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Movie stars that never were

Started by dead-ced-dead, November 26, 2021, 11:06:34 AM

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Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

I just watched series two of The Sinner, which features a typically excellent performance from Carrie Coon. It got me thinking that I haven't seen much of her in cinema since her ace turn in Gone Girl. The way she stole the film from her more experienced co-stars (in her feature film debut, no less) I was sure she was set for big things.

Maybe it's indicative of Hollywood these days: Peak TV, trough films.

Maybe it's her horrible surname.



It's certainly not Maybelline.

Keebleman

Aiden Quinn should have been cast as Sherman McCoy in Bonfire of the Vanities.  As it would probably have still been a terrible film it wouldn't have made him a star, but he was a far better fit for the role than Tom Hanks.

Replies From View

Somebody called Cacoolama'hon MsKaola was never a movie star.

I have quite a few of these actually

13 schoolyards

The best guide for this kind of thing is the sequels to Hollywood animated kids films. They always stuff the cast for the first one with all the hot stars to get the parents watching, then when they bring them all back for the years-later sequel it's just a bunch of "oh yeah, what happened to them" names.

Mr Banlon

Not really a 'star' that never was, but there was definitely a consistent effort for years to try and make Patsy Kensit a star, despite her being fucking shit at everything she turned her hand to.

George White


kalowski

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on December 12, 2021, 12:48:53 PMMassive norks, too.
I wouldn't put Massive Norks in the same category. I think he's still got time and potential to make it as a huge star.

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on January 29, 2022, 09:59:41 PMI just watched series two of The Sinner, which features a typically excellent performance from Carrie Coon. It got me thinking that I haven't seen much of her in cinema since her ace turn in Gone Girl. The way she stole the film from her more experienced co-stars (in her feature film debut, no less) I was sure she was set for big things.

Maybe it's indicative of Hollywood these days: Peak TV, trough films.

Maybe it's her horrible surname.



It's certainly not Maybelline.

Coon does star in the latest Ghostbusters, and I think she plays a victim in the upcoming Boston Strangler movie, but I doubt that'll change things. She was very beloved by movie websites and magazines, with AV Club at one point calling her their Actor of the Decade (2010s). But I guess there are more talented actors than good roles, especially for women.

phantom_power

She has been in a lot of prestige TV as well, like The Leftovers, Fargo and The Gilded Age. She was also woefully under-used in a couple of Marvel films

Magnum Valentino

Yeah her performance over the course of three seasons of The Leftovers will stick with me for the rest of my life. She's fucking deadly.

Elderly Sumo Prophecy

Stephen Dorff. I think he was being primed as a big star in the 90's, but never really seemed to go anywhere with it, and ended up being the actor you cast if you couldn't afford Christian Slater or Kevin Bacon.

peanutbutter

Watched Smooth Talk a few weeks ago and Treat Williams was extremely good in it; he then vanished for 4 years, appeared in four terrible film in one year and mostly vanished for another 5 years. Apparently spent most of that time doing lines of coke by his own admission.



Carrie Coon is primarily a theatre person isn't she? Might just not be that passionate about the film industry.
Notice she had a kid directly after the Leftovers and another last year so there's a decent chance she's taking a break and the offers will be there when she wants to work again.

Might be a bit early to say so, but I feel like the pandemic has ground a halt to Maya Erskine's career after having a very good 2019 with PEN15 and Plus One. If it were ten years ago I'd've been expecting a breakthrough role leading some Apatow affiliated thing next.

mothman

Weirdly I follow both Carrie Coon AND Treat Williams on Twitter. TW, he's had an OK career with a few cinematic highlights - The Eagle Has Landed, Deep Rising, Things To Do In Denver etc. Not Typing It All Out. He was also brilliant in a TV film bio of J. Edgar Hoover.

I skimmed back through the pages to check but couldn't see if I'd mentioned him before, but Treat Williams coming up reminded me of Mark Harmon. He was predominantly in TV in the 70s and 80s before seriously trying to get into films in the late 80s.

As a result he was in The Presidio with Sean Connery (the timing makes me think it was one of those films he committed to before he got the Oscar for The Untouchables heralded his serous comeback) and Meg Ryan (pre-fame, after Top Gun and InnerSpace but before When Harry Met Sally; and Stealing Home with Jodie Foster (before The Accused... you get the idea).

The latter, I remember watching a long time ago and remember thinking it wasn't too bad. It's a bit weird in that the central character (played by Harmon as an adult) as a child is babysat by Foster's, then as a teenager/young adult they gave a relationship.

The former, well, it's not great. Made for a quite good (for once) episode of SmershPod though.

After that I don't know where Harmon got to, until he turns up as the lead in NCIS in the mid-noughties, which unaccountably became this ratings juggernaut which continues to this day although he himself left the show after about 16 years (!) and presumably never needs to work again.

