QIt ghoS.
It means you might see the same actor playing a villain (or IS he?) in a Mystery drama, then a suitor in a Jane Austin style period piece, then in a comedy, then in Doctor Who. The actors have enough range to play them all. They’ve even invaded American TV and movies. I’d much rather enjoy watching a show and see an actor I liked from another show practicing his craft on something different over being bothered because he was in something else.
Unless your issue is the 20 actors. I am exaggerating but the same handful of actors do seem to turn up in a lot of things. Jim Broadbent, Judi Dench, and so on.
“Mr. Baggins…it seems you have been living two lives. In one life, you are a respectable hobbit, living in a…respectable hobbit hole. In the other life, you are the bearer of the…One Ring. One of those lives has a future…and one of them does not.”
ghewmey SuqQo’!
Yes, it was just the “20 actors” part, and fair enough. Your explanation makes sense.
The only time this has affected me was when I was watching a movie that I can’t remember the name to; one of the actors was being played by that guy who hosted “Unsolved Mysteries”.
I just couldn’t get past it.
Actually, I go the other way on this one… Agent Smith spitting out, “Mr. Aragorn” to Keanu Reeves.
OK, Elijah Wood. I saw The Good Son way before LOTR, and I thought he did a good job playing off Macaulay Culkin (who reprised Kevin, only a little darker). Then I saw LOTR and then the Wilfred and Dirk Gently shows. It was hard not seeing Frodo all the time–even when I went back and watched Good Son–little microFrodo. I managed to separate Elijah from Frodo eventually. But I had to realize he really was, like Harrison Ford, Sean Bean, and Woody Allen, playing the same character all the time (Wood = whinging, meek, neurotic–and occasionally manic). Now I just see Elijah and not the movie characters.
I don’t have that problem with movies, but I did find it distracting in Deadwood when Jack McCall grew out his beard and came back with a different name. Garret Dillahunt is recognizable enough that I think it was kind of a mistake to use him for two different roles just six episodes apart.
OJ Simpson in Naked Gun. Regardless his later baggage, he never could act.
After a recommendation from The Dope I started watching the British show Misfits. As soon as Iwan Rheon popped up on screen I started yelling irrationally “he’s going to kill you and hunt you and feed you to his dogs and send your severed penis to your sister…damnit, just run!”
All the credit in the world to Iwan for doing a damn fine job of bringing the character to life but it’s just too soon for Ramsay Bolton.
So you think they shouldn’t be used because they’re very good actors capable of multiple roles? How dare they!
It doesn’t bother me in the slightest if I recognize someone from another role. I say, “Oh, that’s a familiar face,” and then sit back to watch their performance. Their earlier roles have no bearing on how I will enjoy the film.
“Oh, David Tennant is playing Hamlet. Let’s see how he handles the role.”
I hear his defense team wanted to introduce Capricorn One into evidence as proof that when their client asserted his innocence, he was not acting.
Identifying faces from past roles is part of the fun of watching movies and tv shows. But I guess an occasional George Reeves in From Here to Eternity could be disruptive.
I was very excited to see Gone with the Wind for the first time as a child because he’s one of the first faces you see on screen. Alas, I learned, 5 minutes later, you’ve pretty much seen the last of him.
The role of his I found most distracting was when he played the cannibalistic martial-arts expert Kevin in Sin City. Decidedly a different character.
I recently re-watched Them!, the 1950s giant-ant movie, and was amused to find that the team combating them included Harry Truman (James Whitmore), Marshall Dillon (James Arness), and Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn).
Spock and Davy Crockett were involved, too, as were Martin Lane, Mel Cooley, and Darrin Stephens.
I was looking for Davy Crockett while watching the movie, but was a bit disappointed since he doesn’t show up until late, and I caught Cooley. The others I missed (they are all listed as uncredited on iMDB.)
Here is one that switched on me.
When I first started watching The Walking Dead, it took me a long time to stop thinking “holy shit, Murphy turned into a redneck!” every time Norman Reedus spoke.
Now when I go back and watch Boondock Saints I am thinking “holy shit, Darryl turned Irish!”