What actors/actresses do you have the most respect for?

Regardless of their back catalogue of movies, what actors/actresses do you have the most respect for?

For me I would have to say Ethan Hawke and Keanu Reeves. Both are pretty famous, but no matter what they come scouts as genuinely lovely people.

Especially Ethan Hawke. He has so much passion for everything he does.

maximoose

Was going to say Keanu too.

Awful, awful actor - but seems like a absolute hero in real life.

sky88

Was coming in here to say Keanu too what as well change the name to keanu reeves appreciation thread

AnonoBoy

Brendan Gleeson.

Sound guy. Great actor.

arcticmonkeys

Tom Cruise came in for a lot of flack over the years mainly due to his marriage to Katie Holmes and Scientology but going by people who have worked for him or with him over the years anyone who has ever interviewed him he is suppose to be one of the most grounded movie star there is. Here is what Graham Norton had to say about him http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2014/1014/652159-norton-cruise-is-humble-and-presidential/

maximoose

Going Clear has changed my perception of Tom Cruise considerably

Ipso

arcticmonkeys wrote: »

Tom Cruise came in for a lot of flack over the years mainly due to his marriage to Katie Holmes and Scientology but going by people who have worked for him or with him over the years anyone who has ever interviewed him he is suppose to be one of the most grounded movie star there is. Here is what Graham Norton had to say about him http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2014/1014/652159-norton-cruise-is-humble-and-presidential/

I used to think the same, but nothing can make up for belonging to that wreyched hive of criminality and stupidity.

Ipso

maximoose wrote: »

Was going to say Keanu too.

Awful, awful actor - but seems like a absolute hero in real life.

A bit harsh. There were a few roles he was quite good in; The Gift, Street Kings and one with Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson.
Plus with things like The Matrix and Point Break, fitted the roles perfectly.

arcticmonkeys

I have to hand it to keanu, he has a pretty impressive resume with some classics thrown in between dating back to ;Bill and Ted, Parenthood Point Break and The Matrix. Hes not exactly Robert de niro or Max Von Sydow but he has managed to carve out a pretty decent career for himself. Compared to a lot of young actors today I cant see them having quite as successful i.e. Taylor Lautner, Zac Effron or liam hemsworth.

FloatingVoter

Keanu Reeves is an abysmal actor. Watch Dracula to see a guy hopelessly out of his depth. He must be a nice person because he is not being offered work on the basis of any visible talent. He was good in Somethings Gotta Give mainly because it needed someone bland to offset Jack Nicholson. And Keanu does do bland, if he were a tin of paint, he'd be beige.

As for someone I'd watch if I see their name on the credits....Gene Hackman, Gary Oldman, Julie Walters, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith. I have never seen a bad performance from one of them (even if the overall film was poor).

Adamantium

Viggo Mortensen

In the 'Making of' discs that accompanied the LOTR boxed sets there's a segment which describes how many of the stunt people - who'd worked on the films for the full shoot (which lasted many years) were offered the chance to purchase the horse they had ridden in the films. One stunt lady could not afford the high price of the well-trained animal she had worked with and grown to love, so she was seriously upset, when a movie executive had outbid her hugely for ownership of the horse.


Mortensen heard about her plight, outbid the executive and gave it to her as a gift.

Tony EH

arcticmonkeys wrote: »

Tom Cruise came in for a lot of flack over the years mainly due to his marriage to Katie Holmes and Scientology but going by people who have worked for him or with him over the years anyone who has ever interviewed him he is suppose to be one of the most grounded movie star there is. Here is what Graham Norton had to say about him http://www.rte.ie/ten/news/2014/1014/652159-norton-cruise-is-humble-and-presidential/

In fairness, Norton's "interviews" are utter shite. They're just fluff without any real substance. In fact, all TV interviews are this way now. They follow the American model of product promotion, rather than the old British model of actually interviewing the person with real questions, some of which were quite pressing.

Even in that link above, you still don't get any real reason why Norton respects Tom.

"He makes you feel hypnotised by his gaze and all my preconceptions about the man melted away."

"...he shook hands and remembered each name, no matter what their job description."

Cruise is intricately stage managed. His entire persona is an act and I'm sure he has an army of staff to "remember" things for him to make it look good. Norton himself says:

"...it may be an act, but if so, it’s the best I've ever seen."

God be with the days of Parkinson, or dare I say it, Gaybo on a 70's/80's 'Late Late Show'. Say what you want about the tart, he was one of the best interviewers on TV.

In saying that, I quite like a number of Cruise's films. 'Edge of Tomorrow' was tremendous fun. It was brilliant to see him get killed 50 times. :pac:

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Keanu Reeves is an abysmal actor. Watch Dracula to see a guy hopelessly out of his depth. He must be a nice person because he is not being offered work on the basis of any visible talent. He was good in Somethings Gotta Give mainly because it needed someone bland to offset Jack Nicholson. And Keanu does do bland, if he were a tin of paint, he'd be beige.

