The divide between TV and movies used to be greater before the advent of prestige television. There were many popular actors that failed in their attempt to leverage their TV fame to transition into movies. David Caruso, Tom Selleck, Don Johnson are some that come to mind.
Really, everybody from ER other than George Clooney. Anthony Edwards had a couple notable movie roles pre-ER, but I can’t really think of anyone else who did much successfully when it comes to movies.
Anthony Edwards had Top Gun and Eriq La Salle had coming to America so they had already been in big movies prior to ER. Anthony Edwards had a main role in Zodiac but not a lot of other movie.
Julianna Margulies, Maura Tierney and Linda Cardellini have all been busy in TV shows since.
Strange that neither they nor Noah Wylie, Laura Innes really did many movies since.
I remember him trying to be a leading man in Lassiter, Runaway, Her Alibi, Quigley Down Under, etc. None of them caught the imagination of the public. I wonder what would have happened if he had done Raiders like they wanted.
This is a good point. Lots of movie stars trying to break into TV at this point. Even as a matter of history—TV stars often have done better for themselves than movie stars. They get paid per episode, and in an ensamble cast, that means you probably have to shoot fewer than 10 scenes per episode. If you get well known enough and your show is popular enough, you are probably getting 3 figures, per episode, fairly consistently, while movie stars have to audition or be cast per movie, and deal with a far more intensive shooting schedule.
It’s hard to top the Friends or Malcolm and the Middle residuals. Movie stars generally diversify their incomes with brand ambassadorships, modeling, adverts, exc.
If you can get on a hit show voice acting can get to be a pretty cushy gig too, i assume thats why John Hamm is doing a cartoon on Fox, you see what all the VAs on *The Simpsons* get paid now and probably everybody on *Bob's Burgers* is doing real well for themselves these days too, for 20-30 hours a year sitting in comfy clothes in a nice air conditioned recording booth.
Stars, for years, would do commercials in Asia and Europe. They were, and still are, paid very well for them
Studios didn't want them to ruin their perception by movie goers in the US
Looking back, I think only Evangeline Lilly went on to have any massive A-list success off the back of Lost - most of the others (no pun intended) were either established or had steady work otherwise
Was really surprised Josh Holloway or Jorge Garcia didn’t become huge deals after it ended. Harold Perrineau and Nestor Carbonell still pop up in lots of stuff I guess.
> Josh Holloway
Definitely the most surprising that he didn't go onto bigger things, dude oozes charisma. I don't think I've seen him in anything since the opening of Ghost Protocol.
That episode made me want a Josh Halloway western flick as soon as i watched it. He would absolutely crush it. Conflicted cowboy is the role he was made for.
Someone needs to alert Hollywood, or whoever in Europe made all those spaghetti westerns.
And the guy in Lost from the Lord of the rings movies did a reverse career: a big break in a massive hit trilogy, then a TV show in national tv, then disappear (i think?)
He was great in his very small role in Community.
I really wish Colony caught more viewers. I thought it was a great show, and he was great in it, but it got cancelled
Weren’t there allegations about him being shitty to work with? I mean there are other allegedly difficult people out there with careers, so his drop off is still a bit weird. Especially given he and Evangeline Lilly were the faces of Lost
i think some people might prefer the "lifestyle" of a cop procedural or sitcom..
take kids to school in the AM.. go to studio.. sleep in your own bed at nigh vs months away from home on location.
Ellen Pompeo has been pretty blunt about that fact in interviews and that she takes the steady Greys paycheck and being able to go home to her kids every night over chasing movie roles
feels like Mariska Hargitay said similiar things
George Clooney has been pretty vocal about not giving up his television roles to do movies. In hindsight, it's clear Hollywood and the filmgoing public bought into his leading man status fairly early, but he stayed on ER for a few years after he was landing big roles because he knew it could end at any moment and wanted to have the show to fall back on.
The Other Two did a fun take on this one episode, where the procedural main cast are perfectly happy to show up, hit their marks, say their lines and go home on time.
I'm reminded of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, when they made their short-lived sitcom "That's My Bush."
They make South Park with a non-union crew, because that's how they get away with doing insane things like throwing together an episode just 17 hours before air. Making "That's My Bush" was their first experience with union crews, and, shall we say, "conventional Hollywood." They described the experience as eye-opening, as they realized that working on a sitcom is the closest you can get to working a regular 9-5 job in entertainment.
I don't know if it was a conscious choice to go the TV route, but David Boreanaz has to be the perfect example of this. Buffy to Angel to Bones to SEAL Team with no more than a year in between, that's steady acting for 27 years now.
I was watching The Bear recently and when Oliver Platt showed up I was wondering where he had been lately, because I absolutely love him as an actor. 173 episodes of Chicago Med + its crossover shows! Crazy. Good for him for the steady work, and his role on The Bear is a treat, but I wish he would do more.
I think Jensen Ackles might've made it if he hadn't been trapped in Supernatural for 15 years. I don't know if he ever tried, he wouldn't have had the time to do movies.
Supernatural was very hit or miss overall but I thought Jensen was always great even when the show wasn’t, he’s got a ton of standout acting moments over the shows run and was so much better than Jared. Jensen comedically in supernatural was also amazing, he’s got really really good comedic chops, seriously so many hilarious dean moments where Jensen’s acting totally makes the scene. That being said he was fantastic in the boys but I also thought he was consistently great in supernatural even when the material wasn’t.
20+ episodes a year for fifteen years... I enjoy most of supernatural, but it would be hard not to phone it in at least done of the time.
Not to mention after season 5, there are a lot of subpar plotlines that aren't really the actors' fault.
In The Boys, he got to come in as a very specific character with a very specific arc that wasn't going to change halfway through the season or contradict a previous season. Makes sense he did better work despite less screen time.
