#I Am Unwell

this user has gone 0 days without thinking about good omens. the record is 0 days

michael really put his whole sheenussy into delivering the "you're being ✨silly✨" line in the most tooth-rottingly gay, fruitylicious, slay-serve-cunty way possible

When Actors Do A 180 by Greg Ferrara

I grew up watching films in the ‘70s. In that time, I saw Robert Duvall quite a bit. I saw him as Tom in THE GODFATHER (’72); as an angry, ballsy network exec in NETWORK (’76); as a crazed colonel in APOCALYPSE NOW (’79); and as a mean, hardcore colonel, again, in THE GREAT SANTINI (’79). He also played cops in BADGE 373 (’73) and TRUE CONFESSIONS (’81). Basically, by 1982, I was pretty sure I had Robert Duvall pegged: Urban, hardcore, mean, angry, tough guy. And then…

In 1983 Robert Duvall starred as Mack Sledge in TENDER MERCIES (available on Filmstruck) and turned every stereotype about him as an actor on its head. Here he was, a down on his luck country music singer trying to get back on his feet after giving up alcohol. The Corleone’s council, the do-or-die Lt. Colonel Kilgore, the heartless, bottom-liner network executive was now playing a country singer?!? What?!

He was, of course, superb. And it not only won him the Oscar, deservedly so, but it opened up roles for him no one could have imagined a decade before. By the turn of the century, there was no longer a “stereotypical Robert Duvall role.” He had broken himself free from his early days so thoroughly, so conclusively, all I could see was what he was all along: One of the most versatile actors in the history of cinema.

But he’s not the only one. Here are some other actors and the films that showed they could do a whole lot more, all available on Filmstruck.

Warren Beatty, BONNIE AND CLYDE (’67)

This is going to sound harsh but I’m just going to say it: By 1967, Beatty’s career was going nowhere fast. The only two big movies he had even done both showcased the lead actress in them (Natalie Wood in SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS and Vivien Leigh in THE ROMAN SPRING OF MRS. STONE, both ’61) and the other movies he had done were non-starters. He was destined for a short career as a pretty boy that would morph into guest shots on TV in the 70s as playboy murderers. But Beatty knew he could do so much more than that. With director Arthur Penn, he put everything into a risky move: Glamorizing two mid-Western bank robbers in a commentary on the celebrity of tabloid culture. It worked and Beatty became a force in the movies for the rest of the century.

Katharine Hepburn, BRINGING UP BABY (’38)

It’s well known by now that in the mid-30s, Hepburn was considered box-office poison by a bunch of short-sighted distributors (spoiler: she never really was). Up until 1938, every movie she made fit nicely into the schemata of theatrical drama with little venturing outside the formula. A couple of movies, like ALICE ADAMS (‘35) and STAGE DOOR (‘37), had some comedy in them but nothing over the top. No, Hepburn was destined to be the actress that got cast in stodgy dramas and stage adaptations for the rest of her career until she and Cary Grant teamed up for one of the all-time great screwball comedies, BRINGING UP BABY. No one knew she had it in her but boy did she ever. A short trip from there to HOLIDAY (’38), THE PHILADELPHIA STORY (’40) and WOMAN OF THE YEAR (’42) changed the course of her stunning career forever.

Elizabeth Taylor, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (’66)

This is a case of an actress whose career was already long established and doing just fine. She even had an Oscar already, and had she done nothing else after CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF in 1958, her legacy would have been secured. But no one thought Taylor could pull off the role of Martha, the bitter, resentful, angry and tattered wife of academic George (Richard Burton) in the film adaptation of Edward Albee’s searing drama, WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF. Well, Taylor proved them all wrong and no one would ever think of her again as an actress limited to only one kind of role.

Frank Sinatra, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY (’53)

This one changed it all for Sinatra. Without this one, he’s a singer stuck in lightweight musical roles for as long as his voice holds out. But with this one, a role he fought hard for, he not only snagged an Oscar, but was able to make movies like THE MAN WITH GOLDEN ARM (’55) just two years later without audiences thinking, “Why is the guy from ANCHORS AWEIGH (’45) playing a heroin addict?” Sinatra was now free to make musicals all he wanted, knowing that he was also readily accepted in dramatic roles too.

Marilyn Monroe, THE MISFITS (’61)

It’s obviously a tragedy in countless ways that we lost Monroe so soon but adding to that tragedy is the fact that her performance in THE MISFITS showed she was ready to move into middle age and take on roles outside of what studio executives thought of her. It was already clear that Monroe could play a wide range long before this, but THE MISFITS really put into perspective just how wide-ranging her future career would be. This one hurts more than most because it shows so much potential without leading to anything else.

These are just a handful of performances that turned the idea of what was expected of an actor on its head and they’re all available on Filmstruck. It makes you wonder how many other actors never got the opportunity to show off what they could do.

wild west minisode where aziraphale is tied to the train tracks damsel style but crowley is taking too long to come to the rescue so aziraphale has to keep miracling the train slower and slower to keep giving him chances

David Bowie looking dapper in makeup during an interview. 77′

go2 still feels like a fever dream. Hello is anybody out there? The chest rub, the you were right dance, the ox ribs??, aim for my mouth but shoot past my ear?, they fucking danced?! I need you??? no nightingales??????

wait I forgot they kissed?????! They kissed on the mouth!!!!!!!? absolute insanity can anyone hear me

so david tennant will be going straight from macbeth to crowley huh damn

And this is why Meryl Streep is a legend.

Doctor Who text posts: River edition – 2/?