Top 50 Hottest Young Actors - THE TOP 10 : #10 SHIA LABEOUF. Top 50 status: Ranked #11 on the previous list."Best acting performance: His definitive portrayal as the young Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing your Saints.
Why he made the top 50: I'm not that impressed with LaBeouf's acting talents, but I am with his ability to play the Hollywood game. While he admits, he's not your usual 'Hollywood idol type of guy', he certainly has proven time and again that given a good enough role where he can sink his teeth and involve himself in some serious character study, he can show some amazing results.
The biggest factor that puts him into the Top 10 is his ability to draw crowds into the movie houses. A lot of young audience certainly look at Shia as one of their favorite young stars, but not necessarily their favorite young actor. #9 EMILE HIRSCH. Top 50 status: Ranked #4 on the previous list.Best acting performances: Hirsch certainly made a good number of breakthrough performances, but I have to say his role in Sean Penn's Into The Wild is his best so far- as adventurer Chris McCandless. Also worth mentioning is his role in Imaginary Heroes as the younger son of Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver, the emotionally traumatized Tim Travis.
Why he made the top 50: Together with Joe Levitt and Jake Gyllenhaal, he is the only Hollywood-based young actor who can compete with the current onslaught of young actors from across the Atlantic, most notably the current crop of talented British actors led by the likes of Jim Sturgess, Robert Pattinson and Ben Whishaw, to name a few. #6 JAKE GYLLENHAAL. Top 50 status: Ranked #9 on the previous list. Best acting performances: His Oscar nominated role in Brokeback Mountain is certainly his best role so far. As Jack Twist, he brought so much credibility into the character, it completely complements the emotional pain and anguish of Ennis del Mar, played by the late Heath Ledger. Coming in second is the cult hit, Donnie Darko where he played the title character. Also worth mentioning is David Fincher's Zodiac where Jake plays Robert Graysmith, who happens to be the author where the movie was based.
Why he made the top 50: He is probably the most identified among the young actors as a 'celebrity'. But while he is part of the celebrity circle where paparazzi like to hunt and intrude upon, Jake has certainly made the best of it. His sense of humour while guesting in some of America's biggest talk shows certainly made him a household name, but while some of these household names are being dismissed as having no talent, Jake is that rare exception. I certainly look forward to his next movie, Brothers, with Tobey Maguire and Natalie Portman, definitely a great showcase of young talents! #3 JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT. Top 50 status: Ranked #5 on the previous list. Best acting performances: After a hustling gig that turned violent, we see Neil (Gordon-Levitt) silently licking his wounds as he stared at his bruises and cuts, silently he cries – he must have realized he’s all alone and that there’s no one to help him or even listen to him… Such was the performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Greg Arakki’s Mysterious Skin, that almost all critics agreed- Levitt is the young actor to watch! Of course, Levitt is no ‘one-movie wonder’, as Brick from director Rian Johnson proves.
Why he made the top 50: He's a better actor than Jake Gyllenhaal or Emile Hirsch for that matter. He can play a credible and exciting romantic lead better than Ryan Philippe or James Marsden for that matter.
While he reminds me of Heath Ledger, and there is certainly some striking resemblance, Gordon-Levitt is someone who has proven himself as an actor's actor. There is one particular movie that I would love to watch Joe Levitt, and I just think this will be one of his finest ever- The Frog King". Source: themovie-fanatic.com
Well, a pair of notes I'd like to add related to these list posts:
1.- My favourite role by Jake is "Donnie Darko", that performance just stuck deep inside my heart, although Jack Twist in "Brokeback Mountain" is definitively his adult acting wide break-through role (and really wonderful).
2.- Regarding opinions about who's an better actor than another, I think it's extremely difficult to compare and discern. For example, Joseph Gordon-Levitt is impressive in almost everything, he chooses very dark and brooding characters to play, whereas other roles wouldn't be so suiting for him. On the other hand, I don't find Shia Labeouf particularly gifted, his tendency to star in blockbusters seems an elongation of his Disney roots and his real-life person seems off-putting. I think Shia is cute but not endearing. Emile Hirsch is more than competent, was especially brilliant in "Into the wild" and he's physically gorgeous. My personal favourites (young actors) are Jake, Joseph, Ryan Gosling, Emile Hirsch and Michael Cera. Also liking a lot Ben Foster, James McAvoy, Anton Yelchin, Robert Pattinson, Patrick Fugit, Andrew Garfield, Michael Welch, and many more.