Blue Jam

On the subject of Breaking Bad alumni, would it be fair to say that Jesse Plemons has actually done the most Hollywood stuff since? Not the name I would have expected at the time, and like others I'm surprised Aaron Paul hasn't had more work. Todd Chavez from BoJack Horseman might be the most adorable character ever and I would have thought that alone would have got him more work. He clearly has range.

How about HAMM! Jon Hamm? In Brett Martin's excellent book Difficult Men there's some discussion of how he'd been really struggling as an actor until Mad Men despite his obvious handsomeness, and while he's doing alright now with stuff like Good Omens and Black Mirror I would have expected someone that handsome and with that much charismeehhhhhh charisma to have had casting peeps falling over trying to secure him as a leading man. Bit like David Duchovny I guess, but I also wonder if Hamm just goes for quality over raising his profile, he does seem to choose a lot of things in which he looks like he's having a lot of fun.

Famous Mortimer

I wonder, with those TV people, if there's an issue of them expecting to be a big star immediately and not not following the "be nice to people on the way up, because they're the people you'll be meeting on the way down" maxim. Or maybe they tried being the star of a movie and decided it wasn't for them, and had enough $ to not have to worry.

Thank you for reading my entirely unfounded speculation.

Blue Jam

Quote from: Ignatius_S on November 29, 2021, 10:18:01 PMIn a lot of interviews recently, Cox has said that when he was a young actor, people kept saying that he was in for 'the long haul' - which essentially meant that it would take a long time for him to have any success. However, as he says, he hasn't done too badly! From the various stuff I've read about him, he strikes me as someone who loves acting and working but isn't so bothered about stardom. In one recent interview, Cox says he's no longer anonymous when he's public and read to me that he has mixed feelings about this - although sounds like the person that has no issue with a fan going up to him to say hello (or ask him to tell them to fuck off).

I went to the Q&A/book signing thing he did in Edinburgh last year for his autobiography and got the impression that he's, er, not terribly fond of people asking him to tell them to fuck off. He did a big "FUCK OFF" for the audience as a whole but there was a hint of "There, I've done it- now don't ask me again" ;)

In the book there's a bit where he talks about being at a crossroads when he started getting leading roles in stage productions, where his options were to stay in the UK and become a leading man of the theatre, or go to Hollywood and become a character actor in films, and the latter seemed more appealing. He says he never saw himself as a leading man ("...and besides, I'm too short") so I think he just knew his strengths and was realistic about what Hollywood could offer him.

Great book btw, a lot of fun. I must do a write up in the film/actor books thread.

mothman

QuoteBrett Martin's excellent book Difficult Men

I think I might check this out...

Bad Ambassador

There's been weirdly little publicity for this, but Jon Hamm's been filming the long-gestating Fletch reboot with Greg Mottola.

mothman


Blue Jam

Quote from: BritishHobo on November 26, 2021, 01:38:29 PMI think people are getting cannier now and realising staying in TV is better, both critically and commercially.

I remember seeing Jeremy Clarkson dissing Meghan Markle as merely a "cable actress" and, as well as that seeming a bit rich coming from a star of Amazon Prime, it also seemed very out of touch. All the good stuff is on stteaming services these days.

Back to Bryan Cranston, I watched him in Your Honor and enjoyed it, even though his performance was the main thing that made it worth watching. Fun but daft little series... which I have just learned has been renewed for a second season. Maybe agreeing to play the lead was a shrewd move after all.

Cranston and Aaron Paul have also got their mezcal brand which they seem to do a lot of work promoting. Do actors keep putting out alcohol brands as an investment, a bit of a safety net? Or are they genuinely big money-spinners? There's probably a whole other thread in that:

https://www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/g22118748/best-celebrity-liquors/

George White

Quote from: mothman on January 31, 2022, 09:16:18 PMWeirdly I follow both Carrie Coon AND Treat Williams on Twitter. TW, he's had an OK career with a few cinematic highlights - The Eagle Has Landed, Deep Rising, Things To Do In Denver etc. Not Typing It All Out. He was also brilliant in a TV film bio of J. Edgar Hoover.

I skimmed back through the pages to check but couldn't see if I'd mentioned him before, but Treat Williams coming up reminded me of Mark Harmon. He was predominantly in TV in the 70s and 80s before seriously trying to get into films in the late 80s.

As a result he was in The Presidio with Sean Connery (the timing makes me think it was one of those films he committed to before he got the Oscar for The Untouchables heralded his serous comeback) and Meg Ryan (pre-fame, after Top Gun and InnerSpace but before When Harry Met Sally; and Stealing Home with Jodie Foster (before The Accused... you get the idea).

The latter, I remember watching a long time ago and remember thinking it wasn't too bad. It's a bit weird in that the central character (played by Harmon as an adult) as a child is babysat by Foster's, then as a teenager/young adult they gave a relationship.

