They coulda been contenders, they coulda been somebody!

[Dowdsy McDowds]

The other day I was watching an interview with Jude Law with a British journalist promoting his newest film, Anna Karenina. It struck me how weathered he was looking and how long he's actually been around since breaking out in The Talented Mr Ripley, and it got me thinking; shouldn't you have been bigger?

Don't get me wrong, he's done well for himself over the years and most recently his well received supporting role in the Sherlock Holmes films but at one time the idea that an American like Robert Downey Jr would be picked over a Brit like Jude Law for a British literary icon would be balked at. I'm not saying this to start an 'only Brits/Americans can play British/American characters' debate, but rather to enquire if there are any other actors that you would have expected more from?

To give a different example, I feel young Brad Renfro could have done big things if his life hadn't ended as early as it did. He was part of a host of great acting talent in Sleepers but his turn in Apt Pupil opposite Ian McEwen was fantastic too. Obviously River Phoenix is a comparable figure but he had arguably done his most iconic film in 'Stand By Me' when he was just starting in the industry.

So are there any other actors that you expected more from when they began?

 

[Loveless]

I was reading an interview with Law just a few days ago and what he basically said was that he's not particularly interested in taking the big paying, large Hollywood movies because he doesn't find them interesting or challenging. Fair play to him

 

[Wolf Pac]

Like many people back in the day, I thought Vin Diesel could've been the next big action star after his performances in Pitch Black, The Fast & The Furious, and xXx. I'm not really sure what happened tbh since I never really kept up with his career much past xXx but I'm guessing that it was The Pacifier, Chronicles Of Riddick 2 and him making some stupid decisions like turning down roles in 2 Fast 2 Furious, xXx 2, and Hitman, roles which might've kept him relevant, that was his downfall. The guy has had such a low profile for years but I'm hoping with him returning for xXx 3 and Riddick 3, that we can see a revival of his career. Maybe a future role in The Expendables could help with that too.

Shia LeBouf is a name that comes to mind but I'm not really sure about him since I haven't really kept up him with much either (man, I need to really keep up with these actors). But with him going indy, I guess he's a definite no now.

Two other names I can think of are Edward Furlong & Corey Feldman. Those two were my favourites growing up.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Two other names I can think of are Edward Furlong & Corey Feldman. Those two were my favourites growing up.

Edward Furlong is a good shout but both of them perhaps suffered from being in big films when they were just starting out; T2 for Furlong and Stand By Me and Goonies for Feldman. Furlong was able to deliver another great performance in American History X a good few years after T2 but since then he just didn't really get anything going.

One move that would have been bold but I still firmly believe may have paid off would have been to incorporate some of Furlong's own issues into T3 if he had been chosen to reprise the role. At the time I understand he was going through emotional/drug problems and this seemed to exclude him from the producers' picks but IF there had been time to get Furlong clean and straightened out I think they could have done a lot more with John Connor.

In T3 he's "off the grid." He's essentially homeless and burdened by what lies ahead for him in the future. He's alone. He has a traumatic past that is now his alone due to Sarah not being around. It would have been an extremely dark launching point for his character, but given Furlong's real life scenarios I think it could have brought some real emotional weight to the film if they had gone further down his drifting/loner path.

Fucking T3...

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Derek Luke is one name that comes to mind. He delivered a good performance in Antwone Fisher, and he could've benefited from the "Denzel rub," but Biker Boyz was his next film, unfortunately. Just picture a cheap rip-off of Fast & The Furious with mediocre special effects, replace the cars with bikes, and the end result is Biker Boyz. And Luke just had to have a part in Miracle At St. Anna (aka Spike Lee's laughable attempt to stick it to Clint Eastwood). Too many war cliches, and the overlong run time is unbearable.

Plus, Luke is kind of one dimensional as an actor. Outside of his "rebellious and pissed off man, with a troubled past, and a chip on his shoulder" character, Luke has never delivered a memorable performance. I was watching Captain America a few weeks ago, and I seriously forgot he had a part in that movie.

After Antwone Fisher, I excepted a promising career from Luke, but he's been reduced to various small and forgettable roles in all of his films.