"Late actor Heath Ledger's daughter Matilda Rose will inherit all of her father's estate, Ledger's father told an Australian newspaper.
"There is no claim," the newspaper quoted Kim Ledger as saying in a report published Sunday. "Our family has gifted everything to Matilda."
The actor signed the will on April 12, 2003. It lists assets and cash of just $118,000, but the actor's estate is believed to be worth more than $16.3 million, the newspaper said.
Adelaide accountant Mark Dyson, who is an executor of the estate, said he could not reveal how much Matilda would inherit.
[...] The lawsuit doesn't mention Ledger or his daughter's name. It states that it's on behalf of a man who died of "accidental causes on January 22, 2008." That's the day Ledger was found dead of an apparent accidental prescription drug overdose.
A spokesman for ReliaStar says the insurer has made no decision about whether to pay the claim". Source: www.usatoday.com
"EVERY penny of Heath Ledger's estimated $20 million will go to his little girl Matilda Rose, Ledger's father says.
In his will, which has been probated behind closed doors at the Supreme Court in Perth, Ledger left everything to his parents and three sisters.
The 28-year-old Ledger doted on Matilda, but was separated from Williams, who joined the Ledger family in Perth for a memorial and wake on Cottesloe Beach in February.
Some estimates have put the value of the Heath Ledger estate at up to $20 million.
But Adelaide accountant Mark Dyson, who is an executor of the estate, said he could not reveal what Matilda would inherit".
-“Have you seen Brokeback Mountain?“ -Paul Newman: “Yeah.” -“Did it make you think about Butch Cassidy and the Sundace Kid in a new light? Robert Redford’s a good looking guy ...” Pause for thought. Or comic effect. -Paul Newman: “Why not?” Part of the interview to Paul Newman by Aer Lingus Inflight Cara Magazine, 2006. Source: www.davecullen.com And let's rememorate again this post related to Paul Newman, Cool Hand Paul. Also: "Neman style".
Emile Hirsch (23) "his star rose quickly in 2007 when Sean Penn cast him in Into the Wild and it was on Hirsch's shoulders to carry the majority of the film in-between fantastic supporting roles by Hal Holbrook and Catherine Keener. His ability to "act" was proven. However, if you want to be a big star you need to put asses in the seats. This is where Hirsch's star drops slightly as his first major box-office bid was Speed Racer and it failed miserably. Hirsch is still young and he has a supporting role in the upcoming Oscar candy Milk and I would say his potential remains undecided, but he wouldn't be my first pick for "Next Big Thing".Joseph Gordon-Levitt (27) "Remember this kid when he was playing Tommy on "3rd Rock from the Sun"? Well, he is slowly building himself a little filmography and is starting to gain some attention. People liked him in Brick and The Lookout. He had a small role in Spike Lee's The Miracle at St. Anna and he will next be seen in Killshot and, of course, the biggie, G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra in which he plays the Cobra Commander. He has proven he has acting chops, they aren't exactly Oscar caliber as of yet, but he is getting there and the G.I. Joe flick really could up his profile as villains are always remembered above the heroes. Will he be able to pull a Heath Ledger type performance out of his hat or is that way too much to expect? James Franco (30) At 30-years-old I almost didn't add Franco to the list, but in the 2008 he has transformed himself from being known for his awful role as Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man films to a funny-man and he will be joining Sean Penn as well as Emile Hirsch in Milk. Franco plays Scott Smith, Harvey Milk's lover and partner in a camera shop business. Franco is setting out to prove he can make folks laugh as well as tackle serious drama, a complete reinvention if you ask me and he is already gaining some minor Oscar buzz. 30-years-old may seem old, but George Clooney was 33 when he sky-rocketed to stardom with "ER" in 1994 so I think there is still a chance for Franco.Shia LaBeouf (22) "I've already discussed Shia at some length in my intro, but I think we can all agree his ability to attract Oscar caliber films is yet to be proven. Personally I am a big fan of LaBeouf. I think he can deliver dialogue with the best of them and I have yet to see him in a role I didn't think he was decent in. Sure, swinging with the monkeys in Indy 4 was silly, but I am not going to judge his acting in a film that itself didn't deserve to be made. Shia has managed to make the films people go and see, but it is still up in the air as to whether he is attracting the