Scots Taffer on 24/4/2009 at 01:01
While ercles response may seem flippant I think it's the only worthwhile advice to be found here. You went to Hollywood expecting what exactly?
I know this isn't the answer you're looking for but it's the answer you're damn well going to get. You realise it's an industry where movies for adults (Hollywood's core audience for 80+ years) are increasingly difficult to make and pretty soon unless you can prove that you can guarantee your box office returns then movies will be made purely to pander to the largest audience (being the lowest common denominator).
If that's what's going on in the heads of management, how can anyone enter into the acting business in Hollywood and expect anything other than a soulless empty experience that will hopefully make you super rich?
This isn't intended to come off as a "Hollywood has gone to shit" rant but it more or less has, for a certain audience segment, the movies directed squarely at adults that aren't serious dramas pitched at the 30-60 year old market are few and far between, and what used to elevate a lot of braindead action flicks or effects extravaganzas was the calibre of acting involved. That doesn't happen anymore because it's not as valued as the bums on seats quotient.
It's like when you look at a blockbuster summer tentpole movie like Jaws (the first of its kind) and compare it Deep Blue Sea. I'm not saying Deep Blue Sea is bad, I like it in a trashy entertainment sense, but that's really all they aspire to these days whereas movies and acting/actors and the industry used to actually give a shit about TELLING A STORY first and foremost as opposed to primarily turning a profit - or at least if profit was always at front of mind, they disguised it well by having enough artistic integrity not to fuck the audience over.
gunsmoke on 24/4/2009 at 02:20
WAREAGLE learning the ropes ITT
june gloom on 24/4/2009 at 03:09
Hollywood still makes the occasional good movie, at least. Valkyrie was very suprisingly not shit.
Angel Dust on 24/4/2009 at 03:48
Are the likes of The Dark Knight, Iron Man and Wall-E not Hollywood films? If anything I think last year the mainstream blockbuster fared much better than a lot of the awards season favourites as far as American film went. People bitch and moan about Hollywood constantly but I reckon each year you get some genuinely great films as well as plenty of good ones out of ol' Hollywood. I don't think Hollywood's crap quotient is really too different from any other market. I've seen plenty of awful indie films and while I consistently find foreign films to be of a higher quantity I don't doubt that's because the shit ones won't even make it out to these shores. And it's not like Hollywood wasn't producing copious amounts of shit even in it's the golden era. For every Casablanca you had several Sahara's made on the back lot. It's just that today that the Sahara's are getting more publicity but I still think Hollywood can and does produce enough great films that you can't just right it off.
Although I guess as far as trying to make a start in acting goes, you are better off going indie/euro since any juicy parts in Hollywood are undoubtedly going to go to big stars/established character actors. Hell, even those guys go outside the Hollywood system all the time for juicy parts.
demagogue on 24/4/2009 at 04:48
Quote Posted by Ulukai
You just watched Jerry Maguire, didn't you?
Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking. It's like "the memo".
My attitude on this kind of thing is it's usually no good trying to tell dipshits they should rise above. Just take it upon yourself and insist on excellence from your work. And to people that pay attention, you set an example and help bump up the bar for everybody; and to people that aren't, well fuck them anyway they aren't paying attention. The point is, don't just sit around writing memos about the obvious. Get out there and do it. I just mean, that's the productive attitude to take about it IMO.
rachel on 24/4/2009 at 04:51
It's not a memo, it's a *mission statement*
WAREAGLE on 24/4/2009 at 04:52
this thread wasnt about some sort of news flash, eureka SPOIL/SPOIL! look what i found no one else saw! Nor was I saying that everything that came out of hollywood is trash, or that everything in the golden age was great, or that it is wrong to go for the juicy, well paying rolls. or that its wrong to make money. Havent you guys ever created anything in your life you felt a certain connection to? hasnt anything ever amounted to more than something monetary? I know this place is all about empty dreams and money, but cant i spill my guts about how sick it makes me as an actual artist? Yeah i love the cheesy blockbuster flicks like iron man too. or the new terminator thats coming out, im sure ill love it. but thats not the point. those arent the movies i am talking of anyway. thats still creating something, thats still art.
Quote Posted by demagogue
Haha, that's exactly what I was thinking. It's like "the memo".
My attitude on this kind of thing is it's usually no good trying to tell dipshits they should rise above. Just take it upon yourself and insist on excellence from your work. And to people that pay attention, you set an example and help bump up the bar for everybody; and to people that aren't, well fuck them anyway they aren't paying attention. The point is, don't just sit around writing memos about the obvious. Get out there and do it. I just mean, that's the productive attitude to take about it IMO.
well i have taken action on my feelings already, i wasnt wasting any time that could have been spent doing something better by writing this. I was basically on speed the other night and this was the result of no sleep. but thank you for saying that. thats kinda same page there.
Scots Taffer on 24/4/2009 at 06:54
Quote Posted by WAREAGLE
Havent you guys ever created anything in your life you felt a certain connection to? hasnt anything ever amounted to more than something monetary? I know this place is all about empty dreams and money, but cant i spill my guts about how sick it makes me as an actual artist?
june gloom on 24/4/2009 at 07:39
i don't know much
but i know i love you
242 on 24/4/2009 at 07:54
I think that unknown actors usually play more naturally than famous ones, there are exceptions but not that many. Just a random thought on the matter.
Also, I hate dubbing, it ruins films more than any bad actor.