Yeh, Reeves is a truly wretched actor. "I know where the bastard sleeps", had me laughing my arse off in the cinema. :pac: I couldn't believe my ears. The casting director should have been shot dead on the spot.

But, I've read of some of the things he's done outside of his career and I cannot have anything but admiration for the guy. He seems a genuinely nice fella, which is as rare as hens teeth in that business.

Ed Norton may knock his socks off skill wise (for example), but I know who I rather have a conversation with.

Adamantium

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw_m2r_JkXU

I love this guy, at cons you can see how much his former cast and crews respect him, quite funny and I'd loved to talk to him. Has done a lot his whole life for others (and not just talked about it like so many do). Leader of men in real life too.

(Spoilers from BSG ending)

Tipsy McSwagger

Sean Penn - He can be an asshole, but when America was turning its back on the devastation that Katrina did to New Orleans, he was down there rescuing people and pulling dead bodies out of the water.

Right Turn Clyde

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Sean Penn - He can be an asshole, but when America was turning its back on the devastation that Katrina did to New Orleans, he was down there rescuing people and pulling dead bodies out of the water.

He done the same thing in Haiti. And he also runs a relief organisation there, employing a few hundred people. He certainly seems to walk the walk.

I should mention Kevin Bacon as well, in terms of integrity and respect for the work. He's not one of my favourite actors, not even close, but playing a paedophile in The Woodsman was very courageous. I can't think of another mainstream actor that would have accepted that role.

Tipsy McSwagger

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

He done the same thing in Haiti. And he also runs a relief organisation there, employing a few hundred people. He certainly seems to walk the walk.

I should mention Kevin Bacon as well, in terms of integrity and respect for the work. He's not one of my favourite actors, not even close, but playing a paedophile in The Woodsman was very courageous. I can't think of another mainstream actor that would have accepted that role.

Maybe a few years ago but after himself and his wife lost all their money in a pyramid scheme he will take any work going.

brevity

Kind of echoing what others have said but I'm a fan of Keanu Reeves and Tom Cruise as well. Cruise unfortunately gets landed with the movementarians and it is a bit of a black mark against him but there are tonnes of stories about him being a decent guy on set and on the red carpet. Sometimes spending up to 3 hours talking with fans and taking pictures whereas other actors just have no interest.

I've great time for Jake Gyllenthal as well, fantastic actor and really willing to take risks in movies.

tupac_healy

Apparently Will Smith is pretty damn nice off camera too, supposedly on set he treats everyone the same regardless of job title....


Can't for the life of me remember where I read that!!

Adamantium

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Brendan Gleeson.

Sound guy. Great actor.

He was in my tiny local rural town in Leitrim for a music festival and a younger friend of my brother's talked to him for almost 6 hours. I wouldn't have tolerated him for that long so fair play Brendan.

We were all like "Could you have not left him alone to enjoy the music? lol"

Looper007

Tom Hardy, a guy who admits to have let fame go to his head in his early years leading to Drug and Drink Addiction that nearly cost him his life to turning it all around and becoming probably the best actor right now walking. Not just that his work with charities for Soldiers injured in wars, to Homeless causes to been a patron for recovering drug addicts for the Prince's Trust. Check out this interview...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psJcbEbxk4c

Plus probably one of the easier laid back actors around when it comes to meeting his fans, surprising as he's known for been a die hard method actor. Plenty of pictures and stories around of him been down to earth. Plus he's a awesome actor, the closet thing we have today to a peak Marlon Brando/Robert De Niro in his prime.

Brinimartini

Rod Steiger in The Pawnbroker

Tipsy McSwagger

Looper007 wrote: »

Tom Hardy, a guy who admits to have let fame go to his head in his early years leading to Drug and Drink Addiction that nearly cost him his life to turning it all around and becoming probably the best actor right now walking. Not just that his work with charities for Soldiers injured in wars, to Homeless causes to been a patron for recovering drug addicts for the Prince's Trust. Check out this interview...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psJcbEbxk4c

Plus probably one of the easier laid back actors around when it comes to meeting his fans, surprising as he's known for been a die hard method actor. Plenty of pictures and stories around of him been down to earth. Plus he's a awesome actor, the closet thing we have today to a peak Marlon Brando/Robert De Niro in his prime.

Good actor but not much range. I wouldn't put him in the top 10 actors working today let alone anywhere near Brando or De Niro quality.

Whatsisname

Matthew McConnaughey. Went from being some guy in chick flicks to that perfomance in True Detective. Also loved him in Interstellar and Wolf Of Wall Street.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Whatsisname wrote: »

Matthew McConnaughey. Went from being some guy in chick flicks to that perfomance in True Detective. Also loved him in Interstellar and Wolf Of Wall Street.

