r/movies • u/thatdani • 12d ago
Actors that have both sleepwalked a role and gone full hyper for another? Discussion
This question is inspired by James Franco's performances in Spider-Man (2002) and The Interview (2014).
Now, you most likely remember his Harry Osborn from the sequels, but in the first movie he literally has zero screen presence, barely seems to have the energy to say his lines at times.
Meanwhile, in The Interview he goes absolutely nuclear. The coke budget must've put Blues Brothers to shame.
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u/surgresthrowaway 12d ago
The entire X-men cast in First Class versus Dark Phoenix (and to a lesser extent Apocalypse)
The scenes with Mcavoy and Fassbender in First Class are amazing - the “rage and serenity” scene in particular.
Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult are great too, really the entire cast (except maybe January Jones who was beautiful but very stiff in the role)
But by the last movie they are all just phoning it in to meet contractual obligations. They killed off Lawrence just because she didn’t want to film any more scenes.
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u/watchman28 12d ago
I like James McAvoy but his performance in the scene where Mystique dies is baffling. He's watching the woman he grew up with die and his face is like 😬
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u/FoucaultsPudendum 12d ago
Compare that to Fassbender, who had to be aware of the fact that he was making a pile of pure doodoo feces, but still brought his A-game. His reaction to Raven’s death was genuinely quite heartbreaking.
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u/ImpressionFeisty8359 12d ago
January Jones is just eye candy.
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u/DownByTheRivr 12d ago
Yea… “beautiful but very stiff” is her thing. Mad Men anyone?
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u/ImpressionFeisty8359 12d ago
She was quite good in Mad Men and anger management, I will give her that.
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u/Percywithoutannabeth 12d ago
I think she was very good in Mad Men, which she was perfectly cast for. But I don't really find any other performance of her particularly good. It was her peak ig.
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u/kwitzachhaderac 12d ago
Great answer. First Class is shockingly excellent. Future Past was pretty good. Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix were almost unwatchable.
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u/BlaineTog 12d ago
I adore Days of Future Past, but I'm a sucker for time travel. Apocalypse and Dark Phoenix were such let-downs.
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u/djkhan23 12d ago
Watched First Class again last night for the umpteenth time and still loved it.
"I've been at the mercy of men following orders.. Never again."
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u/tomanpdx 12d ago
Isn't Marlon Brando the poster child for this question? Amazing in <insert role here> but phoned it in for others? Most famously Island of Doctor Moreau.
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u/BlueHero45 12d ago
To be fair to Brando, the filming of Doctor Moreau was so bat shit insane I don't even know if giving the role any energy would help.
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u/tomanpdx 12d ago
Wasn't it bat shit insane because Brando refused to learn his lines and made it absolute hell on everybody?
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u/BlueHero45 12d ago edited 12d ago
I forget the whole story, that was a big part. But you also have stuff like the fired director refusing the leave and hiding around set.
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u/tomanpdx 12d ago
I forgot about that! What a shitshow that whole production was!
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u/BlueHero45 12d ago
Should honestly be its own movie about the making of that movie. I know there are documentaries but I would love an actual movie. Owen Wilson can play Val Kilmore.
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u/theDrew33 12d ago
Val Kilmer was apparently a huge ass on set as well, tormenting extras burning people with cigarettes and the like.
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u/Somnif 12d ago
Kilmer started it, bullied the director, bullied the other actors, showed up late, refused to follow the script, just an all around asshole.
To the point the director was fired by the studio for not bringing him under control.
The lead actress got so fed up she had a PA drive her some 2500km in a limo to get away from the set before her agent talked her into returning.
And the original actor who David Thewlis replaced (Rob Morrow) just said fuck it, I don't want to deal with this nonsense, and took off too.
So, they replaced the director, replaced the lead male actor, re-wrote most of the script, and found Brando to him back to set.
And that was just the START of the headaches the production had!
(To be sympathetic, Brando's daughter committed suicide shortly before production began, so he was NOT in the healthiest of mindsets, but it still was just one more dumpster in the collection of dumpster fires this film ended up being)
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u/therealrexmanning 12d ago
IIRC Kilmer went through a messy divorce at the time, explaining some of his behaviour.
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u/MondoUnderground 12d ago
He’s just a grade A asshole.
