After watching this video from the Shia LeBeouf thread, I got the idea for this post.
In the comments section on the video, someone mentions the fact that Will Smith says ‘Aww, Hell naw!" in every movie. The only thing I could come up with is Keanu Reeves’ ‘Whoa’. Also I haven’t seen too many Hugh Grant movies but don’t his characters stammer a lot?
So anything an actor says or does in every role he plays, especially if it annoys you, is fair game.
Austrian accented groaning.
No matter the role, Al Pacino will go from talking quietly and without much emotion to SHOUTING LOUDLY FOR MAXIMUM HAM EFFECT. Every time.
Then of course, there’s BRIAN BLESSED! (capitals and exclamation point non optional) who’ll always ham it to the max. The man’s volume control is stuck at 11.
I think that in each turn as Indiana Jones or Han Solo, Harrison Ford says, “Trust me.” Perhaps not in the most recent one, can’t remember. I don’t think of that as a “tic” but as sort of an inside joke.
Jessica Lange’s take on mental illness, whether playing Maggie the Cat or her wtf Oscar win in Blue Skies, is to play the character “talking casual and low like this AND THEN FASTER AND SLIGHTLY LOUDER and then back down here again AND RINSE LATHER REPEAT…”. Damn but I find her annoying.
If Owen Wilson grabbed the lead in a remake of The Elephant Man or a biopic of Audie Murphy you can be absolutely assured the Elephant Man or Audie Murphy would now be an obnoxious sneering fratboy alum with a perpetual “as if…huh” expression, almost like he’s molding every character from Sean Penn’s Spicoli. No range whatever and always that sneer. (Sorry to hear about his or anyone else’s emotional problems, but I’ll never understand how he keeps getting roles.)
Meryl Streep affects a “somewhere that’s not here” accent for roles in which she plays non American characters and though an Italian dialect sounds like a Polish one or a German one she gets Oscar nods anyway.
But I think Mike Myers probably owns this category. Yes, we know you can mug at the camera and do a comic Scottish accent, how 'bout a plot?
Or Woody Allen- it’s impossible to imagine him playing a character who doesn’t talk in a rapid fire nasal smartass cadence.
Denzel Washington is always coughing into his fist; I have no idea what he is trying to convey in terms of the role, but once you notice this you’ll always be on the lookout for this particular tic during his movies.
Robert DeNiro shows anger by always repeating a line, the second time with more anger. “You blew it. YOU BLEW IT!”
Jason Lee does his patented “head bob” with pretty much every character he’s ever played. Try not to notice it the next time you see him.
Jim Carrey. Please. He’s always the same person.
Helen Hunt squints. That is her entire repetoire.
David Caruso. If I have to explain it to you , first I will take off my sun glasses and tilt my head. Then I am completely sincere.
Nicholas Cage coughs in all his roles. Not sure if it’s on purpose or if he has a health issue.
I saw a sneak preview of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 the other night and I didn’t see him do that. Decent movie, btw, very tense. I still love the original but this was a worthy remake.
He also shows anger with a menacing grin while squinting his eyes.
I rent a room to a Theater Major. (He played Hamlet in a college road production). He is a mystery nut and must watch all mysteries on TV. He calls Caruso a graduate of the Lee Majors school of acting. I think Caruso is so bad it is laugh out loud funny. His line readings aren’t stilted or off, but is so entirely without emotion that he makes Nimoy or Kenau look like Pacino.
No-one has mentioned Shatner’s INSANE. FRAGMENTATION. Of sentences. For no apparent reason. With emphasis ON (pause) trivial words, designed TO (pause) create maximum effect.
Michael Cera does that thing where he’s talking and his voice gets quieter and kind of trails off into nothing.
Brian Keith (long time ago actor — male lead in the original Parent Trap?) would practically maul his face with right hand. He would rub it so hard. I swear he would move his nose two inches to the left when showing “thinking” on the screen.
Screen legend Clark Gable would half close his eyes, tilt his head (usually to the right) and slightly turn it in the same direction and then half smile. Women would then melt.
George Clooney does something similar but more straight on.
Denzel Washington going into inordinate rage and yelling at someone within one sentence.
I know I will be hanged in effigy, but I’m not a Denzel fan. He is like Brenden Frasier in that he alternates between a great role and a mediocre/bad one. In his bad roles, the overacting is unwatchable.
Brad Pitt scratches his face. It’s subtle, but once you notice it, you’ll keep noticing it. The quirkier the character, the more he scratches his face.
I agree Shatner’s is the best because of the cheese factor.
One that always takes me out of the movie is Mel Gibson’s BLLEEARRRRGHHHH cry.
Hit him again, Endo.