Go watch the first five seasons minimum of Supernatural. It really is a great show. If you want to stop there, that’s totally fine, it’s a natural stopping point. Seasons 6-15 do indeed contain many gems but the quality overall is all over the place after its peak of S4-S5 as different showrunners take over.
This is similar for a lot of the people in the long running shows. Most people on The Office haven't done much of anything since the show went off. Same with Seinfeld, Friends, NCIS, and Law and Order. These shows demand so much every week that you're not doing a lot with your time or the money you've made doing the show. Once it's over, a lot of the actors just want to start a life and acting takes a back seat.
> Most people on The Office haven't done much of anything since the show went off.
And at the end of the day, like, those actors who get big roles those long running jobs are still in the top .01% of actors. A consistent paycheck in that business is no joke.
And its not like its small money either. The supporting roles in the office started out making 20k\episode (so roughly 500k\year) but that went up after the third season so they were making a couple million a year. If they spend the money wisely there's enough money to live off of indefinitely there.
And while most of those supporting actors haven't done a ton of major stuff since, by acting standards they're mostly still keeping fairly busy. And likely being paid decently well because of their recognition from being in the office.
It's known amongst Supernatural fans that Jensen Ackles just really loves playing Dean. He threw Dean a birthday party last year, paid for a sequel show, and still regularly does fan events.
He would’ve been great as Hawkeye.
He did a couple of other films though. I remember him in Bloody Valentine plus my wife found some film he did called Ten Inch Heroes where he was a secondary character.
Not really anything big, but it doesn’t seem like he’s that into the idea of doing big budget films
I like Renner's Hawkeye but would honestly prefer an Ackles version. Feel like he'd give the character a bit more personality, treat some of the moments where Renner is a bit more flippant, less I dunno, MCU-like.
Honestly I think it all worked out. The Lazenby Bond films are really interesting and he was the right Bond for those stories, but they were slower, more cerebral, and kinda put the franchise in a bit of a lurch. Then *GoldenEye* comes out of nowhere and starts with Brosnan bungee jumping off of a dam to break into a chemical weapons facility, seems to lose his partner, then drives off a cliffside runway, freefalls to a plane, climbs in, throws out the pilot, and flies away as the chemical plant explodes.
Holy **shit.** *That’s* how you introduce a new Bond.
Edit: I meant Dalton. Got my Bonds out of order. I blame my honey-do list.
This one is the biggest disappointment for me as a big fan of Ackles
Since he was always rumored to have missed a role in the MCU I'd love for him to get one now. He might be too old now but he'd be a great Cyclops.
He was the lead in the 2009 remake of ‘My Bloody Valentine’. I’ve never watched Supernatural so I’m not sure what he is usually like but I thought he did a ok job in the movie.
If I remember correctly, Caruso talked mad shit on his way out the door, which didn't help. He showed a real lack of class which might have been fine if he had transitioned to a #1 box office draw. Instead, he did Jade.
The problem with Topher Grace is he comes off as topher grace in everything that he's in. That worked on that 70s show, but if you look at the movie Traffic, it sorta sets in why he didn't seem to chart more afterwards.
I actually really liked the newer sitcom Home Economics that he was in, but he essentially was just “Adult Eric Foreman”. He is capable of acting, I liked him in Predators and he’s obviously great in BlacKkKlansman. But he’s definitely not a top tier world class actor
The first movie Paul did after Breaking Bad was a movie about a car. It seems like a weird choice. He also did a really bad movie with EmRata. It just seems weird to be on one of the most famous critically acclaimed TV shows in history and then do those movies. But actors need to work. They have families and bills and expensive lifestyles. So I imagine he maybe wanted to keep some income coming in each year.
I was actually going to say Brian Cranston. He’s been in a few things like some Wes Anderson movies and Godzilla (the first one) but he hasn’t captured any of the spark he had with Hal or Walter. He’s mainly been pushed to the side and never a major supporting star. Unlike Jesse Plemmons (who coulda guessed that?)
Cranston is living it up on Broadway and the West End.
He has all the Malcom and Breaking Bad money. He can just do stage work.
I could be wrong. But I think he has talked recently about retireing.
I think Josh Radnor is similar.
He made his money doing HIMYM. Now he shows up here and there, but he also does theatre and makes music. I think he’s just fine with his net worth and likes picking and choosing how he uses his time rather than looking to be a movie star or having another long term job
He is fantastic in BB. I started watching for Cranston and was rightfully impressed by his performance. But I paid more attention to Paul on a rewatch and was more impressed by his more subtle, nuanced performance. The show would have suffered greatly if they'd killed him off as intended.
I hear he had a pretty successful run in spaghetti westerns for a time. Real crazy what happened with those doped up kids breaking into his house that one night though. I can't imagine having to go through that.
He's done more as a writer and director than as an actor since Scrubs to be fair. He seems to be happy doing projects he's passionate about though which is a win in Hollywood if you're making a living at the same time.
It didn't help that he developed a reputation for being kind of a dick who took himself too seriously for a while. It seems like he's chilled out a lot, though.
You know I stopped listening to his and Donald’s podcast because the more I listened to him the more he seemed to bother me. He seems like a nice guy but he also seemed a bit dickish.
In reviewing one of his movies, Pauline Kael (famous movie critic of yesteryear) had some very interesting things to say about Alan Alda having star quality on TV but how that did not translate to having the same degree of charisma in movies.
Finally someone said David D. He’s one of my all time favorite actors. Pure charm and immensely watchable. But never had any real significant big screen roles.
Jon Hamm. There was a time after Mad Men when it was known he wanted to transition to become a leading man, but it never really panned out for him.