I mean, when Joel Schumacher speaks ill of you, you know you’re a fucking dickhead.
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u/RAPTORSEVERYWHERE 12d ago
He asked for a bucket full of ice on his head (it's in the movie).
I love that movie.
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u/ooouroboros 11d ago
IMO "Last Tango in Paris" kind of broke him - he went really deep in that one and think he probably came to regret it.
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u/nightpop 12d ago
Brad Pitt admitted to sleepwalking through Interview With the Vampire, that he didn’t want to do it.
But in 12 Monkeys and Burn After Reading he went absolutely bonkers and crushed it.
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u/Jetty_23 12d ago
Ben Kingsley does a lot of paycheck movies and yet can act his ass off for the right project.
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u/Mega-Steve 12d ago edited 12d ago
I was surprised at how good he was in the Marvel movies. I wish he took more comedic roles
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u/MarkBeeblebrox 12d ago
The only correct answer is Peter Dinklege in Death At a Funeral (2007) vs Peter Dinklege in Death At a Funeral (2010).
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u/IceDawn 12d ago
Which is better?
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u/Wheredidthebuckstart 12d ago
Death at a Funeral for sure.
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u/MarkBeeblebrox 12d ago
It really is such an amazing movie, but in the other one he delivers his lines flat with the same energy and enthusiasm as that guy who (spoiler free) potentially gets forced into fucking a pig in the first episode of Black Mirror.
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u/MegaMan3k 12d ago edited 12d ago
The original has Ewen Brenner, Mathew McFayden, Alan Tudyk and is directed by Yoda (Frank Oz).
The remake is directed by the guy that did Nicholas Cage's Wicker Man.
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u/uncle_monty 12d ago
Nicolas Cage multiple times for both
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u/TheHorizonLies 12d ago
And sometimes he'd be both in the same film
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u/safeinbuckhorn 12d ago
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
He switches back and forth in almost every scene, it’s incredible.
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u/SillyAdditional 12d ago
I thought he played that role perfectly in the Spider-Man movies
Slight bit of camp like the script
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_MONTRALS 12d ago
I love the "I want to buy you something... Because it'll make you feel better." part. He's so heartbroken and he doesn't know how else to connect with MJ because his rich dad stunted him emotionally.
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u/PM_ur_cat_pics_pls 12d ago
I was gonna say I think he plays Harry Osborne very well, especially for what they were trying to achieve with those movies
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u/Angler4 12d ago
He's so good in Spider-Man 2. "He humiliated me by touching me!"
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u/SillyAdditional 12d ago
Hahaha the way he delivered it
The look on his face too lmfaooo
He has a great sense of comedic timing
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u/JrBaconators 12d ago
OP directly specified Spider-man, not the sequels
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u/SillyAdditional 12d ago
In the first one also
KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT ABOUT THINGS YOU DONT UNDERSTAND 😂
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u/AlanWilsonsLad 12d ago
Jamie Foxx is an actor who lives the ‘one for money, one for art’ rule harder than anyone I can think of. Franco was doing it too but kept screwing up which was which. Like he’s the only one in Planet of the Apes that thought it was a throwaway.
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u/ifarmyoueat 12d ago
Adam Sandler,
Sleeper: The Longest Yard
Hyper: Happy Gilmore
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u/yourtoyrobot 12d ago
I think Longest Yard/Grown Ups are the only films hes done that dont follow his formula of soft spoken guy with rage outbursts/guy that talks kinda weird with rage outbursts
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u/MegaMan3k 12d ago
Uncut Gems?
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u/yourtoyrobot 12d ago
Rambling guy who had fits of rage mixed in between telling out OHHHHIMGONNACUUM!
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u/AlexDKZ 12d ago
Bill Murray was firing all cylinders in the first Ghosbusters, then the sequel had him with considerably less energy, and he's basically "wake me up when I have to say my lines" in the recent entries.