attention or just the films he is in".Anton Yelchin (19) "I talked ill of Alpha Dog already, but one positive thing that came out of Alpha Dog was Anton Yelchin. Yelchin surprised the hell out of me as he and Justin Timberlake actually made Alpha Dog worth watching and unfortunately I missed Charlie Bartlett as Columbia Pictures basically pushed it under the rug Yelchin has a few major films up and coming. He will star as Sulu in Star Trek and as Kyle Reese in Terminator Salvation. Sure he won't be carrying either picture, but it is certain to bring him some attention and after Alpha Dog I already know the kid can act, it now remains to be seen if he can capture the attention of audiences".James McAvoy (29) "James McAvoy doesn't come off as a major movie star. I have always thought of him as that guy in the smaller film I liked. However, he has recently proved to be something of a powerhouse in a pair of smaller flicks as well as a 2008 blockbuster. McAvoy, I felt, was robbed when it came to The Last King of Scotland as all the attention went to Forest Whitaker even though McAvoy carried the entire film. He was also fantastic opposite Keira Knightley in Atonement. The boy can act, no denying". Jake Gyllenhaal (27) "Jake G starred in the wildly popular cult classic Donnie Darko was nominated for an Oscar for Brokeback Mountain and is now set to topline Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time for a summer 2010 release. People know who he is, he's already earned some Oscar attention and he has a major blockbuster on the way. Sounds like he is testing the boundaries of stardom, but I can't help but wonder if audiences will bite". Michael Cera (20) "If there is one thing going against Michael Cera it is that he seems to play the exact same person in every single movie. He is certainly funny in all of his films, including the upcoming Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, but to say he is playing a character that is any different from his role on "Arrested Development", in Juno or even in Superbad is really going to hurt Cera unless he can break the cycle. Actors don't get too much time to be on top and Cera needs a role that will get him out of that timid, yet lovable, every man. Of course, maybe he doesn't want to be a star, as he certainly makes clear in a recent New York Times interview when he said, 'I don't really want to be famous, and I'm kind of scared that might be happening'.
Other actors I considered included Ryan Gosling, Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell, Hayden Christensen, Jay Baruchel, Ben Barnes, Michael Pitt, Jay Hernandez, Josh Hutcherson, Robert Pattinson, Zac Ephron, Rupert Grint and Kal Penn. Source: www.ropeofsilicon.com
A musical video featuring images of Michael Cera in "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist", in the episode "Amigos" episode of "Arrested Development", etc. Songs: part of "Absolute Beginners" by David Bowie, part of "Mexico" by James Taylor and part of "Middle Management" by Bishop Allen.
A video featuring some images of Michael Cera's female partenaires in "Arrested Development", "Superbad", "Juno", "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist" and her future partenaires in "Youth in Revolt" and "Scott Pilgrim".
On the set with Jim Sheridan and Tobey Maguire in Los Alamos, New Mexico (February 9th 2008).
"Jeff Wells has put together his Oscar balloon and has mentions for the film and the boys - Jake and Tobey. Wipe away those tears because Fanatical found a nice breakdown from a screening, which paints Natalie's performance in a really good light.
Someone called Brothers Spy spoke to an IMDB poster that had attended a screening for the film. The IMDB poster told him this:
"Jim Sheridan was there, he actually sat behind me during the audience feedback session. I got the impression from his reactions that he wasn't entirely happy with the way the film has turned out thus far, but i'm just guessing. I saw the other producers there, but none were recognizable. This was the first screening. The questions being asked led me to believe the producers saw this film as being in good shape. They said that the release date of the film was December 4th. I heard from 19 other test audience members who were much more positive in their praise for the film than I was. They seemed to really enjoy it. None of them, however, had seen the original film and none were very familiar with film in general. I believe I suffer a slight bias due to my appreciation of the original film, but only a slight one. My major issues with the film are the scenes of brutality that feel very toned down from the original version. I have many complaints, but that is my main one."