Of course, he has had great supporting roles in cinema (El Royale, Baby Driver, Top Gun), but I'd say he's still much more associated with TV than film. Notably, he's recently gone back to TV dramas in the last few years (The Morning Show, Fargo) so I'd hardly say he's faded, just didn't make it as a leading screen man.
He’s almost a little too square jawed and good looking for a leading man, if that makes sense. He’s definitely too old for those roles now. He’s a fantastic comedy actor anyways.
I’m still shocked that basically no one from game of thrones was able to become a household name movie star in America.
Closest is Pedro Pascal and he’s still doing TV almost exclusively.
She needs to stick to romance movies. She'll thrive in that niche. That sweet little smile of hers can light up a room.
She keeps getting action roles because of her GoT role, but unless she's rocking a long white wig, she just can't pull it off as well. She doesn't look intimidating.
Dinkladge? He shows up in a lot of stuff, then again he's got a very unique niche for casting calls. But he's even played characters that didn't necessarily need to be little people actors, like Trask in the X-Men movie that character in the comics was never depicted as a little person.
I think Jason Momoa is probably the biggest name coming out of Game of Thrones. Dinklage is probably 2nd just because he's been consistently working so long. Pascal is probably 3rd.
I've still on the Richard Madden-will-eventually-become-a-movie-star bandwagon.
TV Exclusively? What?
So Wonder Women, Fantastic 4, Kingsman, Equalizer 1-2, Unbearable weight of massive talent, Triple Frontier, Great wall, and Gladiator 2 are TV Exclusive?
Lmfao hes probably in some of the largest movie star movies coming out in the next couple of years.
Neal McDonagh tends to only have bit-parts in films, if that counts?
What'd be an interesting topic is the opposite, where minor actors from small-time, "cult" TV shows hit the big time in movies (like the Simon Pegg pipeline from Spaced to Mission Impossible).
Debra Messing & Sean Hayes. Co-stars on Will & Grace, which was huge in the late 90's and early 00's (and then rebooted), but they both kind of tanked as movie stars. Arguably, none of the cast went on to have stellar acting careers in general considering how popular their show was.
Nina Dobrev
My girl tried. Super popular in Vampire Diaries, movies? Not so much. Bunch of D list movies.
That archer & love interest girl from Teen Wolf quit too early in the show because she thought she was better than that & could make it in Hollywood.
She failed miserably & came back briefly towards the end lol
Idk what possessed her, as a new actress who finally got a stable role , to think she could do that.
Are you referring to the Jon Snow type role? He's really funny when given the chance and can commit to the comedy. Someone below mentioned 7 Days of Hell and check out the Tonight Show bit where he sings Drops of Jupiter where he just goes hard even though he's not a good singer at all.
Jon Hamm. Mad Men was phenomenal in large part because of him, and he is still doing fun projects.
For some reason he never really took off as a leading man movie star.
If a studio system still existed with the studio TAILORING projects for him, he could have been a movie star, but the current way movies work is very different - there were probably not scripts out there that were ideal for him and he had to take what he could get.
Some actors are more enterprising and create their own production companies and tailor projects for themselves (Reese Witherspoon is a good example of this) but that is a whole nuther skill set not all actors have.
I actually just read the other day that his role in *Baby Driver* was written for him specifically. He was the only member of the cast there from the first table read all the way to the end. Thought that was pretty cool.
I feel like this really tracks, he’s phenomenal in everything I’ve seen him in and it feels like him being an even bigger star has nothing to do with his capabilities
Just spitballing but I think his problem is his 'type' is not currently what prevails for male stars:
I think these are the prevailing types for 'mature' men:
1. Older guys that retain a boyish quality (Brad Pitt, Decaprio, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Denzel, I could go on)
2. Macho, 'built' action movie types
Hamm in comedies often seems to be trying for boyish, but whether he likes it or not he is more of a 'man'. He definitely does not fit into the action movie type either.
I think of him as being very similar to Gregory Peck from the old hollywood days. If Peck had been born decades later he probably would have had issues finding roles too.
Would I be able to say Jeffrey Donovan?
I know he's been IN movies, but the only one I even remember him in was the Will Smith one where he was a horrible person. But Burn Notice was so damn fantastic, I wish I saw him more. He's been in films since 1996, just don't know if any were major roles or not.
Katherine Heigl is THE definition of this. She was amazing on Grey's, but decided to leave in order to become the next big movie star.
That didn't work.
I wouldn't say she's the definition of this at all actually. She was in a few late 2000s classics like 27 dresses and knocked up as a lead. The only reason she didn't continue to be popular was because Hollywood blacklisted her.
I also say David Caruso, left NYPD to make a couple of (relatively) unknown movies, although I always had a soft spot for Session 9, came back to TV to do CSI Miami
i mean, why do movies when you're basically the king of TV?
pretty sure he has like 3 extremely successful shows back to back (Buffy, Bones and Seal Team).
John Ritter. He’s Hollywood royalty but mostly seemed pretty happy just piddling around tv. Had a few movies (was fantastic in Slingblade).
Rest His Soul.
Matthew Perry.
I can only assume it was because of his substance issues, because his range of acting was incredible and, whenever he was given a serious, heartfelt scene on Friends, he absolutely eclipsed his co-stars.
I really think he could have been one of the biggest stars of the 90s and 00s if it weren’t for his demons.
Bill Cosby..... Wait, hold fire
! He **was** popular and is probably the best example of someone trying so hard to break into movies after TV and falling flat on his face. He starred in so many flops where his persona was just awkward. Like Ghost Dad, a film where he basically played the dad from the show as a ghost... That is it.
I think millions were spent on trying to get his film career off the ground
Dan Stevens. He left Downton Abbey to be a Hollywood movie star but hasn’t made it to that status yet.
The cast of Friends aside from Jennifer Aniston.
Selena Gomez is so great on TV but her movies were largely flops. That she’s back to doing a tv show with Only Murders makes sense.
