IMO, they’re more of second- and third-tier talents, at least in terms of name recognition (the “Q rating”). I’d wager more people know who Antonio Banderas is than James Coburn, for instance.
Be fair though. Fred Flinstone is a complex, multifaceted character, difficult for any actor to portray perfectly. In fact, many actors when discussing challenging roles rank Fred Flinstone as a close second to Hamlet.
Too bad Jackie Gleason couldn’t have taken the part.
Hard to spell too. :smack:
I think Pixar did a good job of not using their stars to pimp the film so much, though. They didn’t show the actors performing on the DVD extras, and I think that was to preserve the image of that voice with that character as much as possible. Of course, Holly Hunter and Samuel L. Jackson are such distinctive voices that it’s impossible to not picture them upon hearing them (YMMV, of course).
But to answer the OP, it’s the excitement of seeing “how’d they do that?”. You want to see how they bring a two-dimensional character into three dimensions. It’s a fascinating challenge.
“Very few animated shows are broadcast live anymore. It’s a terrible strain on the animators arms.”
-The Simpsons
I wish Olivier, in his prime, had had a go at playing Flintstone.
pfui! Linda Cardellini’s Velma had some serious hotness going on. Odd, given Velma’s reputation…
The no-stars rule was in place from the very beginning; it was established so that the audience would identify only with the character the actor was playing, and not bring over any baggage from the actor’s previous roles. Peggy Lee was a famous singer, true, but she never established a viable acting career and was not a “movie star” by any means.
If that’s the case they violated it themselves long before today. Jerry Collona was an extremely well-known and popular performer before he played The March Hare in Alice in Wonderland. Hans Conreid starred in his own movies, but he’s had plenty of Disney roles, including the Father and Captain Hook in Peter Pan.
And what about Ukulele Ike (the original Cliff Edwards, not the SDMB’s character) who played Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio?