Submitted by Royal-Geologist587 t3_zx0wbl in television
Why are some actors like Justin Theroux (The leftovers), John Hamm (Mad men), and Michael C. Hall (Dexter) only casted in one high profile role despite having mind-boggling performances in their respective roles?
This.
I think most people don't understand, or think about, all of the moving parts that go into any production.
I like to think of it as the "Brad Pitt effect". Brad is neither a great actor, nor a bad one. He's only as good as the writing, the direction, the whole of the movie. Give him a great role in a great film, with a smart director that has a vision, that knows how to bring out what is required, and he shines. Give him a shit part in a shit film, and we get World War Z.
Adam Sandler is another fine example.
Edit: to clarify, in regards to Ops question, and your response, I don't think it's always thee actor making the role great, but often the other way around.
Ur wrong about brat Pitt. He’s a great eating actor. He’s good at eating food in a scene. Oscar worthy some say.
I heard from someone who cut one of his films that he also gives very consistent performances from take to take, so it’s much easier to cut his performance together without having to cut around mistakes/continuity errors.
Brad Pitt is a fucking incredible actor what are you talking about? If anything his looks actually hold him back
Bad take. Pitt is a great actor and he can even carry mediocre movies like World war Z.
Worse take. Brad Pitt couldn't save that dumpster fire and you can tell that he didn't care to try.
[deleted]
I’m sure that we’re all impressed with your confident, objective opinion on an entirely subjectively judged area of skill. Tell me who the coolest kid in your school is?
Christ you sound like a bitchy little turd.
Brad was the coolest kid in school. QB for football and was super nice to everyone. He was the coolest kid.
Duh. Don't you listen to Bowling For Soup?
A lot of them probably aren’t trying…not everyone who acts feels compelled to keep doing it. Rich people can do whatever they want.
huh? all three of the actors op mentions headline projects all the time, and work consistently. dexter was just revived, jon hamm starred in the fletch remake, and justin theroux starred in the mosquito coast series on apple tv.
I would say that not everyone has the ambition to be high profile. Not everyone wants to live that life. Jon Hamm makes a shit ton of money doing VO commercial work and is never followed by paparazzi. Michael C Hall will retire rich and stress free making network TV. Justin was known as a writer first before he was an actor. Not everyone wants to be picked apart.
Jon Hamm is also in movies and other TV shows regularly, frankly. He’s working plenty, even as a regular actor too, though often more in comedy lately.
I mean he was recently in Top Gun: Maverick, I'm pretty sure he's doing well for himself.
That’s a good point, but man it’s sad to see them not in other roles
I think Justin also got a taste of fame dating Jennifer Aniston and wanted no part of it.
Ironically enough, apparent hamm and her are dating now
They’re not
So I can't start calling them Hammiston?
[deleted]
He was in an Apple series called Mosquito Coast. It's on Apple so you might not have heard of it.
He’s also in a new 2023 political drama series
I think Hamm hasn’t done serious drama since Don. He doesn’t need to, he’d get comparisons, he wants to explore his comedy side.
For a more clear cut, often announced, career path look at the indie actors who do occasional mainstream films for the paychecks. Daniel Radcliffe is one, a few people from Marvel and DC have said the same. Adam Driver?
John Hamm was just in the new Top Gun movie.
he's also going to be the star of the new season of Fargo, plus he was in a bunch of high profile movies like Baby Driver, Tag, and Bad Times at the El Royale. He was also in a couple of box office flops/direct to streaming as a leading man like Keeping Up with the Joneses, Beirut, and the new Fletch movie.
New fletch movie was fun
Probably an unpopular opinion, but I didn’t think he fit the part of a military man very well. Some of his lines didn’t feel natural. I really liked him in Mad Men. Maybe I’m just projecting Don Draper onto Cyclone.
Wasn’t like a prominent role though, was it?
Jon Hamm is still working pretty consistently on decent sized projects. He has had lead roles in dozens of hit movies and even a few tv shows. I could be wrong, but didnt he get Emmy nods for Kimmy Schmidt? He struck while the iron was hot and made a killing. No he’s not a HUGE draw like he once was, but to be a consistent box office Star year after year is actually pretty rare.
Michael C Hall (you’re forgetting Six Feet Under by the way, one of the greatest shows ever written) is a super talented artist. He’s performed on stage in many plays including the wildly popular Hedwig and the Angry and The Lazarus Experiment. He writes and performs his own music too. I really think because he is so well respected for his craft he can pretty much do whatever he wants, not just what will be a hit. He’s not a big star because he doesn’t want to be. He works when it’s a job with taking.
Justin Theroux has a reputation of being, how should we put it, a big poopie head. And if you are a big poopie head, you better be really really good at what you do. Someone like Edward Norton for example is known to be strong headed but consistently works because he is right more often than not. Theroux has had some mild success, writing and producing too. And let’s be honest, a working actor is a successful actor.
Six Feet under was absolutely outstanding!
Excellent example of an ensemble of characters who are all greatly flawed but you root for anyways because they are so beautifully portrayed by the cast. So much talent all around.