The former, well, it's not great. Made for a quite good (for once) episode of SmershPod though.

After that I don't know where Harmon got to, until he turns up as the lead in NCIS in the mid-noughties, which unaccountably became this ratings juggernaut which continues to this day although he himself left the show after about 16 years (!) and presumably never needs to work again.

Williams had a bumpy career.
Aside from the Eagle has Landed, he also did the Ritz - another film he made in England (despite being set in New York, hence the appearances from Peter Butterworth, Ronnie Brody, Hugh Fraser) where he plays a straight guy who's sent undercover to a gay bathhouse because his voice never broke.

He did Once Upon A Time in America, which instead of giving him a boost, briefly stranded him in Italian  exploitation-land, with a role in 1987's Night of the Sharks.

Harmon was doing theatricals as early as Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, which he followed with the gonzo Goliath Awaits, which is almost the same plot but they find an underwater dystopia run by Chrstopher Lee.
Harmon too ended up in Italy doing an exploitation picture - playing a North African chief in TUareg - the Desert Warrior.

The Culture Bunker

I remember from re-watching the West Wing about ten years ago, both Mark Harmon and Clark Gregg had minor parts playing characters quite similar to the ones from their most high-profile gigs.

Having not watched NCIS for about a decade, I did just look it up and seems David McCallum is still in it, not far off his 90th birthday.

George White

It's basically the same old shite Bellisario would have made in 1984.
I saw an ep a few years ago that was supposed to be set in Warwickshire, about the rogue head of MI6, "Jessica Terdei" and her aristocratic gun-toting farmer uncle Hugo. http://www.imfdb.org/images/thumb/6/61/NCISS13E22_04.jpg/800px-NCISS13E22_04.jpg

Small Man Big Horse

After Six Feet Under ended I thought Lauren Ambrose would go on to be huge, and though she's done a fair few films (including Psycho Beach Party which she's very funny in) and tv shows over the years, along with a few highly praised theatre roles, she's never appeared in as many high profile films I'd hoped she would.

George White

She was in Torchwood - Miracle Day, which seemed to bring down a lot of nascent careers.
Mekhi Phifer's worked consistently since but in support roles.
Arlene Tur seems to have only worked sporadically since (a five year gap between her most recent work, a guest spot in Teenage Bounty Hunters and the thing she did before that)
Alexa Havins seemed to return to guest roles and then her old soap oepra for a bit. 

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Idris Elba is an odd case. He is well known and stars in lots of films, but he doesn't actually seem to be much of a box office draw (not including supporting roles in mega franchise films).

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth on February 02, 2022, 04:04:51 PMIdris Elba is an odd case. He is well known and stars in lots of films, but he doesn't actually seem to be much of a box office draw (not including supporting roles in mega franchise films).
He seemed to go for a few years where he did a lot of DJing, TV documentaries where he travelled and chatted to people, and some adverts, but not much acting, although Luther is still on the go. Film-wise he seems to have settled into roles as a baddie or morally ambiguous type like in Suicide Squad and Hobbs and Shaw, which make a better use of him than Thor/Avengers, and must be lots of fun to do.

A couple of people mentioned Jon Hamm. Both he and Kyle Chandler seem people who would be huge stars 50 or 70 years ago, with clean-cut good looks, charisma, and talent. Chandler could still go either way (First Man yes, Godzillas no), but Hamm quite clearly doesn't want to be a big star now.

Blue Jam

Quote from: George White on February 02, 2022, 08:22:49 AMShe was in Torchwood - Miracle Day, which seemed to bring down a lot of nascent careers.

To be fair if I was an actor who had been offered a part in Miracle Day I would have gone "Wow, Children of Earth was actually pretty great and this follow-up has got Bill Pullman in it, it should be huge and it definitely won't be massively disappointing! Where do I sign?".

As other people have said, there's no sure-fire way to predict what scripts will start a six-series franchise with five spin-offs and what scripts will lead to nothing beyond the pilot.

Incidentally, this is another thing Brian Cox writes about in his book- little projects he's proud of with great scripts, great actors, great directors etc which still failed to set the world on fire even when everything went right and the final product was a nice piece of work.

Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth

Quote from: dissolute ocelot on February 03, 2022, 04:32:20 PMKyle Chandler seem people who would be huge stars 50 or 70 years ago, with clean-cut good looks
Chandler is the epitome of the phrase "blandly handsome" to me. He does have an old timey look about him, which works for period pieces, but somehow seems more suited to telly than film these days (which is odd, considering I've not seen his biggest telly roles on Friday Night Lights or Bloodline).

mothman

There have been whole generations now of bland leading men who'd have been guaranteed regular employment had the studio system persisted. Doomed forever to play the romantic lead but second banana to the female star. Strangely enough the exact career Matthew McConaughey forged for the best part of 29 years in a non-studio system before he started doing really interesting roles.