Starting out, most actors will take any sort of assignment. Commercials, info-mercials, dinner theatre, whatever. For an up and comer then, a small part in a popular TV show is a comparatively prestigious gig, bringing with it immediate exposure to a large audience. These early credits are then often forgotten, if and when the actor makes it to the big time.
Here are 5 Hollywood stars who took an early bow on the small screen:
TIM ROBBINS
Fremmer in Moonlighting
When I was in primary school, this romantic-comedy-detective show was my favourite thing on TV, although it's nowadays best remembered as the vehicle that set Bruce Willis on the road to mega stardom. But it also provided an early career moment for another young actor. In the first episode of Season 1, Gunfight at the So-So Corral, the first character onscreen is Fremmer, a young wannabe hitman played by a fluffy haired, 27 year old Tim Robbins. Something of a TV veteran, there were bit parts in The Love Boat and Hill Street Blues before Moonlighting came along, Robbins tackles his part with gusto and his role here is memorably... goofy. His fight with an aging, top shelf hitman is a masterpiece of unintentionally silly slapstick, and the look on his face as he tries to get away is gormless enough to have come out of The Hudsucker Proxy. You can watch it here.
JENNIFER LAWRENCE
Mascot in Monk
Oscar winner, arthouse darling and tentpole franchise mainstay, Jennifer Lawrence is the girl that can do no wrong. With legions of fans and a queue of well credentialed directors lining up to sing her praises, it's almost hard to believe that her first credit on IMDB dates only from 2006. And, even more astounding, is such a minor part that her character doesn't even have a name! Who could treat J-Law in such a way? Unthinkable!! But there it is; in this episode from Season 5 of Tony Shalhoub's quirky detective series, Mr Monk and The Big Game, the girl wonder dons a bear suit and jumps around on the sidelines of a high school basketball game, before briefly pulling her head off to talk to the coach. Will wonders never cease? The scene is here.
BEN STILLER
Fast Eddie Felcher in Miami Vice
For me, Ben Stiller seems like such a product of the 90's that it's sometimes difficult to imagine his existence prior to Reality Bites. And yet, here he is in one of the previous decades most iconic shows, giving a high octane speed rap to a white suited Detective Crockett in Miami Vice. But, in this, Stiller definitely wasn't alone, as MV gave an early credit to a staggering number of Hollywood's biggest names, including Julia Roberts, Bruce Willis, Liam Neeson and (very hard to imagine)... Helena Bonham Carter? Find a full list of the Vice's prominent guest stars here, and Stiller's motor-mouthed effort here.
EMMA STONE
Cynthia McAllister on Medium
And now for something... a bit icky. Rising star Emma Stone has made a name for herself playing a series of smart, hip, sassy young women in popular movies like Easy A and The Amazing Spider Man. But her first prominent role was on TV in the suburban psychic drama Medium, playing an altogether different sort of character. She even had a different name; born Emily Stone, she decided to take a stage name as the Screen Actor's Guild already had someone with this handle. She initially chose Riley Stone, which is how she is credited on Medium, before settling on Emma, a nickname her mother had for her when she was a child. As for the ickiness? Riley Stone plays Cynthia McAllister, a troubled young woman who has been bullied into an incestuous relationship with her father, a disturbing plot that you can get a snapshot of here.
HARRISON FORD
Beach Patrol Cop in The Mod Squad
As a movie star, Harrison Ford has been in some of the biggest, most successful films ever made. And, before that, he served a lengthy apprenticeship playing bit parts in B movies and TV serials, of varying quality. One of the bigger TV shows he was in (a list that includes Ironside, Gunsmoke and Kung Fu), he played a cop in the very first episode of this time capsule action drama, a role so tiny that he wasn't even credited. But there he is: Han Solo, Indiana Jones, Deckard, learning his chops on the beach patrol. And while I couldn't find an actual clip of this moment from the show, for a giddy Harrison Ford experience check out his even earlier cameo in The Great Escapehere.
Australia has had some great success at The Oscars in recent years. And our winners have been lionised such that they are probably familiar to nearly everyone; Rusty and Cate and Shiney McShine and Crazy Mel (before he went crazy).
Less well known then the recent victors are some Oscar winning Australians from years past. For this country has produced winners going back decades, a number of whom were recognised for their work on some of the most famous movies in the history of cinema.
