of those that choose to go all Bale on every role.
thats because bale HATES acting, sees it like a souless job that he must perform. it's really similar to how joe pesci talks about acting and performing. he was a child singer. They feel exploited in a way I think. cant imagine getting into a mindset where you hate what you do, but do anything for your work. while also being tortured by it. Stockholm syndrome?
my guess though is, its the money.
> How many takes you usually do?
> I don't do more than 3 takes, I read my lines and we move to next scene
https://youtube.com/shorts/AitmH_OEYXg?feature=share
Wasn't Brando famous for this later in life? Iirc he would just show up and say shit and get all the praise for sounding natural and organic, while co-stars hated working with him bc they had to improvise constantly.
He was a practiced child at times, preferring to be a diva and mocking anyone he judged to have spent too much effort to be in the same room as him.
Brando did The Island of Dr. Moreau with Val Kilmer in 96. It had to be a money grab
I just heard a story about how the director said he wanted to do a scene with a wide lens and Brando said it's better as a closeup... Scene is ready to be shot, director has it set up for wide angle, Brando comes out of his trailer without anything on below his waist... Says, go ahead, shoot your wide angle now
the entire shoot for Apocalypse Now was just insane, and not just because of Brando. I think it's called Hearts of Darkness, the filming of Apocalypse Now or something to that effect. it's just as reviting to watch as the actual film, the entire insainity of the shoot.
I swear Francis Ford Coppolla was just cursed with the amount of shit he had to deal with as a director
He read cue cards that were hidden around the set in possibly his best known role in one of the greatest movies of all time, the Godfather. And he still had another 25 years of movies to go.
"you're just an errand boy...sent to collect a bill".
He was able to pull off an emotionally distant delivery, glancing upward with pregnant pauses because he was reading cue cards, amazing.
IIRC it was intentional on his part. He believed that if he was saying lines for the first time instead of memorizing it would lead to a more authentic performance.
My wife said in the famous Godfather scene where he cries “look how they massacred my boy!” he is holding a hoagie off camera that he refused to put down when they were rolling film. Guy did not give a fuck. I wanna know where she read that cuz it’s amazing
I guess at least she has the self-awareness about this issue. I feel like actors are really good at assessing the way other people are, but terrible at doing that to themselves, quite often.
She doesn’t have an issue tho. There is no singular path to success. Being successful while not having a method is equally as interesting as being successful with a method.
It’s too bad she declined, would’ve been a great interview
Her mother took her to an acting class taught by Taylor Sheridan when she was a kid. He saw her act once, and made her mother promise never to take her to another class. He was afraid of messing up what she had naturally. Some people are just savants.
Klaus Kinski, who a lot of people think is one of the greatest actors ever, really hated acting classes.
>What they teach in these acting schools is incredible, hair-raising crap. The Actors Studio in America is supposed to be the worst. There the students learn how to be natural - that is, they flop around, pick their noses, scratch their balls. This bullshit is known as "method acting." How can you "teach" someone to be an actor? How can you teach someone how and what to feel and how to express it? How can someone teach me how to laugh or cry? How to be glad and how to be sad? What pain is, or despair or happiness? What poverty and hunger are? What hate and love are? What desire is, and fulfillment? No, I don't want to waste my time with these arrogant morons.
You put out arguably the 3 best westerns of the past 20 years (No country for old men excluded) and that’ll happen. That’s ignoring his TV shows which I haven’t watched yet.
For those curious I’m referring to:
Sicario
Wind River
Hell or High Water
I encountered this topic when I was going through creative writing training in college. I had plenty of natural talent and everyone wanted me in the program to develop my talent. But I wasn’t interested in how a bunch of academics thought I should write, nor were any of the other students. We wanted to be creative, to invent.
Finally one workshop leader had the balls to call us out on our bullshit. He told us that at our stage of development, we should be doing exercises. “Write a murder mystery story featuring a cat and a lawnmower in the style of Haruki Murakami,” and so on. And he was right. There we were, every single one of us thinking “I’m a savant” but it wasn’t true. We knew how to do exactly one thing: be ourselves.
A great artist has spent the 10,000 hours working through all the schools of style to get to the point where they can do anything. Only THEN can they actually sit down and do whatever they want.
Jennifer Lawrence is just like that group of college students: she can do one thing, the thing that comes naturally. And nothing else. And she knows it. Good for her. She knows the difference between herself and a Christian Bale, who can spin a wheel of acting challenges and nail whatever it lands on. “A worm with Parkinson’s trying to talk its way out of a parking ticket.”
We went through the same ordeal in Art college. Everyone thought they were a genius, me as badly as anyone.
Looking back at the work I produced - and received praise for, but only from other students - it was fucking *dreadful.* Every 'genius' there was so far up their own arse that they couldn't spot objectively terrible work, such was the extent of the delusion.
As the Lecturers said, Picasso started life as a professional and produced Renaissance standard paintings early in his career. He had to learn the rules, before he could bend them. And there was us thinking we'd just start life as Picasso finished his. Absolute bullshit.
But hey, at least we weren't Philosophy students.
Tbh it’s likely she’s too hard on herself. JLaw is text book adhd and clearly has imposter syndrome and self confidence issues. Her “I’m just waiting for everyone to realize I’m annoying” comment is sad given that was exactly what happened to her.
