Tom Cruise != Iron Man

[fantastic_four]

There are lots of well-loved actors who aren't great character actors and more or less play the same guy over and over again. John Wayne and Cary Grant were like that. Jack Nicholson is mostly like that as well, although he has tried to do quite a few character roles; the way he carries his voice is so distinctive, however, I have trouble seeing past Jack and to whatever character he's playing. If you've got a naturally likable personality, then plenty of directors are going to want you to portray that part of yourself in their films.

[burntboy]

There are lots of well-loved actors who aren't great character actors and more or less play the same guy over and over again. John Wayne and Cary Grant were like that. If you've got a naturally likable personality, then plenty of directors are going to want you to portray that part of yourself in their films.

 

totally agree - Cary Grant is my all-time favorite actor. and John Wayne was no slouch, either. but you're right, they pretty much played them selves throughout their careers. Wayne's the Quiet Man and Grant's North by Northwest being two that strayed a wee bit. Quiet Man had no Military, Police or Western connections and No by NoWest was one of the extremely few Grant movies that had no comedic undertones.........

[skybolt]

There are lots of well-loved actors who aren't great character actors and more or less play the same guy over and over again. John Wayne and Cary Grant were like that. If you've got a naturally likable personality, then plenty of directors are going to want you to portray that part of yourself in their films.

 

totally agree - Cary Grant is my all-time favorite actor. and John Wayne was no slouch, either. but you're right, they pretty much played them selves throughout their careers. Wayne's the Quiet Man and Grant's North by Northwest being two that strayed a wee bit. Quiet Man had no Military, Police or Western connections and No by NoWest was one of the extremely few Grant movies that had no comedic undertones.........

 

Doesn't Michael Douglas also play the same character in every movie?!

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

There are lots of well-loved actors who aren't great character actors and more or less play the same guy over and over again. John Wayne and Cary Grant were like that. If you've got a naturally likable personality, then plenty of directors are going to want you to portray that part of yourself in their films.

 

totally agree - Cary Grant is my all-time favorite actor. and John Wayne was no slouch, either. but you're right, they pretty much played them selves throughout their careers. Wayne's the Quiet Man and Grant's North by Northwest being two that strayed a wee bit. Quiet Man had no Military, Police or Western connections and No by NoWest was one of the extremely few Grant movies that had no comedic undertones.........

 

Doesn't Michael Douglas also play the same character in every movie?!

 

He had a pretty funny role in "The In-Laws", I enjoyed that movie.

[jediknight]

By the way, how did Tom Cruise become so famous with such a humongous parrot sized honker like that?! You would think that such a abnormal protruding sniper rifle like that woulda cost im' more roles than just Iron Man!

[DoubleCovaBrotha]

By the way, how did Tom Cruise become so famous with such a humongous parrot sized honker like that?! You would think that such a abnormal protruding sniper rifle like that woulda cost im' more roles than just Iron Man!

 

I don't know...most girls I know think he is very attractive. And his nose did not cost him the role of Iron Man...he turned it down.

[comicartfan]

As far as TC as Iron Man, I think it was probably the old "creative differances" - he wanted the movie to go one way, someone else wanted another. He basically could get any movie greenlighted , it's more of what does Tom want to do !?

 

I think the problem with people like Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Halle Berry , Jack Nicholson, Bruce Willis, etc.....is that they become victims of their own success. While they climb the ladder and become more visible, it turns into "oh, this is TC doing this character. " - as a movie goer, you never fully get lost in the movie and the believabilty of the performance. - I think that very few actors are able to "disappear" into a performance. Spencer Tracy, Henry Fonda were able to do that. I never feel as if i am watching "spencer tracy" acting.....i felt as if i was watching that character...as if i am truly a fly on the wall......Morgan Freeman is like that for me. Although, he has to be careful what he does or he will lose that. Tom Hanks does that too....even for such a big star.....who can watch Forresst Gump and not feel that he is Forresst ?! - It's a fine line between an actor and a movie star......Peter O'Toole has a great line in "My Favorite Year" ----I'm not an actor, I'm a movie star ! " -

[Aman619]

I don't want to make it sound like Stan Lee is a genius, because he isn't--he just applied standard elements of solid fiction to comics, particularly likable characters that the reader could identify with. However, Avi Arad has only been able to land two directors who have been able to take Stan's focus on character and translate it to the big screen--Sam Raimi, and to a lesser extent, Bryan Singer. Mark Steven Johnson did it third-best with Daredevil, although character took a close-but-not-quite back-seat to action in that film. For Rob Bowman (Elektra) and David Goyer (Blade 3), believable characters you could identify with seem to be a concept they're familiar with but aren't as fond of as they are non-stop action. I'm not optimistic that Tim Story isn't going to take Fantastic Four down the same path to mediocrity that Bowan and Goyer did by letting character take a back seat to special effects.

 

Tony Stark is fairly tough to pull off. Tom Cruise may just be arrogant, because he often comes off that way and has always played characters who are like that, and he's become used to working with the best directors in the world over the last few years (Spielberg, Kubrick, Cameron Crowe, De Palma, John Woo) which may have gone to his head. However, I agree with some of the others in the thread--he may be seeing something in the direction Avi Arad and Nick Cassavetes are taking the film that he has a good reason not to like. I definitely trust his ability to assess that more than I do Avi Arad's (how did he let Elektra become the film that it did? )

 

It looks like Nick Cassavetes is yet ANOTHER inexperienced director of a Marvel film. However, on the plus side, it looks like he's had a lot of dramatic acting experience: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001024/

 

FF good analysis, but I think its built on a faulty premise. Diredctors and actors dont get chosen from off a shelf for each movie as to what will be best for that movie. You can only choose from who's available in your window of opportunity. These are jobs to the 100s of people who work on all aspects of a film. You have to assemble who you can for when you can get them together. People are slotted in and out accodordingly. Compromises are made for nearly every position, above and below the line.

 

It does sound like Cruise opting out is a bad sign for the film. But I havent been following it or Cruises other films he's attached to. He also produces his own movies so, like Cameron, he may just not care to work on something he does not own or does not have a strong personal desire to do at this point. But not to worry, Marvel has doene well with small name actors so far.... so if the -script is good and the film comes together, even a lousy drunk like Iron Man could still be a godd enough movie to watch.

[jediknight]

Alright, so you guys are sayin' that it was not Tom Cruise's frikken' penguin [#@$%!!!] nose that disqualified him from the role of Tony Stark -seeing that his nose couldn't fit into the metal casque?

[Smokinghawk]

I wouldn't mind seeing James Marsters in the part.