"Acting"

[gridlore]

I've just read yet another article praising Eminem's performance in 8 Mile.

OK. Let me see if I understand this. Eminem is a white rapper from a poor section of Detroit who has issues with his mother and women in general. He had to struggle for acceptence in the music world.

In the movie, he plays the exact same thing.

I will believe that Em is a good actor when he plays something other than himself.

Comments

[bunyip.livejournal.com]

Excellent point!!!

[todkaninchen.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm...

Like that Buck Owens song "They're gonna' put me in the movies."

[femakita.livejournal.com]

Even if you're playing yourself, it doesn't save you from being a block of wood onscreen/onstage. Acting is a many-faceted thing.

(So says the theatre major and rabid Eminem fan...)

[tavella.livejournal.com]

It's very true. It's a common criticism -- 'they are just playing themselves!' until you see how incredibly lame most people are doing that.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I don't see all this praise over his acting ability when we haven't seen him stretch.

Last night, Kiri and I were talking about this, and I realized what I'd loved to see him play. From the first Brotherhood of War book, 2nd Lt. Sanford T. Felter, a Jewish officer serving as a intelligence officer in the closing days of WWII. Felter is driven, focused, and precise.. and a cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch. About as far from Eminem as you can get.

Have him play that, or a gay man with AIDS coming home to his rural community to die, or something that forces him to change who he is convincingly, and I'll accept he's a good actor

Re:

[femakita.livejournal.com]

Yes, but I don't see all this praise over his acting ability when we haven't seen him stretch.

Because entertainment media and at least half of all movie "reviews" are a big corporate wankfest for whoever's hot at the moment?

Oops, that was my out loud voice.

I would also like to see him act in something non-autobiographical, although I have to say that I don't think him playing a cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch would necessarily be that much of a stretch either. :)

[todkaninchen.livejournal.com]

Aaahh!

Audie Murphy...

[sinboy.livejournal.com]

I will not care if Mr. Mathers is a good actor. He's a homophobic jerk.

[dandelion-diva.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah. There is that.

Gesi

[aurictech.livejournal.com]

"I will believe that Em is a good actor when he plays something other than himself."

Ah, but if we insist on playing a role other than oneself as the mark of a good actor, where does that leave Ramen and Whipsnade? ;-)