Modern Hip Film Icons

I am not sure I get it-- like Parker Posey or something?

All potential answers will be subjected to the "yes, but will twee bands of the future / a 70-year-old Stereo Total write a song about you" test.

xpost - Yes, Parker Posey is a perfect answer here!

actually i think that the kinds of "icons of cool" that youre talking about tend to be the same 70s stars, mostly because nostalgia is the new cutting-edge

maybe thats a different thing tho--idolization of the era becoming idolization of the stars of the era

i don't see any "it" in parker posey or claire danes, but that's just me.

I was going to say, Claire Danes doesn't work for me in this capacity, but I thought maybe it's because I'm not a dude.

sarah polley?

wtf claire daines who died and made you gabbneb

Maybe in the future these people will all be replaced by YouTube heroes and internet porn stars.

xpost - Claire Danes is totally beloved of the appropriate My So-Called Life age group: I could name like half a dozen rock songs about her just off the top of my head! (The best, admittedly, being Sifl & Olly's "Claire Danes, it's insane" song.)

wait clarification--are you asking about who's going to be cool 15-20-30 years from now?

or whos cool NOW

ask max--whoever is cool is probably @ his school RIGHT NOW shooting a film

I do not understand the Clare Danes thing

sarah polley works.

the problem with everyone i'm thinking of is that as soon as I think of them, it seems like they're already too recognizably associated with a certain kind of "cool," and therefore played out? maybe this is the problem with "cool"?

i'm gonna vote for tony leung chiu-wai

anthony wong

ask max--whoever is cool is probably @ his school RIGHT NOW shooting a film

-- Mr. Que, Thursday, September 20, 2007 2:57 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link

if this is true, cell phone ad actors are the next big thing

maggie cheung

oh come on nobody gives a fuck about Claire Danes nabisco!

I think I'm asking all of the following:

(a) which stars from the 80s forward already have that quality
(b) which stars from the 80s forward we think will have it in the future
(c) which stars from the 80s forward we think SHOULD get that treatment

(my C answers would probably revolve around Martin Donovan, Campbell Scott, and Mary-Louise Parker)

xpost - one problem now is that people never get to GO AWAY effectively enough to develop this -- it's kinda contingent on being awesome for a short while and then disappearing (cf Winona)

otm on Martin Donovan and Campbell Scott!!!

I don't even think I get this thread, but I love them!!!

(clarification: point being Winona stuck around and got boring / embarrassing, whereas if it were just memories of Heathers and Beetlejuice and whatnot she'd have great icon quality)

one could argue that johnny depp fits in here, but i'm not sure that's completely the case anymore

who is the modern-day Steve McQueen? does such a person exist?

i think nabisco is asking what film actors we think should die

Parker seems like a good bet - in predicting the future you have to consider what actual material is likely to endure. No one's gonna be watching any of Claire Danes' movies 20 years from now - they'll be out of circulation and forgotten (not just because she's in them, but because they're all crap and none have really succeeded). But Parker's been in a wide enough variety of stuff, and with enough critical cachet, that you're still likely to see her face years from now. Whether or not she's ICONIC or exemplifies a particular era/lifestyle the way McQueen or Bridgit Bardot or Clint Eastwood or something remains to be seen (I kinda doubt it when I think about it)

Depp's definitely reached icon status.

I didn't think Winona was boring or embarassing as a puppetfucker.

johnny depp is sort of an obvious example

perhaps in 30 years, people won't feel the need to name-drop anti-icons of a gauzy past era in rock songs

(esp now that a whole generation of kids will remember him from Pirates, while the snootier folks will remember his previous goofy/artsy roles)

lolz @ puppetfucker!!

x-post

john cusack is or was also sort of hip-cult dude despite being a bag of dicks

clooney

I nominate S-Jo, if she manages to make any (more) decent movies

unless Scarlett Johanssen is cast in a very specific kind of role, though, she utterly sucks.

but I mean maybe that doesn't matter. is this thread about people who always seem like themselves?

