Actors who regularly appear both in brainless popcorn movies and in "serious", artsy movies

You know, people like...

Nicolas Cage
Brendan Fraser
Steve Buscemi
Gerard Depardieu
Sigourney Weaver
Peter Stormare

Can you name some more? And do you think they equally appreciate both sides of their career, or do they do popcorn movies just to pay the bills?

Vincent Chase

George Clooney

Who claims to do popcorn stuff to be able to make more 'artsy' films.

myatt..........damon

Nicolas Cage

when was the last time this hack was in an artsy film?

pretty much every working actor in hollywood.

Phillip Seymour Hoffman? He was in MI:3, anyway.

guttenberg.

John Turturro seems to pop up in most Adam Sandler movies these days alongside his more serious work. Also Transformers.

turturro's serious work is hardly in a majority or anything like, or would it just not have made it across the atlantic?

The 99.995% of actors who have never had a speaking part in a "brainless popcorn movie" would sell their first-born to get one, and not just because it pays the bills. These movies are what make you famous and keep your name in circulation. The idea that a part in a blockbuster is some kind of embarrassing side-job that pays the bills is ridic.

Jeff Bridges.

Steve Martin

The idea that a part in a blockbuster is some kind of embarrassing side-job that pays the bills is ridic.

otm -- probably even to steve martin, though admittedly he seems an extreme case. From the actors POV, that's implying that they do their job half-assed in movies that you don't approve of.

I suppose "Turturro's serious work = Spike Lee and Coen Brother's movies basically. And that WTF musical he directed.

I'm trying to think of an "artsy" movie Steve Martin has appeared in

Shopgirl, I liked a lot. But that's not what I mean -- "LA Story" is great and v funny, and "Cheaper by the Dozen" is not something many of us will have seen, unless we have a dozen children. (Or one.)

Pink Panther movies. Yow.

The Spanish Prisoner, Novocaine, too.

otoh. exactly.

Robin Williams

Bruce Willis

He's pretty much on the fence either way, though, right?

Nicolas Cage

when was the last time this hack was in an artsy film?

The Weather Man and Lord of War, both came out in 2005.

I haven't seen Lord of War, but The Weather Man was both artsy and good.

yeah, the "regularly" in the title confuses things. Ask a critic about Nick Cage in the 80's and they would have bubbled over, the guy's just brilliant and on the edge of... something! But it's edgy! And somehow he wore himself down to a nub.

I dunno, he's still been pretty good most of the "serious" films he's appeared in during the last 10 years: The Weather Man, Matchstick Men, Adaptation, Bringing Out the Dead...

Oh don't bring out the dead. Plz no.

But ok, Adaptation I'll give you for sure.

oh those kooky indie directors ridley scott and martin scorsese...

Who said anything about "indie"?

Wait a minute I've got it..

- Every film actor you've ever heard of!

Samantha Morton...

Yeah, I take it back, the problem with this question is that (even though I think I know what you mean) it draws a line between serious and not serious that can't be anything but totally arbitrary. Because it's meaningless.

Maybe a better question would be actors who play both serious characters and complete goofballs.

But then you'd have the Pacino Problem.

Wait a minute I've got it..

- Every film actor you've ever heard of!

Note the word "regularly". Yeah sure, even folks like Vin Diesel or Arnold Schwartzenegger may have done one serious film in their career, but this thread was about the actors who do both types of movies on a regular basis.

So the vast majority of actors then, rather than actually 100%?

Yeah, I take it back, the problem with this question is that (even though I think I know what you mean) it draws a line between serious and not serious that can't be anything but totally arbitrary. Because it's meaningless.

Okay, if I say the difference is between big-budget genre movies and smaller-budget non-genre movies, would that sound better? I didn't mean to imply that the one of type movie is necessarily better than the other, that's why I put "serious" in scare quotes.

You're still not going to see a lot of love for this premise as long as the words "brainless" and "artsy" are in the title and "serious" in in quotes

xposts

So the vast majority of actors then, rather than actually 100%?

Name the names then.

You're still not going to see a lot of love for this premise as long as the words "brainless" and "artsy" are in the title and "serious" in in quotes

Yeah, I guess I should've worded the title better. To me "brainless" can be good.

Samantha Morton

I just love her too much to think she's ever done anything brainless

By the way, Vin Diesel has been in these movies over the past 10 years in addition to xXx and Chronicles of Riddick or whatever:

Find Me Guilty (2006)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419749/

Boiler Room (2000)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181984/

Multifacial (1999)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0226168/

Saving Private Ryan (1998)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120815/

I've totally missed Morton's popcorn movie career, what movies was she in?

Minority Report is the only big-budget stuff I can think of.

She's been in comedies... uh... if Synecdoche, New York counts. No, I guess not. Sweet and Lowdown?

www.imdb.com

look i'll even make it clickable

http://www.imdb.com

Through the MAGIC of the internet, we learn she was in

MINORITY REPORT

LASSIE

FREE JIMMY

That's not more information. Who has seen this Lassie, and wtf is Free Jimmy?

maybe we should explore where it breaks down

i think it broke down about 100 posts ago

i will try to start this convo irl anyway.

what does it describe, besides a list of working actors

Among other things, a continuum that most working actors would accept as real! Surely we can acknowledge that there's something different about the roles taken on by (say) Schwarzenegger vs. Philip Seymour Hoffman. Some actors move between both kinds of roles, and manage to do so without losing either audience. If you want to see it that way, it's as much a conversation about "branding" as anything: you've got someone like Jeff Goldblum who plays basically the same character in every movie, and that's how he markets himself, vs. one of the allegedly chameleonic actors like Depp.

philip seymour hoffman was the bad guy in MI2.

schwarzenegger is like the only actor who seems to not fall into this category - wouldn't this thread be more interesting if it was about the inverse? actually, it's interesting neither way

Yeah, fair enough, I realized that right after I posted. I was trying to think of someone famous-ish who's never crossed over into blockbuster territory, and coming up short!

xpost There are a bunch of action movie stars who've never gone arthouse/serious, no?

fuck jeff goldbum man!