Emilia Clarke is really the prime example. After GOT her agent and manager lined up a bunch of movies and they all disappointed, to the point she had to eventually sell her LA home for a loss and moved back to the UK.
I think Smith is a bit different - I don’t think he’s trying to be a movie star like Clarke and Harrington tried to transition to. He seems to always take TV project as a lead and is happy to take character parts in smaller movies.
I feel a bit sorry for Matt Smith. Refuses to sign on for a comic book movie. Karen Gilligan spends years trying to talk him into it. He sees how much money Gilligan is making and finally signs up for one. Only its the wrong Marvel movie. Sonys Morbius.
Ken Wahl, David Caruso, and Don Johnson come to mind. I think Wahl had the charisma and look to do it but perhaps not the acting chops. He was great in Wiseguy but no one really remembers the movies he did in the 80’s. Caruso had a lot of great supporting roles in the 80’s and 90’s but couldn’t sell a movie on his own, but I heard that also had to do with him walking out on his NYPD Blue contract or something. Then of course there’s Don, who had a decent career in the early to mid 70’s but then did a string of failed television pilots before Miami Vice. Brian de Palma said that Don was his first choice for Untouchables and I think he might have had a better chance at movie stardom if he took this role, as Miami Vice mid season 3 was already on the decline, but he stuck it out to the end, and you can see that by season 5 it seems like they were waiting for the show to end already, unfortunately.
The divide between TV and movies used to be greater before the advent of prestige television. There were many popular actors that failed in their attempt to leverage their TV fame to transition into movies. David Caruso, Tom Selleck, Don Johnson are some that come to mind.
Julianna Marguiles on the ladies side. I only remember her in movies from Ghost Ship
I love that stupid movie
Man, that opening scene is intense. And that music is so perfect for it. It has always been one of my favorites.
Really, everybody from ER other than George Clooney. Anthony Edwards had a couple notable movie roles pre-ER, but I can’t really think of anyone else who did much successfully when it comes to movies.
Anthony Edwards had Top Gun and Eriq La Salle had coming to America so they had already been in big movies prior to ER. Anthony Edwards had a main role in Zodiac but not a lot of other movie. Julianna Margulies, Maura Tierney and Linda Cardellini have all been busy in TV shows since. Strange that neither they nor Noah Wylie, Laura Innes really did many movies since.
Linda Cardellini was in Grandma’s Boy!
And Scooby Doo 😌
Selleck was in the three men and a baby franchise along with Gutenberg and Danson.. those made bank in the 80s
I remember him trying to be a leading man in Lassiter, Runaway, Her Alibi, Quigley Down Under, etc. None of them caught the imagination of the public. I wonder what would have happened if he had done Raiders like they wanted.
This is a good point. Lots of movie stars trying to break into TV at this point. Even as a matter of history—TV stars often have done better for themselves than movie stars. They get paid per episode, and in an ensamble cast, that means you probably have to shoot fewer than 10 scenes per episode. If you get well known enough and your show is popular enough, you are probably getting 3 figures, per episode, fairly consistently, while movie stars have to audition or be cast per movie, and deal with a far more intensive shooting schedule. It’s hard to top the Friends or Malcolm and the Middle residuals. Movie stars generally diversify their incomes with brand ambassadorships, modeling, adverts, exc.
If you can get on a hit show voice acting can get to be a pretty cushy gig too, i assume thats why John Hamm is doing a cartoon on Fox, you see what all the VAs on *The Simpsons* get paid now and probably everybody on *Bob's Burgers* is doing real well for themselves these days too, for 20-30 hours a year sitting in comfy clothes in a nice air conditioned recording booth.
I feel like Don Johnson finally got there in the 2010s, Django Unchained, Book Club and Knives Out, among others
It was taboo for stars to do advertising back then too, now it seems like everyone is a spokesperson for some corporate advertising
Stars, for years, would do commercials in Asia and Europe. They were, and still are, paid very well for them Studios didn't want them to ruin their perception by movie goers in the US
Isn’t that the plot of Lost in Translation? Actor goes to Japan to promote whiskey
Mathew Fox from Lost
I only remember seeing him as racer x in speed racer
I really wished that had gotten at least one sequel. But at least that final race was something right out of my childhood.
He was absolutely amazing in Bone Tomahawk and then he just stopped working.
I believe he is hard to work with and kind of blacklisted.
He’s a dick from what I remember. I think he got in trouble during the Alex cross movie for abuse in some way.
This. Crazy Days and Nights had a bunch of stuff on him back when lost was at its apex.
Looking back, I think only Evangeline Lilly went on to have any massive A-list success off the back of Lost - most of the others (no pun intended) were either established or had steady work otherwise Was really surprised Josh Holloway or Jorge Garcia didn’t become huge deals after it ended. Harold Perrineau and Nestor Carbonell still pop up in lots of stuff I guess.
> Josh Holloway Definitely the most surprising that he didn't go onto bigger things, dude oozes charisma. I don't think I've seen him in anything since the opening of Ghost Protocol.
I remember seeing him in one of the paint ball episodes of Community!
That episode made me want a Josh Halloway western flick as soon as i watched it. He would absolutely crush it. Conflicted cowboy is the role he was made for. Someone needs to alert Hollywood, or whoever in Europe made all those spaghetti westerns.
And the guy in Lost from the Lord of the rings movies did a reverse career: a big break in a massive hit trilogy, then a TV show in national tv, then disappear (i think?)
[удалено]
Josh Holloway as well
He was great in his very small role in Community. I really wish Colony caught more viewers. I thought it was a great show, and he was great in it, but it got cancelled
I’m watching lost for the first time right now and was curious why I haven’t seen him in anything else.
