Hollywood rethinks use of A-list actors

Reuters ^ | November 13, 2009 | Alex Dobuzinskis

[EveningStar]

Hollywood studios are now thinking twice about splurging on A-list movie stars and costly productions in reaction to the poor economy, but also because of the surprising success of recent films with unknown actors.

[y6162]

“I heard Bob Mondelo on NPR..”

And just why were you listening to NPR mister?

I’m going to tell your mother that you’re listening to trash.

[stevio]

I won’t see a movie with a big lib in it. So an unknown for me would be refreshing.

[Borges]

There are plenty of good talk shows and Arts related stuff on there.

[GI Joe Fan]

If you like John Wayne, you should check out the following sometime:

"The Great Raid"

"Rescue Dawn"

"Dark Blue World"

[Question Liberal Authority]

I love Bruce Willis. I just don't see anyone in 2009 lining up around the block merely because he's in a movie.

As for the rest of these "A-List celebrities", Eddie Murphy? Seriously? Why not Joe Piscopo or Yakov Smirnoff?

Julia Roberts? In what decade? When Marilyn Monroe was Julia Roberts' age, she'd been dead for six years.

[wbill]

My understanding is that Doc Holliday was a fairly ill-tempered, bigoted, drunken, generally despicable person. Kilmer's portrayal wasn't all that accurate, if that was the case.

But, it was really fun to watch. "I have two guns, one for each of you." Classic.

And I concur with Russell's performance. Understated, overshadowed by Kilmer, but excellent.

I saw Russell in the movie "Soldier" on late-night SciFi, not too long ago. The movie was pretty bad, but he was fun to watch. Kept his face completely expressionless for the entire flick (it was part of the character). Good acting, must have been difficult to do.

He's one of the more underrated actors, IMHO.

[bcsco]

Holliday suffered from tuberculosis for much of his adult life. Moving to a dryer climate likely extended that life, though he died at age 36.

Two comments by two brothers who knew him well: "Doc was a dentist not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew...I found him a loyal friend and good company." - Wyatt Earp, 1896

"There was something very peculiar about Doc. He was gentlemanly, a good dentist, a friendly man and yet, outside of us boys, I don't think he had a friend in the Territory. Tales were told that he had murdered men in different parts of the country; that he had robbed and committed all manner of crimes, and yet, when persons were asked how they knew it, they could only admit it was hearsay, and that nothing of the kind could really be traced to Doc's account. He was a slender, sickly fellow, but whenever a stage was robbed or a row started, and help was needed, Doc was one of the first to saddle his horse and report for duty." - Virgil Earp, 1882.

And one more: Big Nose Kate, his long-time companion, remembered Holliday's reaction after his role in the O.K. Corral gunfight. She reported that Holliday came back to his room, sat on the bed, wept and said, "that was awful — awful".

All of these from Wikipedia.

Frankly, from what I've read (which has been a lot...), I've come to the conclusion that Kilmer's portrayal may be closer to reality than many understand. He was unliked by most as Wyatt Earp pointed out. And that likely accounts for much of his bad press. He wasn't the killer he's been made out to be. It may well be that his one real kill may have been at the OK Corral (The famed Earp Vendetta may not have amounted to any scores for him, regardless of rumor).

John Henry "Doc" Holliday

on graduation from dental school

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

The aging A-listers of today look pickled and preserved. Botoxed faces so tight they can't even move, along with the fish-lip/trout-pout thing going on. Very unattractive. I think they should all retire and make way for a new crop of actors & actresses. I'm not an ageist, per se, just against the plastic surgery deformities that these people perpetrate against themselves. I mean, really, they PAY to look that bad???

I caught a minute or two of the country music awards recently. The camera scanned the audience, and there sat Nicole Kidman with GARGANTUAN blubber lips - I gasped when I saw her, she looked so bad. She's turning into that NY catwoman, Jocelyn Wildenstein, and she doesn't even know it. Meg Ryan is another one. Why is nobody telling these aging actresses that they are making themselves look worse, not better? Because of all this, I don't plan to see their movies anymore. I'd rather just see a whole new crop of young actors. (However, it's affecting even the younger ones. Why does everyone want fish lips??)

Not to mention the pro-Polanski list that some actors/directors/others have signed. I'm avoiding these people in the future, though it pains me for a few of them. Harrison Ford (why???), Isabelle Adjani, Woody Allen (I avoid him anyway), Pedro Almodovar (I avoid him anyway), Wes Anderson, Fanny Ardant, Monica Bellucci, Bernardo Bertolucci, Adrien Brody, Jonathan Demme, David Heyman, Isabelle Huppert, Jeremy Irons, Neil Jordan, Milan Kundera, Bernard-Henri Lévy, David Lynch, Sam Mendes (Kate Winslet's husband - Kate by association???), Jeanne Moreau, Mike Nichols, Natalie Portman, Salman Rushdie, Kristin Scott Thomas, Martin Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Tilda Swinton (she was whacked even before the list), Emma Thompson (why???), Vangelis, Diane Von Furstenberg, Wim Wenders. These names were the only ones I recognized from the two circulating pro-Polanski lists. If they've made the extra effort to sign the list, then I'll make the extra effort to avoid their work.

To any pro-Polansky-ites or anyone on the list, have you actually READ the transcripts of Polanski's trial? I have. If you've read it, how can you be pro child-rape & drugging??? Just because Polanski makes good movies, that makes him above the law?? Sadly, that appears to be the case.

[Ditter]

I agree completely. As far as the procedures done to make people look younger are concerned, I think they make people not younger looking but worse looking. There used to be a website showing celebs with bad face lifts. I wonder if it still exists.

[Borges]

Harrison Ford appeard in Polanski’s 1987 film ‘Frantic’. Any actor who worked for him after the incident is supporting him by definition no?

[wbill]

Hunh.

As "they" say, the best way to fight bad info, is with good info. Thanks for the info.

[bcsco]

Here's one further 'authentic' portrait of Holliday in Prescott, AZ in 1878, 3 years before the OK Corral.

He appears well dressed, but reed thin. I believe his loyalty to Earp was in response to Earp's acceptance of him, something that wasn't usually encountered in his life.

[bcsco]

BTW, I had the date wrong on that last photo. It was 1879, not 1878.

[Fire_on_High]

They already have software that can accurately use voice samples for singing, and with a skilled user the results are stunning. Using it for voice acting will come next.

[my_pointy_head_is_sharp]

http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/

http://www.awfulplasticsurgery.com/2009/11/03/does-nicole-kidman-have-an-upper-lip-implant/ <— Nicole’s lips

http://www.celebrityplasticpics.com/

http://www.stars-plastic-surgery.com/

http://celebritycosmeticsurgery.blogspot.com/

[MayflowerMadam]

The usual “A list” actresses terrify people when they show up on screen thanks to dreadful plastic surgery. Meg Ryan, Goldie Hawn, etc., have been massacred. It would be OK for horror movies, but not for serious stuff.

It’s a shame they went that route as they’d probably be great looking at any age without the deformed faces.

[Ditter]

LOL! After I posted to you I searched and found awfulplasticsurgery.com and looked at all of them. Some of them I am not sure he was right about and I couldn't see much of anything from the photos he used. But others are monstrous! I will check out your other links later.

[Straight Vermonter]

Hart’s War consumed two hours of my life I will never recover.

[Mr. Blonde]

I kept hoping to see terrible directors on the list, but no, none of them ever signed on that I saw. Instead, it was almost all good to great directors.

[altura]

Okay, okay, you got me. I actually kind of liked the Last Boy Scout.