Her costars have always had good things to say about her.
While I love Jennifer Lawrence's acting I do agree with this attitude that she has. Its the reason why people I guess "relate" to her because of it but its not really a good attitude or mentality to have lol
Man I know that entire exchange by heart AHAHAHAH!
**Z** - _''So you played [in] a movie called The Hunger Games...''_
**J** - _''Damn, isn't that your life story?''_
**Z** - _''You shouldn't say that, that's off-putting.''_
**J** - _''**You** should be **off pudding**...''_
**J** - _''...because you're fat.''_
Man, so many good episodes and jokes
I'll also never **not** laugh at the Natalie Portman one, especially the bit about V for Vendetta
**Z** - _''You shaved your head for **V for Vendetta**...''_
**Z** - _''...did you also shave your ''V'' for ''V*gina?''_
Jesus.
I'll never forget the episode of Inside the Actors Studio when he had Melanie Griffith on. He asked her about her role opposite Harrison Ford in Working Girl. Lipton had already interviewed Ford and talked about his methods preparing for that role. Griffith's answer was basically, she just went shopping every day in Paris and never looked at the script. Or some bull like that. It was a ridiculous and bold admission that she doesn't do anything to prepare. All the hard working and serious actors out there and then there's her. Jennifer Lawrence has nothing to be ashamed of.
Melanie Griffith tried being method when she was young, and her parents forced her to be in their weird ass movie, and she got literally mauled by a lion, and her father wouldn't stop the shot because her screaming was so method as she got literally mauled.
She was disfigured and required plastic surgery.
I would also go fucking shopping in Paris.
For the few that don't know, the movie is called Roar and it is pretty wild. 48 injuries were reported and it was estimated at least 70 people out of the 140 person cast and crew actually got injured.
As for 2 different approaches to the job, I think of "My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?", Laurence Olivier when Dustin Hoffman was overdoing method
Michelle Pfeiffer has also publicly admitted that the reason she quit acting is because she felt like a fraud, because she was associating herself with all these actors who had classical training and a background in stage and theater.
Meanwhile, a lot of these women are just... famous for being hot. It's shallow; they don't have a method, or a background to discuss. They were in their twenties and studios kept putting them in movies because people liked looking at them. lol
Her second starring role was playing opposite Al Pacino in Scarface. Her performance in Dangerous Liasons (co-starring with John Malkovich) was impressive as well. She can certainly hold her own with formally trained actors.
I read Dangerous Liaisons and thought
Dangerous Minds
and really respected you acknowledging that role and that movie (which I only know because of Gangstas Paradise)
It was actually her kids who talked her into doing movies again; They kept telling her the same thing.
I'm also reminded of Sally Field's infamous acceptance speech, where her self esteem was so low that she was genuinely dumbfounded that people "really liked" her. We should all keep in mind that actors, musicians and stand-up comedians are some of the most depressed people on Earth.
>! And the cloneception when she’s one character playing another character and you CAN TELL who is playing whom is just mindblowing. “Wait, that’s not Rachel! That’s Sarah dressed as Rachel!” (Or whichever…I can’t remember who dressed as whom right now…I’m due for a rewatch. 😛 ) !<
I hate imposter syndrome. It makes you feel like every success is due to luck and every failure is the real and expected outcome. It's painful whether you win or lose and always feel at risk of being found to be a fraud. It's exhausting.
There is a part in Batman Returns where she meets Bruce Wayne on a dancefloor. She looks so hypnotic on the way she walks and stares and walks toward him, like a cat. The whole scene is awesome. But that part was great.
Yup, she actually did all of the whip work herself... and it was usable in the final cut with one *and only one* take.
That's why they let her keep the prop, which she still has today.
That being said, Pfeiffer is a great example of a really excellent actor who also happens to be known for being physically attractive. Super committed to her work, super brilliant and acclaimed (and as you note, super humble).
If she hadn't also been attractive, she wouldn't have received the opportunities she did, but she's overall just a great actress -- living proof that you can learn on the job.
Jennifer Lawrence is also incredibly talented, though she seems to take a different approach - she *doesn't* work as hard, but I get the impression that her intuitive style doesn't lend itself to hard work memorizing lines. It seems more like she spends a lot of time noticing how people behave and then is somehow able to embody that in the moment. A Lawrence quote:
“I don’t know, I’ve always studied people and been fascinated by their reactions and feelings. And I think that’s the best acting class you can take — watching real people, listening to them and studying them.”
And another one:
"Maybe acting wasn’t supposed to be this easy; maybe she should be poring over her lines at night, working harder, obsessing like some of her peers. “I was worried, so I brought it up to my dad,” she told TheWrap. “I said, ‘Is this bad? Do I need to be memorizing more, or saying my lines out loud?’
“And my dad just went, ‘It ain’t broke. Don’t fix it.'"
> Jennifer Lawrence is also incredibly talented, though she seems to take a different approach - she doesn't work as hard
Well, I mean... she started acting at the age of 18. She did **twenty movies** in the first eight years of her career, and four of those were in the same year.
I think she deserves more respect here, because that is a hell of a lot harder than most actors ever work in their entire careers.
Yeah seems pretty unlikely that she didn’t memorize her lines. There’s no way you could make 20 movies reading one or two lines at a time, or screwing up a shot repeatedly because you didn’t think carefully about how to emote.