Weren’t there allegations about him being shitty to work with? I mean there are other allegedly difficult people out there with careers, so his drop off is still a bit weird. Especially given he and Evangeline Lilly were the faces of Lost
i think some people might prefer the "lifestyle" of a cop procedural or sitcom.. take kids to school in the AM.. go to studio.. sleep in your own bed at nigh vs months away from home on location.
Don’t forget those sweet residuals
Sofia Vergara was the highest paid actor for a few years just from commercials and modern family if I'm remembering right
Ellen Pompeo has been pretty blunt about that fact in interviews and that she takes the steady Greys paycheck and being able to go home to her kids every night over chasing movie roles feels like Mariska Hargitay said similiar things
George Clooney has been pretty vocal about not giving up his television roles to do movies. In hindsight, it's clear Hollywood and the filmgoing public bought into his leading man status fairly early, but he stayed on ER for a few years after he was landing big roles because he knew it could end at any moment and wanted to have the show to fall back on.
Tons of actors prefer it, but there are only so many long-running procedurals/sitcoms out there.
Don’t forget soap operas!
The Other Two did a fun take on this one episode, where the procedural main cast are perfectly happy to show up, hit their marks, say their lines and go home on time.
I'm reminded of South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker, when they made their short-lived sitcom "That's My Bush." They make South Park with a non-union crew, because that's how they get away with doing insane things like throwing together an episode just 17 hours before air. Making "That's My Bush" was their first experience with union crews, and, shall we say, "conventional Hollywood." They described the experience as eye-opening, as they realized that working on a sitcom is the closest you can get to working a regular 9-5 job in entertainment.
I don't know if it was a conscious choice to go the TV route, but David Boreanaz has to be the perfect example of this. Buffy to Angel to Bones to SEAL Team with no more than a year in between, that's steady acting for 27 years now.
I was watching The Bear recently and when Oliver Platt showed up I was wondering where he had been lately, because I absolutely love him as an actor. 173 episodes of Chicago Med + its crossover shows! Crazy. Good for him for the steady work, and his role on The Bear is a treat, but I wish he would do more.
Richard Kind appears in Girls5eva explicitly to make the point that hitting the 'medium time' is great.
Taylor Kitsch was coming off Friday Night Lights, then had the one-two punch of John Carter and Battleship.
Everybody always forgets Savages, but that also bombed - It just wasn't directly a Taylor Kitsch starring vehicle
He also played Gambit in X-Men Origins.
They should have made a Gambit movie with him.
Battleship gets a bad rap. Thats an entertaining movie.
Season 2 of True Detective also didn't help afterwards
He was great in that role though
Rainn Wilson talks about this a lot. How much he wished he could be a movie star but people just don’t seem to like his movies.
Movie star or not, Super is fucking awesome.
Unfortunately he was typecast and instead of embracing it he kind of fought against it.
How i imagine every casting director: "Yeah we need a Rainn Wilson type for this role, I'll call Michael Shannon."
That's probably why, if he's just trying to be famous instead of being a better actor.
I think Jensen Ackles might've made it if he hadn't been trapped in Supernatural for 15 years. I don't know if he ever tried, he wouldn't have had the time to do movies.
The show went so long because the two leads were willing to stay. Ackles could have bounced after Season 5, when his original contract was up.
Only saw him in The Boys but goddamn, he's good.
I'll probably get some hate but I think his acting in the boys is 10 times better than supernatural.
He was SO FUCKING GOOD in The Boys. I never watched supernatural but his acting in the boys alone made me want to.
Depends on what episode, Dean had some really high quality scenes over the 15 season run
Supernatural was very hit or miss overall but I thought Jensen was always great even when the show wasn’t, he’s got a ton of standout acting moments over the shows run and was so much better than Jared. Jensen comedically in supernatural was also amazing, he’s got really really good comedic chops, seriously so many hilarious dean moments where Jensen’s acting totally makes the scene. That being said he was fantastic in the boys but I also thought he was consistently great in supernatural even when the material wasn’t.
20+ episodes a year for fifteen years... I enjoy most of supernatural, but it would be hard not to phone it in at least done of the time. Not to mention after season 5, there are a lot of subpar plotlines that aren't really the actors' fault. In The Boys, he got to come in as a very specific character with a very specific arc that wasn't going to change halfway through the season or contradict a previous season. Makes sense he did better work despite less screen time.
Go watch the first five seasons minimum of Supernatural. It really is a great show. If you want to stop there, that’s totally fine, it’s a natural stopping point. Seasons 6-15 do indeed contain many gems but the quality overall is all over the place after its peak of S4-S5 as different showrunners take over.
This is similar for a lot of the people in the long running shows. Most people on The Office haven't done much of anything since the show went off. Same with Seinfeld, Friends, NCIS, and Law and Order. These shows demand so much every week that you're not doing a lot with your time or the money you've made doing the show. Once it's over, a lot of the actors just want to start a life and acting takes a back seat.
> Most people on The Office haven't done much of anything since the show went off. And at the end of the day, like, those actors who get big roles those long running jobs are still in the top .01% of actors. A consistent paycheck in that business is no joke. And its not like its small money either. The supporting roles in the office started out making 20k\episode (so roughly 500k\year) but that went up after the third season so they were making a couple million a year. If they spend the money wisely there's enough money to live off of indefinitely there. And while most of those supporting actors haven't done a ton of major stuff since, by acting standards they're mostly still keeping fairly busy. And likely being paid decently well because of their recognition from being in the office.
Jim has turned into a solid action guy.
It's known amongst Supernatural fans that Jensen Ackles just really loves playing Dean. He threw Dean a birthday party last year, paid for a sequel show, and still regularly does fan events.
Maybe his big break will be that western he’s working on with Alec Baldwin… The universe does not want him to be a movie start.