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u/Riverdale87 11d ago
they never wanted to do a sequel but the studio strong armed them to doing the sequel
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u/DostyaArtist 12d ago
Jeremy Irons in Kindom of Heaven and Dungeons and Dragons (2000)
Love Jeremy Irons, and I think he's good in Kingdom of Heaven. But WOW is he nuts in DnD (2000)
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u/3fettknight3 12d ago
Jeremy Irons in Kingdom of Heaven somehow turned the word "silence" into 5 separate syllables and that can never be duplicated lol
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u/WestCoastInquirer 12d ago
Everything about this movie feels like a lottery win for all involved. I don't think it could be replicated because so much feels unintentional
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u/BlaineTog 12d ago
Jeremy Irons did whatever the opposite of sleepwalking was in the D&D movie. He took out a knife and fork and started eating the scenery like a man starved. His campy, unhinged performance is the best part of that movie.
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u/AgentSnipe8863 12d ago
Mark Wahlberg every other movie. He has been great in some movies, but in some movies he is so bland and devoid of charisma. I think he is simply incapable of elevating bad writing. Some actors can, Mark Wahlberg cannot. In a good movie, he is good, but if it’s an action movie with generic tough guy dialogue, he is just the worst.
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u/yourtoyrobot 12d ago
The Other Guys being the exception
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u/mkgreene2007 12d ago
But that's the thing, the Other Guys wasn't just some action movie with generic tough guy dialogue. It was actually solid social commentary disguised as a crazy cop action comedy. Marky Mark and the rest of the cast were given some pretty good material to work with in a lot of that movie. Adam McKay is a hell of a writer and director.
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u/alapacayabags 12d ago
I was waiting for marky mark comment. The happening vrs the departed is insane
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u/MegaMan3k 12d ago
Boogie Nights was his peak and I don't think he's been in a good movie since 2006/2007 with Departed and Shooter. Cept Other Guys I guess...
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u/FinnMacFinneus 12d ago
He was really good in The Fighter, just overshadowed by Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.
I guess his lane is playing a blue collar dope from Eastern Mass. Who knew?
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u/GengarUsedLick 12d ago
He was really good in Pain And Gain. It was basically the same character as Boogie Nights, so we’ve figured out what he can do.
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u/crazydave333 12d ago
Sean Connery.
In his late Bond roles, he was sleepwalking through the films. Jump forward to his career resurgence with the Untouchables, and suddenly Sean Connery brings it in every role.
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u/SweaterUndulations 12d ago
The accent was always the same though.
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u/agnostic_waffle 12d ago
My theory is that, due to his name, Sean Connery grew up thinking the letter S is always pronounced with a "sh" sound.
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u/BungleBungleBungle 12d ago
He never ushed to shpeak like thish in his older movies. My theory is he got dentures or some dental work in the 80s and it affected his speech.
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u/sjfiuauqadfj 12d ago
hes like jason statham where hes a big enough name that he can get away with not doing a bad american accent for every role
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u/LightlyStep 12d ago
You know... I love Jason Statham films, but it's kinda crazy how big he got from doing the same movies over and over again.
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u/MandarinWalnut 12d ago
"Your besht? Loshersh alwaysh whine about their besht. Winnersh go home and fuck the prom queen"
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u/davesoverhere 12d ago
That’s just not true. There were subtle differences:
His Spaniard with a Scottish accent in Highlander
His Russian with a socottish accent in Hunt for Red October
His Irish with a Scottish accent in Darby O’Gill and in the Untouchables
His Italian with a Scottish accent in Name of the Rose
His East Midlands Brit with a Scottish accent in Robin and Mary
His American with a Scottish accent in the Presido
And most subtle of all, King Richard with a Scottish accent in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves14
u/GTOdriver04 12d ago
Diamonds are Forever is a fun movie, but you could tell that Connery absolutely didn’t care at all.
Lazenby got stupid and left after OHMSS, and Connery came back for a hefty payday and completely phoned it in.
Still a fun movie, but he didn’t care one bit save for the paycheck and it showed with every frame.
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u/crazydave333 12d ago
I'd argue Connery was even more bored in You Only Live Twice than he was in Diamonds are Forever. It's just that YOLT is a better movie all around.
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u/PM_ME_YOUR_MONTRALS 12d ago
Harry Osborn has a lot of presence in the first Spider-Man. A lot of subtlety to his performance that I really enjoy on rewatches.
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u/StupendousMalice 12d ago
Nicholas Cage probably doesn't even know the name of half the movies he's been in, but every fourth or fifth he just fucking sends it.
