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Movies that define Actors
Feb 08, 2006 08:43 PM 15735 Views
(Updated Feb 09, 2006 09:42 PM)

Every new actor tends to first act in every movie that comes his or her way, till they’ve made enough moolah to buy that perfect million+ Malibu mansion and that swanky car. Then all of a sudden when their material thirsts have been quenched they develop a need to become indispensable to the film industry and decide to be part of more practical and intelligent projects that brand them as good actors acting in clever so called ’meaningful’ movies.


Here’s my list of actors that were and still are, or could be, unjustifiably defined by the characters that they portray in my favorite movie of theirs. The list of actors mentioned here is short, but they’re all famous enough to be well defined!




  1. Julia Roberts




36 years old this year, Julia Roberts was always considered this fluffy actress with big teeth and a warm smile through her roles as a compassionate pro*titute in Pretty Woman, or the beautiful sick young bride in the ironic Steel Magnolia, the likeable evil best friend in My Best Friend’s Wedding, and the typical filmy superstar falls-in-love with dork in Nottinghill. Always the strong willed, good hearted but emotionally off-track heroine who generally outshines or has a knack for outperforming her costars.


She did have her attempts with serious drama in Sleeping With the Enemy, which was pretty convincing though didn’t define her, or Pelican Brief where the book far surpassed the movie in every way to be remembered, The Mexican which was very forgettable…


Today inspite of all her blockbusters and many other movies not mentioned here, and though to her many fans and myself she’s that evil best friend character Julianne Potter in My Best Friend’s Wedding, her role, as Erin Brockovich was her most defining moment. She sort of proved to those criticizing audiences, that she could do more than her routine grin- and-get embarrassed roles. Now even though she’s been out of mainstream cinema because of the birth of her twins- the curiously named Hazel Patricia and Phinnaeus Walter, she’s still on most peoples list of all time favorite ‘comedy’ actresses




  1. Brad Pitt




Hunky Brad turns 42 this year and seems to be more in demand now than ever. He’s had his share of non descript movies after Thelma & Louis, such as Freddy’s nightmares and Less Than Zero and many etceteras later, but ever since playing Louis in The Interview With A(long haired and very good looking) Vampire he really got noticed with Legends Of the Fall, Seven, 7 yrs in Tibet, Snatch, Fight Club….


His most memorable roles off recent would be of Death-Joe Black in Meet Joe Black, where he plays this innocent peanut butter eating embodiment of Death who wants to see what life as a human with all the baggage(emotions, senses…) is like. In this movie his chemistry with his costar Claire Forlani was the best he’s had with any other actress including his ex fiancé Gwyneth Paltrow in Seven. This was followed by Rusty In Ocean’s 11 and 12 where he continues eating his way through the story, as a very hot Achilles in Troy where he’s unfortunately killed off and now Mr. John Smith in the silly Mr & Mrs Smith that apparently cost him his marriage. He comes across as the good guy who can be mean but does it stylishly. His role in Troy and The Interview With The Vampire would probably appear as his strongest and most impressionable performances so far.


Other than that his high profile love life is the media’s fodder and another tidbit is that this guy has practically dated every costar of his so far, age no bar! Infact he seems to change his appearance to match that of his current fling’s! Like our desi SRK, any movie of his, critically a hit or flop is bound to generate great curiosity among his fan following.




  1. Pierce Brosnan




The quintessential “Bond, James Bond”, this suave 54 yr old actor had done it all before in Moonlighting with Cybill Shepherd and Remington Steele and deftly stepped into 007. At first I considered Sean Connery as the perfect secret agent since I still remembered Brosnan’s portrayal of Stu, which was not all that hip in Mrs Doubtfire where he plays the pansy suitor competing with Mrs Robin Williams. But after Golden Eye, he came into his own with The Thomas Crown Affair, Dante’s Peak and all the other 007 roles(best of which was Die another Day).


He’s definitely the best Bond so far with his polished interpretation of the character, and looks better suited so far to the role than the latest entity Daniel Craig. Pierce Brosnan is 007.




  1. Tom Cruise




Always portraying the character of an extremely ambitious, sulking and angry man …too much has been said about him, and he is by far in my opinion over rated…he produces good movies with himself in them like MI and MI2 with rather good action sequences, but hasn’t done a movie that is not loud and more discreet that proves his ‘acting talent’. He’s also had a string of hits from Risky Business to Cocktail, and A Few Good Men, but roles that stand out are Maverick in TopGun, Jerry the characterless sports agent in Jerry Maguire who finally finds his heart and other’s priorities, and the all time perfectly suited Lestat in The Interview With A Vampire.


Other movies like War Of The Worlds, even though being directed by Steven Spielberg, was a big letdown as the average Vanilla Sky and Minority Report(good action). Eyes Wide Shut was an obvious struggle for him to depict…To me his defining moment, when I truly thought that he has come into his own was in The Last Samurai, which was a very good movie by itself, but was depicted flawlessly and subtly by Tom Cruise.


He doesn’t appear to be very people friendly, and infact the aloof characters in his movies do seem to overflow into the public’s idea of what his real personality must be like. That coupled with his over the couch jumping antics over Katie Holmes on Oprah Winfrey, gives him a very strange and weird outlook; maybe finally he has been possessed by the aliens he keeps company with so many of his movies lately!


The 4 actors above might be among the most powerful ‘personalities’ in the movie industry abroad, who have carefully planned and grafted the image that they want to create for themselves to the public. I call their image planned and grafted because I don’t think Julia Roberts is a very considerate woman in real life if she has named her kid Phinnaeus and expects him to be happy about it growing up. Brad Pitt doesn’t seem too much like the sympathetic and nice guy that he portrays in his movies when in real life his baby with his current girlfriend was apparently conceived before his divorce was finalized!(Although that is pure speculation).


I have deliberately not mentioned other greats like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Tom Hanks, Anthony Hopkins, Jack Nicholas, Sean Connery, Johnny Depp(amazing!) Samuel L Jackson, Harrison Ford, Jeremy Irons, Jamie Lee Curtis  etc etc, simply because, I feel these people do such a variety of roles, that they cannot be defined as bad guy or good guy.unlike those ’heroes’ mentioned above who do the same basic character many times over!


Please do RRC on which your favorite actor and their defining movie was for you!


PS: I apologise to anyone who decides that this is the wrong category for this review- because there isn't any'General advice on movies' category, and this review is already written.too late for waiting for a special category! Cheers!


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