I know many people who'd like to (at least ca. 1991).

xpost There are a bunch of action movie stars who've never gone arthouse/serious, no?

― Charlie Rose Nylund, Monday, February 16, 2009 6:47 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

even JCVD has an arthouse movie these days!

Name Jeff Goldblum

Dirt will chase anything in a skirt; banged Kristin Davis, Lisa Marie, Laura Dern and an additional cast of thousands
More dirt

philip seymour hoffman was the bad guy in MI2.

Btw, that was MI3, I think. (checks IMDB) Yep.

my case falls apart

I think that this was much more of a distinction 10-20 years ago, too, or even five years ago. The "comic actor takes on serious role" thing was certainly harped on in many an article about Punch-Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine, etc.

con air changed everything

I was trying to think of someone famous-ish who's never crossed over into blockbuster territory, and coming up short!

I remember being shocked in the '90s when Steve Buscemi appeared in Con Air and Armageddon and Parker Posey was in You've Got Mail, but I don't think that kind of thing is all that uncommon anymore, especially since indie/arthouse cinema doesn't really exist as a distinct, stable entity as it did 10 years ago.

Wow, that was a double xpost.

don't forget armageddon

# Will Patton - Charles 'Chick' Chapple
# Steve Buscemi - Rockhound
# William Fichtner - Col. William Sharp
# Owen Wilson - Oscar Choi
# Michael Clarke Duncan - J. Otis 'Bear' Kurleen
# Peter Stormare - Col. Lev Andropov
# Ken Hudson Campbell - Max Lennert
# Jessica Steen - Jennifer Watts
# Keith David - Lt. Gen. Kimsey
# Chris Ellis - Walter Clark
# Jason Isaacs - Dr. Ronald Quincy
# Grayson McCouch - Gruber
# Clark Heathcliffe Brolly - Freddie Noonan
# Marshall R. Teague - Col. Davis
# Anthony Guidera - Tucker
# Greg Collins - Lt. Halsey

Owen Wilson - Oscar Choi

Did they explain the surname in the movie at all? Marriage? Adoption? I'm assuming that O.W. doesn't have any Korean/Asian-American heritage of which I'm unaware...

has Jennifer Aniston really not been mentioned yet?

the two 1st actors named on this thread are two of my least favorite

has Jennifer Aniston really not been mentioned yet?

― Surmounter, Monday, February 16, 2009 8:05 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i have no idea what this means, but it's an a+ post.

the title of this thread reminds me why i go to fewer and fewer movies: because i fucking hate the sound of popcorn being chewed.

con air was first iirc

I'm gonna go with Jean-Paul Belmondo on this one. Pretty much kills this thread rite guys? enh?

"popcorn movie" now means incomprehensible 'action,' adolescent dialogue, 'mythic' self-importance & pref based on a gr*phic n*vel, when it used to mean The Apartment or The Wages of Fear.

Hey Morbs, can you name some films actually based on a gr*phic n*vel, as opposed to a superhero property or ongoing series?

Harry Dean Stanton kinda owns this thread along with Belmondo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0e/Magnifique_affiche.jpg

^ My wife was so into that movie, and she almost never likes anything non-mainstream!

Hey Morbs, can you name some films actually based on a gr*phic n*vel, as opposed to a superhero property or ongoing series?

Does "ongoing series" exclude graphic novels that are definitive collections of material that was originally serialized? Like From Hell and Ghost World?

let's let the good Dr respond before initiating inevitable_quibble.clusterfuck.exe!

I always thought it was crazy that Joe Pesci would go from Home Alone to Goodfellas to My Cousin Vinny to Casino.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/03/Tape-Poster.jpg
Uma Thurman - definitely
Ethan Hawke - definitely
wilson from house?

also
Bruce Campbell

Keanu

yes to Keanu

Tim Roth

this thread is really pointless isn't it?

maybe I just suck at this thread

This thread question is still pointless. Because we're all going to die.

http://bookshelvesofdoom.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/08/14/going_to_die.jpg

Viggo did "Texas Chainsaw III." In an apron and a cowboy hat. No, I haven't seen it.

"I always thought it was crazy that Joe Pesci would go from Home Alone to Goodfellas to My Cousin Vinny to Casino."

Joe Pesci needed money.

Blade Trinity was on TV the other day and I think "wow, parker, that fay grim shit didn't pay out well at all, huh?"

last three words of thread title should've been "brainless artsy movies"

why is that?

they're made by democrats

bcz those are the "artsy" movies ILXors list

go fuck yourself

J/K!

Oooh!

(xpost)

i was thinking Casino

John Malkovich is the master of this.

May I present: The Mutant Chronicles, Beowulf, Johnny English, Con frickin' Air!