'Character Actors' you can't bear to watch anymore

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We've seen their shtick and it's boring now (even though it was once good).

Robert Carlyle

― de, Sunday, 4 April 2004 22:43 (twenty-one years ago)

Ray Winstone

― de, Sunday, 4 April 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

De Niro

― de, Sunday, 4 April 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

does ben affleck count? he always seems like the same guy to me

― Maria (Maria), Sunday, 4 April 2004 22:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Sam Watterston sucks eggs.

― Vic Leggo, Sunday, 4 April 2004 23:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Adam Sandler.

― Trayce (trayce), Sunday, 4 April 2004 23:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Steve Buscemi must die.

― adam (adam), Sunday, 4 April 2004 23:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Vic Leggo otm

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:23 (twenty-one years ago)

Harvey Keitel, since about 15 years ago.

Most British actors:
John Hurt
Ben Kingsley
Ian McKellen
Anthony Hopkins

British actors are shit.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:26 (twenty-one years ago)

you're all insane

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:27 (twenty-one years ago)

Al Pacino (sad but true)

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:30 (twenty-one years ago)

on what planet are robert deniro and al pacino character actors?!

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:32 (twenty-one years ago)

and on what planet does pacino not rule the school

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:33 (twenty-one years ago)

good point

x-post

― de, Monday, 5 April 2004 00:34 (twenty-one years ago)

did the person who started this thread think 'character actor' meant 'an actor who plays different characters'?

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:35 (twenty-one years ago)

It would appear so.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Pacino! Noway. I love Pacino.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

what's your point?

― de, Monday, 5 April 2004 00:36 (twenty-one years ago)

the point is she loves pacino and rightfully so!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

he's a good guy at characters

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Im assuming "character actor" meant someone who has "a shtick" that shows through no matter what they do. Hence me nominating Sandler, and to a lesser extent I'd say Jim Carrey too though he's at least tried to pull himself out of his own caricature somewhat.

Maybe I misunderstood the phrase too.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Hopkins is the anti-character actor. The other three British guys listed are fantastic.

Pacino in Any Given Sunday is one of my favorite performances ever.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

yes!!

character actors are actors who do not consistently play leading roles (esp romantic leads). that is all.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:39 (twenty-one years ago)

But Pacino... the man is a god. And an adorable one at that. Especially in Heat and in Devils Advocate... excuse me I have to go lie down now...

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

sometimes they have shticks but more often it's "leading" actors who do that.

example: bogey

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

character actors != leading men

(xpost)

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Pacino's dreadful, prize ham, appalling. All of the British actors listed were good once but have now passed over into irredemable hamminess, John Hurt hasn't done anything good in 20 years - Derek Jacobi, now there's an actor.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

So who is someone who does "a shtick" as the question posited? Whassat called if not a character actor? (can you tell I never did film crit lit hehe)

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't get the "character actor" label. I guess I think it means "fat, old, and / or ugly actor who never gets the lead". And it's never occurred to me to hate any such actors because they're already fat and/or ugly and/or old, so why make it worse for them by hating on them?

― jewelly (jewelly), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

j.t. walsh

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:41 (twenty-one years ago)

william h. macy (ish)

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

luis guzman

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:42 (twenty-one years ago)

he's dead you jerk! and may he RIP (xpost: i meant that about jt walsh)

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:43 (twenty-one years ago)

ok here's a question: which director do you think has worked with the best regular repertory of character actors? the obvious answer is preston sturges i guess.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Macy in The Cooler was a terrible thing to watch.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry slocki i've moved on to just naming character actors, period! jt walsh was awesome.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry trayce and s locki my post was directed at mark p and nicole

my definition may not be technically correct as de niro, robert carlyle etc. often play leading roles

but people do seem to know what i mean: actors considered 'strong enough' to inhabit idiosyncratic/uncharismatic roles, and displaying emotion etc. like sean Penn FOR EXAMPLE

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxpost

― de, Monday, 5 April 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

ugh, the cooler was such a piece of shit

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

john c. reilly

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:45 (twenty-one years ago)

evidently my knowledge of character actors begins and ends with pt anderson films.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

Agree about Derek Jacobi

― de, Monday, 5 April 2004 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

jacobi is awesome

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

he's not a character actor though

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:47 (twenty-one years ago)

b-b-but... characters!