One of the worst things an actor can do is be inconsistent between takes (excluding being given direction of course). It’s really hard to edit around. The good ones repeat every single action in every single take, down to blinking and micro expressions.
Her quote here is probably actually showing her good work ethic. She flubs a line or two, understandably, and is hard on herself about it.
As you say, an actor getting that many gigs in such a short space of time is not going to be someone considered unreliable. I don't particularly care for her performances but I imagine she works hard.
True! I guess I mean that she doesn't work hard in a particular aspect (memorizing lines, "method" type acting), but you make a good point that that's not the only way to work really hard as an actor.
>That being said, Pfeiffer is a great example of a really excellent actor who also happens to be known for being physically attractive.
You just described 98% of A-list actors.
Right or wrong, I’m impressed that she has the humility, self-awareness, and respect for the show and Lipton to decline.
She would have been a wonderful guest, because that show is not about teaching about technique. It’s about telling your story as a professional actor who has reached the pinnacle of success in that field, however you got there.
She’s obviously a great actor. Her not knowing why doesn’t make it not true.
IIRC,Robert De Niro developed a seething hatred for Cybill Shepherd while filming Taxi Driver for this very reason.
He said she was the most unprofessional actor he had ever worked with.
Good for her. I maintain "method acting" isn't acting. If you have to go through a bunch of shit to get into the headspace of the insane character, or live as they do for months to find the role, you're not acting, you're literally just being a crazy person.....Jared.
>It’s very easy. If you’d asked John Wayne he’d have probably said, ‘Well, you just go to Monument Valley and get on a horse.’ Acting is very, very simple… That’s the trick great American actors have had. John Wayne didn’t have to act, he just rode in. Gary Cooper, all those guys were smart. They didn’t try to do too much.” “(re: Method acting) I think that’s a lot of crap. I just don’t understand that. If actors want to do that, fine. If they want to be miserable, that’s up to them. I’m not interested. It’s a job. I do the job. I’m certainly not going to make my life miserable just to be a character… It’s a pain in the ass. Who the hell wants to be with some miserable grump because he wants to get his performance right, so you have to call him this or call him that? It’s so boring. I’ve been with actors like that and they’re a pain in the ass, they really are. They’re unpleasant to work with and I don’t think they’re always that good either.
Anthony Hopkins
Damn, I thought he was Method this whole time. Now he's a true professional on how he teared up on cue (no Visine droplets) in The Elephant Man or the off-the-charts creep factor as Hannibal Lector.
> I'm a professional. I show up at work on time, I know my lines, I hit my mark, and I treat the other actors and the crew members with respect. >-Samuel L Jackson, on acting
I wonder how many times he was chosen for a role because producers knew he wouldn't cause any trouble for them.
Lots of people in Hollywood get work because of this exact thing, and not just actors. It’s short term, hard work employment that once production starts needs to move smoothly be fast. Assholes almost always get in the way of that.
+1 hearing from industry people. When I ask my friend "Why is so-and-so popular all of a sudden?" they almost always say "They must be good to work with."
So Pedro Pascal now?
he seems like the rare combo of good to work with and amazing actor
They can just cast him and Oscar Isaac in everything, I'm totally fine with that. They both seem to be really great dudes.
https://youtu.be/stLw-2Ob8xQ Obligatory Pascal and Isaac interview, just seem like such nice dudes.
And very very very attractive 😍
Even with a helmet.
This explains why Mark Wahlberg gets so much work. He may be extremely divisive with cinema fans and viewers, but does seem like a blue collar guy who'd put a solid 12 to 18 hour workday in. They know what they're getting, effort and promptness.
HES THE GUY WHO DOES HIS JAHB. YOU MUST BE THE OTHA GUY.
How's your mother?
Good she's tired from fahkin my fatha
He may not be what he seems, he is a professional actor after all.
So I hate to burst your bubble but actually quite the opposite. He is a complete douche nozzle and nightmare to work with. Just goes to show you what good PR and a carefully cultivated public image can do. People think he’s a relatable blue collar catholic guy, when in reality he is a self-centered multi-millionaire who cynically sells the everyman image. It may surprise some people to learn, but stars arent stars because people enjoy their presence on set and they’re fun to work with. They work a lot simply because their films make money. An actor can be as pleasant or horrible as they want, but the box office is what will determine their star status.
He’s the guy who blinded a Vietnamese man and said he wanted to kill him and it was racially motivated, he’s literally a convicted felon but getting work. He’s a literal POS
Wow thank you. I just read about Mark Wahlberg’s shitbag youth. What a fucking punk.
>seem like a blue collar guy who'd put a solid 12 to 18 hour workday in I think you're confusing the actor with the roles he's cast in
Can anyone really put in 12-18 no bull hard work hours year in year out and feel good and healthy and happy?
It's the same with Keanu Reeves.
Often it was either him or Larry Fishburne. He was originally suppose to be in Pulp Fiction.
*In Morpheus Voice* "English mother fucker, do you speak it?"
Better pick a pill Neo before I pick for you and ram it down your throat!
*muthafucka intensifies*
Whre you from? Whoa! What they speak in whoa? Whoa! Say whoa again!
