Postby The Write Profile » 02 Jul 2006, 00:36
Just a bit of a digression before we deal with Mr Douglas.
Johnny Depp is a very, very selfish actor, which puts me right off him, if I'm totally honest. With the exception of some Tim Burton films (Ed Wood, Edward Scissorhands), he seems unable to work with the rest of the cast in a manner that suggests he's willing to give other characters/actors room. The dreadful Charlie & The Chocolate Factory is a case in point, too often, his schtick totally overcrowded the picture, it was too deliberately detached for any of the children to workaround. Ironically, that was a Burton film, too, so maybe Tim decided that Depp should be given free reign. In recent times, he's treated his roles as glorified cameos, even when they're the main focus.
Sure, it's understandable for something like Pirates of the Carribean, but I wonder whether he has it in him to tone things down and actually let the character speak for itself, so to speak. There's no denying he's a charismatic presence, but whether he's able to relax a little is another matter entirely. Actually, I'd like him to be a bit more like Matt Dillon, another actor who emerged around the same time as Depp. Admittedly, he probably hasn't had the big roles- though I'd argue he's been willing to do more interesting work, particularly his films with Gus Van Sant- and perhaps has a CV that undersells him somewhat.
However, there's a relaxed, assured, non-overpowering presence to him that suggests that he doesn't need to chew several chunks of scenery just to make a point. This isn't intended to be too big a slight on Depp, he clearly has something, it's just the way he uses it which annoys me.
As for Michael Douglas, I really liked his performance in Traffic, actually. Again, he had the gravitas necessary to convince that he was a powerful political wheel, while also getting his other nuances- his dependance on alcohol, for instance without drawing too much attention to it.
Actually, I want to say something about the "Greed is Good" monologue. I think Stone overdid it (I know, who knew?). It's all the whip-pans and really macho tracking shots that occur during that section, watch it again and count the number of cuts during it. I wonder if it needed a steadier hand on the tiller to really capture its essence- something like the method used for Baldwin's speech during Glengarry Glenn Ross, for instance. That said, it's a superb delivery of the speech, even if it is Stone's usual why hint at the point when a sledgehammer would do style of scriptwriting.
It's before my time but I've been told, he never came back from Karangahape Road.