Brothers Spy spoke to him again and got some more details about the performances, and this is Brothers Spy relating what he had been told:
Nearly everyone in attendance, including the guy I spoke to, loved Jake and Natalie's characters and their performances. In fact, everyone loved that storyline the best. The crowd was about evenly divided on Tobey and his character. The guy said that Tobey starts very weak, but finishes strong. As for Jake and Natalie, they have A LOT of chemistry together. There's a lot of sexual/romantic tension between their characters which is both very believable and palpable.
Everyone, except my guy, said they would recommend the film to their friends. The film got an average of 4 votes out of 5, on those questionaires they hand out. Jake and Natalie got 5 out of 5 by 17 out of the 19 people who stayed behind. Tobey however got an average of 3/5.
The only two things people seemed not to like were: Tobey's unsympathetic character and they didn't like the beginning or the ending which has some narration apparently (neither the original film nor the adapted script had this).
As for the guy's personal opinion, the script, he believes, was the weakest part of the whole thing. He says, despite a couple of differences from the original film, it's pretty much a straight forward adaptation. Yet the original film was written in 2002, before Iraq. But this films takes place in 2007, yet Iraq is never mentioned which he find weird". Thanks to : Fanatical By dazza on Friday, Sep 26th at 13:21
Amanda Seyfried On "Jennifer's Body" Set, 2008 May 6 -Vancouver, Canada-
"It was among the more gothic scenes in “Jennifer’s Body,” a closing battle with fewer rules than Ultimate Fighting, pitting Jennifer (“Transformer’s” Fox) against her longtime friend Needy Lesnicky (Seyfried, of “Mamma Mia!”) and her relatively wimpy boyfriend Chip Dove (“Evan Almighty’s” Simmons)."I want to be faithful to the genre but also turn all of those things sideways", Cody continued. "My biggest priority is putting words in women's mouths -- it just doesn't happen. Women don't get the good lines. They don't get to do anything. And they don't get to be reckless. And I've always been reckless."
A former alternative newspaper reporter, Internet blogger, sex industry worker and memoirist, Cody grew up loving scary 1970s and 1980s movies -- "I'm a horror junkie," she said. Cody was particularly drawn to thrillers with artistic flair -- "Rosemary's Baby," "Carrie," "The Shining," "Poltergeist" and the darkly comic pre-" Spider-Man" films from director Sam Raimi, especially "The Evil Dead."
Yet Cody was equally struck by films that many might not find inherently terrifying, including Sofia Coppola's "The Virgin Suicides." "There's the idea of the adolescent feminine mystique being inherently creepy", Cody said. "Two girls holding hands platonically as they cross a schoolyard -- I find that creepy." 'Juno' is a life-affirming movie", Cody said over dinner, with filming wrapped for the day. "And this is a death-affirming movie. The people who really loved 'Juno' -- I don't know if they will love this in the same way. And the people who hated 'Juno' -- well, this will just be more grist for the mill."
While the film, set in rural Minnesota not far from where Cody once lived, tweaks the conventions of the killer-on-the-loose genre, it does so in Cody's familiar pop-culture-reference-laden style. When a poser devil-worshiping rock band named Low Shoulder decides to perform a human sacrifice, they rely on plans printed out from the Internet. "But horror is a surprisingly feminist genre", Cody said. "The last person standing is usually a woman. And most of the guys in this movie are vain and insecure. You'll notice there are no fathers in this movie. I didn't want there to be any male role models -- I didn't feel these were girls who were loved by their fathers".As she bobbed in the pool wearing a black-and-white prom dress (of course, there's a prom scene -- it's a horror movie after all), the 22-year-old Fox said she knows girls like Jennifer all too well. "I was the Jennifer of my school -- the troublemaker, the anarchist" Fox said. "She has an appetite for destruction". Source: www.latimes.com
"He's going to act, and act as if he's not acting.
He's going to be Hud. Cool Hand Luke. Fast Eddie. and Butch Cassidy.
