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Post by I'm Team Bayley and Indi on Mar 3, 2019 3:08:57 GMT -5
Hopping onto the music one here, but which actors and actresses (or even directors) do you think wasted their potential.
I will start with a potentially more unexpected one and Lindsay Lohan.
She was really likable in her Disney films such as Freaky Friday, and Mean Girls is a classic,
But for a long time she has been seen as a tabloid wreck and I can't even think of a film from the last couple of years she was in
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Post by Ryback on a Pole! on Mar 3, 2019 3:38:51 GMT -5
Dunno if it's wasted potential really, but Anthony Daniels really should have had more work than just being C-3P0. Other than a few very small roles and Legolas in the animated LOTR, that's all he's done, which is surprising because he does a good job as 3P0. I'd have thought he'd have had plenty of work as a voice actor for animated shows and stuff.
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Paul
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Post by Paul on Mar 3, 2019 6:08:55 GMT -5
Chris Farley- he could have been a really good dramatic actor and always wanted to do a biopic on Fatty Arbuckle. But he got stuck doing garbage like Beverly Hills Ninja.
Also, he was going to be the voice of Shrek:
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Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Mar 3, 2019 7:31:02 GMT -5
Andy Griffith obviously had an amazingly successful career, but he played a villain in the excellent A Face in the Crowd and was AMAZING. But apparently, he was very uncomfortable with playing such a scumbag and stuck to Mayberry and Matlock for the rest of his career.
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Post by Milkman Norm on Mar 3, 2019 9:59:37 GMT -5
Michael Cimino made The Deer Hunter which he followed with one of the biggest flops of all time. He never made another film that bombed as badly as Heaven's Gate but he never made anything as critically acclaimed as The Deer Hunter again either.
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Square
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Post by Square on Mar 3, 2019 10:13:28 GMT -5
Michael Cimino made The Deer Hunter which he followed with one of the biggest flops of all time. He never made another film that bombed as badly as Heaven's Gate but he never made anything as critically acclaimed as The Deer Hunter again either. Cimimo is the biggest case of right place right time going, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot was effectively directed by Eastwood telling him what to do and Deer Hunter was pretty much done by the studio and Cimino was just the hired hand to press on and off. Mark Kermode wrote a fantastic article in his book The Movie Doctors about him.
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Post by cabbageboy on Mar 3, 2019 10:56:55 GMT -5
A U.K. film buff friend of mine (who sadly died a couple of years ago) used to swear that Heaven's Gate was a misunderstood masterpiece. I wouldn't know. I've never had the patience to watch it. As far as Deer Hunter goes it was in desperate need of editing. How long was that dreary wedding scene? Some of the transitions are nonexistent as well, like how did they get captured?
This might sound odd but what about William Petersen? He's probably in the TV Hall of Fame for his run on CSI, but the guy had the potential to be a megastar in film. He just had weird decision making like turning down Platoon, Goodfellas, Heat, etc.
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Post by karl100589 on Mar 3, 2019 13:52:30 GMT -5
Thora Birch was the first name that comes to mind; she was set for big things after American Beauty, but her father/manager was reportedly so difficult it pretty much restricted her to Indie films.
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Post by RedSmile on Mar 3, 2019 13:58:24 GMT -5
Brandon Lee.
The Crow was poised to launch him into mega-stardom.
What a shame, what a tragic waste.
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Post by arrogantmodel on Mar 3, 2019 14:16:21 GMT -5
Brandon Lee. The Crow was poised to launch him into mega-stardom. What a shame, what a tragic waste. Lee has an awesome hat trick of movies though in Rapid Fire, Showdown in Little Tokyo, and The Crow.
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Post by KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!! on Mar 3, 2019 15:17:16 GMT -5
Orson Welles in a way which is something given how acclaimed Citizen Kane is and it arguably being the best film of all time. Him choosing to go after William Randolph Hearst for his first studio picture really crippled his career in Hollywood. Sure, he still made great films after that, largely outside the studio system, but he could’ve reached greater heights without having to worry about financing and having access to all of Hollywood’s vast resources. Welles himself toward the end of his life said in an interview that his career in film was no way to spend a life and given his skills he should’ve gone into something else.
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Bub (BLM)
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Mar 3, 2019 15:44:55 GMT -5
I'm gonna say Brendan Fraser. Yes, he got a lot of work in the 90's and early 2000's, but only a small portion of those films really tapped into what a great dramatic actor he can be. I bring him up specifically due to his amazing work in DC's Doom Patrol series. He's taken a role many would scoff at, and he's made it this amazing character that takes you on a serious emotional trip.
