Royko (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} royko) wrote,@ 2009-07-03 00:15:00 |
|
...well, you f----- the meter reader!...
The central collective over at Yahoo alerts me to a US Magazine story about a spat between Megan Fox and Michael Bay. Apparently, Megan had the audacity to point out that Michael Bay movies are about slo-mo explosions:
She is pretty much dead-on to the point of banality in this statement. I don't know anyone who has seen a Michael Bay movie who would disagree. On the other hand, let's be serious. She didn't get this job or any subsequent ones because of her acting abilities. She got the gig because she has tits, a flawless complexion, and the body fat index of an aphid. I don't expect to see her in Ibsen any time soon, and if she does achieve critical success, it will likely be of the Hollywood bar-lowering, condescending, "wow, pretty people can kind of act" way. Unless she uglifies herself like Charlize Theron, and then everyone will coo about how great it is that someone so pretty can make herself so uggo for her art.
But then Bay defends himself:
None of this really refutes the charge. But it's even more ridiculous than that. If anyone has a claim to discovering Ben Affleck, it's Kevin Smith. And then Affleck followed up indie success with his own hit Oscar-winning (albeit for writing) collaboration with Matt Damon on Good Will Hunting. As for Nick Cage, he'd starred in cult classics Raising Arizona and Vampire's Kiss and had a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got married and the male lead role in Oscar-winning Moonstruck. And THAT was before going on to have leading roles in Guarding Tess and It Could Happen To You and then winning the Best Actor Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas.
As for Shia, it's true his pre-Transformer's roles were more limited, but he had small parts in major action movies like I, Robot and Constantine and was definitely getting noticed. And I'd bet that he was probably already cast in Indy 4 before Transformers actually came out. So it's not like he was a complete nobody. Will Smith had a successful rap and TV career. (I'm not even going to google Martin Lawrence to see what he'd done pre-Bay.)
Now, it's true that with each of these actors, being in a crappy Michael Bay action flick helped Hollywood and audiences to see these actors as big budget action heroes for the first time (which is particularly unfortunate in the cases of Ben Affleck and Nick Cage.) But they all had established careers and two of them even had Oscars.
And even the fact that he helped them get future roles in movies where things blow up doesn't really say anything about his movies helping actors be known for their acting. In Cage's case, his acting bona fides were mostly established by Leaving Las Vegas, for Affleck it was Chasing Amy, for Will Smith, it was Six Degrees of Separation. Michael Bay helped them all command bigger salaries, for which they must be grateful, and for which Megan Fox should be grateful. But none of that changes the fact that actors in Michael Bay movies could essentially be replaced with crash test dummies without anyone being the wiser.
The central collective over at Yahoo alerts me to a US Magazine story about a spat between Megan Fox and Michael Bay. Apparently, Megan had the audacity to point out that Michael Bay movies are about slo-mo explosions:
Fox told Entertainment Weekly: "I mean, I can't s--- on this movie because it did give me a career and open all these doors for me. But I don't want to blow smoke up people's a--. People are well aware that this is not a movie about acting."
She is pretty much dead-on to the point of banality in this statement. I don't know anyone who has seen a Michael Bay movie who would disagree. On the other hand, let's be serious. She didn't get this job or any subsequent ones because of her acting abilities. She got the gig because she has tits, a flawless complexion, and the body fat index of an aphid. I don't expect to see her in Ibsen any time soon, and if she does achieve critical success, it will likely be of the Hollywood bar-lowering, condescending, "wow, pretty people can kind of act" way. Unless she uglifies herself like Charlize Theron, and then everyone will coo about how great it is that someone so pretty can make herself so uggo for her art.
But then Bay defends himself:
Bay says he "100 percent disagrees" with Fox.
"Nick Cage wasn't a big actor when I cast him, nor was Ben Affleck before I put him in 'Armageddon.' Shia LaBeouf wasn't a big movie star before he did 'Transformers' -- and then he exploded. Not to mention Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, from 'Bad Boys'," he points out.
None of this really refutes the charge. But it's even more ridiculous than that. If anyone has a claim to discovering Ben Affleck, it's Kevin Smith. And then Affleck followed up indie success with his own hit Oscar-winning (albeit for writing) collaboration with Matt Damon on Good Will Hunting. As for Nick Cage, he'd starred in cult classics Raising Arizona and Vampire's Kiss and had a supporting role in Peggy Sue Got married and the male lead role in Oscar-winning Moonstruck. And THAT was before going on to have leading roles in Guarding Tess and It Could Happen To You and then winning the Best Actor Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas.
As for Shia, it's true his pre-Transformer's roles were more limited, but he had small parts in major action movies like I, Robot and Constantine and was definitely getting noticed. And I'd bet that he was probably already cast in Indy 4 before Transformers actually came out. So it's not like he was a complete nobody. Will Smith had a successful rap and TV career. (I'm not even going to google Martin Lawrence to see what he'd done pre-Bay.)
Now, it's true that with each of these actors, being in a crappy Michael Bay action flick helped Hollywood and audiences to see these actors as big budget action heroes for the first time (which is particularly unfortunate in the cases of Ben Affleck and Nick Cage.) But they all had established careers and two of them even had Oscars.
And even the fact that he helped them get future roles in movies where things blow up doesn't really say anything about his movies helping actors be known for their acting. In Cage's case, his acting bona fides were mostly established by Leaving Las Vegas, for Affleck it was Chasing Amy, for Will Smith, it was Six Degrees of Separation. Michael Bay helped them all command bigger salaries, for which they must be grateful, and for which Megan Fox should be grateful. But none of that changes the fact that actors in Michael Bay movies could essentially be replaced with crash test dummies without anyone being the wiser.
