Why is Ben Foster not one of the biggest stars in Hollywood?

[Commodore Schmidlapp]

I remember watching the Tom Jane Punisher and thinking he was the best actor in the movie by a long shot. I thought he was one of the best parts of X-Men: The Last Stand as well as Angel. Then I saw 3:10 to Yuma and thought he absolutely stole the movie, he was just freaking brilliant. He had a very effective small role in 30 Days of Night and did what he could with Pandorum. Next he'll be in the remake of the Mechanic which I can't wait to check out.

In short, he is one of my favorite actors and I want to see him in bigger roles in better movies.

 

[JP]

He's just fantastic in everything.

 

[Project862006]

well he is a good actor but he shines in 1 type of role

Creepy

 

[Sawyer]

I watched Alpha Dogs for the first time not too long ago. He looked pretty realistically ****ed up on drugs.

 

[Catman]

Ben Foster is a great actor, but he picks bad film roles. He's like Christian Bale in the `90s.

 

[TheVileOne]

He does pick bad roles. For example, X-men 3 was a waste of time for him. I mean he probably got paid and all, but he had nothing to do in that movie. His subplot was emaciated and the payoff was weak as ****. He didn't even fight or do anything in the movie.

I think he's a solid actor, he's just in a lot of bad movies or movies that no one sees.

 

[Silver Knight]

He was fantastic in 3:10 to Yuma.

 

[Mr.Webs]

He scared the **** outta me in Hostage. Before Ledger was cast, Foster was my numero uno pick for The Joker.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

He's a character actor, not a leading man. That's why.

 

[Doctor Jones]

He is a great actor, and I was thinking why he doesn't get more work. He makes the most of films that aren't so great with his performance.

 

[SWAT]

Very underrated. He shines in supporting roles. Would be very cool to see him as a leading man in a movie someday.

 

[FaT_tONle]

Pandorum was just dreadful... he does work as a supporting guy. Give him more movies alongside Crowe, Bale, and some other heavy hitters and eventually he'll be a leading guy. He needs to find the director first. Once the director and actor on the same page, that's when you see results. I don't know if it was mentioned, but check out The Messenger. He is overshadowed by Woody Harrelson but he's damn good in it.

 

[TNC9852002]

I thought Pandorum was pretty good.

Anyway, I think the thing keeping Foster down is not only does he not have classic Hollywood good looks, but he seems to get stuck into a lot of intense, mysterious, or dramatic roles in movies where he's usually just a minor or supporting character.

Once he branches out to full-blown mainstream movies with a major role, he'll take off like a rocket.

But, for now, he's still on his way to win the bigger, more high profile roles, but as a supporting actor, he's great. Most people know his face right now, so that's great. At this rate, it'll be another 5 years before he really becomes a high commodity.

 

[jdogg willie]

Did you know Ben Foster was a Disney kid? He was on a show called 'Fast Forward'

 

[Laderlappen]

He's good but he has never proven to be as amazing as you say imo.

 

[jacobed]

I remember him in Flash Forward back in the day. He's great in 3:10 to Yuma and The Messenger

 

[Batman713]

I'd love to see him in a Chris Nolan film. He just sounds like he'll fit in there.

 

[matrix_ghost]

I remember watching the Tom Jane Punisher and thinking he was the best actor in the movie by a long shot. I thought he was one of the best parts of X-Men: The Last Stand as well as Angel. Then I saw 3:10 to Yuma and thought he absolutely stole the movie, he was just freaking brilliant. He had a very effective small role in 30 Days of Night and did what he could with Pandorum. Next he'll be in the remake of the Mechanic which I can't wait to check out.

In short, he is one of my favorite actors and I want to see him in bigger roles in better movies.

I think like all talented actors he needs to prove himself to be able to bring in the $$$ on his own.
Either that go the route of Philip Seymour Hoffman who went from playing supporting characters to lead characters in critically acclaimed movies. Eventually the transition will happen.

Look at guys like Ben kingsley or John MALKOVICH. They still churn out the indie non-commercial critically acclaimed movies but have also are appearing in more commercial movies. Both came close to being cast in the spider-man series. I think that if Foster manages to get a major role in a big grossing blockbuster , it'll definately help on to use that as a point of securing bigger roles. It certainly is the case with james McAvoy. THe first time i saw him was in the first Narnia movie. After that his career definately going upwards.

Either that or he should get himself an oscar or get oscar nominated. Certainly that helped Rourke get even more expose and Jeremely Renner is also rumored to play a MArvel character. So yeah

 

[Commodore Schmidlapp]

Pandorum was just dreadful... he does work as a supporting guy. Give him more movies alongside Crowe, Bale, and some other heavy hitters and eventually he'll be a leading guy. He needs to find the director first. Once the director and actor on the same page, that's when you see results. I don't know if it was mentioned, but check out The Messenger. He is overshadowed by Woody Harrelson but he's damn good in it.

That was actually the inspiration for this thread I just forgot to mention it. He was really good in the Messenger, as was Harrelson.

 

[chaseter]

Ben is one of my favorite actors. He just melts into his roles.

 

[Schlosser85]

There are all kinds of people you could ask this question about.

Lesser-known character actors tend to be better actors than the megastars, IMO.

 

[Hush]

There was a good part in X3?

 

[Octoberist]

he was barely in x3 to begin with.

 

[TheZink]

Ben had a recurring role in Six Feet under. His character was one of my favorites in that series.

As with everyone, I love him in most every role I've seen. My favorite to date, is 3:10 to Yuma, with 30 Days of Night a close second.