Well, how we blindfold ourselves, spin around in little circles and then try to put the tail to the donkey derriere. LOL…
I’m going to take just a piece of this far-reaching topic and try to narrow the focus a bit for a moment, and perhaps pin that proverbial tail where it belongs with some appropriate relevance…
Mr. Rogerbee, you had first mentioned the new Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody; while I am a fan of the music and have appreciation for the acting ability of Rami Malek (who portrays Freddie Mercury) - and, although, admittedly, I’ve not yet viewed the film - I dare say that he may not have been anyone’s ideal choice for that role.
I have read a few reviews, one of which had critically stated that the PG rating of this picture about an omnisexual rock “diva” who had led an extremely X-rated lifestyle resulted with certain elements important to the whole of Mercury’s story being very carefully exsected, so as to allow the film much more mass appeal. If that’s accurate, then that’s the sort of rewriting of history that I simply have to eschew.
Another of the reasonable criticisms that I have heard is that Mr. Malek had been miscast here (apparently, the prosthetic buck teeth are distracting enough to have an inadvertent comical effect) - not to mention several physical appearance and ethnic discrepancies (Egyptian, as opposed to Indian); the overarching point being simply that proper casting does, indeed, matter…
(Rami may make a better Prince, I might imagine - which would certainly be a story worth the telling, and an entirely bankable one)…
I’d recently watched the new remake of Papillon, in which Malek portrays Louis Dega (a role which had originally been aced by Dustin Hoffman); while I found the film to be a decent re-envisioning, it did suffer in a few ways by comparison. I’d have to say that the first of which would be that Charlie Hunnam’s performance does not hold a candle to that of the late Steve McQueen, whose talent is perhaps somewhat easier to appreciate now more so than ever.
But another issue I’d had were the casting choice of Malek as Dega; again, just not ideal - and since Malek landed both roles, it does make one wonder what outlandishness would have been the notion of casting Hoffman to play Freddie Mercury; so perhaps the idea of Malek as Mercury ought to have been comparably silly.
You had also mentioned that you’d like to see a Janis Joplin bio, as would I - however, that sounds like a very tall order, sir. Again, with regard to casting, perhaps most in particular; to be worthy, I fear that such would essentially require another Janis to portray Janis, and I’m just not sure that there are any at the moment - truly, there may never be another.
This actually brings us back to Geena Davis and to Cutthroat Island, quite conveniently…
As a matter of casting, I think that Geena Davis had been perfect for that role, although I can’t say the same about the supporting troupe.
In particular, Matthew Modine, who is a decent actor, seemed to have taken his role less seriously than Ms. Davis did. Not that the film weren’t clearly intentionally tongue-in-cheek, but that each of the performers seemed to be operating on different levels of shtick - and perhaps yet different from that of the direction and production, even. In retrospect, given the era in which this film was released - that of a very male-dominated business with a certain tendency toward sexism; Geena, being an extraordinarily intelligent, talented, strong-willed woman - that fact, in itself, is enough to make one wonder if there were not some degree of intentional sabotage involved with the production; such as, in the abysmal interest of attempting to “put a woman in her place” in this business.
For Modine, it may have been a simple professional misstep, since it seemed to have something of an adverse effect upon his career - from which I don’t think he has yet, nor likely ever will, recover. Davis, however, is fine, to be sure. She’s been cemented by such solid performances as in The Fly and that epic flagship of 90’s Women’s Liberation that were Thelma & Louise.
In short, this could have been a much better film had the casting choices around Geena been made perhaps somewhat finer.
Did you know that Geena Davis is a member of Mensa? Which is to say that her brain is among the top two percentile of the population with regard to a calculable quotient...
Amusingly, the truth is that most likely everyone, inside and outside of Hollywood, is, quite literally, comparatively, thinking in slow-motion!
That’s the Geena…