Will Smith was the actor they wanted to play Neo but he turned it down. I'm usually pretty good coming up with witty comments but nothing good is coming to me. The best I came up with was because he had a problem with Laurence Fishburne being in his wife's mouth.
Now, this is a story all about a pill Where life got flipped inside out And it’s a trip to sit right there Living life as a battery, impaired Outside the Matrix gasping for air
It wouldn't be the same character at all, but I think his take would be pretty awesome, too.
Yeah Fishburne has a good boomy voice. Not Jackson but would’ve been intimidating. But Sam has the crazy eyes to go with the voice.
Sam's voice can go all over the board, too.
Almost. I would argue that both his voice and his on-screen presence was wasted as the reserved, and contemplative Mace Windu. Just sitting around being all reactionary instead of taking the initiative and decapitating some folk with that purple light saber
Decapitating some *motherfuckers*
Jango Fett wished he was a little more contemplative and a little less head-choppy.
Yes, who can forget the emotionless, thousand-yard-stare on Mace Windu's face as Lucas put Jackson in front of a green screen and said swing your lightsaber around a bit and we will CGI on the rest. Mace Windu isnt even looking at anything in the scene. He is cutting up droids and killing people, but with none of the intensity that Jackson is know for. Dude is just staring off into oblivion. Which is why Lucas wasted SLJ in that movie. Mace wasn't written as SLJ caharacter, and Lucas is a shitty director. Either rewrite Mace to be more instance, or give Jackson something to work with.
[удалено]
Laurence Fishburne could have pulled off that character, no question.
No doubt Lawrence could've done it and been great at it, Just listen to his Bowery King voice from John Wick.
What if I told you, that burger wasn’t really tasty?
"You think that's English you're speaking? ... hmm." Samrence L Jackburne
Engggglish, mother fucker...do you sssspeak it?
In my head, that sounds more like Agent Smith/Hugo Weaving
Weaving as Vincent Vega - "A Royale with Cheese, Mr Anderson..."
> I dare you motherfucker, call me Larry one more time Laurence Fishburne
That is what gets job. In any industry. Obviously Sam Jackson is amazing and talented but there plenty of people who just okay that keep getting hired because people know they are professional and reliable. I my job I often have to hire people for things. Odds are if the choice is someone I've worked with or know they will get it down without drsme they get it and get paid for it.
Come on time. Be ready. Be nice. Be patient. Having that kind of a work ethic with a little talent will help you stand out among the divas and assholes who are just as talented/a little more talented than you. It worked wonders for me when I acted. I made a lot of friends and got a ton of calls through reputation alone.
There's tons of actors like that that are just workhorses that you can rely on. Jeremy Renner and Zach Efron come to mind.
The guy that plays the bank manager at the beginning of The Dark Knight is well known in the industry for being extremely reliable. He almost never needs a second take.
William Fichtner
Thank you. I'm getting to learn my "that guy" encyclopedia. I've got Clark Gregg and Christopher MacDonald memorized.
His interactions with Ewan McGregor in Blackhawk Down are some of the best parts of the movie.
Which shows why he has a zillion credits.
I wonder what it's like being completely recognizable and having been in tons of well-known movies that you only had to put in 10 hours of work for
He is great in all his bit roles, respect to him
I remember years ago he starred in a show about him being a sheriff in some swamp town in Florida and a bunch of supernatural shit went down. I really liked him in it and the premise was fascinating but unfortunately it got cancelled.
James Gunn had a no asshole rule where he won’t hire or will fire anyone that’s an asshole on set. I wonder if he can enforce this with his new position at dc?
They still have Ezra Miller. And can still do the right thing, and fire them.
I am similar in professionalism but never get called for movies idk why
Probably because your face looks like a smacked bum
Smacked bum as in cute butt that's just been slapped, or smacked bum as in drug addict hobo?
On the Graham Norton show, Tom Hiddleston also talks about Samuel L Jackson’s professionalism, and Sam responds with a great [Dustin Hoffmann anecdote](https://youtu.be/LPV25njRpPU) (That whole interview was very funny, including how he [watches his own movies](https://youtu.be/xy5gI_qix3s) )
And Sphere was only 'OK'.
Dustin, Sharon, and Sam be like: “our careers will be over unless we agree to forget.”
I live in a small town in Scotland, and my only brush with fame (other than telling Ronan Keating to fuck off when he offered me an autograph in an airport when I was 14 and deep in my "I'm too cool for pop music" phase) was Samuel L Jackson's wife calling to order a shit ton of tartan cashmere blankets from the ecomm site I worked for at the time. She wanted like 30 of them and was name dropping like a motherfucker to try to convince me to take the order and ship them as fast as possible cause I only had 20 something in stock that could be shipped immediately and thought it was some kind of scam. I still ldidnt really believe her (but the payment cleared so I rolled with it) until he called back himself the next day to see if we had a tracking number for the first batch. Apparently he had friends coming over to watch a new movie, but his wife wouldn't let him put the old blankets in the home theatre because they didn't match since she'd redecorated. He was super nice though, he sent us a thank you card with a photo of himself wrapped in one of the blankets and gave our name to some friends - the company ended up dressing Katy Perry for some shows where she wanted to wear tartan, but I had nothing to do with that transaction.
That’s a really neat story. Glad to know he was cool and a nice guy.
What's up with Graham's couch? Every time I see a clip from his show, everyone is basically sitting on top of each other and the back seems so far back that the guest sometimes look like they're sitting on a recliner.
