(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Not to spam but I forget to add this in last post...was thinking about it the other day during a discussion about a Buffy actor/character who I took an instant dislike to.

The funny thing about tv series and films...is often an actor or actress can destroy the story and character. If any other actor or actress played that character - I'd be a fan.
This happened on Buffy in S7 - I took an instant dislike to DB Woodside, who is by the way an admittedly beautiful man, but his personality and mannerisms repulsed me. I realized it when I listened to his commentary and saw him in other things. If J August Young or the actor who played Trick or Taylor Diggs or Will Smith or anyone else played that role - I'd have loved him. It was DB Woodside who turned me off. Same deal with the Deschanels - Zooey and Emily - can't watch either. Doesn't matter what they are in. I turn the channel when they pop up in commercials. It's why I couldn't watch Bones or The New Girl - I couldn't stand something about them.

The opposite can also be the case...actors who will make you watch just about anything to see them perform. I have followed Anthony Stewart Head, Rutgher Hauer, Sandra Bullock,
Merly Streep, Hugh Jackman, Kevin Spacy, Dominic West, Laurence Fishborn, Samuel L. Jackson, Chandra Wilson, Sandra Oh, Ralph Fiennes, and James Marsters into some weird films and tv series. Although I think I'm over Marsters, Spacey, Fishborn and Bullock - one too many bad movies.

Which brings me to actors I used to adore...and now, not so much. Mel Gibson...there's Mel before Braveheart, and oh dear, Mel after Braveheart. (I call this the actor turns director, directs himself, and unfortunately wins an oscar for his big ego piece syndrom...happened to Kevin Costner too.) Harrison Ford...who just has not aged all that well. Tom Cruise is right now in that foggy place between...but I was always somewhat ambivalent. I love him in some flicks, ambivalent about him in others. Kate Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, and Jennifer Anniston all grate on my nerves...while once upon a time I enjoyed them.

Comments

[cactuswatcher.livejournal.com]

Sometimes actors keep getting roles we don't like so we build up a serious dislike for them that can change when the roles they get change. For me Martin Sheen, Charles Bronson, and Lee Van Cleef fell into that category. There are actors like Nicholas Cage, who seem to be perfectly good character actors that are miscast as lead actors, who rub a lot of people the wrong way. I'd put Anthony Hopkins into that category for myself. It's hard to say why we sometimes don't like an actor right off the bat. Kevin Spacey was one of those for me. It's easier to say why many people don't like Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, et al, who've taken real talent and worked hard in directions many of us really were never going to like. ;o)

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think there are several categories...

1) you just can't abide the actor, you don't know why...has zip to do with the role

2) It's just the role...which was the case for Michael Douglas, actually. I liked him a lot until Fatal Attraction, then he just seemed to play that role over and over again. Also Nicolas Cage...loved him in Leaving Las Vegas and Wild at Heart, but he just doesn't work as a leading man in action films.

3) Actors who were great but now have been over-exposed or in one too many bad or over-the-top roles - Anthony Hopkins and Kevin Spacey and Jack Nickalson. Great character actors, but die from over-exposure in leading man roles. Also in the case of Spacey...there's a glibness that they seem to carry from role to role.

4) Actors you used to love, but have either been badly type-cast or seem to be on-trick pony's...James Marsters comes to mind (I cringe now when I watch him...seriously why was he only good in Whedon's series?) and so does Sarah Michelle Gellar - who also was only good in Whedon's series. Is it just bad luck?

5) Actors who ...have not dealt with fame well and whose off-stage antics overshadow their roles

[shapinglight]

I feel about Nathan Fillion the way you feel about DB Woodside. I just can't stand him watching him in anything.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

I wondered if that was the case. I was lucky in a way, DB Woodside is rarely in anything and he only pops up briefly. Fillion on the other hand is slightly harder to avoid.

I also get why you can't stand watching him...I used to like Fillion a long time ago, but in the past five years...he's begun to grate on my nerves for some reason. Don't know why.

[shapinglight]

For me, it all stems from his portrayal of Caleb in BtVS. I loathed that character - not because he was a horrible person (which of course he was) but because I thought him such a ridiculous cliche, plus I resented Whedon shoving his Firefly actors into everything else, just because his precious show got cancelled.

Also, must admit, there's something about Fillion's looks that I just find repulsive.

I'm sure he's a nice guy (and he recently was on record as saying in response to someone asking him who was a better boyfriend for Buffy, Spike or Angel, Spike all the way, which I of course enjoyed)but I just don't want to watch anything he's in.

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agree on Caleb, worst Whedonverse villain ever. Such a cliche. He was basically everything that was wrong with the episode Family tied up in one neat little package.

Whedon got a bit obvious with his villains after Firefly and his writing went downhill. I can't think of anything that he wrote after Firefly that was good or even close to the caliber of the episodes he wrote before Firefly.

Fillion...is sort of limited. He reminds me a lot of David Boreanze in acting style...sort of stiff.

[shapinglight]

I've never seen him in anything else except that Dr Horrible thing (which is ridiculously overrated). I have read reviews saying his comedy turn as Dogberry is one of the best things in Whedon's Much Ado, though (which I admit to not wanting to watch partly because of Fillion's inclusion).