Ever have an actor/actress, music artist, athlete, etc. that, when you first heard of them, you thought they would either be really big or never amount to anything and he/she/they totally went the opposite way?
For example, “straight up” was Paula Abdul’s first single. I loved the song and video so much that I thought she would be as big as Madonna. But it turned out that was the only song she ever did that I liked and even though her music career wasn’t a total bust, it was nowhere near Madonna status.
On the other hand, the first release by TLC was a song called “ain’t too proud to beg”. I hated that song, I hated that video, I hated those girls! But it turned out that was one of the few songs they did I didn’t like and they’re still one of the biggest girl groups of all time.
West, Bruce and Laing, made up of Mountain lead guitarist Leslie West, and drummer Corky Laing, with ex-Cream bassist/singer Jack Bruce. Lasted about a year, 2nd album sucked.
Focus, with hit single “Hocus Pocus”, bombed pretty quickly. One trick pony. Strange, because Akkerman (guitarist) was totally awesome, but, his taste in music was too jazz prog.
I expected Rachel Ward to be hugely successful. She first showed up on my radar in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, and then in The Thorn Birds. Beautiful, tall, british actress with a sultry voice, rather than the whiny sopranos we were finding a lot of back then. In 30 years, she’s only done about one movie a year, and those, not very big.
Collin Farrell, started out with great expectations from the industry, destined to be a huge, talented star - and his career never panned out. He’s still working, but that’s all you can say. I’ve read interviews with him and it seems a pity, he comes across as intelligent and philosophical about his career, which never got back on track. Bad choices, personal problems, drug addiction…
Duffy is a blonde Welsh singer famously compared to Amy Winehouse. She had an excellent kind of retro sound and appeared on TV shows, and I thought she was really talented. Then - nothing. She is either a recluse avoiding fame or a drug addict, according to gossip.
But I always liked Matthew McConaughey, despite the drivel he often appeared in - I always knew he had it in him and am not surprised he is a big success.
When I first saw Jim Carrey on Mad TV doing the Vera character, I thought, “Damn, this guy’s amazing, he’s going to be big.”
Of course, after that his career took off and he got to be a super big star and for a while it was fine…then he got to be obnoxious and I’d like to kick him in the balls for doing The Grinch and Mr. Popper’s Penguins.
After I saw Clueless, I thought Alicia Silverstone would go on to big things. (Plus she was in an Aerosmith video and did Blast from the Past.) But she never really hit it big. Meanwhile, Brittany Murphy, who was in a smaller role in Clueless, had a much bigger career. (Edited to add, before she died, of course.)
12 Monkeys did it for me. I thought he was just a pretty boy actor going into it. Great performance.
See, I think the exact opposite. When I look at Animal House I find it amazing that the most successful actor in the movie would turn out to by Bruce McGill, the guy who barely had a line. Belushi obviously would have been bigger had he lived. Tom Hulce won an Oscar but did not have much of a movie career. I think he does much more stage work. Tim Matheson has worked but never became a star. The others have worked too but none as much as McGill. He has always found his way on to TV shows and movies. And he always delivers. He currently has a big supporting role in Rizzoli and Isles. I purposely left out Kevin Bacon. His part was slightly bigger than an extra.
Tim Matheson has more acting credits but he started as a child actor. McGill has been more visible but Matheson has done steady work.
James Widdoes doesn’t do much acting but I was surprised to see how much directing he does.
Tom Hulce does not have an IMDB credit after 2008.
Peter Reigert seemed to disappear for a while but has been doing more work that I have seen lately.
Karen Allen had some (obviously) huge movie roles but her career has been spotty.
Stephen Furst, Babylon 5 and St Elsewhere of course but spotty work in between.
So I would have to say Bruce McGill comes out on top.
Leonardo di Caprio. I never liked him very much, never saw what anyone saw in him, thought he just didn’t have “leading man presence”, but he was absolutely drop dead fantastic in The Departed. I haven’t seen any of his newer films, so I’m not sure if I would continue to think that.
Don Bluth Studios. When I saw The Secret of NIMH, I thought that someone would finally give Disney a run for its money in animation. But his movies just kept getting worse and worse. An American Tale was tolerable, but then he hit the dumps with The Land Before Time (popular, but really deadly dull with muddy visuals), All Dogs Go to Heave and Rock-a-Doodle. Other then the mediocre Anastasia, none of his films were even worth taking note of, and Dreamworks long ago replaced Bluth as Disney’s biggest rival.
William Shatner somehow redefined typecasting to turn it from what normally is career-death and B-movie bit part poverty, as I would have guessed around the TJ Hooker years, into opportunity and shameless embracing and sly self-mocking of his Trek years. Most everyone would prefer getting a photo with Shatner over DeNiro, Pacino, Denzel, or those other A-list hacks.
Reese Witherspoon went a lot farther than I thought. Although I loved her in “Freeway” (very underrated movie), I thought she was too short and had a very tinny voice.