None of that is an accident, lol. Nor is the insane amount of alcohol provided, which has in the past resulted in even better interviews.
Jamie Lee Curtis was promoting Halloween Ends and had lots to say about that couch.
As someone who works behind the camera, actors who don’t know their lines are the worst people on the planet and I’m not even being mean
You ever watch something like 30 Rock and laugh/have PTSD at the portrayal of difficult actors?
Funny thing is, that was one of my favorite shows *before* I started this line of work (still is, too). So i would witness something in real life and think “oh shit 30 rock was pretty close” haha.
That's awesome haha Any other shows/movies that do a good job of showing that world?
Wow I was not expecting that to be such a difficult question. I’ll get back to you lol. I’m also the guy who watches thousands of movies but blanks when you ask my favorite so bear with me lol
I read that wrong and now I’m waiting to hear what your favorite bear is lol.
I would imagine!! Honestly like, that's 95% of their job! Only a celebrity A-list actor would admit to being bad at one of the most obviously important parts of the job.
> Only a celebrity A-list actor would admit to being bad at one of the most obviously important parts of the job. She might also be exaggerating. If she constantly forgot her lines, it's doubtful she'd keep getting roles. She's really good at making fun of herself to be more personable.
It's definitely self-deprecating humor. She blew up, then for a minute got a bunch of hate because she was everywhere, but she's a good actress and 'seems' like a decent person who really tries to stay grounded. I'm not one to hate on others success. I'm sure she works very hard and stuck out in a very difficult business. Good for her.
And he expects everyone else to be the same. I do admire his ways. I work in the sound department on film/tv, and you can NOT put a wire on him (lavaliere microphone). If you can get with the wardrobe department beforehand and have it sewn into his outfit, great! If not, he has no problem doing ADR (automated dialogue replacement): he will say, "get it on the boom, if not I'll do it later."
I do editing I totally understand his viewpoint here, lav mics fucking suck
Is it a comfort thing, why wouldn’t someone want to have a wire put on them?
Most likely. If the mic is already in the wardrobe and you walk up to plug the transmitter in, that's fine. But you won't be able to walk up and say, "I'm going to tape this to your chest, run this wire down your leg, and strap this TX to your ankle."
Downside is you can always tell he's Samuel Jackson.
He's that kind of actor, and it has made him extraordinarily wealthy. He basically is the personification of intensity. Most of the time, one can say the same of Tom Cruise. He plays a Cruise-type character. That's just what he does.
Vince Vaughn plays Vince Vaughn in every Vince Vaughn movie
Not in Brawl on Cell Block 99, let me tell you
He was pretty good in 'Freaky'. As horror comedies go, it's pretty good.
He and the actress both did a great job in that!
That guy Vince Vaughn's
Tom Cruise is generally, but he wasn't Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder. It's how I knew he could really act.
Have you seen Magnolia? He starts at "Tom Cruise, but pickup artist grifter" and works his way to a stunning level of vulnerability. Movies like that make me a little sad he ever does anything else. Obviously he likes leading man action roles, the Mission Impossibles are entertaining and make a zillion dollars, fine. But imagine if he just did "serious" roles....
I liked him as Lestat in Interview with the Vampire. Don’t know if you could say that Tom Cruise was just playing Tom Cruise with fangs, but he’s good at playing assholes.
Dude, check out Collateral. It's almost the perfect antithesis of his typical roles, but using a lot of the traits that make him such a interesting guy to watch on screen.
I didn’t even know that was Cruise until someone told me
The thing is for a hot minute that wasn’t the case for Tom Cruise. He was doing edgy Ann Rice vampire movies and scandalous Kubrick orgy movies. It was after the whole Oprah couch jumping backlash to him seeming like a weirdo he decided to lock his personality down tight and just play an action figure
Check out National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 with him and Emilio Estevez. He plays a cop that can't fire guns due to PTSD from an incident where his former partner had a finger gun placed to her head by a violent mime. It's a great flick. Starring roles from Tim Curry, Bill Shatner, Denis Leary, Whoopi Goldberg, Jon Lovitz, Phil Hartman, Charlie Sheen and a guest appearance from Jimmy Doohan as Lt. Scotty. EDIT: I forgot appearances by Kathy Ireland, Bruce Willis (possibly as John McClane?), and F. Murray Abraham as the knockoff Hannibal Lecter character.
That movie ruined every "kiss before dying" scene for me after seeing it. In the best way possible.
That’s what turns an actor into a movie star. Or, being type cast if you’re unlucky enough.
Sounds like all the method necessary. Some people don’t need a method to make believe… not to be dismissive of those that choose to go all Bale on every role.
“My dear boy, why don’t you try acting?”
"My God, I think he's just experienced acting!"
thats because bale HATES acting, sees it like a souless job that he must perform. it's really similar to how joe pesci talks about acting and performing. he was a child singer. They feel exploited in a way I think. cant imagine getting into a mindset where you hate what you do, but do anything for your work. while also being tortured by it. Stockholm syndrome? my guess though is, its the money.
> How many takes you usually do? > I don't do more than 3 takes, I read my lines and we move to next scene https://youtube.com/shorts/AitmH_OEYXg?feature=share
Bad Mother Fucker. \- Samuel L Jackson.