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Post by cabbageboy on Mar 3, 2019 16:10:58 GMT -5
Welles had a bigger problem as a director: His movies largely flopped. Kane lost 160,000 on initial release (obviously turned a profit in reissues later), Magnificent Ambersons lost 620,000 during a time when everything made money during WW2, and even the spy thriller Journey Into Fear lost 193,000. Also, his whole Brazil escapade that I read about in the RKO book A Slow Fade to Black wrecked his credibility in Hollywood as a director, as he spent hundreds of thousands screwing around in Rio and came out with nothing usable.
The Stranger was really the only hit Welles ever directed, oddly enough. But then there were two flat out box office draws with him in that one in Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young. It also had a topical plot of an agent trying to find a Nazi war criminal.
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Shai
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Post by Shai on Mar 3, 2019 16:24:47 GMT -5
I'm gonna say Brendan Fraser. Yes, he got a lot of work in the 90's and early 2000's, but only a small portion of those films really tapped into what a great dramatic actor he can be. I bring him up specifically due to his amazing work in DC's Doom Patrol series. He's taken a role many would scoff at, and he's made it this amazing character that takes you on a serious emotional trip. I read up on Brendan Fraser after Doom Patrol started because I hadn't seen him in a long while...he's been through the wringer in the last decade.
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Post by Joe Neglia on Mar 3, 2019 16:35:24 GMT -5
Orson Welles in a way which is something given how acclaimed Citizen Kane is and it arguably being the best film of all time. Him choosing to go after William Randolph Hearst for his first studio picture really crippled his career in Hollywood. Sure, he still made great films after that, largely outside the studio system, but he could’ve reached greater heights without having to worry about financing and having access to all of Hollywood’s vast resources. Welles himself toward the end of his life said in an interview that his career in film was no way to spend a life and given his skills he should’ve gone into something else. This was the first name that popped into my head regarding the subject. Pretty much came into Hollywood as that era's Spielberg, Kubrick and Spike Lee rolled into one, immediately started picking fights with not only the studio that hired him but one of the most powerful men in America at the time, and lost on both fronts. Welles had a bigger problem as a director: His movies largely flopped. Kane lost 160,000 on initial release (obviously turned a profit in reissues later), Magnificent Ambersons lost 620,000 during a time when everything made money during WW2, and even the spy thriller Journey Into Fear lost 193,000. Also, his whole Brazil escapade that I read about in the RKO book A Slow Fade to Black wrecked his credibility in Hollywood as a director, as he spent hundreds of thousands screwing around in Rio and came out with nothing usable. The Stranger was really the only hit Welles ever directed, oddly enough. But then there were two flat out box office draws with him in that one in Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young. It also had a topical plot of an agent trying to find a Nazi war criminal. Citizen Kane lost money in large part due to the Hearst retaliation. A massive part of that era's newspaper circulation were owned by Hearst and did not advertise the film and went so far as to create multiple fake controversies regarding Welles at the time to keep audiences away. Also pulled strings so that the film wasn't booked in a large number of theaters.
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Bub (BLM)
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Fed. Up.
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Post by Bub (BLM) on Mar 3, 2019 17:59:47 GMT -5
I'm gonna say Brendan Fraser. Yes, he got a lot of work in the 90's and early 2000's, but only a small portion of those films really tapped into what a great dramatic actor he can be. I bring him up specifically due to his amazing work in DC's Doom Patrol series. He's taken a role many would scoff at, and he's made it this amazing character that takes you on a serious emotional trip. I read up on Brendan Fraser after Doom Patrol started because I hadn't seen him in a long while...he's been through the wringer in the last decade. Yeah, he's a prime example of the lasting effects sexual misconduct has on the victims, even decades later.
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Rican
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Post by Rican on Mar 3, 2019 20:43:20 GMT -5
I was certain that Shia LaBeouf was gonna be a huge star. He was the first person I thought of.
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mattperiolat
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Post by mattperiolat on Mar 3, 2019 20:56:54 GMT -5
Thora Birch was the first name that comes to mind; she was set for big things after American Beauty, but her father/manager was reportedly so difficult it pretty much restricted her to Indie films. You’re being extremely charitable. Her dad basically sank her career, most notably with the Dracula mess. Last I heard, Birch snuck off to San Francisco to get married, hasn’t done anything of note acting wise in forever. Really a shame.
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Post by James Fabiano on Mar 4, 2019 9:41:41 GMT -5
Her name comes up a lot for different reasons (including this one), but...Melissa McCarthy.
Sweet woman, does have talent, but ends up doing the same stuff just because Bridesmaids made money. If I can go by her interviews, she doesn't see being plus size as mattering as much as others do and thus doesn't feel the pressure to be a good role model, and in fact she just does what she does and doesn't worry what other people think.
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Post by YAKMAN is ICHIBAN on Mar 4, 2019 11:09:09 GMT -5
Heath Ledger was pretty much just starting to get really good with Brokeback Mountain and Dark Knight. He was only 28.
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