The Dark Knight "Dent, Damnit!", Dent casting "may not be considered conventional"

[semper-fi]

You clearly didnt understand the movie and the relationship between the main characters. Denzels character recognized Hawkes character as himself when he first started. "Utterly corrupt" is a completely inaccurate description of his character. He was simply a man that was performing the necessary evils for the greater good. Thats what happens when people in that profession get frustrated with the inadequacies of effectiveness in fighting violence with politics. It can happen to anyone, even the best of men which is what the movie and the characters were showing. Then, ultimately, producing the outcome of fighting fire with fire to be the wrong choice.

You can pick apart and analyze Denzels characters all you want. That doesnt mean he doesnt play the same role over and over again. Its all about what he does not what he is supposed to do.
I havent seen Mo' Better in a long time. But I could easily argue that he plays himself in the film considering he had just risen to stardom. A womanizing star thats trying to hold together his pre-fame social life isnt exactly a far fetch for him at that time in his life.
Denzel playing himself has been the constant of the roles he accepts throughout his career.
If you only have one movie out of, what is it, 40? 45? where he plays a different character youve kind of proven my point for me.

As for the actor recognition, I doubt there is an actor alive that wouldnt credit him as someone to look up to considering he is only the second black man to receive an academy award for best actor in a lead role.
He is a hero and always will be.

BTW he only trained as an actor for 1 year.

And Bale keeps playing the same type of role again and again. He's good at it, so what exactly is the problem? Batman/Bruce Wayne was hardly Bale stretching himself. At the rate Bale is going with his eerily similar, super-intense characterisations, in 7-8 years time, there'll be some guy just like you roaming message boards claiming "Bale can only play the same type of guy". It'll happen, just like it happened to Pacino, Deniro, Denzel, Nicholson, Hackman, Newman and a whole bunch of great actors. The vast majority of actors play the same type of character repeatedly. Some just diguise it better than others. And I suspect your the one overanalyzing Denzel to make every performance fit your profile. To the rest of the world, his character in TRAINING DAY was simply an evil, lying, manipulative sh/t, and Denzel played him as such. We don't need your backstory to make him a former good guy who coulda been Steve Biko or Martin Luther King in a past life. All I saw on the screen was an evil, lying, manipulative sh/t saying everything and anything to justify own evil...end of story. Honestly, if Denzel played a psychotic serial killer, you'd be able to use some weird logic to claim it's the same as every other role he's played (like, before Denzel's character became a psychotic serial killer, his character was probably a nice normal guy in a past life...like Denzel himself. So Denzel as a psychotic serial killer is just essentially playing himself. If that sounds silly, that's pretty much how your logic comes across to me).

And you shouldn't stress so much in trying to make Denzel look like he couldn't do this role or do it justice (He could play both the Harvey Dent and Two-Face personas in his sleep, hopping on one leg, with one arm tied behind his back, and everybody on this thread knows it. I suspect deep down, you know it too, no matter how much you stress he can't). Washington couldn't play Dent because he's scheduled to direct a movie called THE GREAT DEBATERS in March, and has confirmed this in interviews given as recently as this weekend. Unless he drops his own project, or Nolan alters the shooting schedule to accomadate Denzel, there's no way he can do it. So you should be pleased to know, that Denzel is extremely unlikely to play Dent.

And Ganz and Norton don't rate Denzel because he's some sort of black role model, which is a profoundly patronising notion. They both think he's an astonishingly brilliant actor (and Norton has gone into detail elswhere on how much he worships Denzel's acting, particularly his performance in HE GOT GAME). Maybe you don't, but not everbody has to conform to your way of thinking.

And I haven't proven any point for you: THE PREACHERS WIFE, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, TRAINING DAY, CRY FREEDOM, THE MANCHURIAN CANIDATE, HE GOT GAME, THE PELICAN BRIEF, POWER, HEART CONDITION, CARBON COPY, MISSISPI MASSALA, PHILIDELPHIA, THE BONE COLLECTOR, MO BETTER BLUES, MALCOLM X and MAN ON FIRE are all different types of characters, imho. Whether you choose to believe they are all "the same" or all Denzel playing himself is your own buisness. Your logic doesn't do much for me, so we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

[Silver Souper]

And if Dent does turn out to be a female. I boycott the ****ing movie. And thats a promise. No fanboy bullshyt this time. I really seriously will boycott the movie.

dude how BAD would that be?!?! i friggen hate when directors tweak stuff just to show their power. UGH a female dent would be SO STUPID. what would her name be- Harvette!?!