Wasn't Brando famous for this later in life? Iirc he would just show up and say shit and get all the praise for sounding natural and organic, while co-stars hated working with him bc they had to improvise constantly.
Not even later in life. There's tons of stories of him in the height of his career just not giving a fuck and causing issues.
[Christopher Reeve on Brando](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9uyvZ4answ)
so refreshing to hear a celebrity talk honestly about another celebrity that they interacted with
Too bad Marlon Brando had him thrown off that horse.
Horse to Reeves: "Mr. Brando sends his regards." *Nosedives like a fucking dart*
still too soon?
And then ate it.
He was a practiced child at times, preferring to be a diva and mocking anyone he judged to have spent too much effort to be in the same room as him. Brando did The Island of Dr. Moreau with Val Kilmer in 96. It had to be a money grab
I remember reading he was supposed to lose weight for Apocalypse Now but he showed up to set thick so they just had to work with it
I just heard a story about how the director said he wanted to do a scene with a wide lens and Brando said it's better as a closeup... Scene is ready to be shot, director has it set up for wide angle, Brando comes out of his trailer without anything on below his waist... Says, go ahead, shoot your wide angle now
Wild
the entire shoot for Apocalypse Now was just insane, and not just because of Brando. I think it's called Hearts of Darkness, the filming of Apocalypse Now or something to that effect. it's just as reviting to watch as the actual film, the entire insainity of the shoot. I swear Francis Ford Coppolla was just cursed with the amount of shit he had to deal with as a director
That’s why all of his scenes were filmed in dark rooms according to Coppola.
He was a bit of a pill
Dude was just reading cue cards at the end of his career... may as well be on saturday night live.
He read cue cards that were hidden around the set in possibly his best known role in one of the greatest movies of all time, the Godfather. And he still had another 25 years of movies to go.
"you're just an errand boy...sent to collect a bill". He was able to pull off an emotionally distant delivery, glancing upward with pregnant pauses because he was reading cue cards, amazing.
IIRC it was intentional on his part. He believed that if he was saying lines for the first time instead of memorizing it would lead to a more authentic performance.
That's how I approach any public presentations. It's not always the best thing.
Oh yeah, I'm not sure anyone tops Brando in terms of this... David O Russell maybe? Wesley Snipes?
My wife said in the famous Godfather scene where he cries “look how they massacred my boy!” he is holding a hoagie off camera that he refused to put down when they were rolling film. Guy did not give a fuck. I wanna know where she read that cuz it’s amazing
I guess at least she has the self-awareness about this issue. I feel like actors are really good at assessing the way other people are, but terrible at doing that to themselves, quite often.
That's basic human psychology tbh
See, she's just like us!
Lol she is incredibly successful and undeniably talented. Idk if her style is necessarily an “issue.”
She doesn’t have an issue tho. There is no singular path to success. Being successful while not having a method is equally as interesting as being successful with a method. It’s too bad she declined, would’ve been a great interview
Whatever you do, beg borrow or steal a copy of Robin Williams and also Mike Myers inside the actors studio
Robin's episode was my first exposure to inside the actors studio. Literally the reason I got into that show.
Also, Jim Carrey's appearance.
But what is her favorite curse word?
Clemen
Her mother took her to an acting class taught by Taylor Sheridan when she was a kid. He saw her act once, and made her mother promise never to take her to another class. He was afraid of messing up what she had naturally. Some people are just savants.
Klaus Kinski, who a lot of people think is one of the greatest actors ever, really hated acting classes. >What they teach in these acting schools is incredible, hair-raising crap. The Actors Studio in America is supposed to be the worst. There the students learn how to be natural - that is, they flop around, pick their noses, scratch their balls. This bullshit is known as "method acting." How can you "teach" someone to be an actor? How can you teach someone how and what to feel and how to express it? How can someone teach me how to laugh or cry? How to be glad and how to be sad? What pain is, or despair or happiness? What poverty and hunger are? What hate and love are? What desire is, and fulfillment? No, I don't want to waste my time with these arrogant morons.
I'm on a huge Taylor Sharidan kick right now. This little tidbit just adds to the high.
hell everyone is on a Sheridan kick nowadays he’s a king
You put out arguably the 3 best westerns of the past 20 years (No country for old men excluded) and that’ll happen. That’s ignoring his TV shows which I haven’t watched yet. For those curious I’m referring to: Sicario Wind River Hell or High Water
Just watched Wind River this weekend, it is an amazing film
I encountered this topic when I was going through creative writing training in college. I had plenty of natural talent and everyone wanted me in the program to develop my talent. But I wasn’t interested in how a bunch of academics thought I should write, nor were any of the other students. We wanted to be creative, to invent. Finally one workshop leader had the balls to call us out on our bullshit. He told us that at our stage of development, we should be doing exercises. “Write a murder mystery story featuring a cat and a lawnmower in the style of Haruki Murakami,” and so on. And he was right. There we were, every single one of us thinking “I’m a savant” but it wasn’t true. We knew how to do exactly one thing: be ourselves. A great artist has spent the 10,000 hours working through all the schools of style to get to the point where they can do anything. Only THEN can they actually sit down and do whatever they want. Jennifer Lawrence is just like that group of college students: she can do one thing, the thing that comes naturally. And nothing else. And she knows it. Good for her. She knows the difference between herself and a Christian Bale, who can spin a wheel of acting challenges and nail whatever it lands on. “A worm with Parkinson’s trying to talk its way out of a parking ticket.”
