Tom Cruise or Leonardo DiCaprio would be shocking. Denzel Washington and to a lesser extent Tom Hanks would be surprising, but at a certain point it might be inevitable for them.
Bullock might change her mind in 5-15 years, but she works so selectively, I'm not sure when she'll be interested in being on a production that has 8-10 hours of show.
Streaming has blurred the line between theatrical releases and broadcast TV, so no. Even the most successful theatrical releases go to on demand rental within a month or so and migrate to streaming couple of months later; some much sooner.
Thanks — I thought I remembered something like that, but I couldn’t recall what it was. Yes, a lot has changed in a dozen years, so his reticence may be more a comment on then than now, but still thought it was worth mentioning.
I’m less shocked by movie stars doing TV now (where the writing has been so much better) than I was by Glenn Close appearing in GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, a serious WTF moment (and she was terrific in it!)
Ah yes, which she was *spectacular* in. Sigourney’s an all-time favourite because she’s always smart and tough and beautiful, yet never afraid to look ridiculous in comedies either. Pure icon ⭐
On this topic, I've always thought Whoopi Goldberg doesn't get enough credit for being the pioneer. She was an oscar-nominated (and later winning) movie star doing TV in 1987. Who was the next person to take the step down after that?
I liked that show, but I’m afraid to rewatch it because it might not be as good as I recall.
Hardly anyone remembers it, not even my friend who is a big Richard Lewis fan.
If we’re talking about pioneers on this, you need to look back at the old school stars like Loretta Young, Barbara Stanwyck, Donna Reed, Patty Duke, and Jane Wyman who went into television after winning/being nominated for Oscars.
OK that does make sense BUT the thing about those stars is (correct me if I'm wrong) that they were going to TV when it was a new and exciting medium; New Hollywood made it uncool in the following decades, leading to the more recent dynamic.
Ehhh, not entirely. Most of it was case by case, but the common thread was that they were women who were running out of opportunities in Hollywood and TV offered them steady work. The same applies to Goldberg when she turned to ‘Star Trek.’
While she had garnered an Oscar nod in 1985, her follow-ups underwhelmed across the board - ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’, ‘Burglar’, ‘Fatal Beauty’, ‘The Telephone’ and ‘Clara’s Heart’ all came out in 1986-88 and fizzled. She started on ‘Star Trek’ in 1988 before making a film comeback in 1990.
I could list off the ones who still won’t even read a tv script, and it’s not that short of a list. But it skews towards men, because men still have a lot more decent dramatic or humanistic roles in studio movies. Scorsese etc don’t do female protagonists. But TV is happy to.
I'd make the argument that in the current political, economic, and philosophical climate we're going to see a lot more transgressive female-led movies than television. Television is guided by oligarchs but indie movie companies remain.
Depends which level of tv. There is the “four quadrant” stuff (and that is right), and then there are prestige gambles with big stars. The latter are still popular in the (dead) market.
And yes, in film, some indie work by women is breaking through, but it’s still pretty bad behind the scenes,
You're way more familiar with the working of tv than I. Going by my own weird experience of having my book optioned — and all that it has entailed, whew! — it feels like the tv market has tightened like a healthcare CEO's sphincter w/r/t challenging female stories.
So, there’s truly transgressive female work like an adaptation of your book would be… and then there’s this weird middle of things where a commercial book is optioned and elevated by the participation of a big star/director — the BIG LITTLE LIES model.
There isn’t a movie actor who would shock me by agreeing to do a podcast or a bank commercial. We’re a long way from Jack Nicholson refusing to do televised interviews.
Few I can think of off the top. Streaming has brought the "big screen" into the living room - and there are far more living rooms than movie theatres. The small screen now promises greater exposure for more recognition (Q-score?), and likely more royalties paid.
hehe, i just wrote an article about this for the star. from what i gather, the answer is "No, but..." the "but" being that the economics are shifting back a bit, and particularly for certain younger stars, like you won't catch Chalamet doing TV right now.
I remember the shock and awe of Katharine Hepburn's appearance in The Glass Menagerie, quickly followed by her collaboration with Olivier in Love Among the Ruins.
If the Rock appeared in an off-Broadway kitchen sink drama, that might be shocking. (If he was good, life threatening?) But otherwise tv and film are hardly separate at all now.
Orson Welles. For one he’s dead, but also because he would have beef with streaming series dragging stories on for 8 episodes to have the plot only move forward meaningfully in the last 30 minutes. But mostly because he’s dead.
Suggesting Tom Cruise seems so impossible as to not even be a valid answer. I'd be shocked if Denzel or DiCaprio agreed to do something where an audience would see them several hours a year. In terms of actresses, the single name that comes to mind is Julianne Moore.
Comments
Did he sneak into something during Peak TV on some flash-in-the-pan streamer that I missed?
Bullock might change her mind in 5-15 years, but she works so selectively, I'm not sure when she'll be interested in being on a production that has 8-10 hours of show.
Oh yes, I was thrilled. But Close’s role was years before and GUARDIANS was an unknown property, a bigger risk.
Hardly anyone remembers it, not even my friend who is a big Richard Lewis fan.
It’s complicated.
And yes, in film, some indie work by women is breaking through, but it’s still pretty bad behind the scenes,
then there's guys like Cruise, etc.
Beyond that I'm unshockable.
Obviously, the walls aren't what they used to be.
But being a movie-exclusive actor does come with a special aura.
In a 3 camera CBS sitcom? About zero "real actors" would do it
Hanks returning to television would be awesome. I'm surprised it hasn't happened already.
I would love to see Hugh Jackman on the Scrubs reboot just to see Dr. Cox's head explode.