Here are five Oscar winning Aussies, now slightly overlooked:
ROBERT KRASKER
Best Cinematography - 1950
The Third Man
Born in Perth in 1913, Krasker moved to Europe as a teenager to study art and worked initially as a stills photographer in Dresden and Paris. Moving to London in the late 30's, Krasker took a job at Korda Studios and soon moved into cinematography. Influenced by both film noir and German expressionism, which he had been exposed to on the continent, Krasker established a name for himself with moody, starkly contrasted imagery. His movie career followed an established path; work on B pictures like The Thief of Baghdad (1940) leading to more prestigious assignments, like Olivier's Henry V (1944). He put himself at the forefront of his field with brilliant work on David Lean's Brief Encounter, generally considered one of the finest British movies ever made, although Krasker would clash with the director over the shooting of certain scenes. His work was held in such regard though, that he was Carol Read's first choice to shoot The Third Man, and this became Krasker's signature work. His imaginative lighting and inventive camera angles are a notable feature of the film, and he was rightly recognised at the Academy Awards in 1950. Krasker subsequently moved to Hollywood and lensed a number of other high profile movies, before retiring in 1965.
ORRY KELLY
Best Costume Design - 1951, 1957 & 1959
An American in Paris
Les Girls
Some Like it Hot
Costume designer Orry-Kelly (born Orry George Kelly) is Australia's most successful Oscar winner, earning three statuettes in the 1950's. The son of a tailor from Kiama, New South Wales, Orry-Kelly studied art in Sydney before moving to New York in the 1920's to pursue an acting career. There he shared an apartment with another up and comer, Archie Leach (AKA Cary Grant), while taking odd jobs to make ends meet. He painted murals and did some casual costume work on Broadway, which lead to a job offer in Hollywood. Moving to LA in 1932, Orry-Kelly soon realised his talents lay specifically in costumes and he became an in-demand designer, working for all the major studios. Working prolifically, his work is featured in some of the best known films of the era, including; Casablanca, Oklahoma! and The Maltese Falcon, and he would end with an amazing 263 film credits. But it was some of his most flamboyant work that earned him his Oscars, and the engagingly silly drag costumes of Some Like It Hot are probably his most enduring contribution to film history. A witty, acerbic man, and an outrageous drunk, Orry-Kelly appears to have lived a melancholy life outside of the studio system, and he died of alcoholism in his sixties. His pall bearers included both Grant and Billy Wilder. Gillian Armstrong is reportedly working on a documentary of his life, which may include the rumour that he and Grant were occasional lovers, as well as friends.
JOHN FARROW
Best Adapted Screenplay - 1956
Around the World in 80 Days
John Farrow's eventful life began in Sydney in 1904, as the son of a dressmaker and tailor. A restless youth, Farrow joined the merchant marine as a teenager and traveled the Pacific. After a chance meeting with pioneering film producer Robert J. Flaherty, Farrow took an interest in cinema and moved to California in 1927, hoping to get work in the industry. He did odd jobs at the fledgling film studios and began writing, and by the 1930's had established himself as a solid, mid tier screenwriter. He expanded into directing and racked up a number of B picture credits in the lead up to World War II. In 1936 he married actress Maureen O'Sullivan and they had four children together, one of whom, Mia Farrow, would become more famous than either of her parents. He joined the Navy and saw active duty during the war, then returned to Hollywood and made a series of successful war pictures. But his career declined in the 1950's, and he was largely back to assigned screen writing work when he won a surprise Oscar for co-writing Around the World in 80 Days, generally considered one of the less distinguished films to taste Oscar success. Farrow often expressed a desire to work in the Australian film industry but, apart from producing some Australian documentaries, this idea was never realised. He died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, aged only 58.
JOHN TRUSCOTT
Best Costume Design & Best Art Direction - 1968
Camelot
Melbourne born John Truscott achieved a rare double Oscar win in 1968 for his work on the period film Camelot, garnering recognition for his art direction and costumes. Truscott was an acclaimed costume and set designer from the theatre, with a long history of working on large and small stage productions in Australia. His well received work on a theatrical production of Camelot in 1963 lead to an invitation to Hollywood to work on the film adaptation, which makes his subsequent Oscar success, on his first film, even more remarkable. Although the acclaim for his film work was not universal (film critic Leonard Maltin called Camelot's production design 'cheap'). Truscott's film career was short lived; having worked on the big budget musical western Paint Your Wagon he drifted back to theatre, although he did not return to Australia till 1978. On his return, Truscott worked on a number of projects, including designing the Melbourne Arts Centre's interior and serving as creative director of Brisbane's World Expo in 1988. He passed away in 1993.
