Q&A: Buffyverse Actors, The Isabelles, Actresses We Don't "Get"
Thursday, May 24, 2018 at 3:16PM by Nathaniel R
This is always so much fun. Why do I go so long inbetween "episodes"? You asked a bunch of questions so here are a bunch more answers. Continue the conversation with your own answers to these questions why don't you? We thrive on community here not just blabbering at you.
So let's get right to the Reader Qs, shall we?
RYAN T: Just got back from vacation where I visited Italy for the first time. Alas no epic romance Call Me By Your Name style... but it did make me wonder: what are some of your favorite Italian films?
NATHANIEL: I have never been to Italy. AND I have never had an epic vacation romance. I FEEL CHEATED! I could definitely use some boning up on Italian cinema and am happy to take suggestions from all of you.
I'm afraid my answers in this regard are very "basic cinephile" but here are the 8½ I'd probably list as my favorites...
Teorema
In no particular order:
- Teorema (1968)
- Seven Beauties (1975)
- Rocco and His Brothers (1960)
- La Dolce Vita (1960
- I Am Love (2009/2010)
- The Bicycle Thief (1948)
- I Vitelloni (1953)
- Yesterday Today and Tomorrow (1963)
- Cinema Paradiso (1990) I remember crying out my eyes at the latter but I get the sense that people think that one is schmaltz and I only saw it that one time when it came out and I was much younger. So consider this a half vote.
I'll admit that I'm not sure I "get" L'Aventura (1960) or Fellini's Satyricon (1969). I probably don't love La Strada (1954) as much as I should. Naughty naughty. And though I totally recognize / bow down to its genius I prefer Bob Fosse's All That Jazz to Fellini's 8½ while recognizing that the former would not exist without the latter.
Emma Caulfield as AnyaBUFFY BUFF: What do you think about Sarah Michelle Gellar’s career in film and of her in general as an actress? In that note, who do you think (if anyone) should have had a better film/tv career of the Buffyverse actors?
What an unexpected question. I have to admit I haven't seen Gellar much onscreen apart from Buffy (though she was fun in Cruel Intentions and I did watch her TV show Ringer) so my association with her is almost strictly Buffy, the role she was born to play. I think most of the Buffy actors got the kind of steady careers they deserved thereafter with intermittent highs here and there as fate and talent allowed. But for one: Why did Emma Caulfield Ford not explode into a major star? Anya was such a singular creation and Emma could bring belly laughs and turn poignant on a dime. The lack of a huge or even medium-sized high profile career afterwards is a total tragedy. My runner up would be Tom Lenk who was hilarious as Andrew but at least we have Lenk Lewks.
DAVID: Which iconic Isabelle do you prefer: Huppert or Adjani?
Isabelle Adjani in Camille Claudel
A question designed to turn the masses against me! Because my answer is Adjani. Yes, Huppert is more consistently and far more currently a genius but Adjani was one of my very first international loves so she is dear to me. She and Deneuve both defined FRANCE in a mystical way for me before I knew anything about anything including probably where France was. (No, just kidding, I knew that. My parents house had one of those spinny globes in the living room -- do those still exist? -- and I used to love spinning it as a child and sticking my finger on it to stop it and seeing where I had "travelled" to and then discovering what that country was about. Nerdy!)
Anyway... When Adjani is "on," there's no one like her. But she did peak early unlike Huppert which is why it's understandable that Huppert's legend only grows while Adjani is hardly spoken of. But this is a Sophie's Choice because they're both magnifique.
ANA: What's your favorite and least favorite Woody Allen character performance in a Woody Allen movie.
I'm assuming you mean characters played by Woody himself? Or do you just mean his proxy characters? My least favorite Woody character is easily the Kenneth Branagh role in Celebrity (1998). That movie was so long ago and its only redeeming elements as I can recall were Charlize Theron and Leonardo DiCaprio's in small parts, so I admit I don't remember if I just hated Branagh's performance or the character, too. My favorite Woody character that Woody himself played is Mickey from Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). Everything about that film is lovely... especially Dianne Wiest's Oscar winning performance.
AMANDA: Who is your least favourite major actress of the last 15 years, and why?
This question is mean. I love everyone. Especially actresses! Most of the really big female stars at the moment are extremely talented -- even the more divisive ones like Lawrence and Hathaway -- so essentially we all win. Most of my rare "beefs" are prior to the last 15 years, thankfully. So other than Chloe Moretz who has driven me crazy from the very start (and not in the good way) I can only think of one I don't respond to at all: Emilia Clarke. I've found her mediocre (at best) in literally everything I've seen her in. And yet she keeps getting leading roles! But being part of a massive cultural hit generally insures that your fame level can grow far past the reaches of your perceived talent.
A caveat: I've been wrong before. I thought Kristen Stewart was a similarly empty actress until Twilight was over and she spread her indie art film wings. She proved me wrong so there's still hope for Moretz and Clarke. And I hope they do prove me wrong because there are few things as sweet and fulfilling as being surprised by the depth and magnificnce of a great screen performance. Being humbled by artistry in this particular way is a gift. It reminds you to remain open-minded while engaging with art.
I'M TOTALLY CURIOUS TO HEAR WHICH ACTOR OR ACTRESS YOU DON'T "GET" IN THE COMMENTS. And what do you make of the Buffyverse actors outside of Buffy?
