Re: Milo O'Shea or Michael Richards??? -- The Robert Newton Chatboard

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Subject:

Re: Milo O'Shea or Michael Richards???

Author:
Cin�philia

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Date Posted: 09:37:07 12/15/01 Sat
In reply to: Cinephilia 's message, "Milo O'Shea or Michael Richards???" on 20:43:50 12/14/01 Fri

This is hard for me to think of any actor portraying RN without giggling. I usually don't find biopics very convincing or impressive. Downey Jr. was excellent in "Chaplin" (a movie that I didn't like much), but I didn't find him completely convincing in the role.

Of course, 20 years ago, Alan Bates or Albert Finney could have portrayed Newton convincingly enough. They had the talent required and the right looks.

A fact: getting their first big break starring in a biopic won't do much for the typical actor/actress if the character is too famous. Remember the guy who played John Lennon in the TV movie "John and Yoko" back in the early 1980s? You don't... :-) Well, I didn't see him again after that until he played one of the officers in "Titanic" (he's the one who screams "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" just before Murdoch shoots himself.

An anecdote: Back in 1982, director Claude Lelouch cast Patrick Dewaere as Marcel Cerdan in "Edith and Marcel", a film about the passionate love affair between the boxing champ and singer Edith Piaf. Unfortunately, a few weeks before filming was to begin, Dewaere committed suicide... In desperation, Lelouch then asked Marcel Cerdan Jr. to play his father. Marcel Jr. was a boxer too but he was no actor... Nonetheless, he gave a very good performance.

Alas! After "Edith and Marcel", Marcel Jr. was never heard of again.

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[> [> [> Subject: Biopics

Author:
Susan
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Date Posted: 10:48:43 12/17/01 Mon

Alan Bates?? Hmm, *there's* a possibility! In that same vein, you just reminded me of another one (as long as we're including actors of the past)--what about Oliver Reed?

OK ... which one or two of all those choices should I put on the ballot?! (Quick, before somebody actually votes!) Or maybe it's just a bad question and I should remove it.

>Remember the guy who played John Lennon in the TV movie
>"John and Yoko" back in the early 1980s? You don't... :-)

You're right! But that's cuz I never saw that movie. I do remember the guy who played him in *two* biopics--the Hours and Times and Backbeat (Ian Hart). He's a very good actor (he's in Harry Potter, BTW), but it's hard not to associate him with that role because he did it so perfectly. (And it doesn't help that he looks just like Julian Lennon.) However, he's one of those chameleon-like actors who's so good at what he does, you don't recognize him from one film to the next!

>I usually don't find biopics very convincing or impressive.

Same here. From what I've seen on the commercials, it's hard to believe that they're talking about an Oscar for Will Smith in the Muhammed Ali movie! So far, the only biographical performance that's really impressed me to the point where I don't have to keep reminding myself who the actor is supposed to be is Martin Landau as Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. I would never have thought it possible having mainly known him as Commander Koenig on Space: 1999, but that was a well deserved Oscar!

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