I am running for local government in my town.. Local Council, we call it in the Land Of Oz...
Anyway, beyond the Bull and the Blandishments. After the Answer-Avoiding and A**-Licking, we get down to what it's all about. And I'm beginning to see a pattern....
The pattern is about Movie Stars...
Don't worry, the candidates don't see it, because they are in the picture...you have to be OUTSIDE the frame, to see it.. and it works like this...
When Robert De Niro cracked the big time, (and Jodie Foster, but more on her later...), he did it in "Raging Bull", and "Taxi Driver".
When Leonardo Di Caprio cracked it, it was for "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?"
Tom Cruise did it in "Risky Business"
Nicole Kidman in "Dead Calm", an Australian low-budget thriller.
And of course, Jodie Foster.." Taxi Driver" as well.
Now let's talk about where they went;
De Niro went on and up.. He has played a succession of roles as diverse as a gangster in "Dick Tracy", to a gangster in "The Untouchables", to a gangster in "Anger Management" (1 &2)
To an ex FBI (now THERE"S a change-up) in "Meet the Fokkers" et al, and most recently, an ex-Vice-President of a company in "The Intern"
De Caprio has gone from "Gilbert" to "Titanic", to "The Beach" to "Great Gatsby", admittedly with side-trips but still consistently upward.
Cruise is now a staple as the high-class detective,/futuristic/ know-it -all rich guy.
Kidman went from working class sailor to World-renowned author (The Hours), to Princess Grace of Monaco...
And Jodie Foster is well-known for making it from teenage hooker to working single- parent (Safe-Room, North), to Corporate anything (check her last few films...)
The point I am making here is that most actors start out making films about the poor people, the workers, because that's where they are.
As their success grows, so do the kind of parts they have in movies they make. They get richer, more luxurious, and more removed from you and me.
I don't begrudge them their success, they earned it, and if they can make big bucks, then good for them....
But why do they do it?
Well, I think that they make films about real life. THEIR real lives.
The more successful you are, the more you get paid. That means your reality changes too.
So, De Niro started out poor, his movies were about his recognition of real life. As he got older, and richer, Real Life changed for him. Now wealth is the Norm, and it is taken for granted. Which is why I have trouble identifying with many modern movies.
Apply the same rule to the rest.
Except Paul Newman. Newman played the part, not the setting. He played Losers and Drunks just as much as Businessmen and Family men, until his dying day.
I never thought of myself as an actor.
But I wouldn't mind trying to be Paul Newman,...
As a Candidate of course...
After all, the rest of them are trying to be Di Caprio...
Vote 1 Ken Coleman