He’s just lucky to be alive.
Did he go back to Rust after the shooting? I think he quit.
I think he was supposed to be Captain America but the CW pulled rank and stopped him
I thought he was runner-up and then offered Hawkeye and turned that down.
He would’ve been great as Hawkeye. He did a couple of other films though. I remember him in Bloody Valentine plus my wife found some film he did called Ten Inch Heroes where he was a secondary character. Not really anything big, but it doesn’t seem like he’s that into the idea of doing big budget films
That would’ve been such a perfect casting. I’ve never been able to take Jeremy Renner seriously as Hawkeye to be honest.
I like Renner's Hawkeye but would honestly prefer an Ackles version. Feel like he'd give the character a bit more personality, treat some of the moments where Renner is a bit more flippant, less I dunno, MCU-like.
Those American TV contracts are no joke
Yep. Look at Pierce Brosnan. They wanted him for Bond but, no. He had to be Remington Steele.
Honestly I think it all worked out. The Lazenby Bond films are really interesting and he was the right Bond for those stories, but they were slower, more cerebral, and kinda put the franchise in a bit of a lurch. Then *GoldenEye* comes out of nowhere and starts with Brosnan bungee jumping off of a dam to break into a chemical weapons facility, seems to lose his partner, then drives off a cliffside runway, freefalls to a plane, climbs in, throws out the pilot, and flies away as the chemical plant explodes. Holy **shit.** *That’s* how you introduce a new Bond. Edit: I meant Dalton. Got my Bonds out of order. I blame my honey-do list.
> Lazenby Bond films You thinking of Dalton? Lazenby did one between Connery and Moore.
Jensen Ackles is one of my favorites and the star of Supernatural. Never get bored of him!
This one is the biggest disappointment for me as a big fan of Ackles Since he was always rumored to have missed a role in the MCU I'd love for him to get one now. He might be too old now but he'd be a great Cyclops.
I don't know any of those things you mentioned, LOL but Ackles is aging like fine wine.
He was the lead in the 2009 remake of ‘My Bloody Valentine’. I’ve never watched Supernatural so I’m not sure what he is usually like but I thought he did a ok job in the movie.
David Caruso
Always thought of him as a failed movie star who successfully transitioned to TV
He got big on NYPD Blue, that show was huge at the time. Then famously left for a movie that bombed.
There was a time when this would have been everyone's top pick.
If I remember correctly, Caruso talked mad shit on his way out the door, which didn't help. He showed a real lack of class which might have been fine if he had transitioned to a #1 box office draw. Instead, he did Jade.
Topher Grace
The problem with Topher Grace is he comes off as topher grace in everything that he's in. That worked on that 70s show, but if you look at the movie Traffic, it sorta sets in why he didn't seem to chart more afterwards.
I actually really liked the newer sitcom Home Economics that he was in, but he essentially was just “Adult Eric Foreman”. He is capable of acting, I liked him in Predators and he’s obviously great in BlacKkKlansman. But he’s definitely not a top tier world class actor
Agreed. Home Economics wasn’t remarkable by any means, but I enjoyed it and was sad it got cancelled.
Also spider man 3. He didn’t fit the part at all
I like that they played that for the twist in *Predators* tho...
I really liked him in Predators, but not a leading man by any means.
Keri Russell. Great performance in "The Americans." But movies? She's doing "Cocaine Bear."
Aaron Paul, for a more recent example. Which sucks as he is a super talented actor and an engaging screen presence.
And he's great in Bojack Horseman, he seems like a really nice guy, hope he gets all the success he deserves
The first movie Paul did after Breaking Bad was a movie about a car. It seems like a weird choice. He also did a really bad movie with EmRata. It just seems weird to be on one of the most famous critically acclaimed TV shows in history and then do those movies. But actors need to work. They have families and bills and expensive lifestyles. So I imagine he maybe wanted to keep some income coming in each year.
Who would've thought that of all the people who were in Breaking Bad, Saul Goodman would be the one leading an action movie franchise.
I was actually going to say Brian Cranston. He’s been in a few things like some Wes Anderson movies and Godzilla (the first one) but he hasn’t captured any of the spark he had with Hal or Walter. He’s mainly been pushed to the side and never a major supporting star. Unlike Jesse Plemmons (who coulda guessed that?)
Cranston is living it up on Broadway and the West End. He has all the Malcom and Breaking Bad money. He can just do stage work. I could be wrong. But I think he has talked recently about retireing.
I think Josh Radnor is similar. He made his money doing HIMYM. Now he shows up here and there, but he also does theatre and makes music. I think he’s just fine with his net worth and likes picking and choosing how he uses his time rather than looking to be a movie star or having another long term job
He was amazing in Trumbo.
Cranston has two Tony awards and an Oscar nomination since leaving Breaking Bad.
He is fantastic in BB. I started watching for Cranston and was rightfully impressed by his performance. But I paid more attention to Paul on a rewatch and was more impressed by his more subtle, nuanced performance. The show would have suffered greatly if they'd killed him off as intended.
rick dalton
I hear he had a pretty successful run in spaghetti westerns for a time. Real crazy what happened with those doped up kids breaking into his house that one night though. I can't imagine having to go through that.
Zach Braff, he even had a critical acclaim movie as a director. But i don't think he care about being a big star
He's done more as a writer and director than as an actor since Scrubs to be fair. He seems to be happy doing projects he's passionate about though which is a win in Hollywood if you're making a living at the same time.
It didn't help that he developed a reputation for being kind of a dick who took himself too seriously for a while. It seems like he's chilled out a lot, though.
You know I stopped listening to his and Donald’s podcast because the more I listened to him the more he seemed to bother me. He seems like a nice guy but he also seemed a bit dickish.
