I was shocked to discover that Robin Wright was being paid less than Kevin Spacey for her role in House of Cards. While his performance is OK but nothing a hundred other actors couldn’t do just as well or better, she makes the whole show. Wright is the only reason many people keep watching the show. She is very talented in a way that American actors almost never are. Spacey is an indifferent actor, and his weird accent in this show is nothing but a distraction.
This is simply wrong.
When I was a teen… and I cannot believe I am sharing this embarrassing anectode with you and your many enlightened readers, I had a crush on Robin Wright. And because of that crush I kept watching a soap opera called Santa Barbara in which she played. It was broadcast right after school, and translated in French.
Even then and in a soap opera I felt that she was special.
There. I said it.
And you are right about HofC. She is the only reason why I watched three seasons of that thing.
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I think Spacey is just fine in the series (fake and theatrical – but so is the character) but yes, Wright is why I keep watching and is far more interesting. She’s unlike any character on TV before, unique and special (ps I never much cared for her movie work).
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Mr Spacey does evil mean bastard well, but he’s not in the top tier of American actors, I’ll grant you that.
If you want to talk about talented American actors, there’s Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, George Clooney in almost anything he does, and the guy who played the lead role in Ant-Man. Oh, and Michael Douglas, the grandson of a Jewish rag merchant, IIRC. Sean Penn, Ms. Wright’s ex, Bob Odenkirk, Nicholas Cage(who is batshit-crazy btw, naming his son Kal-el after the Kryptonian name of Superman).
But you’re right, there’s hardly any good American actors these days.
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A agree on Jim Carey and Nicholas Cage. There’s definitely talent there. Also, Dustin Hoffman is good. As for George Clooney, I only saw him in a couple of commercial pretty boy roles. Maybe he’s good elsewhere, I don’t know. And I’m unfamiliar with Oden Kirk at all.
It’s good to see somebody who understands acting. Great comment.
Odenkirk was on the Mr. Show comedy show, and is the title character in Better Call Saul. Clooney is good in the Coen Brothers movie Brother, Where Art Thou? and a movie about the late Edward R. Murrow, Goodnight and Goodluck.
I agree about Hoffman, and would add Pachino, DeNero, and Richard Dreyfuss.
This is from one of his movies, Moon Over Parador, where he plays an actor who is drafted into impersonating a dead Central American dictator.
Jack Noah: [after being asked to be the dead dictator’s imposter] Why couldn’t you get Bobby DeNiro or Dustin Hoffman?
Roberto Strausmann: Not available! I would have given my right arm to work with Bobby DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman!
Jack Noah: [under his breath] They always say that about DeNiro and Hoffman.
Jack Noah: [comes out later dressed as Simms] Roberto! What happened? I must have fallen asleep in the meat locker.
Roberto Strausmann: [mouth agape at his resemblence to Simms] Bravo!
Jack Noah: [sticks out his tongue] On Bobby DeNiro!
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Oh, the Better Call Saul guy! I know him. You are right, he is talented. I thought I’d hate the show but I really enjoyed the first season.
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A conservative literary critic and college professor
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