PETER ALLEN
Best Original Song - 1981
Arthur's Theme (The Best You Can Do)
Australia has only produced one nominee in the best song category, and so one winner, and who else could this be but Peter Allen, one of the great music populists. The song came from the successful romantic comedy Arthur, starring Dudley Moore as a spoilt, alcoholic millionaire and Lisa Minelli as the blue collar girl who takes his fancy. Arthur's Theme was largely written by Christopher Cross, who sings the song, in collaboration with Burt Bacharach and Carol Bayer Sayer (Bacharach's long time writing partner). But Allen, Minelli's ex husband, also contributed enough material to get a song writing credit and, ultimately, an Oscar. The song's famous refrain, 'If you get caught between the moon and New York City' is reportedly Allen's, from an unproduced song he wrote for himself some years before. The song's video is here (you know you want to).
The news today was devastating: Philip Seymour Hoffman dead at 46. It's such a shock that it takes a while to sink in; the realisation that you will never again see a new PSH film.
What we have left are his collected works to date. His memory, and his fans, will be well served by this, as its a remarkable filmography. Everyone will have their favourites, these are 5 of mine:
5.
LESTER BANGS
Almost Famous
Playing real people is a tricky tightrope
for actors. Play them too nice and they’re accused of hagiography, but push the
boundaries of the characterisation and they get damned for not staying true to
the real person’s spirit. And this is to say nothing of the technical aspects; mastering
their accent, manner, foibles, catchphrases, tics and bad habits. This stands
double for a man like the late music critic Lester Bangs, who has a legion of
hardcore fans just waiting to stomp on any actor who fucks him up. And Bangs only has a small, although crucial,
part to play in this, Cameron Crowe’s ingratiating coming of age story, meaning
that there’s even less scope for the performance to stray. But Hoffman nails
his handful of scenes, giving us a quick blast of Bang’s talent, temper and
passion. His world weary advice to the young journalist wannabe William Miller
rings true, and not just for him:
4.SCOTTY J.
Boogie Nights
PSH wasn't a household name when this came
out. Actually, almost none of the amazingly talented cast, nor the director,
were when this exploded across the arthouse circuit in 1997. And Hoffman could
very easily have gotten lost, given the large ensemble and the number of flashy
parts that he was competing for attention with. But for me, his Scotty J was one of the most
memorable turns in the film, and a real standout in his career as a whole.
Playing a scruffy, troubled, flaky misfit (the first three not traits he would
revisit on screen too often) who has a closeted crush on handsome porn star Dirk
Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), Hoffman brings emotional weight to a part that may
have been a footnote. The pathetic
hopefulness of his character – check the scene where he buys a flashy car like
Diggler’s to try and impress him – and his dogged loyalty are still eye
catching, all these years later. The old adage rings true; for a great actor,
there are no small parts.
3. MAX JERRY HOROVITZ
Mary and Max
One of Hoffman’s great strengths as an
actor was his versatility, and this is on full display in his voice work in
this wonderfully effecting, low budget animated feature. Hoffman
plays Max, a New Yorker with Aspergers who somehow strikes up a pen-friendship
with a young Australian girl thousands of miles away. Their letter writing –
and package sending – over many years, recounted in alternating stretches of voice
over, encompasses many ups and downs in the characters lives and touches on
issues most animated films would hurry to avoid. Hoffman’s voice is an unrecognisable, throaty
rasp but he manages to impart a stunning range of emotions to his character’s
monologues, a difficult task considering Max is mostly monotone and deadpan.
The bittersweet final scenes – ‘You are my best friend… you are my only
friend…’ – make me think about everything in life and movies that I love.
2. CADEN COTARD
Synecdoche, New York
Some of PSH’s best performances came
in the movies of the most cutting edge of contemporary directors, where it’s
easy to imagine participants on both sides of the camera egged each other on. One
of these, acclaimed screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s directing debut, provides
him with a rich lead role and it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine
any other actor pulling off so complex a part so well. His Caden Cotard is a repressed, emotionally
stunted playwright, struggling to come to grips with his latest theatrical epic
and at war with all of the elements of his personal life. He writes himself
into his play… and then writes himself, writing himself into his play… and so
on down the rabbit hole. Meanwhile, his ex-wife may, or may not, have stolen
his daughter away to Paris, the house he lives in is perpetually on fire and
his depression may have killed all life on Earth. Cotard is surrounded by a
huge retinue of people, but is entirely alone, and is unsure if any of the
things he experiences are actually occurring. Is he crazy? Or just suffering
from writer’s block? Is it all in his head?