I liked her in that movie where she got murdered haha

i think clooney has that sort of charisma but he's maybe not weird enough

christian bale

crispin glover

john turturro

crispin glover otm

viggo mortensen

francis ng

(ILX pls note that was a joke and I am not wishing that S-Jo is dead altho I was serious that Match Point is a good movie and she was great in it)

Crispin OTM!!

x-post

i think johnny depp is the only major working actor who you can really say this about

at one time, chow-yun fat

"Claire Danes, If You Ever Get a Nose Job, I Swear to Jesus I'll Hang Myself" -- Lesser Birds of Paradise

xpost - As mentioned, she has it NOW-ish based on television, not in future based on films

Paquin?

yeah, I think Viggo Mortenson is "at one time," too, but if he becomes Cronenberg's main man, maybe he'll get unfamous again.

HARRY POTTER STARS - I believe enough in the continuity of the universe to expect teenagers to write ironic pop-punk songs about them in ten years

i think daniel craig has some potential, actually.

clive owen?

wait: guy pearce!

that dude needs a sandwich

sam rockwell

clive owen totally otm, post-children of men

Becoming unfamous again doesn't preclude you from becoming an icon later, though. 'Ronnie Lake died a little recognized barfly in NYC.

Lauren Ambrose (will not happen but would be cool)

michael cera in 5 years

Um, Steve Buscemi, people?

ilu Lauren Ambrose!

What would our answers have been in 1975? Would McQueen have been obvious? How much does it help his legacy that he died in 1980 instead of living on and ending up like Peter Fonda making infomercials for Time Life's Flower Power hippie music collection?

maybe clive owen is the new steve mcqueen, post Children of Men?

i'm telling you, guy pearce is a secret contender for this crown

if he eats a sandwich

Samuel L Jackson.

Timothy Olyphant

40 posts and no mention of PAUL RUDD?

Adrienne Shelley, Linda Cardellini, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Shelagh O'Hara, Emily Watson, Emma Caulfield - all could feature in a 'Lee Remick' style song by a 21st century Go Betweens.

Paul Rudd is too cheery, though?

Clive Owen OTM

Jeremy Irons
Peter Stormare

Um, Steve Buscemi, people?

Yeah, that was going to be my answer.

Paul Rudd would need to do some pushups. Lots.

what?

milla jovovich

There was a guy sitting across from me on the el yesterday who looked a lot like Paul Rudd. So hot.

(this is an XPOST!)

Milla Jovovich (complete with decent OOP folkie records to reissue!)

Adrienne Shelley totally OTM, and maybe she can take Martin Donovan with her

I'm skeptical of Charlotte Gainsbourg, though, who is already like a modern recreation of a 60s icon in the first place; Emma Caulfield only if Buffy winds up with way more influence than I expect, and even then you'd think it'd be Alison Hannigan who gets the benefit

yeah, I was thinking Milla Jovovich!

jaymc, you should have grabbed his face and kissed it!

Jude Law
Judy Davis
Peter O'Toole
Kate Winslet

brad dourif

I don't want this to happen to Adrienne Shelley, because she is mine! I know that is very 13 years old of me.

not Jude Law.

nick nolte

Morgan Freeman

Vince Vaughan needs some gritty roles.

Vince Vaughan needs to lay off the eggs benedict.

keanu

you guys are so hard on the doughy dudes! (and Paul Rudd is not even doughy, btw)

I would have said Jena Malone a couple years ago, but she seems to have disappeared.

rrrobyn wins the thread.

that dude needs a sandwich

-- horseshoe, Friday, 21 September 2007 08:12 (15 seconds ago) Bookmark Link

Incorrect. the cheekbones maketh the man..

^that's about guy pearce btw

the hipster video store near my college had a wall devoted to Keanu Reeves.

has anybody written a song about Seth Rogan yet

Keanu does seem like a shoe-in

James Franco

K. Holmes would have had this, before she became K. Cruise

doesn't james franco seem too much like a version of the former version of this (specifically james dean), like charlotte gainsbourg?