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

character.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

the word has lost all meaning.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:48 (twenty-one years ago)

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggghhhhhh

okay retitle this thread ifyerlike

― de, Monday, 5 April 2004 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

can we keep the single quotation marks?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Michael Ironside counts, right? I mean he's seems relegated to be the poor man's Nicholson. Plus I once had a really horrible nightmare about him when I was little, so I justly hates him.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 5 April 2004 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

if your mad html skillz measure up

x-post

― de, Monday, 5 April 2004 00:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 44 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

tim blake nelson!

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

one night at mccool's is possibly the worst film i have ever seen.

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Julianne Moore is good - except in Magnolia, where she's awful - but then she was in The Big Lebowski too

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I love scrolling through this thread and seeing the words "TONY SHALOUB!" stick out in all caps.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:16 (twenty-one years ago)

How do we feel about John Turturro?

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Good in Rounders, but not Malkovichesque.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:21 (twenty-one years ago)

I really can't think of an actor who I once enjoyed but can't bear to watch anymore. Either I've always hated them (Laura Linney, for instance) or I keep thinking they might do good stuff (I thought Steve Buscemi was dead after Con Air and Armageddon, but I dug him in Ghost World).

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Now that I come to think of it, I basically love all character actors indiscriminately. So there.

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:23 (twenty-one years ago)

can mark ruffalo be a character actor still?

― mark p (Mark P), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Joan Cusack has got to be almost the definitive female character actor. Despite mentioning her here, I really like her.

In a better world, Tom Cruise would be a character actor.

― Kim (Kim), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Except for Mark Ruffalo. I hate him.

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Joan Cusack kicks ass. Am I the only person who found her vaguely hot in School Of Rock? I was so disappointed they never let her sing a Stevie Nicks song.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:32 (twenty-one years ago)

luis guzman

― ipsofacto (ipsofacto), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Macy in The Cooler was a terrible thing to watch.

I thought Macy (and most of the other actors) gave pretty good performances in The Cooler, it was just painful to watch them perform that awful script.

― C0L1N B3CK3TT (Colin Beckett), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah Joan Cusack is a character actor but she's GREAT. I love her crooked mouth.

― Trayce (trayce), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Joan - classic
John - approaching dud
Cyril - classic
Sinead - formerly classic
Sorcha - dud
Niamh - the duddest

Have I missed one out?

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 5 April 2004 01:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Mark P. and miloauckerman OTM re. William H. Macy.

And if we are using "character actor" to mean performer you can't bear to watch anymore, Billy Bob Thornton. I'd add Rebecca Pidgeon, except I never could bear to watch her in anything. Would she have a career if she wasn't Mrs. David Mamet?

― j.lu (j.lu), Monday, 5 April 2004 05:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Michael Winslow

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Monday, 5 April 2004 08:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Anthony I'm mainly gutted they didn't put her and Jack together. It's a FEELGOOD movie etc, I want unlikely romance!

― Mr Mime (Andrew Thames), Monday, 5 April 2004 08:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Seth Green. And I like Seth Green, but I'm tired of watching him do his Seth Green thing. His "stretch" in Party Monster was weak enough that I fear he has nothing but the Seth Green thing to go on.

Oh, and Vincent D'Onofrio. Ech.

― Lee G (Lee G), Monday, 5 April 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Jim Carrey. Enough, already! His latest "sensitive everyman" schtick has already been done to death by Tom Hanks. (Besides, can you forgive him for making Dumb and Dumber twice?)

― Nichole Graham (Nichole Graham), Monday, 5 April 2004 22:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Remember when Jeffrey Tambor appeared as a series of weirdos on Three's Company? I might have said him, but then he appeared on Max Headroom and all was forgiven.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Monday, 5 April 2004 22:24 (twenty-one years ago)

and then he appeared in larry sanders and gave one of the great comic performances of the late 20th century!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 22:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Christ almighty, people, Joan Cusack is the most overrated piece-of-shit "comedienne" in years. Look, watch me mug and shriek!

