During a roundtable interview with Michael Caine, I watched the actor make a tent of his fingers, furrow his brow, and ponder this question: “Is there something that you wish moviegoers and filmcritics would learn to understand about movies, something we just don’t get?”
A rather open-ended question. But Caine, one of the more enthusiastic and approachable actors I’ve interviewed, responded with sincerity:
“If you are sitting there watching the film and thinking to yourself, That is Michael Caine giving a great performance!, then I have failed! My job as an actor is to make you forget you’re watching Michael Caine. You should be absorbed in the character and the story.”
I’ll bet any good actor would agree with him.
But really… this is Michael Caine we’re talking about.
Watching The Dark Knight, I sat there thinking: “Michael Caine is giving one of the best performances in this film.” And the posters for Caine’s new film, Is Anybody There? has a quote shouting out at me: “The marvelous Michael Caine gives one of the best performances of his career.”
Game over?
I’m conflicted about this. Movies shouldn’t be sports, should they? We shouldn’t be sitting there thinking “Look at Daniel Day-Lewis go!” But then, in that sense, Jack Nicholson’s career was over a long, long time ago. Who can see his characters and forget he’s Jack? I certainly couldn’t while I watched The Departed.
The more time I spend reading reviews, watching television, or — well — existing in this pop-culture saturated by celebrity news, the more I bring with me a brain full of trivia, gossip, and opinion about the actors in any given American movie.
When I heard that Matthew McCounaughey might the front-runner to play The Lone Ranger in an upcoming franchise, I was immediately disappointed, believing that it would be very difficult to find any kind of frivolous pleasure in watching the eventual movie. How could I hope to write a decent, fair assessment of it when the man’s record of romances and reckless behavior makes me want to scream at the sight of his grin?
Perhaps this is why I am finding so much satisfaction in watching foreign and independent films these days. Are these films really that much better, though? Or is my enjoyment coming from the experience of seeing unfamiliar faces, observing unfamiliar styles… faces and styles that will be all the more familiar, and distracting, next time?
Was I unable to actually see Rachel Getting Married clearly? I’d read gossip about what was happening in Anne Hathaway’s personal life around the time she starred in that film. When people talked about how un-glamorous she looked in the film, and how realistically she portrayed a woman in trouble, I was thinking, “Well, yeah… have you read about what was going on with her?”
I haven’t seen Two Lovers yet, primarily because I’m trying to forget the last few months of press on Joaquin Phoenix.
When actors and directors achieve celebrity status, is the show over?
I’ll be thinking about this as I watch Michael Caine star in Is Anybody There?
But I’ll be trying with all my might not to think about it. I want to believe that Michael Caine will be so good that I’ll forget he’s even there.
… To Be Continued …
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Question:
Are there any well-known actors so talented that, in spite of being famous, they make you forget who they are when they’re onscreen?
Can you name a directors who make you forget about the celebrities in their films, or — even better — who make you forget who’s directing?