His performance in Killer Joe is hos best one in my opinion.

Chip Whitley

Tom Hanks just seems like the coolest guy off screen.

Skerries

tupac_healy wrote: »

Apparently Will Smith is pretty damn nice off camera too, supposedly on set he treats everyone the same regardless of job title....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lItbPmkIPhA

Saralee4

I really like Daniel Day Lewis. I don't know a lot about his life outside of acting but i just think he really is a great versatile actor and most of the time chooses great roles although i ddidn't enjoy "there will be blood". As far as i know he is a method actor who really takes his role seriously often living in character outside of work.

ButtersSuki

I was at Conan O'Brien in NY years ago and Edward Norton was one of the guests. He was cripplingly shy, and I mean astonishingly so for such an accomplished actor and a man with such a public profile. Despite that, I found him incredibly interesting and to paraphrase earlier posters, I'd love to spend a few hours in his company or have a few drinks with him.

I'd also like to go on the beer with Timothy Olyphant and Mr. Hardy - just cool dudes.

Bobby Baccala

it'd have to be deniro, his sheer dedication to a role is immense, in preparation for Goodfellas he was supposedly calling the real Henry Hill in the middle of the night asking him how Jimmy Burke (the guy his character was based on) held a ketchup bottle or smoked a cigarette. His attention to detail in that film was immense and it really shows.

Next to him would have to be Daniel Day Lewis for similar reasons

SimonTemplar

I admire Robert Downey Jr. for being able to put his troubled past behind him and reinvent himself to be currently one of the most popular and bankable leading man. A lot of people are unable to escape addiction once it takes hold so it must have been a tough struggle for him.

It's crazy to think that such a popular star was once fired from Ally McBeal.

FloatingVoter

FloatingVoter wrote: »

Keanu Reeves is an abysmal actor. Watch Dracula to see a guy hopelessly out of his depth. He must be a nice person because he is not being offered work on the basis of any visible talent. He was good in Somethings Gotta Give mainly because it needed someone bland to offset Jack Nicholson. And Keanu does do bland, if he were a tin of paint, he'd be beige.
.

I disagree he found his niche that his personality type fits. Look at it this way, Gary Oldman was never going to be Conan the Barbarian. You can say Arnold is an awful actor, but he played a barbarian/terminator etc perfectly. Keanu played a surfer dude pretty well, and his role in Dracula was as a wooden and a bit of a stupid guy. He fills the roles he's cast for pretty well if you ask me. If the roles are a bit wooden in the first place, thats not his problem!

Tony EH

Reeves can ONLY play a variation on "surfer dude" though. That's the problem. His limitations are immense.

As someone wrote about his turn in 'Dracula':

"You can visibly see Keanu attempting not to end every one of his lines with dude"

His role as Jonathan Harker was simply abysmal. There are no defences for that. It, frankly, SHOULD have been a career killer and would have been but for his looks, let's be honest.

Harker is THE essential role for the first half of any Dracula adaptation and he, the casting director and everyone else involved made an absolute balls of it.

If he was a jerk, he would have been fired.

Saralee4

You know what I really liked that Reeves did, Devils Advocate. I thought that was a really good movie and the play between him and his father/the devil (Al pacino) worked well.

I haven't read the Dracula book so I don't know how the character is in that, maybe Keanu played it wrong. I just feel like the personality type he plays fits with his general persona, a bit on the vacant side.
I'd agree though versatility would probably not be his strong suit!

Adamantium

Karl Urban seems like a total bro. Would not mind him at all as Indiana Jones.

He seemed like the most naturally intelligent guy in what were very dumb Star Trek scripts. He was like the last element of old Star Trek in Abrams Trek, like his character was not just "Remember Bones!!"

Also going out with Katee Sackhoff, respect. And she's dead cool.

shazzerman

Not sure if he has been mentioned, but hats off to the late George C. Scott. Not only a superb actor - one of the very best - but he was dignified enough not to play the Oscars game by refusing all awards for his skills (he refused to accept the Oscar he won for Patton). So, definite respect there.
I also have the utmost respect for (again, the late) Roy Scheider: a really solid actor who always came across to me as a completely decent guy.
Paul Newman must also get a tip of my hat. Some great performances, a nice sense of humour, and a man who did his bit for charity without actually crowing about it all over the media...

Of those still above ground: cannot think of any I have a great deal of respect for. De Niro, I suppose, mainly for a half-dozen indelible performances (The King of Comedy in particular), and what he did for John Cazale. Oh yes: I have great respect for Sarah Polley too - she's one talented and grounded artist.

Was there anything Surfer Dude about Reeve's portrayal in John Wick? I really don't think so.

shazzerman

Deleted User wrote: »

Was there anything Surfer Dude about Reeve's portrayal in John Wick? I really don't think so.

