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Grex > Music3 > #45: The Irish Music Discussion from Agora Conference |  |
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| 8 new of 72 responses total. |
dbratman
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response 65 of 72:
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Nov 13 19:30 UTC 2001 |
So I'm the only person who thinks Cusack is a star?
"Stars expected to appear include ... John Cusack" - Brian D.
Johnson, "Hot titles in Toronto", Maclean's, Sept. 10
"America's Sweethearts [is] a romantic comedy dripping with star power:
Julia Roberts ... John Cusack" - Des Partridge, Courier Mail, Nov. 8
(that's the actors, not the characters, being described)
And so forth.
And what made me think he's a new star? Well, how about the flush of
articles about him that have appeared in the last year or so? How
about the independent lead billings? There wasn't anything like that
before. (Road to Wellville was billed as an ensemble film.)
I live on the planet Earth, Paul, not just in my own mind, or yours.
And on the planet Earth, what I see around me is that John Cusack, a
hard-working character actor of long standing, has recently taken a
startling metamorphosis into his first highly-publicized leading
romantic-comedy roles, in films whose reviews are accusing them of a
soppiness and sappiness not previously associated with Mr. Cusack's
work.
I also observe that, on the planet Earth, actors who achieve this
status are frequently stuck with it, and that their later films mostly
don't measure up to their earlier ones.
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brighn
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response 66 of 72:
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Nov 13 19:47 UTC 2001 |
I didn't say Cusack wasn't a star. Now you're putting words in my mouth. I
said that Cusack wasn't a NEW star. When Midnight... came out, he got equal
billing with Spacey, a major new star at the time. Grosse Pointe Blank was
a star turn for Cusack, although the clear star of Aykroyd (with, granted,
a much smaller role, almost a cameo) and the nearly-as-famous Alan Arkin both
received lesser billing (the IMDb poster shows Cusack and Driver, and lists
the four of them). Wellville *was* an ensemble, and superstars can be in
ensembles, too (recent examples include Heist [are you suggesting that Hackman
and Devito aren't stars?] and Swordfish [are you suggesting that Travolta
isn't a star?], as well as Snatch [where superstar Brad Pitt is tucked in
amongst the British actors, being less well known over there]). For that
matter, Cusack received higher billing than David Ogden Steirs (M*A*S*H) and
Kim Darby (True Grit) for "Better Off Dead," even though Darby's role was
certainly large enough to give her higher billing. 86's "One Crazy Summer"
gave him higher billing than Demi Moore and Bob Goldthwait, while 88's
"Tapeheads" saw him sharing billing with Tim Robbins. I've already answered
the claim that only America's Sweethearts and Serendipity are sappy... I
couldn't even get THROUGH "High Fidelity" because of his
Allenesque-cum-romantic lead performance.
Cusack has gotten lead billing for most of his career. Most of his movies have
been commercial successes. NOW you're claiming he's been a character actor
until just last year? Methinks you haven't been paying a bit of attention...
just because YOU just noticed Cusack a few years ago, the rest of the world
noticed him back in 1985 ("It's a damn shame, throwing out a perfectly good
white boy.")
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slynne
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response 67 of 72:
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Nov 13 21:30 UTC 2001 |
Great Movie! It has Curtis Armstrong in it too. He really is a character
actor and not a star.
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brighn
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response 68 of 72:
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Nov 14 19:17 UTC 2001 |
Now, Curtis Armstrong, THERE's a character actor. Although he usually plays
the same sort of character (Booger in the "Nerds" movies, the "What the fuck"
kid in Risky Business, and something in Moonlighting, but I never watched that
show). Curtis Armstrong and Marshall Crenshaw (singer, "Buddy Holly" in La
Bamba) are the two most famous graduates that I know of of Berkley (MI) High
School, my alma mater. I even heard Armstrong mention my Middle School drama
teacher, Mr. Young, in a national interview once. Go Bears. =}
(I've also heard rumors that Vincent Furnier, aka Alice Cooper, also attended,
but didn't graduate from, the Berkley schools, but I don't think it's true.)
(And yes, in case anyone was wondering, I *did* get asked a half dozen times
if I was Marshall's younger brother. =P It's KERshaw, people, not CRENshaw.)
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mcnally
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response 69 of 72:
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Nov 14 21:31 UTC 2001 |
Have you ever considered just going with a contraction of your first
and last names and calling yourself p'shaw?
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brighn
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response 70 of 72:
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Nov 14 21:38 UTC 2001 |
heh, I like that. you're the first person to mention that, really.
p'shaw
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slynne
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response 71 of 72:
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Nov 15 16:11 UTC 2001 |
I didnt know Curtis Armstrong was from Michigan. I saw him once in a
really good play at the Attic theater. It was nice.
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albaugh
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response 72 of 72:
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Dec 28 17:24 UTC 2001 |
I see from the Plymouth Observer that there will be Irish fiddling and dancing
going on at the Ark Sat & Sun Dec 29 & 30.
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