Thora Birch, about five years ago.

Oh wait shit major omission: DUNST

what are you people talking about?

This all reminds me of a thread I once conceived but never posted years ago about what if The Smiths had continued - who would have been on their cover stars into the 90s. You have to be a bit b-movie and obviously doomed.

Dudes: James Franco, Simon O'Brien, Nick Kamen!, um River Phoenix, um Alex Winter..., David Thewliss?

Christina Ricci

Natalie Portman

You have to be a bit b-movie and obviously doomed.

O.J.?

It just occurred to me: Robert Downey Jr.

mark ruffalo

Edward Norton

should happen but won't: Kevin Corrigan

Now you're just naming random people from Hal Hartley movies.

I don't remember Kevin Corrigan being in any Hartley movies!

Kevin Corrigan was in Walking & Talking and no Hal Hartley movies that I remember.

He was in Henry Fool, wasn't he? I remember in the summer of 1998 I saw like three movies in a row that he was in: that, Buffalo '66, and Slums of Beverly Hills.

oh, you're right.

I do love him, though.

you have to die before your time to be a proper icon

I don't remember him in Henry Fool, I guess. Was he one of the punks who beat the poet up? Minor role!

Tim Roth, incidentally. And Uma Thurman. Ving Rhames might get some ironic t-shirts about his posse or something. Tarantino and whatnot. It'd be sweet if this could happen for Amanda Plummer, but obviously no way (and it'd be Lily Taylor first, obv).

What will be the future of Banderas?

parker posey is for shit. hasn't done one interesting thing.

i'm gonna vote for tony leung chiu-wai

-- omar little, Thursday, 20 September 2007 21:59 (47 minutes ago) Link

maggie cheung

-- omar little, Thursday, 20 September 2007 21:59 (46 minutes ago) Link

welcome to the late 90s.

You're not really getting the concept, are you.

We have neglected to mention that Jason Lee was briefly in this category, largely on skater cred (cf All-Girl Summer Fun Band song), but any Chipmunk-movie sequels will finish it off hardcore.

also, he turned out to be a scientologist. ;_;

Don't remember KC in Henry Fool either, but you guys are forgetting his great bit on Freaks and Geeks as Millie's cousin the fake ID salesman.

That fake id scene - with the giant card - may be the greatest moment of American tv of the last 20 years.

from the '80s to the present, you douche

xxxpost

Dare I mention M. Gyllenhaal/Z. Deschanel?

whatever, still sucky choices.

i guess though all of these vaguely "indie" or "art-house" actors on this thread *are* the kind of thing shitty indie acts would name a song after.

same for steve mcqueen tho.

James Spader.

Oh god yeah: Gyllenhall and Deschanel both have the FACE for this, such that even if nobody remembers them or their acting, you could stick still of them on album covers in 2035 and people would still probably take notice.

Real answer will turn out to be Lisa Kudrow! For actual film work, obv. (Note: I have not seen any of it.)

RIP

prince vince gallo

he's the only one. and i believe he cultivates that image on purpose. and succeeded.

it's not even arguable that those are iconic actors to many people. i'm curious as to your personal choices since you've been quiet on the matter.

Crispin Glover

Do these people have to be sex symbols?

Natasha Lyonne. The song will be part of a cult that treats her as the indie-film Judy Garland, romanticizing her life problems.

the guy in hollywood dreams

wes anderson

I think you mean Bill Murray.

u ____ u

not scarlet

yes charlotte

charlotte backlash

WORKING ON IT:
http://bifsniff.com/images/franks-blog/heath-joker-2.jpg

Matt Damon is a very iconic Hollywood dude. Ben Affleck once was alongside him but then lord only knows Paycheck et al happened.

http://i2.tinypic.com/4v4g6eo.jpg

xp

Dom Monaghan was lucky enough to lose his hobbit icon status, if only by replacing it with LOST island junkie icon status.