I also can't forget about Hilliary Swank. Seriously, what the fuck happened to her? This is the same woman, who won two Oscars. One for an excellent performance in Boy's Don't Cry, and Swank was just marvelous in Million Dollar Baby (probably the best performance in her career). And Swank almost stole the spotlight from Pacino and Robin Williams in Insomnia.

Although, she's become a forgotten name over the years. Freedom Writers is horribly underrated, but The Reaping was pretty bad. She's had a handful of forgettable films, and as far as quality goes, The Resident never rises above your standard straight-to-video thriller. Plus, I can't forget about New Year's Eve. A great ensemble cast (minus Katherine Heigl and Bon Jovi) was wasted on a sappy and cliched story.

Swank could've been one of the all-time greats, but her career suffered too many setbacks after Million Dollar Baby.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Josh Hartnett

When young Josh appeared on the scene, he was a good looking marketable guy. His first major film role was in The Faculty which is a fantastic cult classic that deals with the concept of teachers being aliens and corrupting the students. He's a cool character who you want to see win.

He then moved on to such films as O and 40 Days and 40 Nights which seemed to propel him to 'teen heart-throb' status with the female fans.

Shortly after this double header he was one of the lead characters in a stacked cast with Black Hawk Down and was pretty impressive.

Despite a brief appearance in Sin City to book-end the film, his next significant role was in 30 Days of Night. My love for Melissa George notwithstanding, it remains one of my favourite films of the last decade; it has a striking look, a great concept and the chemistry between George and Hartnett keeps the momentum going throughout.
I should mention Lucky Number Slevin too as it's another enjoyable film, with Lucy Liu in fantastic form.

I think the recurring issue with Hartnett has been consistency and that he's yet to have a real stand-out performance. As a leading man he's been dependable when called upon, but that has been few and far between; in his biggest film to date, Pearl Harbour, he was second fiddle to Ben Affleck, in Slevin he was over-shadowed by Ben Kingsley and Morgan Freeman, in BHD he was competing with Bana, Sizemore and Fichtner's characters stories who were just more interesting.

He's still a relatively young guy at only 34, but as he's been around for a while I thought that he would have had a significant stand-out role by now.

 

[Alex]

Judd Nelson

Now I'm only going on seeing him in two films (The Breakfast Club and St Elmo's Fire) but he fucking rocked in both of them. Now I don't think he was gonna be like Tom Cruise and become uber famous, but I expected him to have a similar to Val Kilmer, not the first name to pop into your head, but a decent resume none the less. He deserved more than being 'the cool one from The Breakfast Club'

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Josh Hartnett

I'm also a fan of Hartnett, and I'm still waiting on that one breakout performance. The sequel is shit, but 30 Days Of Night was fantastic. But yeah, as far as quality goes, Hartnett is very streaky, and he's never put together a consistent set of good films.

Did you get a chance to watch Bunraku, Dowds? If I'm not mistaken, Bunraku is Hartnett's most recent film, but it's pretty dull. Just picture a weird East VS West version of Sin City with brighter colors. Hartnett has the leading role, but Bunraku is just too damn boring. It's worth watching, if you're fan of Hartnett or Woody Harrelson (who is hilarious throughout this film), but don't get your hopes up too high.

I'd also like to mention Jim Carrey. Yes, he's had great success as a comedy guy. Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, and The Ace Ventura films are the more popular choices for Carrey's best pure comedy films, but Bruce Almighty is my pick. But Carrey has shown some real talent in non-comedic roles. He was fantastic in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, and I know it wasn't well received, but Carrey was great in The Majestic. Man On The Moon was solid enough, but The Number 23 is one of those potential career killers. The Number 23 tries to be this sophisticated and clever mystery/suspense film, but the story is too convoluted and confusing.

I haven't seen Mr. Popper's Penguins yet, but I haven't heard too many good things about it. Carrey reportedly has a part in Kick-Ass 2, but I want to see him in more non-comedy roles. I'm still holding out some hope for a resurgence of "serious Jim Carrey." He has the talent to pull it off, but it might be too late now, because Carry has been around for years.

 

[Dowdsy McDowds]

Did you get a chance to watch Bunraku, Dowds? If I'm not mistaken, Bunraku is Hartnett's most recent film, but it's pretty dull. Just picture a weird East VS West version of Sin City with brighter colors. Hartnett has the leading role, but Bunraku is just too damn boring. It's worth watching, if you're fan of Hartnett or Woody Harrelson (who is hilarious throughout this film), but don't get your hopes up too high.

Nope I haven't seen it I'm afraid. The latest DVD release I've seen is Flowers of War which is just incredibly brutal. I didn't release how much it effected me until I started describing the events of the film to someone! Worth seeing though as Bale's performance is one of his very best.

I'd also like to mention Jim Carrey. Yes, he's had great success as a comedy guy. Dumb & Dumber, The Mask, and The Ace Ventura films are the more popular choices for Carrey's best pure comedy films, but Bruce Almighty is my pick. But Carrey has shown some real talent in non-comedic roles. He was fantastic in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind, and I know it wasn't well received, but Carrey was great in The Majestic. Man On The Moon was solid enough, but The Number 23 is one of those potential career killers. The Number 23 tries to be this sophisticated and clever mystery/suspense film, but the story is too convoluted and confusing.

I haven't seen Mr. Popper's Penguins yet, but I haven't heard too many good things about it. Carrey reportedly has a part in Kick-Ass 2, but I want to see him in more non-comedy roles. I'm still holding out some hope for a resurgence of "serious Jim Carrey." He has the talent to pull it off, but it might be too late now, because Carry has been around for years.

Carrey's an interesting choice. During the 90s he was pretty much bullet-proof and a huge draw at the box office. I'm sure he was the first actor to command $20 million for a role when he did Cable Guy too.

In some ways, I think that perhaps his success in the comedy roles in such a short time-span maybe proved counter-productive to his serious work as there is still demand and expectation for him to bring his over the top antics to all his roles. I don't know if it's going to be too late for him to go down the serious route just now, but I'm pleased to read that he's pulled out of the Dumb and Dumber sequel as I would have found that an uncomfortable watch.

 

[Mitch Henessey]

Nope I haven't seen it I'm afraid. The latest DVD release I've seen is Flowers of War which is just incredibly brutal. I didn't release how much it effected me until I started describing the events of the film to someone! Worth seeing though as Bale's performance is one of his very best.

Ugh, I've been dying to see The Flowers Of War, but I keep forgetting about it. And your mentioning of Bale has reminded of something important, I still haven't seen The Dark Knight Rises yet!

In some ways, I think that perhaps his success in the comedy roles in such a short time-span maybe proved counter-productive to his serious work as there is still demand and expectation for him to bring his over the top antics to all his roles. I don't know if it's going to be too late for him to go down the serious route just now, but I'm pleased to read that he's pulled out of the Dumb and Dumber sequel as I would have found that an uncomfortable watch.

True. Comedy Carrey will always have the bigger demand. His comedy films draw the most money, and truth be told, the overwhelming majority of his fanbase craves the funny Jim Carrey. Still, I'm hoping for a few more serious roles in the future, because Carrey is more than capable of delivering a good performance.

And yeah, turning down a part in the new Dumb & Dumber film was a good move. Carrey NEEDS to stay away from anything that involves The Farrelly Brothers. I just hope the entire project never sees the light of day, because a Dumb & Dumber film without Carrey wouldn't feel the same. Such films really suffer without Carrey's presence, and if you don't believe me just watch that awful prequel Dumb & Dumber: When Harry Met Lloyd, Ace Ventura Pet Detective 3, and Son Of The Mask. Although, I don't think anything could've saved Son Of The Mask, which should be a serious contender in any top ten worst films of all-time list.

 

[Alex]

I got another one.

Brandon Lee

Now I know his untimely death meant that he didn't realise his full potential, but I seriously believe he would have been THE biggest action star of the 90s (and into the 00s)

In the six films he made he showed a vast range of acting talent. He could do serious comedy, dark and a whole host of others. He was a also great at martial arts.

I read somewhere that The Wachowskis had said had he not died he would have been cast as Neo in The Matrix. The thought of that is just awesome.