Some actors are cast explicitly to play themselves. And I don't mean in a... I'm a rapper playing a rapper kind of way. But Ina way where the actor is not required to dig deep or show any kind of range to portray what the director is looking for.

See Fredro Starr in the Wire, Method Man in The Wire, DMX in any of his feature films. They are all doing them, regardless of the character's archetype.

I look at Commons career as an actor and wonder how he's gone beyond random cameos and been successful at it.

That Comm/Queen Latifah flick- it's just Common in basketball shorts

He'll On Wheels- Common in western gear.

and the flick that prompted this post- RIPD... Common in a suit, with the same mannerisms, inflections, and accent that we've known him for since the 90s.

So I guess my "no shit" moment of the day comes from realizing that while some successful actors don't have very good acting chops at all...a great natural build, look, and voice encompass something that directors can repeatedly use for a myriad of characters without asking much of the actor themselves....

.

Will Smith
Denzel
De Niro
Sam L.
Marky Mark
Keanu
etc.

Not every time, but a lot of the time, they basically play the same kind of character.

Look at someone like Gary Oldman, that dude can play anything and its completely different.

Point is most actors still show a lot of themselves in every role.

Truth is we don't know the "true" Will Smith enough to know whether he is playing himself or the same character but yeah, everything you said.


**********
"Everyone has a plan until you punch them in the face. Then they don't have a plan anymore." (c) Mike Tyson

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/blackpeopleonlocalnews

movies

Six degrees of separation: gay con-man

Men in black: (maybe that might have been just Will)

Hancock: egotisical jaded superhero

Pursuit of happyness: a struggling father

7 pounds: depressed, suicidal man

Hitch: some sort of relationship guru

Ali: do I really have to list more?


yeah After Earth flopped but I'm sure that character wasn't the same as "six degrees" and "Hitch" or "Wild wild west" or "7 pounds" or "Hancock"

he must score really well with test audiences or something cuz he's fucking abysmal on screen but they keep giving him roles

>he must score really well with test audiences or something
>cuz he's fucking abysmal on screen but they keep giving him
>roles

its really hard for me to not cringe at every damn scene he's in.

at this point if he is cast in a movie or tv show I dont even watch it. It shows that at least one terrible decision was made and I dont want to see what others were made.

at least of those with his number of speaking parts. earnestly horrible at everything he does on-screen.

1. Black
2. Women

The toughest "outside" demographic to crack - and he does.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

We have common
That man foine
So is Brad

Let there be as many foine ass none acting ass men as there are women
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

LUV was his best performance but nobody but me saw that movie

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Gender Coons Gotta Go

~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

I saw "LUV" in the theater when it was released and I agree,
Common gave his best performance in that film. It was so interesting
to see the original Sister from "Sparkle", Lonette McKee playing his mom.

But I have to say most rappers who become actors are not very good.
They have no training, like true thespians Viola Davis or Denzel Washington who went to drama school and paid their dues doing theatre and Broadway, and they don't take the craft seriously. There are a few exceptions like 2Pac and Will Smith (7 Pounds, Pursuit of Happiness).
Rappers need to perfect their craft doing theater then they should transition into film.

He probably scare white folks when they see him in IMAX and test marketers like a reaction good or bad.

And you couldn't get a tongue kiss

You wimpy ass sissy poo


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

for actors like Stephen Root, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Stephen Buscemi etc....because they actually ACT and don't just portray themselves wearing different clothes.

I think some people can still be really, really good onscreen by displaying a wide range of emotions in their limited roles, and things like that. But I'm always more impressed and likely to follow the lesser known but more talented people like the ones listed above. Any movie or show they are in I tend to check for.

1 - yeah, no shit. But welcome to the party.

2 - What you're talking about is "names." If they're a "name" - they don't have to ACT. "Names" are:
*Actors who became movie stars and are subsequently bigger than the films they're in.
*Rappers
*Athletes
*Benefits of nepotism
*Comedians
*Celebrities

Common's a bona fide "name" - but be grateful, it could be worse.



"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

I mean he started to get popular then he jumped ship and went into cinema. He might be recognizable with black people but he definitely isnt known like that in other demos. He definitely isnt bigger than the movies he is in.

is a name.


"Your current frequencies of understanding outweigh that which has been given for you to understand." Saul Williams

As if DOZENS OF WHITE "actors" didn't do this for
decades and YOU niggas said NOTHING

Fucking punks

Seriously

You guys are chumps, straight up

Wimps


----------------------------



O_E: "Acts like an asshole and posts with imperial disdain"




"I ORBITs the solar system, listenin..."

(C)Keith Murray, "

Meanwhile, Eminem gets high praise for that master thespian piece called 8 Mile.

Fucking ridiculous.

Can't even count the amount of women that have made careers off their looks
Because of these same fools
But now these fools are acting connoisseurs
Right
No one believes them
Way too late for this shit now
~~~~
When you are born, you cry, and the world rejoices. Live so that when you die, you rejoice, and the world cries.
~~~~
You cannot hate people for their own good.

But Common is attractive and fairly easy to get along with.

Can anyone say he wasn't good in Hitchhikers, Be Kind Rewind and Something the Lord Made?

seems like commons been in more movie than him..