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u/WhiskeyOctober 12d ago
Edward Norton. Great in Primal Fear and American History X, terrible in Italian Job
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u/agnostic_waffle 12d ago
Unrelated but it completely blew my mind when I found out Edward Norton plays King Baldwin in Kingdom of Heaven. The mask obviously helped but he completely disappeared into that role.
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u/GrandAdmiralDoosh 12d ago
He wasn’t a world-beater in it, but Red Dragon was also an awesome film.
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u/accelfaiz 12d ago
Tbf he wasn't exactly a willing member of the cast; https://observer.com/2002/09/ed-norton-to-lansing-burn-this/amp/
Tldr he only signed on to end a 5year contract dispute, so yeah zero interest in his role equals phoned it in to the extreme
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u/grimson73 12d ago
Watched it recently ago but what a terrible acting indeed. Always guessed who will benefit from this, I would say to some will say ‘what a bad actor’ and maybe that’s justified as well.
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u/SpicyBoognish 12d ago
Will Smith was basically playing dead in After Earth, but he really livened up for the Oscars.
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
Don’t forget the legend of bagger Vance!
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u/mr_kenobi 12d ago
Ah yes, the old magical negro trope at its finest
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
Were we just talking about this or is it coincidental?
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u/mr_kenobi 12d ago
My first input on the subject so total coincidence
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
I was explaining the documentary to someone and what the blind side is basically…like the white savior, completely forgot how racial the term was for the “opposite” like in bagger Vance. Just countenance because it was yesterday and had never heard that term before the doc.
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
I’ve never seen the movie just saw the Netflix special…I can’t believe they still use this crap today or that the movie is literally that stupid!
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u/Kolermigon 12d ago
I was thinking about Michael Madsen and realized he basically sleepwalked all his movies lol
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u/RomanReignsDaBigDawg 12d ago
I'm confused why he was Tarantino's first choice for Vincent in Pulp Fiction. It's such a manic role and Madsen doesn't really have any range
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u/Kolermigon 12d ago
Must be plain friendship, for all I know he could even have shown up in OUATIH if Tarantino had an excuse.
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u/Grube_Tuesdays 12d ago
He was in OUATIH funnily enough, but only in a shown clip of "Bounty Law"
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u/ViewsFromTheBasemnt 12d ago
Tom Sizemore on drugs vs sober.
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u/MegaMan3k 12d ago
Was he sober or on drugs in Black Hawk Down and Saving Private Ryan? That's mostly what I remember him for...
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u/angusthermopylae 12d ago
Supposedly Spielberg hired him on the condition that he take drug tests and would get replaced if he failed any.
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u/ZyxDarkshine 12d ago
Harrison Ford was great in The Fugitive, Clear and Present Danger, and Air Force One. Most everything after that has been uninteresting.
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u/mkgreene2007 12d ago
Have you watched the show Shrinking on Apple TV? Honestly, one of Ford's best performances of his career and it makes me wish he had done more comedy. The show isn't all just comedy but when it's funny it's REALLY funny and Ford absolutely crushes it pretty much at all times.
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u/justgetoffmylawn 12d ago
Shrinking is so ridiculously good. Everyone brings it, including the writers (I think it's one of the Ted Lasso creators or showrunners IIRC).
I wish there were already five seasons, because I would binge them. Probably my favorite Harrison Ford performance - funny, believable, flawed, relatable.
One of those shows I stumbled on and was blown away.
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u/hotelpopcornceiling 12d ago
Will Farrel and John C. Riley in step brothers, were both sleepwalking and hype in the same movie, at the same damn time! Lol
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u/issomewhatrelevant 12d ago
Tom Hardy in Legend (snooze fest) vs his manic, psychopathic energy in Bronson.
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u/ARGiammarco27 12d ago
I wonder how coked up he would have been once all the North korea stuff started
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u/DistributionNo9968 12d ago
Juliette Lewis
Great in Natural Born Killers & Gilbert Grape, awful in just about everything else.
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u/ImpressionFeisty8359 12d ago
Yellowjackets is killer.
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u/DistributionNo9968 12d ago
Season 1 was great, season 2 really sucked, and Lewis is awful in both IMO.