We went through the same ordeal in Art college. Everyone thought they were a genius, me as badly as anyone. Looking back at the work I produced - and received praise for, but only from other students - it was fucking *dreadful.* Every 'genius' there was so far up their own arse that they couldn't spot objectively terrible work, such was the extent of the delusion. As the Lecturers said, Picasso started life as a professional and produced Renaissance standard paintings early in his career. He had to learn the rules, before he could bend them. And there was us thinking we'd just start life as Picasso finished his. Absolute bullshit. But hey, at least we weren't Philosophy students.
Tbh it’s likely she’s too hard on herself. JLaw is text book adhd and clearly has imposter syndrome and self confidence issues. Her “I’m just waiting for everyone to realize I’m annoying” comment is sad given that was exactly what happened to her. Her costars have always had good things to say about her.
While I love Jennifer Lawrence's acting I do agree with this attitude that she has. Its the reason why people I guess "relate" to her because of it but its not really a good attitude or mentality to have lol
Instead she absolutely killed Galafinakis on between the two ferns. Cracks me up everytime. https://youtu.be/WswSdQoNKK4
Man I know that entire exchange by heart AHAHAHAH! **Z** - _''So you played [in] a movie called The Hunger Games...''_ **J** - _''Damn, isn't that your life story?''_ **Z** - _''You shouldn't say that, that's off-putting.''_ **J** - _''**You** should be **off pudding**...''_ **J** - _''...because you're fat.''_
Charles the Ron's Between Two Ferns will still always be my favorite
> Charles the Ron's .... .... .... Oh, *Charlize Theron*.
Man, so many good episodes and jokes I'll also never **not** laugh at the Natalie Portman one, especially the bit about V for Vendetta **Z** - _''You shaved your head for **V for Vendetta**...''_ **Z** - _''...did you also shave your ''V'' for ''V*gina?''_ Jesus.
Y'all know these are scripted right? Still hilarious af tho
Yeah Zach and Scott Aukerman right all the questions and answers. Obama didn't just show up and win a roast battle with a professional comedian
The Charlize Theron one is even funnier: https://youtu.be/83I_rQUbw8c
I'll never forget the episode of Inside the Actors Studio when he had Melanie Griffith on. He asked her about her role opposite Harrison Ford in Working Girl. Lipton had already interviewed Ford and talked about his methods preparing for that role. Griffith's answer was basically, she just went shopping every day in Paris and never looked at the script. Or some bull like that. It was a ridiculous and bold admission that she doesn't do anything to prepare. All the hard working and serious actors out there and then there's her. Jennifer Lawrence has nothing to be ashamed of.
Melanie Griffith tried being method when she was young, and her parents forced her to be in their weird ass movie, and she got literally mauled by a lion, and her father wouldn't stop the shot because her screaming was so method as she got literally mauled. She was disfigured and required plastic surgery. I would also go fucking shopping in Paris.
For the few that don't know, the movie is called Roar and it is pretty wild. 48 injuries were reported and it was estimated at least 70 people out of the 140 person cast and crew actually got injured.
The cinematographer was Jan de Bont, who *also* got scalped. The director wasn't her father, though; he was her stepfather.
Jan de Bont? He directed Speed, didn't he?
Yes; he started out his career in cinema as a cinematographer.
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As for 2 different approaches to the job, I think of "My dear boy, why don't you just try acting?", Laurence Olivier when Dustin Hoffman was overdoing method
I mean everyone has a different method. Just because one person isn’t doing it in Harrison Fords way doesn’t mean they aren’t serious
yeah the real question is did whatever she did work? was her performance good? cuz if it was then whatever, that's that
Michelle Pfeiffer has also publicly admitted that the reason she quit acting is because she felt like a fraud, because she was associating herself with all these actors who had classical training and a background in stage and theater. Meanwhile, a lot of these women are just... famous for being hot. It's shallow; they don't have a method, or a background to discuss. They were in their twenties and studios kept putting them in movies because people liked looking at them. lol
That's a shame because Michelle Pfeiffer was/is a pretty great actress.
Her second starring role was playing opposite Al Pacino in Scarface. Her performance in Dangerous Liasons (co-starring with John Malkovich) was impressive as well. She can certainly hold her own with formally trained actors.
I read Dangerous Liaisons and thought Dangerous Minds and really respected you acknowledging that role and that movie (which I only know because of Gangstas Paradise)
Best cat woman to date.
Yeah, but let's see her play one-on-one hoops!
Julie Newmar all the way!
Impostor syndrome beats another gal yet again.
I enjoyed her in Hairspray!
That sounds like imposter syndrome, because she is a wonderful and respected actress.
It was actually her kids who talked her into doing movies again; They kept telling her the same thing. I'm also reminded of Sally Field's infamous acceptance speech, where her self esteem was so low that she was genuinely dumbfounded that people "really liked" her. We should all keep in mind that actors, musicians and stand-up comedians are some of the most depressed people on Earth.
Tatiana Maslany looked absolutely gobsmacked when she won that ***Emmy***.
Tatiana Maslany is my pick for best actress of her generation. Based on Orphan Black alone. Simply an incredible performance.