Or just some of it? Considering how hard it is to describe this long,
challenging film, imagine what it must have been like to portray this
character. There are many balls to juggle here, and each one of them presents a conundrum. But Hoffman rises to the task in a million subtle ways, becoming a
living embodiment of Kaufman’s endless parade of ideas in the process.
1. LANCASTER DODD
The Master
Hoffman’s fifth go round with Paul Thomas
Anderson gave the writer/director a chance to create for him a really juicy
part, and the results are nothing short of spectacular. Playing Lancaster Dodd,
a pseudo-mystic loosely modeled on L. Ron Hubbard, PSH appears about half an
hour into the movie and lights up the screen from the moment he describes himself
as ‘a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher, but,
above all… a man. A hopelessly inquisitive man, just like you.’ Although this
movie is not a one man show, and part of the excitement of watching Hoffman in
his finest hour is witnessing his bombastic ego-maniac crash head first into
the alcoholic WWII veteran played by Joaquin Phoenix (also in career best
form). Their unlikely friendship powers
the movie and the screen is almost too small to contain it; sparks fly, insults
and bodyblows are traded, psychological depths are plunged. Witness the amazing
scene when the two meet for the first time and Dodd interrogates his new
acolyte about his life, for just one example. But Hoffman has countless great moments of his own – singing to a room of naked society groupies, shooting down
a critic from the press, changing his life theories on the fly – and delivers a
wonderful, layered, intellectually stimulating performance that will be
dissected for as long as movies are screened. Aptly, The Master shows a true master at the top of his game, and
it is for all of us a tragedy that this would prove one of the last times we
would see it. You’d have to think he had many great performances left.
Although there were plenty of them. It seemed like every other week I was off to the IMAX with a sense of giddy anticipation as the latest $300 million action-scifi-comedy-thrill ride-merchandising extravaganza debuted to feverish anticipation. The movie studios long ago got this stuff down to a fine art and know exactly how to make you want to be where they want you to be on the day their movie is released.
But as the year wore on and more of these mega giant productions piled up in the rear view mirror, it seemed clear that what I was seeing back there was less an exciting memory of places I'd been, and more of a stock standard freeway pile up. Wreckage from a series of disappointing evenings that started with,
'I'm really looking forward to this!'
And ended with,
'Yeah... it was... okay... I guess...'
And all of it at massive expense, both to myself (the local IMAX charges $25 for a feature film, plus extra for 3D glasses, plus $15.95 for a large popcorn and Coke) and to the studios responsible. The following are my Top 5 disappointing blockbuster experiences for the year.
BRAVE
I don't know if it corresponds with their takeover by Disney, but Pixar films have lost a bit of their lustre. Only recently, the studio that brought usso many classic titles and redefined the way we think about animated films decided to churn out... Cars 2, a by the numbers sequel to probably their least loved creation. Better than that, but still not hitting the recent heights of WALL-E or Up, came this curiosity; a coming of age story featuring a rebellious princess set in medi-evil Scotland. And while many of the old Pixar ingredients did return - ravishing visuals, snappy dialogue, a deft balance of jokes aimed at older and younger viewers - the overall magic steadfastly refused to conjure itself into the film. Perhaps the biggest let down was the story itself, which took many elements of a classic fairy tale but then refused to give us a proper villain in that mold, which made it both overly familiar and yet oddly unsatisfying While there are funny moments and the attention spent rendering the heroine's hair moving in the sunlight is tech nerdily impressive, overall this didn't add up to much. A waste of time and talent.