I never knew Theroux had a bad reputation! Like, is he just difficult on set?
I’ve heard through the grapevine that he is not particularly nice. Of course with all second hand information from friends and colleagues and strangers on the internet, take it with a grain of salt.
Hall played JFK in The Crown. A small part. I agree his choice to pick roles.
I don't agree with your assessment of these actors being known for only one high-profile role personally. Theroux is starring in a show right now on Apple TV+, Hamm has worked constantly since Mad Men, and Hall was a TV star before Dexter as he was a lead on Six Feet Under...
The likely answer is these guys all made it and are older (they're coincidentally all 51 years old right now) - they can do whatever projects they are passionate about.
Michael C Hall seems to be focused on his musical career these days.
You’re right
Just because you can give an amazing performance doesnt mean all the showrunners in Atlanta or Hollywood want you.
Theres also the fact 40s to 50s something roles are typically going to be playing a dad, not playing a main character anymore.
Big talent can also burn you if a movie obligation/ the mouse calls.
Emily VanCamp was a main character and steady romantic partner of another main character on The Resident. But when the mouse called her back to marvel its not like she's saying no.
They may be worried fans will only know them as that role so casting them in something different may not work for them.
Seems a bit silly to throw away talent like that
But if they never cast them in the first place they're not throwing away the talent, also their asking price could be too high especially for a pilot episode, or the first season of something.
Perfect example the Librarian tv movies starred Noah Wylie (who also starred in E.R.) however once the tv series came out they probably couldn't afford him on a per episode basis, but he did make appearances.
Just “cast” will do.
Just because they did great at those roles does not mean they'll be great at every other role. These guys likely auditions and it was decided they were perfect for those roles which is why it resonates so much with you but does it mean that they are gonng to be good at every role available? No. Are these actors the TV equivalent of "bankable stars", I don't see any reason to think so.
Pretty sure Jon Hamm and Michael C Hall are "offer only" and have been for some time. They don't audition for anyone that isn't Scorsese.
I mean if you think they have that attitude hat could be partly why they aren't getting more roles.
The part about he audition in my post was about their old roles that they were praised for being in. They weren't really that sought after before that. It was about how they were likely good for the roles and exceled at it but to my overwall point just because they were great at that role doesn't mean there's a bunch of roles out there that make people go this guy would be perfect for this role.
The bloke who plays Richard Harrow in boardwalk empire
Roles aren’t just falling off an assembly line somewhere. Especially good ones or high profile ones. There’s the same right place right time stuff as any job but magnified, I’d imagine.
I think part of the issue is they become cemented in that role to the point where thats all people see when they see that actor.
Kevin Bacon said it best when even actors like him with credits and connections are just “waiting for the phone to ring” just like unknown actors. Acting is not a consistent source of work, just ask anyone who made it. You never know if that last great role will be your last.
Playing a role like these takes years, sometimes it’s literally never possible to take up another role. People will inherently cast you in that role for their own reasons.
Look at Kit Harington, the guy who played Jon Snow in the often maligned HBO series. He goes up on stage during a panel at a convention people wanna talk about Jon Snow, not what he has coming up regardless of the actual intent of the panel which was to talk about what’s next.
William Shatner, is literally the one who put it best when he was bashing on fans: “I've spoken to many of you, and some of you have traveled, you know, hundreds of miles to be here, I'd just like to say … get a life, will you, people?! I mean, for crying out loud, it's just a TV show!”
As sucky as it is, this also really doesn’t respect the wishes of the actor. There’s many who want to continue acting but can’t because people “fans” loved those characters specifically.
Bryan Cranston is by all regard an incredibly talented and amazing actor, i challenge you to name one thing he did better than his role in Breaking Bad.
God, Shatner is such an ass... But it does seem frustrating to only be associated with one role if that's not what you want (still not the fault of the fans).
I’m not in disagreement at all about shatner, the guy by and large is completely unaware how narcissistic, narrow minded, and unattractive he actually is. But lets be honest, his hey day was in the 60’s. It was a different world.
I’m all for actors putting themselves in a lead role and continually being known for it, if that’s their wish.
Look at Adam Sandler, his most iconic role was Happy Gilmore or The Waterboy, the man is debatably a genius whose fully capable of doing amazing dramatic roles see Reign Over Me - 2007 but would rather be known for crazy comedy.
But, as we’ve seen countless other times, there are TV actors who want to move on, do other things, and can’t because they’re forever placed in the roll they played for sometimes as many as 15 years.
Absolutely, there are! That's the risk of playing a single role for so many years, while I assume the reward (apart from liking the show and the role) is stability and a steady income. Most professions have different risks like that and you have to weigh them against each other. I just don't like the idea of blaming fans who love a certain role for the actor's association with it. People are allowed to enjoy pop culture and it's the actor who chose that role and chose to stay with it so long after all (I know there are contracts that span several years, but few people sign 15-year contracts for a role - they choose sign new ones after a while).
