new thread
Hi,
I cant see why people on this board are flattered by LOTR as a long hair movie, but in reality, most of the actors are wearing fake hairs, and I think this can be noticed easily when you have a seroius look.
Actors and other big stars dont have a gram of sincerity in them. They have long hair just for the sake of a movie. Just look at Mel Gibson or other such guys.
Hi Tarikh, that really bugs me too. I just don't understand why they don't just grow their real hair long and keep it long since most of their movie roles call for long hair anyway. Absalom
why they don't just grow their real hair long and keep it long since most of their movie roles call for long hair anyway. Absalom
Actually, most parts today don't call for long hair. There are more openings for shaggy hair, but not that many for long.
I work with actors as a manager. I will usually counsel them to keep their hair on the longish side, but to cut it as requested for a decent part. It's really like walking a tightrope. If the part needs long hair, the casting director will frequently opt for someone whose hair is long rather than a wig. Some casting directors won't even think about cutting the hair unless you tell them up front that you're willing. Changing hair / clothes / even weight as needed is part of the job.
I have one 19 year old client that hasn't seen his real hair color in years. He colored it for a part years ago and the casting directors liked it. It's been that color ever since.
I guess you have a point there and I might have been a bit hasty with my earlier remark. Absalom
You see, movies strive to instill the viewers with something called "Total supsension of disbelief". This is where you don't think "Wow, this is a great set, and and it looks real, and the actors are doing a good job" it's where you actually forget that they are watching a movie, and that they are actors, or even that it is fiction. To accomplish this producers will do two things. One, they will alter the actors' appearances to fit a character (for example the hobbits have shaggy, curly hair and the elves have long, straight hair). The second, is that they will somehow alter the persona of the actor so that you're not thinking "Wow pre-crime chief John is doing a good job in Japan as a Samurai" but rather start sympathizing with Captain Allgren (cruise's character in 'Samurai').
Now actors get paid to fit a persona. You don't want Mel Gibson fighting the british in the revolutionary war (nor do you want WIlliam wallace to either): you want Benjamin Martin. So actors change their hair, their tone, their demeanor, their accent in order to fit a character, and seeing as how they may play several characters within the space of a year, it simply is not practical for them to keep their hair in one particular style.
That "Ball" Guy
I totally understand where you're coming from. It isn't so much that I'm flattered by LOTR, but that I think the characters just look really cool with long hair. I'm not laboring under the delusion that the actors have anything to do with the fantasy world they perform in. On the other hand, I'm not insulted by the fact they are wearing wigs or that they don't actually go on high adventures slaying orcs and demonic overlords.
What ThatBallGuy said is true, especially when they are doing a movie or something else relatively short lived. They've got to make a living, right? What happens when the next movie Viggo Mortensen acts in calls for him to play a military officer or a prisoner? Some actors, like...say... kevin sorbo, actually do have long hair. But he stars in t.v. series that go for years so having real long hair makes sense.
I think it isn't that they are fakers so much as they have to be sensible about their jobs.
When it comes to actors, it's their job to be somebody else, not themselves. That includes having somebody else's hair.
What makes an actor a good one, is that he is good at being somebody else - so good that we, at the emotional, gut-reaction level, believe he is. If his hair looks the part of a longhair, then to my eye the man has succeeded. Kudos to him, and I will sit back and enjoy the exploits of the longhair I feel I see.
Actors sometimes make substantial efforts to look like real longhairs. It was posted on here a year or two ago how one actor wore his wig for several months before filming so his movements would be the natural ones of a longhair. There are ways that we move our heads and bodies to deal with our hair, and ways that we use our hands and fingers to interface with it. These are natural to us, but they have to be learned over time to acquire the subconscious invocation of them that make them appear natural. People read the emotions and body language of others at a subconsious level, and these items don't appear natural to the reader unless they are generated by the maker also subconsciously. A good actor realizes that.
You realize that, since it's "most" of their movie roles that require long hair, there are a couple of them that will require them to cut it all off, thus defeating the purpose of growing it in the first place.
Take Viggo Mortensen's role in G.I. Jane, or Orlando Bloom's role in Black Hawk Down, for example. Even if these are the exceptions, they require haircuts and hair growth takes a LONG time, as we well know.
Tarikh, I think your missing the point about what acting is all about. Acting is about pretending to be a different person or character. If they were being sincere and true to themselves they would not be acting.
Inshort, for the purpose of a film or play an actor HAS to be insincere.
Sorted
