Best Actor

[Damien]

I see your point. You like minimalists performances. The way Max Von Sydow performs, as well as Tommy Lee Jones, the first Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman among others, which means you don´t like Al Pacino or Jack Nicholson. am I right?

That's generally true, Hustler. I do think Tommy Lee Jomes is a wonderful actor (and even in a more flamboyant role -- Clay Shaw in JFK he keeps it real and believable). For me, generally on screen less is more. Thus, I find to be among the best screen actors James Stewart, Humphrey Bogart, Robert Mitchum, Henry Fonda, Charles Boyer, Jeff Bridges, Michael Caine.

I was crazy for Jack Nicholson back in the day before he kind of lost control. The Last Detail and Reds are both beautiful performances, and he's also wonderful in Five Easy Pieces, Easy Rider, Carnal Knowledge, King of Marvin Gardens and Chinatown. I think he started to lose it around the time of Terms of Endearment. But I don't much like Pacino or Dustin Hoffman.

It's not a question of Method acting, because I love Brando and James Dean. And he was Group Theater rather than Actors Studio, but John Garfield was an amazing actor.

And besides Brando, there are some "larger than life" actors I greatly admire, including James Cagney, Peter O'Toole, Michel Simon, Edward G. Robinson, Kirk Douglas, Akim Tamiroff, Orson Welles and good ol' S.Z. "Cuddles" Sakall.

[Hustler]

As for Day-Lewis's keeping in character, there's the famous (and possibly apocryphal) exchange between Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman while they were making Marathon Man.

Hoffman was supposed to be exhausted in a scene, so he stayed up for two straight nights without going to bed. When Olivier saw him on the set, he asked why Hoffman looked so bad and disheveled. When Hoffman explained, Olivier replied "Dustin, dear boy, why not try acting?"


I thought Day-Lewis was wonderful in My Beautiful Laundrette and was effective in In The Name Of The Father, but every other time I've seen him I'm always aware that he's ACTING (even in A Room With A View, in which he overdid the foppishness).

I see your point. You like minimalists performances. The way Max Von Sydow performs, as well as Tommy Lee Jones, the first Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman among others, which means you don´t like Al Pacino or Jack Nicholson. am I right?

[Big Magilla]

But Magilla, one shouldn't compare any serious artistic pursuit (and this is what great acting is) to a punch-the-clock JOB. Talk about a triumph of capitalist values! I would hope there are still some distinctions between art and commerce -- even in turbo-capitalist America.

I've never had a punch the clock job. And I have acted so I do know what I'm talking about.

Olivier was right. See A Double Life for a classic example of what can happen when an actor takes his role too seriously. In it, Ronald Colman (in his Oscar winning role) is playing a stage actor who takes his role of Othello so seriously he almost strangles his wife, Signe Hasso, playing Desdemona. He then goes out and actually does strangle pick-up Shelley Winters.

[Damien]

As for Day-Lewis's keeping in character, there's the famous (and possibly apocryphal) exchange between Laurence Olivier and Dustin Hoffman while they were making Marathon Man.

Hoffman was supposed to be exhausted in a scene, so he stayed up for two straight nights without going to bed. When Olivier saw him on the set, he asked why Hoffman looked so bad and disheveled. When Hoffman explained, Olivier replied "Dustin, dear boy, why not try acting?"


I thought Day-Lewis was wonderful in My Beautiful Laundrette and was effective in In The Name Of The Father, but every other time I've seen him I'm always aware that he's ACTING (even in A Room With A View, in which he overdid the foppishness).



Edited By Damien on 1203986766

[Akash]

But Magilla, one shouldn't compare any serious artistic pursuit (and this is what great acting is) to a punch-the-clock JOB. Talk about a triumph of capitalist values! I would hope there are still some distinctions between art and commerce -- even in turbo-capitalist America.



Edited By Akash on 1203981278

[Hustler]

His performances really constitute quality acting. I`m so impressed by them! It´s like travelling through an intense ocean. Of course that´s not a silly comment. I´m not talking as a fan. I´ve studied and performed, to get a basis that helped me to value what means a great perfomance.

To each his own.

I think Day-Lewis's is the kind of acting that works much better on stage than on film (Kevin Kline is another actor for whom this dichotomy applies).

Among recent performances that I'm in awe of are Gordon Pinsent in Away From Here, Casey Affleck in The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, David Strathairn in Goodnight, And Good Luck, Kazunari Ninomiya in Letters From Iwo Jima and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Mysterious Skin. I think Daniel Day-Lewis in There WIll Be Blood is awful.

Wow! It´s your opinion, and of course I respect it. But, you know, watching him work I´ve got goose pimples. The scene in which he is being baptised has so emotional intensity, that it provoked me plenty of sensations. Even my body reacts when I watch him. I can´t believe you are not even influenced by his performance. I find him very close to Brando´s way of acting. Could be possible that you hold a grudge against him?
Kevin Kline is also a very good actor IMO.

[Big Magilla]

I thought it was a great performance because Day-Lewis made you feel the vulnerability of the character as well as his meanness and stubbornness. But this staying in character throughout the filming is nonsense. We all have/had jobs in which we either turn it off at the end of the business day or take the problems home with us. I've done both, and been much happier when I was able to turn it off. The same applies to actors.

[The Original BJ]

A friend of mine was offered a key job on There Will Be Blood, but turned it down because she couldn't handle the fact that Daniel Day-Lewis, in a villainous role, would stay in character throughout the whole shoot. If this is what leads him to his great (in my opinion, at least) performance, that's fine by me, but I can't imagine it being easy to work with.

On a related note, another friend of mine who worked on Blood had nothing but kind things to say about Paul Thomas Anderson.

[Greg]

More than the fact that he stays in character throughout filming, I'm annoyed by the idea some people have that this practice makes him some kind of Great-Great Actor. To me he's just an indulgent actor, one whose performances seem too studied and too thought-out (and thus lacking any spontaneity) for me to appreciate them as anything other than exercises.

Maybe your knowledge of Day Lewis' method has colored the way you react to his performances. Perhaps you would have liked his more recent performances better if you never knew his method.



Edited By Greg on 1203975034

[mashari]

Lewis is the first non American two-time BA winner, no?

[dws1982]

but I think it's stupid that Day-Lewis always stays in character the entire time on and off the set during filming.

why is it stupid?

I don't know that I could really explain why.

More than the fact that he stays in character throughout filming, I'm annoyed by the idea some people have that this practice makes him some kind of Great-Great Actor. To me he's just an indulgent actor, one whose performances seem too studied and too thought-out (and thus lacking any spontaneity) for me to appreciate them as anything other than exercises.

[Zahveed]

It may mean that I don't fully appreciate great acting, but I think it's stupid that Day-Lewis always stays in character the entire time on and off the set during filming.

It helps keep the mindset of the character alive, if you believe you are then that's what you become. If anything, it's more of a psychological practice to establish the character's nuances and thought process.

[ITALIANO]

It may mean that I don't fully appreciate great acting

Yes, I guess that's what it means.

[flipp525]

Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Mysterious Skin

One of my favorite performances in the last five years. His was my second choice for the Oscar behind Ledger in 2005.



Edited By flipp525 on 1203973026

[Akash]

but I think it's stupid that Day-Lewis always stays in character the entire time on and off the set during filming.

why is it stupid?