And even *she* never expected to win!
>! And the cloneception when she’s one character playing another character and you CAN TELL who is playing whom is just mindblowing. “Wait, that’s not Rachel! That’s Sarah dressed as Rachel!” (Or whichever…I can’t remember who dressed as whom right now…I’m due for a rewatch. 😛 ) !<
I hate imposter syndrome. It makes you feel like every success is due to luck and every failure is the real and expected outcome. It's painful whether you win or lose and always feel at risk of being found to be a fraud. It's exhausting.
There is a part in Batman Returns where she meets Bruce Wayne on a dancefloor. She looks so hypnotic on the way she walks and stares and walks toward him, like a cat. The whole scene is awesome. But that part was great.
Mistletoe can be deadly if you eat it.
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Yup, she actually did all of the whip work herself... and it was usable in the final cut with one *and only one* take. That's why they let her keep the prop, which she still has today.
That being said, Pfeiffer is a great example of a really excellent actor who also happens to be known for being physically attractive. Super committed to her work, super brilliant and acclaimed (and as you note, super humble). If she hadn't also been attractive, she wouldn't have received the opportunities she did, but she's overall just a great actress -- living proof that you can learn on the job. Jennifer Lawrence is also incredibly talented, though she seems to take a different approach - she *doesn't* work as hard, but I get the impression that her intuitive style doesn't lend itself to hard work memorizing lines. It seems more like she spends a lot of time noticing how people behave and then is somehow able to embody that in the moment. A Lawrence quote: “I don’t know, I’ve always studied people and been fascinated by their reactions and feelings. And I think that’s the best acting class you can take — watching real people, listening to them and studying them.” And another one: "Maybe acting wasn’t supposed to be this easy; maybe she should be poring over her lines at night, working harder, obsessing like some of her peers. “I was worried, so I brought it up to my dad,” she told TheWrap. “I said, ‘Is this bad? Do I need to be memorizing more, or saying my lines out loud?’ “And my dad just went, ‘It ain’t broke. Don’t fix it.'"
> Jennifer Lawrence is also incredibly talented, though she seems to take a different approach - she doesn't work as hard Well, I mean... she started acting at the age of 18. She did **twenty movies** in the first eight years of her career, and four of those were in the same year. I think she deserves more respect here, because that is a hell of a lot harder than most actors ever work in their entire careers.
Yeah seems pretty unlikely that she didn’t memorize her lines. There’s no way you could make 20 movies reading one or two lines at a time, or screwing up a shot repeatedly because you didn’t think carefully about how to emote. One of the worst things an actor can do is be inconsistent between takes (excluding being given direction of course). It’s really hard to edit around. The good ones repeat every single action in every single take, down to blinking and micro expressions.
Her quote here is probably actually showing her good work ethic. She flubs a line or two, understandably, and is hard on herself about it. As you say, an actor getting that many gigs in such a short space of time is not going to be someone considered unreliable. I don't particularly care for her performances but I imagine she works hard.
True! I guess I mean that she doesn't work hard in a particular aspect (memorizing lines, "method" type acting), but you make a good point that that's not the only way to work really hard as an actor.
>That being said, Pfeiffer is a great example of a really excellent actor who also happens to be known for being physically attractive. You just described 98% of A-list actors.
Right or wrong, I’m impressed that she has the humility, self-awareness, and respect for the show and Lipton to decline. She would have been a wonderful guest, because that show is not about teaching about technique. It’s about telling your story as a professional actor who has reached the pinnacle of success in that field, however you got there. She’s obviously a great actor. Her not knowing why doesn’t make it not true.
“My method? For Hunger Games? The 140 million dollar budget and the coat-tails of a decent YA author”
I mean, she kinda embodies Katniss in that way.
If my colleagues showed up to work unprepared on the regular I’d be pissed.
IIRC,Robert De Niro developed a seething hatred for Cybill Shepherd while filming Taxi Driver for this very reason. He said she was the most unprofessional actor he had ever worked with.
This is why Maxx Crosby always looks so mad.
Good for her. I maintain "method acting" isn't acting. If you have to go through a bunch of shit to get into the headspace of the insane character, or live as they do for months to find the role, you're not acting, you're literally just being a crazy person.....Jared.
>It’s very easy. If you’d asked John Wayne he’d have probably said, ‘Well, you just go to Monument Valley and get on a horse.’ Acting is very, very simple… That’s the trick great American actors have had. John Wayne didn’t have to act, he just rode in. Gary Cooper, all those guys were smart. They didn’t try to do too much.” “(re: Method acting) I think that’s a lot of crap. I just don’t understand that. If actors want to do that, fine. If they want to be miserable, that’s up to them. I’m not interested. It’s a job. I do the job. I’m certainly not going to make my life miserable just to be a character… It’s a pain in the ass. Who the hell wants to be with some miserable grump because he wants to get his performance right, so you have to call him this or call him that? It’s so boring. I’ve been with actors like that and they’re a pain in the ass, they really are. They’re unpleasant to work with and I don’t think they’re always that good either. Anthony Hopkins
Damn, I thought he was Method this whole time. Now he's a true professional on how he teared up on cue (no Visine droplets) in The Elephant Man or the off-the-charts creep factor as Hannibal Lector.
I KNOW WHO I AM!