To Be or Not To Be...An Actor--A Guest Post

Recently I was sucked into a popular book and movie franchise. Whenever I get interested in a movie, person, author, or whatever, I read all I can about them.  I use Wikipedia (I know, I know, not a reliable source), IMDB, YouTube, reviews, soundtracks; whatever I can to know everything about everyone involved. In my “research” I learned that the actress playing the main character in this franchise is considered a bad actor. 

Okay fine, it is Twilight and Kristen Stewart (insert hanging of the head here).  These bad reviews baffled me a little bit.  I didn’t find anything in her portrayal bad (the only thing I can say on her performance is that I read Bella in my head happier than she played her). She gave Bella a few qualities, like eye blinking and being clumsy, and I thought her waking up screaming in New Moon was quite good. Did you see the scene when the change started, her internal struggling? 

After that I watched another one of her movies on Netflix, Welcome to the Riley’s.  She plays an under-aged, foul mouthed, stripper/hooker and I didn’t find anything wrong with that performance either. It was very different from Bella, so I thought, she has range.  But review after review said “she is a bad actor”.

                Clearly I don’t know what makes someone good at acting. 

I would think that the main consideration is being able to make others believe you are someone else.  I truly believe that Jim Parsons is Sheldon Cooper.  There is no one else who could make that character what Jim makes him.  He uses his voice, inflection, facial features, and body to make me believe he is a crazy dork. Wait, he’s not crazy, his mother had him tested.  I believe that Jim Parsons is not like that in real life, so he is acting. 

There are some actors I don’t believe have to act to play their characters. Rachel Green and Jennifer Aniston are the same person, so I don’t think any actual acting was happening there.   She is usually cast as an ingénue and I believe that is what she basically is. Now you will remind me of her character Justine in The Good Girl.  Yes, it was a vast departure from her previous work, but because it was so different I didn’t buy it.  On the flip side of the Friends coin is Lisa Kudrow, such a smart person playing a ditz. All Acting.

There are actors who have been around a while and have honed their chops who are supposed to be good actors that I don’t enjoy watching.  Meryl Streep is one of them as is Claire Danes.  But I immensely enjoy Enrico Colantoni from Just Shoot Me to Veronica Mars to Flash Point.

It is easy for us to name our favorite actors and call them good.  But really, what is it that makes a good actor?  What performances did you buy?  Or not?

Author’s Note:  The author understands that some people may not like Kristen Stewart because they don’t like Bella’s weak character.  But we can’t all be Katniss Everdeens. 

(CJ Mitchell is not a writer, but a reader and tv watcher. She recently tried to teach a youth group 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon and they said “Who is Kevin Bacon?”.   If she could empty her head of all the useless knowledge there might be room for something important like brain surgery or rocket science.)