 

[Silver Souper]

sorry

 

[Silver Souper]

for

 

[Silver Souper]

this

 

[Silver Souper]

_my

 

[Silver Souper]

computer

 

[Silver Souper]

went

 

[Silver Souper]

crazy

 

[Ronny Shade]

holy ****, dude

 

[Silver Souper]

holy ****, dude

yeah, not my finest moment on the Hype.

 

[Ronny Shade]

I forgive you.

 

[7Hells]

And Bale keeps playing the same type of role again and again. He's good at it, so what exactly is the problem? Batman/Bruce Wayne was hardly Bale stretching himself. At the rate Bale is going with his eerily similar, super-intense characterisations, in 7-8 years time, there'll be some guy just like you roaming message boards claiming "Bale can only play the same type of guy". It'll happen, just like it happened to Pacino, Deniro, Denzel, Nicholson, Hackman, Newman and a whole bunch of great actors. The vast majority of actors play the same type of character repeatedly. Some just diguise it better than others.

Sorry, but Bale does not play the same character in all his movies.

Nicholson I agree with and Pacino I agree with. I cant recall enough of Hackmans movies to make a judgement and Newman is from a completely different era of acting where casting was ALL type casting. Though the movies(TV movies mostly) Ive seen him in lately he has played very different characters than the ones which made him famous.

I'd say Deniro and Denzel are a perfect example. Both seem to have the ability to play any role they choose but both seem to play the same role. Though Deniro has taken more chances in range than Denzel but he is older as well.

To the rest of the world, his character in TRAINING DAY was simply an evil, lying, manipulative sh/t, and Denzel played him as such.

Read any synopsis about that movie. Wiki or IMB(forget how to spell it) and you might be surprised at what you find. The character was one of his more challenging roles as was Man On Fire and he succeeded at both. But his character in Training Day showed how a good man can justify doing bad things for the greater good. Did that make him evil? To some, yes, but extremists would disagree. His character was acting with nobility and integrity.

if Denzel played a psychotic serial killer, you'd be able to use some weird logic to claim it's the same as every other role he's played (like, before Denzel's character became a psychotic serial killer,

Well, we wont know will we considering he has never taken a role like that. Its always Cop, Lawyer, Ex-Cop, CIA, Military, Ex-Military pretty much any role with a gun or intended violence or a moral showdown in which he normally has to overcome.

And you shouldn't stress so much in trying to make Denzel look like he couldn't do this role or do it justice (He could play both the Harvey Dent and Two-Face personas in his sleep, hopping on one leg, with one arm tied behind his back, and everybody on this thread knows it.

Honestly I think he probably could play Two-Face very well. Ive just never seen him in anything that would convince he could. I think comparing Denzel to Deniro is doing justice to both actors. But that doesnt mean I think Deniro could play Two-Face. It also doesnt mean I wouldnt want to see him try.

Maybe you don't, but not everbody has to conform to your way of thinking.

Ditto.

 

[Ronny Shade]

Anybody who thinks Pacino always plays the same character has probably only seen 3 Pacino films: The Godfather, The Godfather II and the Godfather III.

 

[7Hells]

BTW I think Man On Fire would have been a better example of his abilities considering he was a burnt out drunk finding redemption by saving innocence at any cost.

 

[7Hells]

Anybody who thinks Pacino always plays the same character has probably only seen 3 Pacino films: The Godfather, The Godfather II and the Godfather III.

lol Ive seen all of his movies including that blasphemy of Richard. Just because he plays different characters in different movies doesnt mean he was good at any of them Pacino took risks and failed mostly. But I have to give him credit for taking chances considering thats what art is about.

 

[Ronny Shade]

I was just starting to like you

 

[Katsuro]

And Bale keeps playing the same type of role again and again. He's good at it, so what exactly is the problem? Batman/Bruce Wayne was hardly Bale stretching himself. At the rate Bale is going with his eerily similar, super-intense characterisations, in 7-8 years time, there'll be some guy just like you roaming message boards claiming "Bale can only play the same type of guy".