He's going to be a beautiful loser, a self-made orphan, adrift and misjudged, as scornful as he is scorned.
He's going to be the adolescent fantasy of a man's man, tough inside and out, all smirk and sinew, opposed -- not by choice but by the helpless fault of his nature -- to the laws that govern everyone else.
"I don’t know what I've learned," Paul Newman growls in a voice fit to his seventy-five years, many of them spent smoking Marlboros, drinking Scotch and whisky.
Then comes the pause. Loooooong pause. It's a by-God-vintage-Actors-Studio pause, a quiet billowing like fog, a hush that gathers, waiting, falling like the dark. You can hear the tape recorder whirring.
He looks like Paul Newman. That sounds moronic, I know -- he is Paul Newman, dammnit -- but that's still the first thing you notice. His wrinkles are creases now; vertical seams stitch his lips. He is an old man, yes . . . and yet unbent. He is lithe, well oiled, loose -- a sleek old tom. He takes smallish steps, but with a quick, athletic grace. He may have been five feet eleven inches tall, as he used to claim -- his height was once a matter of hot media dispute -- but he's no taller than five nine this evening. Those eyes, so intensely blue, yes, but a blue dyed with depth. He seems tired, a little beat. Hell, he's seventy-five, it's afternoon: Maybe he's just hungry. He just sits there on the couch, hands clasped behind his neck, looking up at the ceiling. He's in no hurry.
You want him to open and spill himself? He won't. He doesn't think of himself like that, as a subject. Long ago, he decided that his inner life would stay that way. "This is the great age of candor," he told Playboy in 1983. "Fuck candor." For him, celebrity was another, lesser role, empty of meaning and not to be trusted, he might even think that fame itself -- had come to him for stupid, superficial reasons. He does not gaze at the mirror and say, 'Holy shit, look at my beautiful eyes.' His right hand lifts his sweater and scratches absentmindedly; his belly looks flat, taut, tanned.
"Maybe that's the problem: I don't know what I've learned that's going to make these golden years golden."
He laughs, he laughs to himself.
This is textbook Newman. He is an ancient mariner, a survivor of a generation of tough guys, a stranger to self-congratulation and self-parody, a man who busted his nuts and yet found it unnecessary to seek release and affirmation in moshing with hotel furniture, punching pencil-necked photographers, or dancing the Watusi when he hit the end zone. Rarer than a virgin in Las Vegas is a Paul Newman interview in which luck, whimsy, and serendipity don't get the credit for his success.
"It is just luck. It is stunning. I didn't think very much about the future. I never felt like a leading man, never felt it. You've gotta feel like a leading man in order to be a leading man, and I never had that kind of confidence."
The first time he actually saw himself on a movie screen, in 1954, he was shit-faced drunk, a blessing in disguise. The Silver Chalice was the title, a costume drama, the kind of epic that is laughable kitsch even when done well, which this wasn't. Jack Palance, playing the pagan magician, was lucky enough to be disguised by an evil goatee; Newman, wrapped in a mini toga, played the slave turned sculptor whose task was to craft the goblet Christ would use at the Last Supper.
At a movie house in Philly, slumped down with a case of brew, he watched himself, a cigar-store Indian in ancient Rome, turning slowly to deliver his first line of film dialogue.
"I hope these hands never again have to perform such a sad duty," he said, his voice as flat and dead as dirt.
Surviving that dog took luck.
James Dean dying and bequeathing to Newman his first plum role, as Rocky Graziano in Somebody Up There Likes Me -- good luck, too, at least for Newman.
Meeting Joanne Woodward, not just a great actress but a raving beauty, a Georgia peach who not only could live with Newman's obliquity and rough edges but could also share her passion for literature, for politics -- and who was willing to set aside the meat of her career to raise their kids: That was very lucky, too.
But he had something beyond the luck. It was Newman who refused when Warner Bros. suggested that he change his name to something that sounded less Jewish, who bought out his first and last studio contract in 1959 for half a million dollars he didn't have and became one of the first movie stars of his time who would control his value, who bought a home in Connecticut in 1962 and lives there still, who marched in Alabama in '63 and campaigned for Gene McCarthy in '68, who spoke of his beliefs in public and backed them with good deeds and money at a time when most citizens sat mute -- especially those types whose earnings were based on an image of insouciant glamour -- and who refused to mail in the same tired, smirking, tough-guy, buddy-buddy formula in movie after movie, choosing instead to grow as an actor and as a man.