I'm gonna call Christian Bale. Get back to me twenty years from now and let me know how I did.

Another alternative to dying young: suffer a severe car accident and go into hibernation. Bud Cort ultimately got to have his cake and eat it, too: icon status intact and he still gets work because he didn't get old on film and hardly anyone recognizes him as Bud Cort these days.

Although my selection of Bud Cort may suggest that I'm missing the point of this game.

i think christian bale is my favorite male actor, kind of unassailable isn't he?

is christopher walken too old?

gael garcia bernal?

i think johnny depp is the answer.

I thought this thread was "Modern Hip Hop Film Icons". Like what actor will have as much impact on the hip hop world as Al Pacinio has.

ugh

liam neeson xpost

I'm not totally sure I get this thread but: People outside Canada have heard of Sarah Polley?

Ray Winstone? Too old?
Maybe not after Beowulf?

Also, yeah, man-chub for Bale..

the reason this doesn't work anymore is that the cool actors now make a higher pct of bad movies (eg Bale, Depp).

I have a hard time accepting that hypothesis. Could it not just be that the bad movies of those pre-80s stars don't get remembered, played on TV, go out of print etc?

Fey in popular culture

Fey is the inspiration for the song "Tina Fey," written by Brad San Martin and recorded by the band Okay Thursday on their 2006 album Fun in Flats.

Jennifer Jason Leigh

Audrey Tautou

I've seen the bad movies of pre-'80s stars. They usually didn't make "franchises" out of bad movies (Bale Batman, Depp arrrrggghhh).

"They usually didn't make "franchises" out of bad movies"

that's right, sequels and serials were invented in the 80s.

try to read what I write. or don't.

i clicked on this thread thinking that it read Modern Hip Hop Icons.

Bale's and Depp's obits will probably lead with their Burger King tie-in movies, and they basically deserve that.

They usually didn't make "franchises" out of bad movies

http://artfiles.art.com/images/-/Road-to-Singapore-Poster-C10128647.jpeg

lol philistine

I do wish Bale or Depp had turned out anywhere as cool as Hope or Crosby.

Jennifer Jason Leigh

This is a really good one (and not just for the Versus song with a dramatic "Jennifer Jason Leigh!" in the chorus) --

which leads me to suggest Bridget Fonda! If anyone here owns a poster shop in 2035, make one of her in Singles to test this hypothesis.

Another low-level current possessor of this trait = Martha Plimpton

In fact, Martha Plimpton might be a key to figuring out how all this works -- hardly anyone can remember much about what films she's been in, or think of any that are particularly great, but loads of people still know exactly who she is and just generally think she's awesome.

Martha Plimpton would get my vote, but I think she's simply too subcultural

What about the guy who played the older brother in college in one episode of Freaks and Geeks and sang "Luck Be A Lady Tonight" in his skivvies in Slums of BH? He's probably not busy enough, but he's got elements of the right resume for this thread.

is that Kevin Corrigan?

Regardingmost of these ppl as even vaguely iconic = dubious judgment. Do folks think Martha Plimpton is awesome from magazine interviews or something?

No, that's David Krumholtz! I love that guy!

(I've also been told I resemble him.)

Natasha Lyonne. The song will be part of a cult that treats her as the indie-film Judy Garland, romanticizing her life problems

What about La Lohan?

That kid who used to be on Third Rock from the Sun. He's brilliant in Mysterious Skin and Brick. Best young actor I've seen, by a longshot.

Can't recall his name. Sorry to repeat if he's been mentioned before.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

haha wasn't he also in Angels in the Outfield?

both gylllllllenhaaaaaalls

bale seconded

jonathan rhys meyers

cillian murphy

colin farrell

(I've also been told I resemble him.)

OK, maybe not.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/51/David_Krumholtz_at_the_Serenity_Premiere.jpg/220px-David_Krumholtz_at_the_Serenity_Premiere.jpghttp://farm1.static.flickr.com/55/130487664_aabf7e7d5c_m.jpg

You know who SHOULD be on this list? fucking Peter Krause. That guy, man. Severely under-recognized-by-name. I've never not liked him in something. He is one of my two current mancrushes. The other is a Welsh left back.