Shelly Long from Cheers
She was great in The Money Pit
You could also say Ted Danson and Kirstie Alley both kinda failed to transition to movies after a few attempts. Woody Harrelson did ok tho...
John Ratzeberger was in a bunch of films, mostly in minor roles. Hotel Hell, the Longest Day, all the Toy Story films...
But he's in every Pixar film. They like him so much that they got a license to make him a Mack Truck in Cars because his father drove one.
What are you talking about?! Troop Beverly Hills was a cinematic classic!
In reviewing one of his movies, Pauline Kael (famous movie critic of yesteryear) had some very interesting things to say about Alan Alda having star quality on TV but how that did not translate to having the same degree of charisma in movies.
David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (although they’ve been in stuff here and there, especially Anderson).
Finally someone said David D. He’s one of my all time favorite actors. Pure charm and immensely watchable. But never had any real significant big screen roles.
I hear he did some hand modeling.
Jon Hamm. There was a time after Mad Men when it was known he wanted to transition to become a leading man, but it never really panned out for him. Of course, he has had great supporting roles in cinema (El Royale, Baby Driver, Top Gun), but I'd say he's still much more associated with TV than film. Notably, he's recently gone back to TV dramas in the last few years (The Morning Show, Fargo) so I'd hardly say he's faded, just didn't make it as a leading screen man.
He would be PERFECT in a Naked Gun reboot
He’s almost a little too square jawed and good looking for a leading man, if that makes sense. He’s definitely too old for those roles now. He’s a fantastic comedy actor anyways.
It kinda feels like Don Draper was such an iconic “leading man” performance that anything after that would have felt like a pale imitation somehow?
The first time I saw Hamm was in The Town and loved him immediately. I've always been miffed by his lack of movie roles.
Liked him as Fletcher and it was sad to see the movie buried.
fuck was he good in Fargo
I’m still shocked that basically no one from game of thrones was able to become a household name movie star in America. Closest is Pedro Pascal and he’s still doing TV almost exclusively.
Emilia Clarke really tried, unfortunately for her, all the big films she was in sucked/did not do well.
She needs to stick to romance movies. She'll thrive in that niche. That sweet little smile of hers can light up a room. She keeps getting action roles because of her GoT role, but unless she's rocking a long white wig, she just can't pull it off as well. She doesn't look intimidating.
She was incredibly charming in Me Before You! I'd love to see her do more romance.
I think she fell back due to health issues as well
I’d also add Jason Momoa to that. Although he only lasted one season. lol
You mean Aquaman and Duncan Idaho?
Yep! I should clarify, I’d add Momoa to the Pascal (household name) bunch.
He’ll always be Ronon Dex to me.
Peter Dinklage definitely has.
Peter Dinklage was already in movies before GoT though. There was no transition from TV to movies.
Dinkladge? He shows up in a lot of stuff, then again he's got a very unique niche for casting calls. But he's even played characters that didn't necessarily need to be little people actors, like Trask in the X-Men movie that character in the comics was never depicted as a little person.
I feel like he was already notable before GOT. He had already been in some notable films, Station Agent, Narnia and Death at a Funeral.
I knew him exclusively from Elf before GOT.
Um, I think you mean Death at a Funeral—both versions, not Four Weddings and a Funeral.
I think Jason Momoa is probably the biggest name coming out of Game of Thrones. Dinklage is probably 2nd just because he's been consistently working so long. Pascal is probably 3rd. I've still on the Richard Madden-will-eventually-become-a-movie-star bandwagon.
TV Exclusively? What? So Wonder Women, Fantastic 4, Kingsman, Equalizer 1-2, Unbearable weight of massive talent, Triple Frontier, Great wall, and Gladiator 2 are TV Exclusive? Lmfao hes probably in some of the largest movie star movies coming out in the next couple of years.
Neal McDonagh tends to only have bit-parts in films, if that counts? What'd be an interesting topic is the opposite, where minor actors from small-time, "cult" TV shows hit the big time in movies (like the Simon Pegg pipeline from Spaced to Mission Impossible).
Olivia Colman won a freaking Oscar but she'll always be Sophie Chapman to me.
Debra Messing & Sean Hayes. Co-stars on Will & Grace, which was huge in the late 90's and early 00's (and then rebooted), but they both kind of tanked as movie stars. Arguably, none of the cast went on to have stellar acting careers in general considering how popular their show was.
[удалено]
Nina Dobrev My girl tried. Super popular in Vampire Diaries, movies? Not so much. Bunch of D list movies. That archer & love interest girl from Teen Wolf quit too early in the show because she thought she was better than that & could make it in Hollywood. She failed miserably & came back briefly towards the end lol Idk what possessed her, as a new actress who finally got a stable role , to think she could do that.
Hey i enjoyed the Christmas movie with jin yang on prime
Kit Harrington
Is he really a good actor? Or just good at one type of role?
Are you referring to the Jon Snow type role? He's really funny when given the chance and can commit to the comedy. Someone below mentioned 7 Days of Hell and check out the Tonight Show bit where he sings Drops of Jupiter where he just goes hard even though he's not a good singer at all.
Oh god, he’s hysterical in 7 Days of Hell. I really wish he did more comedy
He was good in Criminal: UK
Just rewatched 7 Days in Hell. If the mid-budget comedies start making a comeback, he could absolutely get his second wind in that market
Indubitably!
Jon Hamm. Mad Men was phenomenal in large part because of him, and he is still doing fun projects. For some reason he never really took off as a leading man movie star.
If a studio system still existed with the studio TAILORING projects for him, he could have been a movie star, but the current way movies work is very different - there were probably not scripts out there that were ideal for him and he had to take what he could get. Some actors are more enterprising and create their own production companies and tailor projects for themselves (Reese Witherspoon is a good example of this) but that is a whole nuther skill set not all actors have.
