Holly Hunter, Harry Dean Stanton

Harry Dean Stanton

on preview ....whoa.

Jack Nicholson, Bruce Campbell, Reese Witherspoon (I love the Legally Blonde movies, but I haven't had the stomach to try Sweet Home Alabama.)

Directors though are my main draw: David Cronenberg, John Carpenter & David Lynch.

Steve Buscemi

Audrey Tautou

Harry Dean Stanton

Dude really creeps my out in Big Love. The characters is played so well and is so despicable that I couldn't watch it anymore (that goes for Sevigny's character too).

I don't think I could name any actors that I slavishly follow. Names like Ed Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman pop into my head, but I've avoided quite a few by each. Maybe Alec Baldwin? I love his shtick--I don't care if he plays the same character over and over now, I love it. I guess it started in Glengarry Glen Ross (one of my all-time favorites), but he is great in the Cooler, the Departed, and 30 Rock.

Johnny Depp, Parker Posey

They're all old: Peter Lorre, Orson Wells, Toshiro Mifune. Maybe Johnny Depp, but mostly I'm like mischief in that I'm more obsessive about directors. I have a Guy maddin sickness, and I think I am developing something similar for Satyajit Ray, though it's a little early to tell there. Of coourse, I don't have to worry about Ray making new movies, but some of his films are proving tricky to track down in the states.

David Bowie
Peter O'Toole
Meg "Creepy Eyes" Foster (see: They Live)
Shelley Duvall, and Illeanna Douglas when Duvall is not available

Christopher Walken used to be on this list, until his novelty "Christopher Walken" role became the rule rather than the exception.

Ben Kingsley. See, doing a really good bad guy is the key to my heart and Ben Kingsley scared the crap out of me in Sexy Beast. So much so that I had to go rent Gandhi which I was to young to see when it was in theatres. He did not disappoint. I'd watch him read the milk carton.

Nicolas Cage, but it has nothing to do with his acting. ;-)

I'd watch Meg Ryan read the instructions on a fire extinguisher.
Anthony Hopkins has rarely let me down.
Robin Williams is either sublime or painful to watch.
Like him or not, Robert Downey never phones it in.
The shame of my life is that I'll die having never been as dapper or rascally in all of it, as Cary Grant was in one minute of his.
I've never seen a bad frame of film with Annette Benning in it.
Diane Keaton has kept my interest for decades, and is aging into an ever more interesting actress every year.
Meryl Streep deserves the attention she gets.
And I'll still watch anything Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas ever made, just for their sheer physicality.

Anna Magnani (The Rose Tattoo, etc.) -this woman could act without overacting which is a rare quality today. And she was sexy as hell.

Anthony Hopkins -the man could just stare into the camera for two hours and it'd be alright with me.

John C McGinley - and he has been in some shitty shitty shitty movies. He always brings something to the game, though.

William H Macy - I don't know if I can talk myself into seeing this wild hogs movie but it's probably something I'll watch on cable or network tv later.

Bill Murray - I heart Bill Murray lots.

Simon Pegg - CANNOT WAIT FOR HOT FUZZ.

Ooh, Robert Downey Jr. I've never ever seen a movie and remarked, "You know, RDJ really brought that whole cast down." He's just great.

Sam Eliott will usually get me to watch. And Sara Ramirez, on the off chance that she'll do a nude or semi-nude scene. And I would watch a commercial or read a laundry list if Richard price was even remotely involved in it.

Parker Posey, Billy Bob Thorton, Will Smith, Emily Watson. In that order. And this would hold true for something on TV, I just don't go out to movies very often.

There are other actors I admire very much, but aren't always in the best projects. Those four are both very good and smart about their product.

I'd just like to listen to Holly Hunter. She could be chewing me out for leaving hair on the soap and I'd probably still smile beatifically.

John Housman was pretty astounding.

Meryl Streep hits her characters so well. I saw Sophie's Choice and was pretty sure I'd typecast her in that role, then I saw Silkwood. Dang.

Once upon a time, it was John Cusack, but he's burned me too many times. To be honest, most of my favorite actors have made a string of notable stinkers.

A former housemate and I learned to describe these as "pay the plumber" movies. "But why would he take this part?" "Well, it's work, and everybody's got to pay the plumber."

Laura Linney is another of my favorites. She's engaging, she's sharp-witted, she positively crackles with intelligence, she's sexy, and she draws me into a character seemingly effortlessly. But I weary of watching her trying to wrest some dignity and art from the dreck she too often has to work with.

Just last week, we finally broke down and watched The Exorcism of Emily Rose, knowing that despite its remarkable cast (not only Linney, but Tom Wilkinson, Mary Beth Hurt, Colm Feore, and Campbell Scott!) it was likely to suck out loud. Boy, did it exceed all our expectations of its awfulness. It's a rare horror film that manages to be dull and to insult the audience's intelligence.

But I'll still seek out her films.

Who else? Campbell Scott, Ed Norton, Jodie Foster, Gary Oldman, Jeff Bridges. I love watching them, even in a dreadful film. And Bruce Campbell, simply because he's Bruce Campbell.

A lot of the names mentioned above, and one not listed. No love for Gene Hackman? Come on folks, he's great.

Bette Davis.
And after 40 Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine and The Office, I feel surprisingly compelled to add Steve Carrell to the list. He's absolutely amazing and I can't wait to see what he'll do next.

Tracking down Gene Hackman's 70s movies is a labor of love. I finally found a DVD of Prime Cut.

"Once upon a time, it was John Cusack, but he's burned me too many times. ..."
posted by Elsa 19 February | 16:17

I feel that way, a bit, about William Hurt. And about Jodie Foster, who doesn't come off all that well in her roles with De Niro or Hopkins, by comparison, but who has, otherwise good awareness of the camera, and a willingness to try roles others might not.

As for Hackman, King of Prontopia, I might have agreed with you on the strength of much of his earlier work, except for some of the roles he's taken in later years, as a repeatedly jingoistic senior military officer (Crimson Tide, Behind Enemy Lines) where he's been pretty wooden in roles that would have benefited greatly from his more nuanced approach in earlier work. Maybe it was the scripts.

And I forgot to mention that Mira Sorvino is generally interesting to watch, although she's too young to have amassed a big body of work, and seems destined to become a character actress, more than a female lead, which makes me a little sad.

Andre Braugher. I'm almost ashamed to put him next to most of the names on this list, but I am biased.

Andre Braugher. Yes! I thought of him this weekend, when I caught a few minutes of Primal Fear. I rented that movie for the first time a few years ago, simply because of Ed Norton, whose first big film it was.

It's a courtroom thriller starring Richard Gere that would have been, y'know, meh... but for the casting: Laura Linney, Andre Braugher, Frances McDormand, Alfre Woodard, and of course Norton. They turned a potentially pedestrian exercise into a genuinely intriguing piece of film.

A lot of you have named some of my favorite actors but Mark Ruffalo is one of my favorite younger actors.

If you haven't, please see "You Can Count On Me". Definitely in my top 10. Movie also stars a great actress sometimes forgotten, Laura Linney.

Kate Winslet, Frances McDormand, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Paul Giamatti, Colin Firth, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy.

I also see everything with Woody Allen. Even if the critics didn't like it. I watch all Woody Allen movies, because I like him and usually I find something entertaining if the movie is weak.

Maybe it was the scripts.

I think so, because the scripts of the movies you mentioned were pretty abysmal.