Gordon-Levitt was the cover boy on the NY Times men's fashion supp last week, so coolness takes a slight dive

christopher walken

dude from entourage.

Whatevs, Gordon-Levitt is a shoe-in for this.

The marquee at the theater where I saw Brick just said "You'll Joseph Gordon-Love it."

The makings of an icon.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/joshgroban/multimedia/images/3.jpg

dude from entourage.

hahaha, isn't he the star of the show cuz he's the kind of lippy, insubstantial toad Hollywood is trying to fob off as stars these days?

J G-L is a dreamboat, let's face it.

Lea Thompson.

Gabbneb, did you post Groban because my aunt sez I look like him?

actually, mark wahlberg might not be out of the question.

gabriel byrne.

loads of people have been named now. i think it's somewhat arbitrary is the point.

it probably won't be someone self-consciously indie? ie not winona ryder, parker posey, jennifer jason leigh.

because future shitty indie bands may not hear of them. in the same way it's not cassevetes or gazzara but steve mcqueen who got the nod in the recent past.

i posted Groban because I think you look like him, if anyone

Will Ferrell

christina ricci was mentioned upthread - she seems like a fit for this. She's done only a handful of movies that actually made any money but she's made a career out of fucked-up, damaged girl roles, despite the foray into wholesome teen movies (Casper, Now and Then) in the late 90s. At the same time, she's a lot less indie than posey, gyllenhaal, et al.

In other words, she's still getting a whole lot of mileage out of playing Wednesday Addams.

less indie than jake/maggie gyllenhaal. takes some doing.

ha i meant just maggie actually. Jake's another story.

also i guess that that might change soon too after The Dark Knight with Maggie G playing Rachel Dawes. fine, replace gyllenhaal with jennifer jason leigh whatever ya know what i mean.

Sevigny?

ding

I could kinda imagine Sevigny getting old and turning into Zsa Zsa Gabor, which is precisely the kind of thing that would ensure this status.

james spader?

I mentioned him already. Unless you're questioning my mention?

whoops! nope, didn't see it, jaymc. guess i missed that one.

trying to imagine any of these people as a Steve McQueen/James Dean type icon that people would put a b&w photo of on a t-shirt is hilarious.

I've also been told I resemble him.)

OK, maybe not.
I think you two do look alike, jaymc, but his face looks thinner than usual in that picture.

we no longer live in a world of towering genius or broadly consensual stardom

otm

trying to imagine any of these people as a Steve McQueen/James Dean type icon that people would put a b&w photo of on a t-shirt is hilarious.

-- Alex in Baltimore, Friday, September 21, 2007 5:26 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

not really. the mcqueen cult was largely retrospective -- and the james dean cult too, really. he was obviously a bit deal at the time but a mainstream star and they didn't have t-shirts of that kind. (only made three mediocre films too.)

uh, aren't we talking about retrospective icons, predicting who will be treated that way in the future? I mean nabisco said "present and future" but it seemed to me like there's an emphasis on predicting the latter.

yeah exactly. i'm saying you can't guess what shitty indie bands 30 years hence will like. they'll see something we don't. in the same way: why james dean and not montgomery clift?

it can happen to anyone.

r.e.m. wrote a song about montgomery clift

I'm just saying, picturing teenagers earnestly wearing James Spader or Jennifer Jason Leigh t-shirts in 2037 is giving me serious giggles. If I had photoshop skillz I'd be all over that.

Film characters I have seen on t-shirts lately: Ferris Bueller, Edward Scissorhands.

why james dean and not montgomery clift?
Because he had the right profile? Oh, wait.

no one around today is really mysterious enough, and the ones that are tragic aren't considered as such but rather made the object of fun on tmz/gawker/idolator or some other useless site. i think there will likely be some weird revival of some actor not even mentioned yet.