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:09 (twenty-one years ago)

I like Philip Seymour Hoffman as much as the next person, but how can he avoid not getting typecast all the time?

― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

i think we've already gotten past the point of confusing "character actor" with "movie star"

movie stars = halle berry, mel gibson, etc

character actors = ned beatty, anne ramsey, ruth gordon, tom waits, john lurie, amanda plummer, wallace shawn, vincent schiavelli, stephen root, joe morton, randall "tex" cobb, tony "tiny" lister jr, john witherspoon

character actors who somehow became movie stars = paul giamatti, philip seymour hoffman, john goodman, ron perlman(by his own admission), billy bob thorton, john turturro, tim blake nelson, martin balsam, william h macy, james gandolfini, harry dean stanton, etc

pure character actors aren't used or around as much as they used to be. Watch any Western from before the 70s, for example. The Coen Brothers still use them a lot, tho.

― Kingfish Balzac (Kingfish), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:29 (twenty-one years ago)

lyle lovett

― ailsa (ailsa), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:32 (twenty-one years ago)

no one answered my question about ensembles

― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Except for Mark Ruffalo. I hate him.

i hate you!

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:41 (twenty-one years ago)

whats the question?

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:41 (twenty-one years ago)

xx/xy was a very bad movie, jed

― Sym (shmuel), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:49 (twenty-one years ago)

i know. hmmph.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 5 April 2004 23:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Jim Carrey. Enough, already! His latest "sensitive everyman" schtick has already been done to death by Tom Hanks. (Besides, can you forgive him for making Dumb and Dumber twice?)

except jim carrey wasn't in the second dumb and dumber! (which had one of the best taglines ever: "so dumb the original stars were too smart to be in it")

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 00:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Does Wallace Shawn count as a character actor even though he was the lead in a movie?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 00:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Grand Nagus Zek!

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 00:44 (twenty-one years ago)

jim carrey is also not a character actor

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 07:23 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll expand on where I said Lyle Lovett up there. The Player - kooky and enigmatic cop. The Opposite of Sex - kooky and enigmatic cop. Enough already...(I know he's been in some other Altman films as well, but he's kind of annoying and he used to be married to Julia Roberts)

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 08:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I find it staggering that Richard E. Grant hasn't been mentioned yet!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 10:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Staggering!

― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:14 (twenty-one years ago)

It's simply unthinkable dear!

― omg, Tuesday, 6 April 2004 11:16 (twenty-one years ago)

The Coen Brothers still use them a lot, tho.

http://www.themoviegeek.com/cast_graphics/JonPolito.jpg
"And thank God for that!"

― jaymc (jaymc), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, enough w/the Ruffalo hating, now. My hackles doth rise

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Tuesday, 6 April 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

eight years pass...

jennifer ehle

― nakhchivan, Sunday, 3 March 2013 00:38 (twelve years ago)

j.k. simmons

― þjóðaratkvæðagreiðsla (clouds), Sunday, 3 March 2013 00:54 (twelve years ago)

this drawling moonfaced cretin is worse than the squalid cia advertorial itself

― nakhchivan, Sunday, 3 March 2013 00:58 (twelve years ago)

now she has been killed thankfully

― nakhchivan, Sunday, 3 March 2013 01:08 (twelve years ago)

Walken obv

― Pope Rusty I (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 3 March 2013 13:54 (twelve years ago)

just because few directors apart from abel ferrara have the chutzpah, talent and moral integrity to cast him in leading roles

― Nilmar Honorato da Silva, Sunday, 3 March 2013 13:58 (twelve years ago)

six years pass...

There's no thread for character actors you like, so instead of starting a new one I'll just use this.

Al Nalbandian--he's in both American Graffiti and The Conversation.

http://dellioandwoods.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/conversation.jpg?resize=219%2C219 http://dellioandwoods.files.wordpress.com/2019/03/american-graffiti.jpg?resize=219%2C219

― clemenza, Saturday, 9 March 2019 16:31 (six years ago)

We need a pro-character actors thread.

― Timothée Charalambides (cryptosicko), Saturday, 9 March 2019 17:11 (six years ago)

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