Reader Comments (65)
I totally agree that Kenneth Branagh was unbearable in CELEBRITY!
Also share the disdain for Moretz.
@Ryan T: Eddie Redcarpet and Johnny Depp.
@Mike M: Totally agree that JLaw constantly looks dead behind the eyes. Her Oscar win was the most undeserved of all-time.
Other actresses I don't get: Cara Delevingne (nepotism goes a long way these days) and Emma Watson (who was in Perks of a Wallflower, not Stone). I echo the sentiment that Lily James is rather bland.
Enjoying all of the Hermione snark in the comments. Her delivery of 'I will never marry you, Gaston!' is my choice for the worst piece of acting in 2017.
I like practically all the major actresses - or I am indifferent to them.
There are a lot of actors I don't get. I didn't get Russell Crowe or Johnny Depp in their heydays, and I don't get them now. Joan Rivers said that Russell Crowe stank back when she interviewed him on the RC in the early 2000s, and I believe it.
God, yes, Branagh was excrutiating in Celebrity.
I never really get into a Richard Gere performance. I mean, he's always been pretty, and he's always committed, but something about him leaves me blank. I will say he was perfectly cast in "Chicago" and did a good job in that one, though.
Can't sign on to the Crowe or Depp bashing, though. They were both very talented, interesting actors. Like Nat has pointed out, it's easy to take for granted Depp's "Pirates" performances now, but when the first one came out? And he was doing THAT in a Disney movie? It was pretty great and easily his best of his 3 Oscar nominations (the other 2 weren't really worthy of noms). Plus he had some many great performances before, and even some after, he became mainstream famous.
And Crowe doing two characters as distinct and different from each other as "The Insider" and "Gladiator" back-to-back made him incredibly exciting.
Actresses IDG: Tom Holland, Tye Sheridan, Taron Egerton, Rami Malek, Michael B Jordan, Miles Teller, Alden Ehrenreich, Ansel Elgort, Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Timothee Chalamet, Armie Hammer, Riz Ahmed.
I don't get Jessica Chastain.
As to Italian films, I would recommend Two Women and Sunflower just to check out that innate quality of Sophia Loren that can move you to tears. Rome, Open City and Seven Beauties are a must. I was suprised at how Ettore Scola only got 2 or 3 mentions. He is my favorite. You can't miss A Special Day, We All Loved Each Other So Much, Ugly Dirty and Bad and The Family. I don't know if it is because of my Italian ancestry (I am 90% from Italy and 10% from Spain), but The Family shook me to the core. It's one of the films (like Kolya) that I won't see a second time. They are too harrowing for me.
Italian movies I recommend:
La stanza del figlio (The Son´s Room)
Malena
I Am Love
La ciociara (Two Women)
La grande bellezza (The Great Beauty)
Il Postino
Y'all choosing actresses with very distinct style or looks or whathaveyou like Lawrence or Stone or Haddish or Blanchett or whoever when there is Felicity Jones right there with literally nothing. I am still stunned that they cast her as the lead in a STAR WARS movie and she's gonna be Ruth Bader Ginsburg? Far out. She's perfectly *fine*, and I am a bigger fan of The Theory of Everything than most, but is there anything actually there?
Am in chuckling agreement with Glenn Dunks re Felicity Jones. Perfectly competent but charisma-wise something of a flatliner. And - oh yes - Keira Knightley. Diligent and dedicated, I'm sure. But given so many meaty leads in films, only to be outshone by the supporting actresses around her ("Atonement", "Anna Karenina"," Never Let Me Go"). My favorite of the current generation has got to be Carey Mulligan, who has always seemed to me the latest in a lovely through-line of gifted British film actresses (Jean Simmons, Sarah Miles, Emily Watson and now Ms Mulligan. Physically similar enough to be intergenerational sisters , each has also achieved breathtaking levels of dramatic radiance and darkness onscreen ) Am hoping that early buzz for Mulligan's work in "Wildlife" will eventually lead to that Oscar I've been itching to see in her hands.
And might I add one more must-see Italian film title? "Adua e le Compagne" from 1960 featuring legit film legends -Simone Signoret and Marcello Mastroianni.
I loved Chastain in The Help and have been unimpressed with her since. I want to love her, I just don't. Am I the only one who thought she was horribly miscast in Zero Dark Thirty?
@Ryan T.
I dont get Harrison Ford, Mathew Broderick, John Cusack and Richard Gere. They dont transmite any emotion to me, maybe just desperation waiting that something happens ... but no.
I loved Chastain in The Help and have been unimpressed with her since. I want to love her, I just don't. Am I the only one who thought she was horribly miscast in Zero Dark Thirty?
I am sorry guys. I did not mean to post that three times !!!
In complete agreement about loving Jessica Chastain in The Help and then being disappointed since. Still have hope, though.
I am APPALLED at all the J-Law and Emma Stone hate. Their charisma alone puts them on a whole other planet than Emma Watson, who is a laughably bad actress.
I’m also laughing at the comment that neither of them will be A-listers after five years. They’ve both been A-listers for more than five years already, and they are not going away. They’re part of the pop culture in a way most actors can only dream.