How come most of the more talented male actors of the younger generation seem to be messed up in some way?
Robert Downey, Jr. - drugs
Sean Penn - violent
Johnny Depp - sullen, smokes nonstop (okay, that’s messed up in my book), trashes hotel rooms, has been engaged five times (and still not married, I think)
Kenneth Branagh - serial cheater? (an ego the size of Britain)
Nicolas Cage - said to be very eccentric and kind of angry
Ewan McGregor - generally bad-tempered and defensive; Mr. “I’m an actor! Stop looking at me, you <bleep>!”
Daniel Day-Lewis - had a nervous breakdown during a performance, now retired from acting (okay, maybe he doesn’t count)
Ralph Fiennes - another “I’ll consent to an interview, but I don’t have to answer anything” type; very cold
Russell Crowe - “I’m a STAR, dammit!”
John Malkovich and even Harrison Ford (anger, again) could be mentioned, but they’re a little older than what I had in mind; I could rope in Marlon Brando for that matter. What is it with these guys? We all know they can turn on the self-effacing charm and sex appeal when they want to. I know some of these examples are of trivial stuff, but I’m not thinking of substance abuse and real dysfunction so much as angry and eccentric behavior - they go out of their way to get into a profession where everyone is looking at them, and then seem miserable in the spotlight. Did the business make them this way? Do they allow themselves to be this way because they can get away with it in this business? Did they fall into some kind of “I’m an artist and I’m very tortured” hooey, as with writers and alcohol abuse?
Aside from the obvious arguments re privacy and gossip et al, I just can’t believe making movies and being kinda famous is so awful.