He didn't really give a performance in John Wick, though, did he? I mistrust these "deadpan" acting performances - and here's where I am going to get laughed off the thread: Javier Bardem, in No Country for Old Men, is a prime suspect with respect to these untaxing roles; I've seen one critic call his performance a "Kuleshov" one, because his acting is actually merely a kind of "dead-centre" around which the other actors react to him - so that his acting is really not that impressive (compared to his acting in Biutiful, say) - even if his character is now the most iconic thing we take from that film. Waay off topic, but I thought that Kuleshov business was an interesting perspective, and I think Kelly McDonald gives the best performance in No Country.

LiamNeeson

Not a single mention of me, I WILL find you, and I WILL kill you

Dempsey

Keanu Reeves seems like great person, massive respect for him

KingBrian2

A lot of Actors and Actresses are nice people but they just get awful press coverage. I don't believe a word a lot of the media says about a lot of these people. They are incredibly talented so they are picked on by certain outlets.

Dirty Dingus McGee

shazzerman wrote: »

Not sure if he has been mentioned, but hats off to the late George C. Scott. Not only a superb actor - one of the very best - but he was dignified enough not to play the Oscars game by refusing all awards for his skills (he refused to accept the Oscar he won for Patton)

He also refused one for his terrific performance in Man gets Hit by Football.That was his greatest performance.

dark crystal

shazzerman wrote: »

Not sure if he has been mentioned, but hats off to the late George C. Scott. Not only a superb actor - one of the very best - but he was dignified enough not to play the Oscars game by refusing all awards for his skills (he refused to accept the Oscar he won for Patton). So, definite respect there.

He was also an alleged wife beater. His ex wife Colleen Dewhurst, claimed he hit her in drunken rages and Ava Gardner has said he once hit her so hard, she was hospitalised with a detached retina.

Gardner's ex husband, Frank Sinatra, was so enraged by Scott's treatment of her, he sent him a 'little warning' and Scott ended the relationship soon after.

Good actor, not such a good person by all accounts.

shazzerman

dark crystal wrote: »

He was also an alleged wife beater. His ex wife Colleen Dewhurst, claimed he hit her in drunken rages and Ava Gardner has said he once hit her so hard, she was hospitalised with a detached retina.

Gardner's ex husband, Frank Sinatra, was so enraged by Scott's treatment of her, he sent him a 'little warning' and Scott ended the relationship soon after.

Good actor, not such a good person by all accounts.

Never heard that before, and possibly a lot of he said-she said. If it's true, then he was a pig. Still, she married him twice, so he must not have been all that bad for her. Good to see that famed feminist Frankie came to her aid though... His work still gets my respect, whatever the facts of his personal life.

johnny_ultimate

Mia Wasikowska. I'm sure after Alice in Wonderland she could have taken on roles in any number of major blockbuster releases. But to her credit, she has used her increased profile to work along a much more interesting path, working with directors like Chan-wook Park, Richard Ayoade, David Cronenberg and Jim Jarmusch in often challenging roles. Not only that, she tends to be able to offer performances that match and even quite often surpass the veteran performers she's working beside (I thought Only Lovers Left Alive only came... alive when Wasikowska was about).

Certainly she has been in some less inspiring films like Lawless, but she's the sort of actress who can really impress even when the film doesn't. Tracks showed she can definitely handle scripts that ask an awful lot from her. There's a sequel to Alice in Wonderland coming up (because of course there is), but I hope Wasikowska continues doing her own thing - going on current evidence, that seems inevitable.

shazzerman

An actress that I have great respect for is Katrin Cartlidge. She always gave a good performance and apparently was a big help to directors on set, often actually pointing out fresh ways to approach a scene. Most know her from Mike Leigh's Naked and Lars von Trier's Breaking the Waves; but I really like her in another lesser-known Leigh film, Career Girls - and she gave a fantastic performance in Lodge Kerrigan's Claire Dolan. She died in 2002, when she was 41.

hagoonabear

Robert downey jr, sorry but the man is just too cool absolutely love him especially how he turned his life around.

JP Liz V1

Adamantium wrote: »

Karl Urban seems like a total bro. Would not mind him at all as Indiana Jones.

He seemed like the most naturally intelligent guy in what were very dumb Star Trek scripts. He was like the last element of old Star Trek in Abrams Trek, like his character was not just "Remember Bones!!"

Also going out with Katee Sackhoff, respect. And she's dead cool.

Wow didn't know Karl Urban and Katee Sackhoff are dating

Goldstein

Keanu Reeves. Despite enduring immense personal tragedy his generousity, philanthropy and countless other good-guy acts seem to know no bounds. Plus he's immortal which is nice.

Theta

Jeremy Irons, dont really understand why but I have a great respect for him.

melbite

Daniel Day Lewis