Inspired by the other enormous star thread, who would you never have predicted in your wildest dreams would have become such a megastar?
My vote is for Hugh Laurie. Prior to “House” he was a British song-and-dance comedian, one-half of Fry & Laurie. Who would have guess what darkness lurked there and how it would propel Laurie into enormous stardom?
Jim Carrey - he seemed to go from In Living Color to uber star over night.
Will Smith. Who really thought that the star of “Fresh Prince…” would become a mega movie star?
Also, Tom Hanks went from “Bosom Buddies” to superstardom, and probably few saw that coming.
Laura Linney. Admittedly, she’s not an ENORMOUS star yet, but she’s recognizable and fairly famous, and getting more films by the year. And yet I remember her as Mary Ann in “Tales of the City” 15 years ago more than anything she’s done later.
My thoughts have already been expressed. Tom HankS? It’s not just “Bosom Buddies” – he seemed like a romanic comedy lightweight in most of his early flicks. Who thought he’d become a major star in flicks like Philadelphia, Saving Private Ryan, Forrest Gump and others?
As for Jim Carey, his earliest stuff seems invisible. He was the star of a TV series, The Duck Factory, long before he was on In Living Color, but who remembers that? I remember when Comedy Central ran Earth Girls are Easy and didn’t even mention Carrey’s name – he was minor compared to Jeff Goldblum!
Nicholas Cage? I guess he has that Everyman persona, like Jimmy Stewart, tho the latter blows the former away as far as acting ability goes.
Jennifer Lopez
Jessica Alba. Dark Angel was a disappointing and unsuccessful show with poor acting from the lead, and yet seemed to have made her a star anyways.
Mark Wahlberg. He’s gone from “the brother of that guy from New Kids On The Block who’s trying to get his own music career” to “Oscar-nominated actor” in the course of about 15 years.
Similarly, John Travolta. You could have made a fortune betting people Travolta would be back on top within the year six months before Pulp Fiction was released.
Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Fine actors, but hardly leading man material.
Alice Cooper. I knew of the group and some of their music, but was astounded when they hit the charts with “I’m Eighteen” and proved it wasn’t just a one shot.
Pink Floyd. They were also too off beat to be major stars. Then they Watered things down for “Dark Side of the Moon” and never looked back.
I loved him in The Duck Factory, and it really showed what made him a star – the more recent Jim Carrey films draw on that persona very much.
I don’t know if Luke and Owen Wilson qualify as “enormous”. But their first movie, Bottle Rocket, is my favorite movie. I had no idea that they would go on to demand $millions per movie.
Peter Jackson
When I found out someone had given him enough money to make a three film epic, I was like, “The guy who made The Frighteners!?”
I thought he would do a good job, admittedly, but it just seemed against standard Hollywood practice to give mucho-money to someone who made pointedly non-blockbuster-type films. Of course these days, they’re calling in all those guys to direct comic book movies so perhaps the success of LOTR and X-Men destroyed that block.
k d lang. I first saw her in a bar in Edmonton in 1984. My friend Martin and I toughed out one whole set and got out of there. We hadn’t even closed the door behind us before we said ‘What was that?’ Everything about that set had scratched a raw nerve with us - she wasn’t in tune, the band was sloppy, and worst of all, she had this ironic stage manner as if she didn’t respect any of the material she was doing. She just came off as faux hip, arrogant and untalented.
About a year later, I saw some article in the Toronto Star about her brilliant rise. Friends kept telling me about her, and I’d check it out, thinking, that must have been an off night. Nope.
One of many artists whose popularity has always baffled me.
Oprah Winfrey. When she was the local news anchor in Baltimore in the late 70s, I certainly didn’t expect her to become a media empire.
Back in 1986, my bachelor party was held at a small New York club called the Comedy Cellar. We saw about 8 different standup comedians that night, all of whom were great… except the last one. He was horrible. He looked as if he wasn’t old enough to drink at the bar. He was nervous, his timing stunk, and every joke sank like a stone.
About four years later, I saw that kid on the Arsenio Hall Show, telling the EXACT same jokes… only this time, he was confident, had a little swagger, and was killing the audience.
The ONLY comedian I saw that night who I was sure had no future was the only one who ever amounted to anything.
Chris Rock.
Andy Serkis. He had a small role in one of my favorite movies (Topsy-Turvy), but managed to make quite an impression. It isn’t every day that one upstages the magnificent Jim Broadbent, after all.
When I read on the net that he had been “virtually” cast as Gollum in LOTR, I was thrilled. The man is enormously talented.
Well **Tom Hanks ** from his Bosom Buddies and Bachelor Party days, I seemed to like everything he did, but I figured I was in a minority until “Big” came out.
**Bruce Willis ** as I never expected him to become a Superstar off “Moon Lighting” and “Blind Date”.
John Goodman, when “Roseanne” first went on, I only knew him as the coach from Revenge of the Nerds. I never expected him to take off the way he did.
On the other end, **John Cusack ** has been very successful and critically liked, but I really thought of all the extended Brat Packers, he was the best talent and I expected him to be bigger than he is. I never would have guess that **Demi Moore ** would be the only true Superstar out of that large group.
Jim
James Spader, the icky white boy from Pretty in Pink.