THE HUNGER GAMES
The standees sprouted up in bookshops nationwide, seemingly overnight. In bookshops! Where they haven't seen this type of excitement since James Joyce wrote about men and women getting a bit rude with each other and showed up in his eye patch under the threat of getting arrested. But nevertheless, there it was, right in the age of e-publishing and the end of bricks and mortar book buying; a bona fide literary phenomenon in the shape of this popular series of young adult fiction. So the first of what will undoubtedly be a series of Hunger Games movies arrived with a lot of anticipation... only to be sunk, torpedoed, flatlined and otherwise given no chance of any sort of success by the ham fisted, amateur hour direction of helmer Gary Ross. Who seemed like an odd choice for this, once I'd looked him up on IMDB, given that his two previous directorial credits were Pleasantville and Seabiscuit, which are very different movies then what this one wanted to be, unless the producers had a plan to alienate their built in audience from the start. Ross' lack of feel for the material and relentless use of shaky cam and jump edits, even during quieter moments where they were totally inappropriate, meant that you can make one sure fire prediction about movies in 2013: he won't be directing the sequel. Although his distracting approach did at least distract from the damp squib performance from leading lady Jennifer Lawrence, the film's other fatal flaw, who looked cool on the poster and totally unconvincing running around in the forest with a bow and arrow. A major disappointment.
PROMETHEUS
Prometheus has a great trailer and a very cool poster. And an eye catching turn from Michael Fassbender asa Peter O'Toole loving simulant. And... that's it really. Sir Ridley Scott's belated return to the franchise that helped establish him as a major director in the 1970's did little more than show him up as someone whose reputation rests largely on a couple of great films made a very long time ago (top 5 worst films made by Ridley in the last 15 years; Hannibal, Kingdom of Heaven, GI Jane, Robin Hood and A Good Year. The last an almost unbearable nightmare with Russell Crowe as a stressed out corporate type who drops out to run a vineyard in France.... ARGGGHHH!). Just think about it; what was the last even half good film that this guy directed? In any case, despite some pretty visuals and the efforts of Mr Fassbender, this one sinks without a trace, hamstrung, probably from it's conception, by the lack of story or even any semblance of an idea as to why the film exists in the first place.
SKYFALL
Of the four people that will likely read this posting, I imagine that at least two of them will disagree with this inclusion. The latest Bond film was widely praised and has done mega business at the box office. It's done so well, in fact, that it is already the most commercially successful Bond film ever (replacing Quantum of Solace, which goes to show how much more adroitly these films are marketed nowadays, if nothing else) and is tipped to get over the billion dollar threshold before its run finishes. And, truthfully, I didn't think it was bad movie overall; it's fast paced and beautifully shot and has some strong performances from the supporting players. And the opening song and credits, a series trademark, would have to be among the best for these films. But something about this left me wanting. The villain isn't in it enough and his plan is a bit unsophisticated (How about... I just walk in and shoot her!). And the 143 minute running time is bloated, even by modern blockbuster standards. And something funny has happened to Daniel Craig in the four years since he last donned the tuxedo; either he's lost weight or his skeleton has expanded or his head skin has been replaced by space age rubber or... something, for he looks kind of gaunt, or hunched or uncomfortable in his own skin. There was something distracting about his appearance, or his performance, anyway and the fact that I left the cinema pondering this, and not just going 'Wheee!' tells you that the film just missed the mark somehow.
THE DARK KNIGHT RISES
Watching the above trailer again, I can still get a hint of the excitement that I felt as this film approached. An excitement level that only expanded as I went to see it the week it opened and was confronted by a packed cinema; queues out the door, frenzy at the snack counter, people of all ages giggling and waving their free Dark Knight Rises oversize novelty drink cups at each other And the opening scene of this film is so good, so stunning, so wild and inventive that you felt everyone in your sold out session was right there in the moment with this thing, on the edge of their seats, riveted So it's obviously disappointing when the subsequent scenes, post spectacular mid air hijacking, are so heavy handed and mawkish that you can feel that electric charge that had built up ebb away... slowly at first and then quickly, as Bruce Wayne gets caught up in a corporate governance scandal and Batman gets beaten up in a fight scene reminiscent of one of the later Rocky films and the stream of people leaving the cinema to go to the toilet becomes a trickle and then a flood. The film regathers steam for an exciting finale - you can pinpoint the exact moment when this starts, which is here - and it has its moments throughout, but there's just too much in this movie that doesn't work; Batman spending an eternity down the pit, the convoluted nature of Baine's plan, the fact that he's not even the villain after all, Anne Hathway - for this to be successful. And, like most of the entries on this list, it's too long and has a poorly thought out story. Trilogy finales are normally difficult (think; Spiderman, The Matrix, The Godfather just for starters) and this one, sadly, failed the test..
