Better story lines, less Star-Power?
- Thread starter nitro
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Heat was a great movie!
It even inspired the bank robbery in Los Angeles between the two guys with full auto military rifles, and body armor. Since, then LAPD issues AR-15 rifles to patrol units.
And as far as the thread title, yes, I'd love to see more no name people get casted in big movies. For example, Miami Vice the newest movie wasn't ANYTHING close to the original masterpiece! They should have hand picked from a group of unknowns to play Sonny, Ricardo Tubbs, etc.,
When the show came out in the mid 80's, most of the main actors weren't really known even though several had been in other movies, shows, etc., I get tired of the same old story lines and the same old actors which is why Miami Vice did so well imo. Cutting edge, new, and even the main characters weren't really known to the viewers.
In general, a great movie does not need big stars. It does require good actors. Once in a great while, you get both, like Glengarry Glen Ross.
What the....Miami Vice is a movie now? I loved that show, though I guess even at the time, wearing a pink singlet , loafers and a safari suit may get one bashed, I accepted that might be a typical Miami crime fighters uniform. Never been to Miami.
With the recent Mel Gibson er, stuff, he has done some good work, Apocalypto was brilliant, not a name actor among them.
"300" is another example, a darn good film, with various no-name scottish and australian actors in lead roles.
No. They do need a great story.
One of my favs was "The Crying Game"... was on the edge of my seat the whole time.
Trivia... Which movie has the all-time highest "Gross Receipts vs. Cost To Make" ratio?
My favorite Pacino line from Heat:
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Interestingly, Heat is a great example for this thread because it was actually a remake.
The original: L.A. Takedown, had no-name actors and it was supposed to be a pilot for a TV series. It was written and directed by Michael Mann who also directed the re-make, Heat.
So this is as close as you are going to get to seeing the difference "Star-Power" can make to a movie because we have two very similar movies directed by the same person. The major difference is the stars: Pacino, De Niro, Val Kilmer etc. in Heat.
Heat also had a bigger budget, was shot as a feature, and Mann had the benefit of hindsight when making it. So those could be other contributing factors. But it's worth comparing those two movies side by side to see the difference between average actors and big-name actors.
On the other hand, there are many examples where Hollywood has re-made international movies using big-name actors and they've ended up being inferior to the originals:
1) The Departed (DiCaprio, Damon, Nicholson, Whalberg etc.) inferior to Infernal Affairs (Hong Kong version) - OK, many people will disagree with me on this one.
2) The Ring (Naomi Watts etc.) inferior to The Ring (Japanese version)
3) My Sassy Girl (Elisha Cuthbert) inferior (straight to DVD?) to My Sassy Girl (Korean version)
4) Vanilla Sky (Cruise, Diaz, Cruz, Russell) inferior to Abre los ojos (Spanish version - also with Cruz)
...are just a few of examples off the top of my head.