Has Christian Bale Lost Steam?

[K.B.]

I never said they weren't recognizable in other parts.

No, what you said was:

There are plenty of actors who have that one role they're known for, despite being great in other roles as well.

Meaning that despite being great in other parts, there's ONE role that they shall forever be known for.
Ie: If they dropped dead tommorrow the obit/general public would say "(enter character name) dies at age (__)".

Which brings me to:

Wow, I...don't agree with any of those, except maybe Johnny Depp for Edward Scissorhands...but Tom Hanson and Raoul Duke are as well-known characters as Edward Scissorhands?

Jack Ryan is as well-known as Han Solo (or Indiana Jones)?

Not nearly.

The fact that you don't think Brando is as known for any of those roles already proves you have no idea what your talking about.

The roles I listed are ones that the actors are best known for and if they died tommorrow or you asked a general audience member, those are names they'd give you right away, meaning those roles are one they are best known for.

Raoul Duke is Hunter S. Thompson. When Halloween rolls around, leave your house and go to about 6 parties and 3 clubs. Count how many people dress up as him. It's more then enough to say he's say it's pretty well known in the social collective by now.

Tom Hanson is the part that put Depp on the map to begin with so yeah I'd say thats pretty substantial.

And believe it or not Jack Ryan's had a number of films made of him and how you don't think Ford's as well known for being Han Solo as he is for Indy, well all goes back to that Brando thing.

 

[Gracen1]

Sorry man it's your opinion but Depp is in no way over-rated. The guy is frickin brilliant.

Who else can go from playing a dapper drug lord to a weird and slightly creepy Willy Wonker to a pissed up, acerbic tongued pirate and make it all so believable?

That's right, no one.

exactly. i see no actor today that could have stepped in and done ed wood, raoul duke, captain jack sparrow, and george jung. well maybe jung even though that was incredible. the dude is brilliant and hope that he will someday be doctor strange on the big screen. bale is very good but he really has no signature performance that some other actor couldn't have pulled off. even american psycho..... even though it was brilliant. let's just say that depp's body of work the last 20 years is really unmatched even though guys like penn and hanks get more awards. they couldn't dream of having depp's range.

 

[Phaser]

Patrick Bateman and John Connor.

I believe at this point, the roles Bale will be most remembered for are Patrick Bateman, Trevor Reznik and Bruce Wayne/Batman.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I'll be trying to forget him as Batman.

J/K...mostly.

 

[Etienne]

Like I'll be trying to forget Maguire's half-assed "acting" in Spider-man 3.




Seriously, it was bad.

 

[Eggyman]

I wish I could get into the whole 'my guy's better than your guy' sh**, because I feel soooo left out. Somehow I just can't allow myself to do it

 

[Carmine Falcone]

The only man who has played a psycho and Jesus.

Willem Dafoe.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Like I'll be trying to forget Maguire's half-assed "acting" in Spider-man 3.




Seriously, it was bad.

Do you honestly believe that I'm going to defend Spider-Man 3? LMAO.

Why are you even bringing up Spider-Man 3/any of the actors in it in a thread about Bale's acting career? Because I have a Spider-Man themed name, because I say that I loved the first two movies in the series more than Nolan's Bat-flicks in my sig?

Atleast bash a performance in a movie I actually didn't hate.

Why is it that the Bale-fans always bring up Spider-Man when I say I don't care for his performance as Batman? What do the two have to do with eachother?

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Let's play nice people

Anyway, we all know who is gonna be the best actor-to-comic book character

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I wish I could get into the whole 'my guy's better than your guy' sh**, because I feel soooo left out. Somehow I just can't allow myself to do it

Thats because you are smart. Apparently whenever I talk about Bale I'm secretly talking up Tobey Maguire. I honestly wasn't even thinking about him so it's strange for someone to bring him up in a thread talking about...Christain Bale!

 

[Adrian89]

Like I'll be trying to forget Maguire's half-assed "acting" in Spider-man 3.




Seriously, it was bad.

So true.

 

[Phaser]

Thats because you are smart. Apparently whenever I talk about Bale I'm secretly talking up Tobey Maguire. I honestly wasn't even thinking about him so it's strange for someone to bring him up in a thread talking about...Christain Bale!

I don't see why it is such a hard thing to understand. It's a classic knee-jerk reaction. You talk down something others love. In response, others are going to talk down something you love. You push their buttons, they'll push yours. No need to get agitated. It is extremely juvenile, yes, but it's not like Superherype.com is a shining example of maturity.

 

[Dylan17]

I don't think so. Though it will no doubt be Depp's movie, I'm really digging what I've seen of his performance in Public Enemies. As someone who grew up in the south and is used to exaggerated southern accents in movies, his accent shockingly seems natural and very believable.

 

[Schlosser85]

And believe it or not Jack Ryan's had a number of films made of him and how you don't think Ford's as well known for being Han Solo as he is for Indy, well all goes back to that Brando thing.

Yes, I know there are Jack Ryan movies

And if you read my post, you'll see I didn't say Han Solo isn't as well-known as Indiana Jones, I said Jack Ryan isn't as well-known as Han OR Indy.

 

[Evil Twin]

Yeah, there's little doubt in my mind that Brando is at least as well known for Stanley Kowalski and Terry Malloy as he is for Vito Corleone. "Stella!" and "I coulda been a contender."

I'd suggest that Orson Welles is at least as well known for Harry Lime as he is for Charles Foster Kane. Shakespeare fans might know him for Falstaff as well. Really, he's probably best known for pitching cheap wine these days.

Christian Bale is a fine actor. Too fine to be typecast as one character for the rest of his career.

 

[Charlie The Red]

Depp's a great actor, but not everything he does is gold. I tend to enjoy the movie he does without Tim Burton than flicks like Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's deserving of praise but he's not the next Marlon Brando as many have made him out to be.