That’s it isnt it? That distinction. You don’t like blaming the fans because they simply consume the media, buy the soundtracks, play the shows on their streaming service of choice…
But they drive the sales too? The actor is partially only great because they have great behind the scenes stuff… writers, music, props teams, countless others. But the actor becomes known for playing that character for such a long time simply because the company was allowed to continue to cast them for such a long time, because revenue streams continued for such a long time.
But they can choose to drop out (once their first contract is over). You can't assign responsibility to the audience and none to the person actually putting themselves in that position. They're the only one who knows what they want, after all.
I wonder at that, past a certain point there’s no going back.
You’re too well known for one role, one type. I still cannot look at Patrick Stewart and not see Picard. Recently he’s reprised that role and brought it back. But before he did that he went big screen in multiple different IP’s including X-Men. I will forever hear his voice and hear “make it so”.
I am partly to blame for this very thing. I recognize that and i’m blaming myself. As a life long fan of his distinguished acting career, i will forever put him as Captain Picard.
I was gonna say, I associate him pretty strongly with Professor X! But then I haven't watched Star Trek either, so that might help. It's a little like David Boreanaz though - he got two iconic roles and they're the only ones I can ever imagine him in. At least one of the roles spanned two different shows. :P
There definitely seems to be a point of no return with these things... Although in very rare occasions I believe some actors have broken out and started getting other roles and changed the view of them. Must be hard though, and rely a lot on luck as well.
Andrew Lincoln walking dead. That man killed it as Rick, and hopefully still will
Not sure about the others—though Justin Theroux is doing that Mosquito Coast show on AppleTV and the Watergate miniseries for HBO—but Michael C Hall has been doing a lot of theatre work since Dexter, so that may be why? But like others have said, in the film industry most actors don’t get to just choose whatever they want to do
Justin Theroux is currently the lead in The Mosquito Coast.
Michael C Hall splits his time between screen and stage, but he's currently wrapping Dexter: New Blood.
Confess, Fletch, with Hamm in the lead role, is in theaters right now and he's the lead in the next season of Fargo which is in production now.
What are you talking about?
You are a bit behind, about Hall, at the least
The 2022 Edition of the r/television Favorite Shows Survey is now open!
You may vote by clicking here.
If you have any questions or concerns, please comment here.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
Maybe they don’t want the pressure or commitment of doing another series? I think for Jon Hamm, he’s doing different more fun projects now. He has a terrific comedic side. I personally prefer him in funnier stuff, like Fletch or when he appears on SNL.
Health issues and mobility issues can be a big factor for performers just like any working professional.
Mad Men launched Hamm's movie career. Those films weren't smash hits so his star power fizzled a bit.
They may only be interested in particular roles or they may be typecast.
They worked a job for 5-7 years and made a shit ton of money. Being a lead is not an easy job and I’m sure takes a lot energy. Then, they’re given the chance to do fuck all with little parts here and there that take no time or effort and are still making a shit ton of money. I’d do the exact same thing.
because a lot of actors don't have the X factor, be it charisma, right face, mass appeal, versatility; that's why we have only a few stars and a billion moderately recognizable ones like Cranston, Hamm etc
Because lightning rarely strikes twice, although there are cases like Michael Landon (Bonanza to Little House to Highway to Heaven) and Raymond Burr (Perry Mason to Ironside) that defy the odds. Then others like Carroll O'Connor go from All in the Family to Archie Bunker's Place to In the Heat of the Night, where the latter shows were not quite huge hits but were getting more than acceptable ratings.
A lot of actors appear to have one specific style of how they perform..
For example Will Smith was an excellent protagonist cop like character that was bad yes. He has not been good since he hasn't been in those roles.
Bruce Willis is much the same as Will Smith however bruce willis's characters are always much more gritty and masculine than will smith's ever were.
Also in today's Hollywood society it appears that they want to have more inclusion, which doesn't just mean different classes or ethnicities of people it also means different people in general. Akin the eighties it seemed that Hollywood movies that were blocked Buster hits weredominated by a few dozen actors... Today the only actor that I think is prominent the same way that an eighties actor was would be Chris Pratt. I am no modern movie fanatic, but Chris Pratt nails it in several different roll types to the point that even I know who he is. I'm sure there are others but that is the name who sticks out in today's movie scape
Sometimes actors don’t want the commitment of what could be a minimum 5 year contract walking in on day one. It means not being able to say yes to anything else that comes up that you would want to do in that time. Hamm and Hall could not leave their shows- the shows were forced to delay filming etc. on the occasions when the scheduling got screwed up. Considering the number of pilots shot every year that never get optioned… sometimes that is because the budget for the star is not worth it to the network. It’s all numbers. Theroux and Hall had successful careers outside their TV roles. Hall is always doing theater during down time, Theroux while not the greatest writer was making good money at it.
They don’t need to do big television roles that are huge time and life sucks, they don’t need the money. They are of an age and have made enough money in their careers they don’t need to do a show that films for 9 months 6 days a week, if they don’t want to.
Aaron Paul, most of the folks from Game of Thrones.
mitchbrenner t1_j1xxx0x wrote
do you think they aren't trying? a great high profile role requires excellent writing and directing as well as perfect timing with the public's taste. it takes many many attempts for the perfect synergy to strike multiple times.