14 Comments
author

I don't know how Tom Hulce feels about this but if he respects history he should have problems with his most famous work: Amadeus. The film is excellent, and his performance is first-rate, but historically it's pure fiction from start to finish. I still recommend everyone watch it, but hopefully he realizes how much it got wrong about one of history's greatest composers.

Expand full comment
author

Interesting side note: The post thumbnail is from Romeo and Juliet (1968). In 2023 the lead actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting filed a lawsuit against Paramount alledging child abuse. They were both underage when director Franco Zeffirelli pressured them into doing the famous nude scene - the one our high school English teachers wouldn't let the class watch. This would be considered child pornograpy now and should have been then.

Expand full comment

I seriously thought the actor up there was Zac Efron and was trying to figure out what in the world that was a picture of. Sad story about the movie, though.

Expand full comment

Okay! Ellen Page in Juno — as a young, unwed pregnant girl, ironically less uncertain and confused about herself and her future than she is now.

Expand full comment

Yes! Good one!

Expand full comment
May 24Liked by Vince Guerra

There have been many movies I watched where I felt that one performance stood out amongst the garbage. Funny enough, almost none of them are coming to mind. There was one recently that I felt was really good though. It was a movie called Role Play.

Overall, the movie was poorly executed garbage. But the co-lead David Oyelowo stood out. I felt that his ability to get across all of the emotions his character was feeling was really well done. He felt genuinely confused, hurt, angry, etc. The movie overall was lame though. I'm sure it was a decent paycheck though.

David Oyelowo in Role Play is my final answer.

Expand full comment
author

So now I kinda want to see it...but also don't.

Expand full comment
May 22·edited May 22Liked by Vince Guerra

Hard but intriguing question. I’m sitting here at 1am, thinking *surely* there’s some endearing child-actor performance that the adult version of that actor might look back and cringe at…or some drug-laced performance that was amazing at the time but the later, more sober actor wishes could be stricken. 🤔

Expand full comment

Maybe Jerry O'Connell and "Stand By Me"? It's a classic film, but ... most attractive adults get to hide any record of their past as the chubby kid in a drawer.

Expand full comment

I was thinking of that actual example, but I don’t actually like the movie (couldn’t get past the first ten minutes last time we tried it) and the question specifies a performance you loved. So honesty prohibits me…😁

Expand full comment

Since it's my question, I'll prime the pump. :) I've often wondered what Colin Firth is doing in an American teen comedy starring a Nickelodeon kid with a title out of marketing hell. He's absolutely lovely in "What a Girl Wants," and I hope he and Eileen Atkins and Jonathan Pryce got nice vacation homes or swank cars for their troubles, but perhaps he thinks back on the scene where he squeezes into tight leather pants and wishes it would all go away.

Expand full comment
author

Wearing leather pants is something we should allways regret. Ask me how I know.

Expand full comment

Some things are best left unsaid.

Expand full comment
author

Truly. 😂

Expand full comment