Luck?
Sure.
Great good luck -- and the will to work and the stamina to endure it.
Luck, heart, and a pair of big stone balls. Let's go down memory lane. Brando? A lunatic, an island in Hollywood.
Dean? Dead.
McQueen? Dead.
Monty Clift? Dead. Newman? Loooooong pause.
"Let me retire to the john," he says. "This beer has gone through me fast." He has consumed one seven-ounce pony of Budweiser.
He comes back rubbing his cheek. He has seen the red mark on his nose.
"I go to the doctor once a year," he explains, "to have my face scraped. All the rough edges -- it's sore as hell. It's what they call a precancerous growth. One of those choice things that come with age."
He is seventy-five years old now. He has seen his colleagues come and, most of them, go. He doesn't kid himself about the future.
"You can't be as old as I am without waking up with a surprised look on your face every morning: Holy Christ, whaddya know -- I'm still around. It is absolutely amazing that I survived, survived all the booze and the smoking and the cars and the career. I'm at that age when you really start thinking about what the end is going to be like and how gracefully you're gonna do that. If I would have to say I was preoccupied with anything, it would be just wondering how graceful that exit is gonna be.
"Is it just gonna be non compos mentis? Is it gonna be graceful? Is it gonna be quick? Is it gonna be one of those long, drawn-out . . . you wonder about it. It doesn't occupy my day, but you wonder about it."
Suddenly, Joanne Woodward enters the room.
"This is my lady," Newman says, introducing us, and the gravel in his voice is gone. His voice is rich and warm and full of joy.
Lucky, yes. She is seventy years old, more rounded now than curved, and more beautiful for that. She smiles at him with that look that women have who have come to cherish the boy in their man.
"Don't believe any of it," she warns me on her way out to dinner. "It's all one big joke."
But this much is no joke: He has slowed. He retired from auto racing in 1995, after winning the GT-1 championship at the Daytona Rolex 24 at the age of seventy, and the movie work is sparse, redundant, cued by his creases and old white head and dusty pipes. Since Nobody's Fool in 1994 -- a fine job, garnering him his eighth Oscar nomination for Best Actor; he lost, of course, to Mr. Box o' Chocolates -- he has played a creaky shamus in 1998's Twilight, and he did his level best as Kevin Costner's pop, crusty and wise, in Message in a Bottle. In Where the Money Is he plays yet another cranky alter kocker, a bank robber who fakes a stroke to get out of prison and into a nursing home, where Linda Fiorentino, playing the hot 'n' nasty nurse, cajoles him into one last heist.
And since?
"Lean stuff out there. It's dry, a dry season." His voice, solemn to begin with, trails off into a grunt.
I ask about The Homesman, a project he's talked about the past few years, a character-driven western he's written and rewritten. He has said that he'd like to direct it and star in it with his wife -- they've done eleven pictures together -- and then call it quits.
"I can't seem to get anybody interested," he says. "I may have just run out of steam on it."
Hard to believe, I say, that no one's interested.
He squints, frowning. Tell him you love his popcorn and red sauce and salad dressing and he'll thank you kindly with a twinkle in his eyes, but don't blow smoke up Paul Newman's bony old ass. Don't even try.
So, if the scripts he sees these days are few and far between, if the directors now come from MTV and NYU, if the writers are fresh from Harvard, and if the actors are from the San Diego Zoo, digitally enhanced planks of pine who moan about the emotional agony, the soul torture, of playing a part in a fucking movie -- if he never acts again, so what?
He began to produce and direct his own films; the first, Rachel, Rachel, starring Woodward, which earned a Best Picture nomination in 1968. In 1969, he formed First Artists Production Company with Sidney Poitier; later, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman joined up. The idea was that they would produce quality films, films they cared about. The reality was that the lunatics couldn't run the asylum, and he himself was bored, frustrated, sick of playing Paul Newman playing Paul Newman.
