I think Nick Cage is a pretty good example of this, but his acting always had an eccentric quality to it, so when he started to enthusiastically chew the scenery in later movies it doesn’t seem like it was all *** that*** surprising.
I think the real poster boy for this would be Al Pacino. His performance in “The Godfather” was perfectly restrained and low-key. But somewhere along the line, his acting style transformed into the over-the-top caricature of itself we all know so well: “HOO RAH!!”. Makes me wonder when the transformation began to take place. Was it “Scent of a Woman”? Seems like it was already well established by then.
I’m sure there are many more, but after those two I’m having trouble thinking of more good examples. Maybe Marlon Brando? He was considered a great actor in his prime I believe, but later in his career he turned into a bloated, lazy mess, hard to work with and phoning his performances in.
Ill add, in the same vein as Pacino, Jack Nicholson and Robert DeNiro. They are two of the finest actors ever. But later in their careers they began to play roles based on caricatures of themselves. Loud, overblown and kinda embarrassing.
Yeah, these are good ones. Though DeNiro, he’s certainly done some bad movies, but his acting style I don’t think ever went ***that ***off the rails. Debatable.
His personal life certainly went off the rails, but I’m looking more for once well-regarded actors whose acting style went off the rails. Plus, I don’t think Randy Quaid was ever considered a great actor. Another example of an actor who doesn’t fit the criteria would be Tom Cruise: his personal life has gone off the rails at times (couch jumping, Scientology cheerleading), but as an actor he’s always been pretty much the same: not great, but a dependable A-lister who brings box office $$.
Can I wait until after 5pm? I’m supposed to be working right now
Is this offered as an example of Randy Quaid as a Promising Young Actor? Interesting, a movie I’m not familiar with, starring Randy Quaid and Jack Nicholson. Definitely sounds like one to watch if I can find it streaming somewhere.
Incidentally, got nothing against Randy Quaid as an actor-- loved him in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”.
Yeah, his performance in “Blue Velvet” was Cage-worthy.
Huh. Not that I’m that much of a movie buff, but odd that a movie that was so well regarded in its time is so off my radar. Definitely on my watch list.
Maybe. But in my opinion he’s always been more just a bad actor, and he lucked out in “Saturday Night Fever” with a role that suited his limited acting range-- he was basically a darker, less silly Vinnie Barbarino. Then his role in “Pulp Fiction” was a bit of ironic stunt-casting by Tarantino that clicked.
The brilliant Nicholson films from the 70s seem to have disappeared. I blame the studios for not promoting them. Carnal Knowledge, 5 Easy Pieces, The Last Detail, Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest are all awesome films. Most are character driven rather than action flicks so maybe the studios think they wont be popular?
I don’t know, I’m familiar with all those other movies, and especially Chinatown and OFOTCN I would say are considered iconic, classic movies, and rightly so. But for whatever reason The Last Detail has stayed off my radar all these years.
Around the time of The Pope of Greenwich Village, it looked as though both Eric Roberts and Mickey Rourke were headed for stardom. Whatever happened with Roberts, the problem wasn’t his work ethic. He now has 577 credits on IMDB.
When I saw Dead Calm in 1989, I though Billy Zane was headed for much bigger things. He’s had a decent career and I suppose he never went completely off the rails, but I had him pegged for better, leading-man roles. It turns out I should have been paying closer attention to the 21 year-old Nicole Kidman.
I’ve read that part of the reason that Brando gained weight was an intentional choice on his part – he felt that, due to his good looks, people didn’t take him seriously for his acting skills, and so, he got fat in order to no longer be attractive.
And, his example reminds me of Val Kilmer, who, too, was known, as a younger actor for his looks as much as his acting skills (he was, in fact, a very good actor). But, from what I’ve gathered over the years, Kilmer grew increasingly difficult to work with and eccentric.