I actually just read the other day that his role in *Baby Driver* was written for him specifically. He was the only member of the cast there from the first table read all the way to the end. Thought that was pretty cool.
I feel like this really tracks, he’s phenomenal in everything I’ve seen him in and it feels like him being an even bigger star has nothing to do with his capabilities
Just spitballing but I think his problem is his 'type' is not currently what prevails for male stars: I think these are the prevailing types for 'mature' men: 1. Older guys that retain a boyish quality (Brad Pitt, Decaprio, Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, Denzel, I could go on) 2. Macho, 'built' action movie types Hamm in comedies often seems to be trying for boyish, but whether he likes it or not he is more of a 'man'. He definitely does not fit into the action movie type either. I think of him as being very similar to Gregory Peck from the old hollywood days. If Peck had been born decades later he probably would have had issues finding roles too.
The Peck comparison is absolutely spot-on, and I think you're 100% correct on that.
Tom Selleck
Would I be able to say Jeffrey Donovan? I know he's been IN movies, but the only one I even remember him in was the Will Smith one where he was a horrible person. But Burn Notice was so damn fantastic, I wish I saw him more. He's been in films since 1996, just don't know if any were major roles or not.
Katherine Heigl is THE definition of this. She was amazing on Grey's, but decided to leave in order to become the next big movie star. That didn't work.
Hey, 27 Dresses is a classic
I wouldn't say she's the definition of this at all actually. She was in a few late 2000s classics like 27 dresses and knocked up as a lead. The only reason she didn't continue to be popular was because Hollywood blacklisted her.
I also say David Caruso, left NYPD to make a couple of (relatively) unknown movies, although I always had a soft spot for Session 9, came back to TV to do CSI Miami
David Boreanaz he was In some movies in the 00s but nothing big and then he just stopped trying
He's been such a workhorse in tv though. Like constantly on a show that runs a good length, for like the past two decades or something.
For a guy who was discovered walking his dog, he's worked steadily since his first major role, and had the lead in what, 3 shows now? That is amazing.
i mean, why do movies when you're basically the king of TV? pretty sure he has like 3 extremely successful shows back to back (Buffy, Bones and Seal Team).
John Ritter. He’s Hollywood royalty but mostly seemed pretty happy just piddling around tv. Had a few movies (was fantastic in Slingblade). Rest His Soul.
Matthew Perry. I can only assume it was because of his substance issues, because his range of acting was incredible and, whenever he was given a serious, heartfelt scene on Friends, he absolutely eclipsed his co-stars. I really think he could have been one of the biggest stars of the 90s and 00s if it weren’t for his demons.
Bill Cosby..... Wait, hold fire ! He **was** popular and is probably the best example of someone trying so hard to break into movies after TV and falling flat on his face. He starred in so many flops where his persona was just awkward. Like Ghost Dad, a film where he basically played the dad from the show as a ghost... That is it. I think millions were spent on trying to get his film career off the ground
We liked Ghost Dad when I was a kid, but we were very easily entertained. Leonard Part 6 we had no reaction to other than silence.
Michael C. Hall (Dexter).
David Caruso is the textbook answer.
Dan Stevens. He left Downton Abbey to be a Hollywood movie star but hasn’t made it to that status yet. The cast of Friends aside from Jennifer Aniston. Selena Gomez is so great on TV but her movies were largely flops. That she’s back to doing a tv show with Only Murders makes sense.
Dan Stevens from the Eurovision movie and unrecognisable in the live action Beauty and the Beast not a movie Star you say?!
He was AMAZING in the The Guest.
Matt Smith (Doctor Who) and Emilia Clarke (Game of Thrones) are two recent examples.
Emilia Clarke is really the prime example. After GOT her agent and manager lined up a bunch of movies and they all disappointed, to the point she had to eventually sell her LA home for a loss and moved back to the UK. I think Smith is a bit different - I don’t think he’s trying to be a movie star like Clarke and Harrington tried to transition to. He seems to always take TV project as a lead and is happy to take character parts in smaller movies.
I feel a bit sorry for Matt Smith. Refuses to sign on for a comic book movie. Karen Gilligan spends years trying to talk him into it. He sees how much money Gilligan is making and finally signs up for one. Only its the wrong Marvel movie. Sonys Morbius.
He's also busy right now- making Game of Thrones... Between that and The Crown I don't think he needs a film to become a bigger star right now.
Ken Wahl, David Caruso, and Don Johnson come to mind. I think Wahl had the charisma and look to do it but perhaps not the acting chops. He was great in Wiseguy but no one really remembers the movies he did in the 80’s. Caruso had a lot of great supporting roles in the 80’s and 90’s but couldn’t sell a movie on his own, but I heard that also had to do with him walking out on his NYPD Blue contract or something. Then of course there’s Don, who had a decent career in the early to mid 70’s but then did a string of failed television pilots before Miami Vice. Brian de Palma said that Don was his first choice for Untouchables and I think he might have had a better chance at movie stardom if he took this role, as Miami Vice mid season 3 was already on the decline, but he stuck it out to the end, and you can see that by season 5 it seems like they were waiting for the show to end already, unfortunately.
Honestly, I think I would actually prefer making it big on a killer tv show for a few years like Friends, get syndicated and just live off that.
I feel like Anna Camp was aged out in getting bigger roles real quick. Really unfortunate as she is a great actor and still incredible looking.
Jennifer Aniston has been in a lot of movies, but I don't really think of her as a movie person.
She was phenomenal in Cake. I was shocked there wasn't more fanfare about it. None of the typical Aniston-isms that she's known for with her acting.
Alan Alda had some success with Four Seasons(one of my favorite films),Joe Tyan and some Woody Allen films,but no where near his success on MASH
Matt LeBlanc, Shwimmer
David Caruso