As far as Bale is concerned, I think he'll rebound. The guy has a lot of talent. I personally think he was burnt out when shooting T:S. He was dealing with family problems, promoting TDK and working on both Public Enemies and T:S. Every man has their limits. I'm not surprised his performance was so-so in T:S, considering he seemed to be the only one taking it seriously.

The guy has given some great performances (Rescue Dawn, Batman Begins, The Prestige, American Psycho) and will continue to in the future. He just needs to work on picking better roles...

 

[Poetic Chaos]

Orson Welles...ooooooh. You mean Unicron!

 

[Infinity9999x]

No, what you said was:



Meaning that despite being great in other parts, there's ONE role that they shall forever be known for.
Ie: If they dropped dead tommorrow the obit/general public would say "(enter character name) dies at age (__)".

Which brings me to:



The fact that you don't think Brando is as known for any of those roles already proves you have no idea what your talking about.

The roles I listed are ones that the actors are best known for and if they died tommorrow or you asked a general audience member, those are names they'd give you right away, meaning those roles are one they are best known for.

Raoul Duke is Hunter S. Thompson. When Halloween rolls around, leave your house and go to about 6 parties and 3 clubs. Count how many people dress up as him. It's more then enough to say he's say it's pretty well known in the social collective by now.

Tom Hanson is the part that put Depp on the map to begin with so yeah I'd say thats pretty substantial.

And believe it or not Jack Ryan's had a number of films made of him and how you don't think Ford's as well known for being Han Solo as he is for Indy, well all goes back to that Brando thing.

If Depp died today, Tom Hanson would not be the guy he's remembered for. I honestly didn't know who that character was, because I never watched 21 Jump Street. Jack Sparrow and Edward Scissorhands are definitely more well known than that character.

 

[Etienne]

Just like the not so smart person who responded to me, you are off topic.

But I expect for Bale fans to act totally immature at ever turn and change the subject when they don't like people questioning their lord and master.

After 6 years on Hype I expect things like that but it still never ceases to amaze me.

I'm a not so smart person because I was off topic? What does Michael Keaton and quotes from The Running Man have to do with Bale's career? This thread has already veered off topic.

Don't get so defensive over a comment I made about a performance in a movie you hate.

 

[danoyse]

I think don't he's losing steam as an actor at all. I wasn't crazy about TS, but that was due to a myriad of problems with the film. He's still one of my favorite actors.

I do think his recent public relations nightmares have been a problem, though. I saw a ton of Public Enemies ads in NYC today, and all of them feature only Johnny Depp, and I noticed he's only getting a quick mention in the commercials. That may have going differently if the infamous rant hadn't been made public.

He just needs to keep his temper in check and keep doing good films. He'll be fine.

 

[Ace of Knaves]

Yeah, there's little doubt in my mind that Brando is at least as well known for Stanley Kowalski and Terry Malloy as he is for Vito Corleone. "Stella!" and "I coulda been a contender."

I'd suggest that Orson Welles is at least as well known for Harry Lime as he is for Charles Foster Kane. Shakespeare fans might know him for Falstaff as well. Really, he's probably best known for pitching cheap wine these days.

Christian Bale is a fine actor. Too fine to be typecast as one character for the rest of his career.

I completely disagree. EVERYONE on this planet knows who Vito Corleone is. Can't say the same for those other characters.

In fact Colonal Kurtz is probably more well known than those characters.

By the way I mean just people in general, not people who are into movies.

 

[That-Guy]

Depp's a great actor, but not everything he does is gold. I tend to enjoy the movie he does without Tim Burton than flicks like Edward Scissorhands and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's deserving of praise but he's not the next Marlon Brando as many have made him out to be.

As far as Bale is concerned, I think he'll rebound. The guy has a lot of talent. I personally think he was burnt out when shooting T:S. He was dealing with family problems, promoting TDK and working on both Public Enemies and T:S. Every man has their limits. I'm not surprised his performance was so-so in T:S, considering he seemed to be the only one taking it seriously.

The guy has given some great performances (Rescue Dawn, Batman Begins, The Prestige, American Psycho) and will continue to in the future. He just needs to work on picking better roles...

I think Bale needs to take on a good villain role, or at least a prominent part that is not some form of a hero. He seems to be taking a lot of hero roles (Batman, T:S, Public Enemies, Killing Pablo, 3:10 to Yuma) and it does feel like he's getting typecast. However, his role in Public Enemies might not be as heroic as one would think... Melvin Purvis had some problems and eventually committed suicide (or at least, it was ruled a suicide) so maybe Bale will get to explore a dark character there.

I have to say though, all in all, I've only disliked Bale in three films.

1. Harsh Times - I just hated his character so much in that movie... I know that was the idea, but something about Bale as an LA street thug just didn't seem right to me.

2. I'm Not There - Bale, along with Kate Blanchett and some other guy, all play versions of Bob Dylan that, to me, felt like they were imitating him in a Saturday Night Live sketch.

2. Shaft - not his fault; the movie was just absolute crap.

 

[Figs]

I completely disagree. EVERYONE on this planet knows who Vito Corleone is. Can't say the same for those other characters.

In fact Colonal Kurtz is probably more well known than those characters.

By the way I mean just people in general, not people who are into movies.

Exactly! It's like that one poster a number of pages back who had on his list that Depp was more known for his character in that Cry Baby film. It was a huge WTF for me. When it comes to John Waters and his films I think Hairspray is the only one the general audience might be familiar with.

 

[K.B.]

The abridged Terminator Salvation script is now up lmao

http://www.the-editing-room.com/term...salvation.html

 

[danoyse]

Honestly, if he can survive Newsies, he can survive anything.