You're being sarcastic, right? Have you seen any of his movies? How can you watch American Psycho and say that Patrick Bateman is anything like Bruce Wayne? So what if they both lead mysterious double-lives, there's a lot more to it than that. Last time I checked, Bruce Wayne didn't kill people because they had nicer busniness cards than them. Nothing in Equillibirum was anything like the scene of Bateman running through the halls naked with a chainsaw, then dropping it down a stairwell.

Jeez, some of you people make this stupid "he always plays the same guy" comment about pretty much everyeone. Name one actor you think plays someone completely different in every role. What would someone have to do to NOT always play the same person to you? Does the person have to completely change their appearance and voice? I mean, apparently Denzel Washington acting all schitzo and crazy in Manchurian Candidate wasn't enough to differentiate him from his other roles, maybe if he wore a funny wig or talked in a crazy accent? I just dont get it.

 

[semper-fi]

You're being sarcastic, right? Have you seen any of his movies? How can you watch American Psycho and say that Patrick Bateman is anything like Bruce Wayne? So what if they both lead mysterious double-lives, there's a lot more to it than that. Last time I checked, Bruce Wayne didn't kill people because they had nicer busniness cards than them. Nothing in Equillibirum was anything like the scene of Bateman running through the halls naked with a chainsaw, then dropping it down a stairwell.

Jeez, some of you people make this stupid "he always plays the same guy" comment about pretty much everyeone. Name one actor you think plays someone completely different in every role. What would someone have to do to NOT always play the same person to you? Does the person have to completely change their appearance and voice? I mean, apparently Denzel Washington acting all schitzo and crazy in Manchurian Candidate wasn't enough to differentiate him from his other roles, maybe if he wore a funny wig or talked in a crazy accent? I just dont get it.

You're absolutely right. I was just getting carried away with this tit-for-tat nonsense to try and prove someone wrong. I honestly think deep down, people just hate and envy most famous, successful actors. So we invent reasons to consider them unworthy of their status. The whole "he's always the same guy" stuff is endemic of that, I guess. I was falling into that trap, when I should really know better.

And yeah, apparently Denzel Washington was playing the "same" role in The Manchurian Canidate, because the character was in the military. If Denzel is playing a character with a similar job to one he's played before, he must be giving the same performance (according to some) or not stretching himself (according to some). Never mind that his character in the film is a raving, pathetic, clinically depressed lunatic, not a commanding "authority figure" (at least not for more than 5 minutes in the movie), despite his initial military rank. Maybe he should have worn a funny wig and talked in a crazy accent to sign-post the obvious fact that he wasn't playing "Denzel Washington" or repeating any characterisation he'd ever given before.

 

[Keyser Sushi]

I was just starting to like you

And I've never liked her better.

 

[Babs Gordon]

And Bale keeps playing the same type of role again and again. He's good at it, so what exactly is the problem? Batman/Bruce Wayne was hardly Bale stretching himself. At the rate Bale is going with his eerily similar, super-intense characterisations, in 7-8 years time, there'll be some guy just like you roaming message boards claiming "Bale can only play the same type of guy".

Is this guy serious? Take movies like Laurel Canyon, Little Women, Empire of the Sun, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Velvet Goldmine, The New World. Perhaps only the movies in which he portrays an intense character do well in theaters. These other movies were large roles and he did them complete and utter justice. They weren't all intense or dark or brooding. Yes I have seen them all too.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

Is this guy serious? Take movies like Laurel Canyon, Little Women, Empire of the Sun, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Velvet Goldmine, The New World. Perhaps only the movies in which he portrays an intense character do well in theaters. These other movies were large roles and he did them complete and utter justice. They weren't all intense or dark or brooding. Yes I have seen them all too.

word, yeah all you bat fans out there may think Bale's best role is indeed batman and base every performence he does on Batman, but lets be serious
Patrick Batemen in American Pyscho might be one of the 20 greatest acting performences ever, and on the surface you may think it is an intense character but in reality it is one of the most unbelievble satries on the upper "sophisticated" class ever

 

[Ronny Shade]

And I've never liked her better.

You're like that

 

[Tojo]

uh-oh someone spoke out against Bale prepare for the backlash

dun dun DUN!!!!!

 

[TheJuice]

Unconventional casting could mean anything. It could mean someone like Greg Kinnear could end getting the part of Dent.