"I'm running out of steam," he said in 1968. "Wherever I look, I find parts reminiscent of Luke or Hud or Fast Eddie. Christ, I played those parts once and parts of them more than once. It's not only dangerous to repeat yourself, it's damned tiresome."Besides, he had discovered racing. This circle he liked -- fast and faster, no thought beyond the screaming cockpit, no introspection, no box office. You won or you didn't. He kept his filming schedule clear from April to October -- racing season -- and turned pro in 1977. He was fifty-two years old, and acting was now something he did on the side.
And this he could use to become the actor he'd always wanted to be, free of all the smirking boyo shit and freeze-framed machismo.
The transformation began in yet another movie no one saw, 1976's Buffalo Bill & the Indians, in which Newman played the living legend as a drunken buffoon and a showbiz fraud. And when Redford pulled out of The Verdict because playing the boozehound shyster wouldn't gloss his image, Newman took the part, pouring himself into a raw wound of a character and -- stripped of all mannerism -- bared the soul and spirit of the man, coming out on the other side in the flat-out best ride of his career.
He is what his father was, a family man. Five daughters. His first child, Scott, his only son, overdosed and died at the age of twenty-eight, in 1978. Scott had tried to become an actor, had tried stunt work, had changed his name to William Scott and tried to become a singer. It had been bad between them for a long time before the pills and alcohol carried Scott away.
When the phone call came, he was not surprised to hear that Scott had died. What shocked him was the anger and the hurt. What enveloped him then was the length of the shadow his own father had cast, and the darkness of the shadow now belonged to him.
Then a line of dialogue drifts back to him from twenty-five years ago, from when he played Buffalo Bill for Robert Altman: "The last thing a man wants to do is the last thing he does." "I don't ask any questions about it," he says. "I'm afraid that if I ask any questions about it, I could come up with the wrong answer. It's the act in itself that is the important thing, not seeking out the motivation for it. Every donation that I ever made to anything was always anonymous. Now I have to broadcast it. I really don't like it."
He is now a spokesman for the Committee to Encourage Corporate Philanthropy, whose goal is to increase the total annual amount of corporate donations from $9 billion to $15 billion by 2004. He spoke late last year at the kickoff banquet to a gaggle of CEOs -- Chase Manhattan, Kmart, Citibank, Xerox, America Online: more than two dozen of the lucky bastards, all self-made, rugged individualists who weren't born in Papua, New Guinea -- and told them, "Wipe your minds," and asked them to commit 2 percent of their annual after-tax profits to charity.
Well, they said, they'd have to think about it. They'd have to consider their responsibilities to the shareholders.
They thought about it. They discussed it. They voted no. "With all the questionable things we're capable of doing," he tells me, and this clause is followed by another long pause, "it seems that all entities should participate in holding out their hands to people who have less than they have." He knows that the last thing a man wants to do is the last thing he does". Source: www.esquire.com
"Thought of you as my mountain top, Thought of you as my peak. Thought of you as everything, I've had but couldn't keep. I've had but couldn't keep. Linger on, your pale blue eyes. Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
If I could make the world as pure and strange as what I see, I'd put you in the mirror, I put in front of me. I put in front of me. Linger on, your pale blue eyes. Linger on, your pale blue eyes.
Skip a life completely. Stuff it in a cup. She said, Money is like us in time, It lies, but can't stand up. Down for you is up. Linger on, your pale blue eyes. Linger on, your pale blue eyes"
"Pale Blue Eyes" lyrics by The Velvet Underground.
What She's Done: Besides heating up the screen in 'Transformers,' Fox has positioned herself as a saucy sex symbol -- her Maxim cover was a scorcher.
What's Next: This fall's comedy 'How to Lose Friends and Alienate People'; 'Whore' (really), 'Jennifer's Body' (a comedy horror penned by 'Juno' scribe Diablo Cody); and 'Transformers 2.'
Industry Buzz: "I honestly believe that Megan is here to stay," says Robert Weide, director of 'How to Lose Friends.' "She'll constantly surprise people by her range. Anyone who thinks she's just a pretty face is going to be surprised in the same way they were when Michelle Pfeiffer proved she really was an actress." MICHAEL CERA Age: 20 Years on List: 2007, 2008
What He's Done: Cera made the leap from TV star ('Arrested Development') to box office draw with the raunch-fest 'Superbad' and the Oscar-nominated 'Juno' in '07.