Predicting the latter, yeah, but also picking out who today also has a little of this quality already! I mean, who knows what might happen, but I don't think it's weird to predict that Sevigny or Depp have more of a shot at this than lots of other people.

If this thread were a few years back, I might have said Dan Hedaya.

<i>trying to imagine any of these people as a Steve McQueen/James Dean type icon that people would put a b&w photo of on a t-shirt is hilarious.</i>

^^^This.

People on here are deluded or something. Parker Posey isn't going to be the Veronica Lake of the future, come on.

well thank God Owen Wilson didn't succeed a couple weeks ago, he'd be a prime candidate.

...strike that. The way things are going, Dane Cook will be the cool icon of 2037.

(gah)

I mean, someone like Angelina Jolie is probably closer to Veronica Lake.

ICON: Alicia Silverstone

There is something to be said for the fact that people we don't think of as cool in 2007 may become cool in 30 years just because they're old.

I mean, "retro."

PS: People who are all like "WTF none of these people will be remembered" would be well served by offering more of their own predictions here

I would also note that everyone who thinks this can't happen to non-superstar actors are somewhat foiled by Jean Seberg

Jean Seberg = "one great outfit" rule

trying to imagine any of these people as a Steve McQueen/James Dean type icon that people would put a b&w photo of on a t-shirt is hilarious.

what and you think in 1955 people were saying, "that james dean will definitely have his face on t-shirts some forty years in the future"??

but Jean Seberg is largely remembered for one film, and Godard is not going to cast Parker Posey in anything.

"less is more" for icons

Shatner

One film guy who has a shot:
Robert Romanus for Fast Times at RH

One film guy who doesn't:
Vincent Spano for Baby It's You

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/style/t/index.html

r.e.m. wrote a song about montgomery clift

-- omar little, Friday, September 21, 2007 6:05 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

still nowhere near as iconic, though.

to be honest, i think the phenomenon of retro-culty hollywood star worship is a pretty specific 80s-90s postmodern thing and doesn't even exist now that much.

it was kind of campy but also maybe based on a situation where not every film was instantly obtainable at all times. and also on stars where their image was almost entirely limited to their movie image. i suppose the paradox of the hollywood era was that the celebrity cult was just as big as it is now, only the celebrities were always in character.

but it it were to happen it wouldn't be incredible talentless and inexplicably vaunted "indie" people like sevigny or posey.

One film guy who has a shot:
Robert Romanus for Fast Times at RH

I was going through one of my many piles of magazines the other day, and found a Spin from 2002 that had an interview w/Romanus in character as Damone wherein he went after the Strokes for ripping off his image.

Martha Plimpton is mostly remembered for ZERO films, Morbs

Posey's film history is diffuse enough that she's totally just "Parker Posey," not "Parker Posey from X film" -- added benefit that she's so firmly linked with a specific 1994-1997 period that she can be iconic for a specific retro period.

Hel-looks.com, 2035: "I am inspired by styles of new fashion cyborgs from Japan, also 1990s film stars, like Parker Posey. I am somewhat like a homeless hamster."

Dude-that-quit is right about not being confined to movie-image anymore, or else Gwyneth-in-Tenenbaums would be an easy bet.

is "opaquely lesbian" for "hip" good enough to nominate Jodie Foster?

There already is a song about Parker Posey. She is rhymed with Joseph Losey!

I am not going to name the song, for fear I might incriminate myself.

Jason Schwartzman?

Russell Crowe

Jason Schwartzman?
Another guest on the F&G "Carded And Discarded" episode, although he is not in Slums as far as I know.

Mark Wahlberg will be on T-shirts.

wait
no one said Brad Pitt yet?
brad pitt

i'd say Leonardo DiCaprio should def be high up on this list

i also have a feeling abt Casey Affleck

Here's a clue: the cult people say interesting things in interviews.

I'd agree on Sevigny, Bale, Toni Collette.