Day #18 of the 30 Day Film Challenge

[shadowkat]

Day #18 of the 30 Day Film Challenge.

A film that stars a favorite actor/actress (it said your favorite, but I changed it to a favorite - because I don't have one favorite. And it varies.)

Now, I've got to pick one...

Ah three actors for the price of on..I'll watch Christian Bale in anything, although I do love Michael Caine and Hugh Jackman, but Bale is by far the most versatile actor I've ever seen.

Watch on YouTube

Oh here's his first film, which blew me away..

Watch on YouTube

Christian Bale is the rare actor who has managed to jump from child star to adult star and still have a wide variety of roles, and be acclaimed. A feat that few others have managed.

Comments

[cactuswatcher]

I'm glad you changed it to a favorite. I thought about Alec Guiness and Spencer Tracy, but choose Burt Lancaster who was just as good as a villain or con-man as a hero

Sample from the Rainmaker (1956)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mzz5jxfPn4

[shadowkat]

I love Burt Lancaster. One of the greats.

[atpo_onm]

Insanely talented, not afraid to take on a variety of different roles, and prolific to boot. Two standout picks from long careers, and not over yet:

Tom Hanks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGuOZPwLayY

Charlize Theron

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq70brIQP40

[shadowkat]

Kudos for picking recent and living actors. ;-)

I love both - Tom Hanks and Charliz Theron. Both are widely versatile and strong actors.

[cjlasky7]

The pertinent question: do I even have a favorite actor or actress? Is there any one person who can bring me into the theater (or stops me from turning the channel)?

I went back and forth on a number of modern choices: Steve Buscemi's oddball charm is almost always entertaining; Nicholas Cage acting on screen is like a high speed car chase (that ends in a flaming wreck half the time); and Sam Rockwell just quietly steals movies away from established movie stars.

But in the end, I had to go with Cary Grant, because he was great for comedy and suspense, he was a favorite of Hawks and Hitchcock, and he starred in more classic movies than anybody else I could name. Pick one? Sure...

[Moves finger over list of classic movies from 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, with eyes closed]

That one!

https://youtu.be/F25nzu6hh0Q

[shadowkat]

Well, there's a reason I said "a" favorite or one you happen to like - as opposed to "the" favorite or "favorite" - because I can't pick one. And they change with my moods.

You managed to pick the only Cary Grant film that has never worked for me or my least favorite...LOL!

All the others I love.

Anyhow agreed, Grant was a master.

Cage - is a mixed bag. When he's good, he's very good, when he's bad - he's unwatchable. (Oh, a side note? I have a six degrees of separation thing going on with Nick Cage. My parents best friends from Chicago, their son - was best friends with Nick Cage. But back when he was Nick Coppola. He used to sneak with Nick into Nick's grandfather's house to watch movies in his huge movie theater. They were in acting school together. I saw the film Purple Rain with this guy, and he was telling me all these stories about his pals, John Cusack, Nick Coppola, before I knew who they were - because this was way back in 1982 or thereabouts. WAY before Cusak's film career took off - and Cusack and Cage had tiny cameos in films like Sixteen Candles.)

Steve B - is a bit like Cage, he's either really good, or annoying.

Cary Grant on the other hand was never annoying or bad - even in the film Bringing Up Baby, he managed to be okay. The material was...eh, but Grant pulled it off. Hepburn struggled more. But Grant saved it. Even more extraordinary is Grant managed to create Cary Grant. It wasn't who he was at all. His persona was an act in of itself. He created a role and played it constantly.

[mtbc]

For what it's worth, I agree, Christian Bale's one of the few actors who's really impressed me with their ability and commitment; movies like The Machinist still stick in my mind. (I had no idea he's in Empire of the Sun!)

[shadowkat]

Yeah, he's the little boy or the lead of the film. His early films - Newsies (he's the lead newsboy - not a good film but a cult favorite among the millenials), the Gillian Armstrong - Little Women. His breakout role was Bateman in American Psycho - after that, he got big roles.

[petzipellepingo]

It's a toss up between Bette Davis and Barbara Stanwyck but I went with Barbara .

[shadowkat]

I'd agree I prefer Barbara Stanswyck to Bette Davis. More restrained, and a little more versatile.

And oh, the film is directed by Howard Hawks...with Gary Cooper. Hawks did a lot of Westerns and John Wayne films.

[deird1]

Christian Bale is impressive.

I currently have Disney+, so I checked out Newsies. Wasn't a fan, but Bale was incredible. He was clearly a less talented singer and dancer than the others, but it didn't matter because I couldn't take my eyes off him.

[shadowkat]

Yeah, I tried to watch Newsies as well - also saw in the stage musical one year in repertory theater. I'm not a fan. The music is horrible.

But you can't take your eyes off Bale. Watch Empire of the Sun - where he's the central character - or the little boy - it was his first film role. That actor is just amazing.

[yourlibrarian]

That's true about Christian Bale -- versatile actor with a very enviable adult career. I suspect that child actors who did movies were in a much better position than those who did TV for various reasons. Of course some did both, but until the last 20 years there was a much bigger division between film and TV actors.

I'd have to say my favorite actors are Emma Thompson, Charlize Theron, and Jessica Chastain, though with the latter two a lot of that has to do with the roles they tend to choose, or in Theron's case, create for themselves.

[shadowkat]

It depended on the actors. Ron Howard actually started as a child actor in film, then jumped to television, then became a director - because he preferred it and had the connections. But Margaret O'Brien - an excellent child actress - never transferred well to adult. Nor did Shirly Temple. There's a whole slew who don't. Tatum O'Neal never quite did. Jodie Foster is among the few of that group. Molly Ringwald didn't - although she was more post-adolescent.

It's really hard. I can think of only a handful - Elizabeth Taylor, Jodie Foster, Roddy McDowl, Mickey Rooney, Judy Garland, Christian Bale...now it's even harder for the kids to break through to adult roles. They often don't age well. (See the actor from the Sixth Sense, Macauley Caulkin, Ralphie from Christmas Story, etc.) Winona Ryder has struggled.

I have too many favorite actors to list them. Hence "a favorite" actor as opposed to "the favorite" actor.

I do however, love all the ones you listed. Actually Thompson and Theron both have that in common - they've both created roles for themselves. Thompson was stuck behind Branagh, until she leaped free and created her own roles. (She produced Sense & Sensibility and Howards End). Chastain - also to some degree has done that.

[yourlibrarian]

True, Ron Howard is a big exception to that. Plus, there are doubtless many other kids who went on to careers in other professions who we just don't know about. I think Winona Ryder could have had a continually successful career but her own issues stopped that. However, I also think that, just like a year or so ago there were articles about how Jennifer Lawrence was overexposed, I think that Ryder suffered from that too, which is why there was more of a backlash against her.

[shadowkat]

Ryder also got typecast - and had troubles breaking out of that. And being female, she struggled more than some of her male contemporaries, where looks don't matter quite as much.

I'm trying to remember the name of the actress who was similar to Ryder, who played in the Adams Family, and played Ryder's sister in the Cher film, who also disappeared from acting as she aged.

[yourlibrarian]

I couldn't remember he name either, but yes, she was around a good bit and then wasn't: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Ricci