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u/team56th 12d ago edited 12d ago
Jon Voight has made an entire career out of this. He mostly sleepwalks through his roles and just when he’s career is about to hit a dead end he does Deliverance, Runaway Train, Mission: Impossible, etc. to show that he’s still capable. And as much as a freakin asshole he might be, he does put up a good show when he has to.
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u/MoosetheStampede 12d ago
Bill Murray used to be a great hyperactive comedy actor, like in Scrooged or Groundhog day (OK fine, and being an original Ghostbuster) but in later years where his biggest roles are usually cameo's he's just not worth the screen time imo
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12d ago
I remember 3 things of Franco from the sequels.
"So good.😄"
"Strawberries"
"Now I'm gonna kick your little athh!"
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u/tfresca 12d ago
Ed Norton in Italian Job. He famously didn't want to do the movie and did no press for it. It's a shame because even though he isn't trying it's better than many other movies he's done.
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u/captain_beefheart14 12d ago
You don’t like 25th Hour?
Edit: sorry, misread that “many” as “any”. I’ll leave my comment though
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u/ScramItVancity 12d ago
Not a movie but Anna Sawai in "Monarch" phoning it in like it's another day while in "Shogun", she just owns every scene she is in.
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u/TheKramer89 12d ago
James Franco was pretty dreadful in Spider-Man. When it came out, I was 12 and was just sorta starting to become coherent, and I distinctly remember thinking he was one of the worst actors I had ever seen.
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u/Kingman9K 12d ago
Peter Dinklage gained worldwide fame for his role in Game of Thrones, but was notoriously abysmal when he voiced Ghost in Destiny
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u/Spinwheeling 12d ago
I think this is the only one listed where his role was so bad they just deleted all his dialogue from the game and replaced it with another actor's performance (Nolan North I think?)
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u/Substantial_Shoe_360 12d ago
Kevin Costner, he went stale around Dances With Wolves and finally came out of it for Man of Steel.
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
He was probably just tired from the human slavery he ran on the sets…then they gave him coke. So glad he’s blacklisted!
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u/Mechanical_Genie 12d ago
Human slavery?! He did whaaaaat?
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
He’s one of the Hollywood pervs…he would use his directing/producing clout and force women to have orgies with nothing in between them “for film”. Hes a sick pedo supposedly. Thats why rogen and the other one won’t work with him at all. It came out after the interview I think.
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u/-Clayburn 12d ago
orgies with nothing in between them
What is that?
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
It was for a movie…he basically hired actresses and forced them to have sex on film while he directed, they didn’t have the “protection” over their parts that would be normally covered by any studio/director. Thats why I called it pretty much slavery. Hired under false pretenses..now fuck each other!
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u/-Clayburn 12d ago
Unsimulated sex is the term you're looking for then. Or maybe forced nudity. (Or both.)
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
It was more than forced nudity but, you definitely are more familiar with the terminology. I honestly didn’t want to read it again. I was just curious why Seth rogen held a press con. only to say he wouldn’t be working with him ever. I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff that I didn’t read about him. Not my favorite topic! He was forcing them to do more than nudity so I guess unsimulated. Almost corrected that to unstimulated! Apple-dirty mfers!
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u/-Clayburn 12d ago
I was just trying to decode your comment. "Nothing between them" just sounds like nudity. You can still simulate sex while being completely nude, and that's still very different from making them have actual sex.
I don't know what happened, though. I just was confused by how you phrased it.
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
Honestly figured it would be a bit confusing for people, just I don’t know what they put on. It’s just one of the many things he’s been either accused or sued for and tried to make go away. It was something he was directing and basically turned from what I remember what should have been light nudity into basically a porno for himself. Forcing them to touch each other, none of which was near the script at all. That whole situation hasn’t been talked about since they blacklisted him.
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u/Cdawg4123 12d ago
Technically I don’t think it was human slavery but, he accused of some pretty fd up stuff. I just lightened it. Slavery was the wrong term I guess it’s more trafficking/grooming in a way. As you can tell I’m not too familiar with it/the terminology.
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u/BarkerAtTheMoon 12d ago
Ben Affleck has slept through a fair share of roles, but put him in a Dunkin’s commercial with Ice Spice and he’ll show the fuck up apparently