This guest post is provided by Luke Tatge of Journalistic Skepticism. From a distance he seems like your typical Streep fanatic, but he's actually more than that. You'd do well to have him on your blog roll.
Ah, the struggle of poor suffering TV actors. Their work is hardly as respected as that of the film or stage stars, yet they soldier on with weekly installments of often beloved characters. When it comes to the transition from small to big screen work, which seems inevitable at one point another for most television stars, it can be a treacherous path that rarely bears any fruit.
In the early years, it was basically understood that TV stars (possibly due to the strict studio guidelines at the time) were basically stuck with the tube when it came to finding work. Take Lucille Ball, for example – one of the biggest stars of her time, and yet she was relegated to playing varying versions of the “Lucy” character for most of her career (with the exception of a couple barely noted films).
So how do more recent TV stars fare when it comes to the big step into moviedom? Unfortunately, not so well in most cases. Arrested Development’s Jason Bateman has moved on to plenty of film work since the show wrapped, but he is mostly pushed into sideline roles. Even in the high-profile Juno, who even remembers the gifted TV star was in the cast? It seems like Lucy, he’s been pushed into playing a variation on Michael Bluth in most of his subsequent roles.
Sharp-tongued Rory Gilmore (a.k.a. Alexis Bledel) has had about the same amount of luck – any work she’s done since the show ended has been unanimously trounced (Post Grad) or ignored due to her co-stars (Sin City, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants). It seems these TV stars just can’t shake the persona that was so ingrained into the public week after week.
There are glimmers of hope, though. For people like Freaks and Geeks alums Jason Segel and James Franco or Cheers alum Woody Harrelson, film isn’t so out of reach. It seems the best route is to either stick with your crew and succeed or fail together or go for awards-bait roles. Although a word of caution – though folks like Mary Tyler Moore and Helen Hunt found break-out Oscary roles in 1980 and 1997 respectively (Ordinary People and As Good As It Gets), they’ve hardly enjoyed much of a career in film since.
So until Lisa Kudrow can shake Phoebe Buffay, Sarah Jessica Parker can shake Carrie Bradshaw, and Eric McCormack can shake Will Truman, how does a TV star stand a chance in the wide world of movies? Give them a chance to surprise you.
Luke's thoughts are provocative. Why do you think it's so difficult for the television actor?
No comments:
Post a Comment