What's Next: He'll follow up October's 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist' with starring roles in 'Year One,' 'Youth in Revolt' and 'Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.'
Industry Buzz: "With 'Arrested Development,' 'Superbad' and 'Juno,' he always came across as an appealing, funny kid," says Entertainment Weekly's Dave Karger. "But in 'Nick & Norah,' he's really emerging as a young man, and a very likable one."
SHIA LABEOUF Age: 22 Years on List: 2007, 2008
What He's Done: The Beef made the leap from Disney tween ('Even Stevens,' 'Holes') to blockbuster action star ('Transformers,' 'Indiana Jones') in what seemed like a week (actuality: four years).
What's Next: He reunites with 'Disturbia' director D.J. Caruso in this month's thriller 'Eagle Eye' while filming next summer's 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.'
Industry Buzz: "Shia is genuine, and very real," says Caruso. "He's the good-looking guy next door, he's your best friend next door, he's a little bit of everything. He's been blessed with that." ELLEN PAGE Age: 21 Years on List: 2007, 2008
What She's Done: She played Kitty Pride in 'X-Men: The Last Stand,' but her turn as a pregnant teen in 'Juno' made her a household name (and scored her an Oscar nod).
What's Next: She'll star in the thriller 'Peacock,' play a roller derby skater in Drew Barrymore's 'Whip It!' and take the title role in a new adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's 'Jane Eyre.'
Industry Buzz: "The amazing thing about Ellen is how sophisticated her tastes are," says EW's Dave Karger. "We will probably never see her take on a typical starlet role. She's so strongly associated with her 'Juno' character, but I'm sure we'll soon see there's a lot more to her than that." ANTON YELCHIN Age: 19 Years on List: 2008
What He's Done: Long called a "next big thing," he's impressed in movies that had trouble finding audiences ('Alpha Dog,' 'Fierce People,' 'Charlie Bartlett').
What's Next: The actor's next two projects -- 'Star Trek' and 'Terminator Salvation' -- should have no such trouble. Both are slated for a summer 2009 release.
Industry Buzz: "He may not be a name that many people know, but he's already delivered very impressive performances in 'Charlie Bartlett,' where he really carried the entire film, and 'Alpha Dog', says Dave Karger of EW". EMMA STONE Age: 19 Years on List: 2008 What She's Done: Her resume's heavy on comedy -- from the super hit 'Superbad' to lesser films 'The Rocker' and 'The House Bunny.'
What's Next: She'll play to her strengths -- she's next up in the Matthew McConaughey rom-com 'The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past,' by 'Mean Girls' director Mark Waters.
Industry Buzz: Says L.A. Daily News and LA.com film critic Bob Strauss, "This summer's 'Rocker' and 'House Bunny' weren't up there with last year's hysterical 'Superbad.' But Emma Stone maintained her sweet and natural quality through all three no matter how outrageous or unfunny matters got. She's the most superb straightwoman of her age group, and that's a rare talent in any generation." KAT DENNINGS Age: 22 Years on List: 2008
What She's Done: She was Catherine Keener's not-quite-sexually-active daughter in '40-Year-Old Virgin'; played a goth girl who gets an Anna Faris makeover in 'The House Bunny.'
What's Next: She plays Michael Cera's possible soul mate in 'Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist,' then stars in Robert Rodriguez's kid-friendly 'Shorts' and the college football flick 'End Zone.'
Industry Buzz: "Kat is a refreshing and remarkable actress," says 'Nick and Norah' director Peter Sollett. "She's unbound by what she thinks a director might be expecting of her, instead favoring unique interpretation of her character. She's an independent-minded artist who is here to stay." MILEY CYRUS Age: 15 Years on List: 2008
What She's Done: The ubiquitous teen's 'Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds' concert flick shocked the movie industry with a $31 million opening weekend.
What's Next: She lends her voice to fall's animated Disney flick 'Bolt'; 'Hannah Montana' continues its Hollywood takeover in April '09; and Nicholas Sparks is tailor-making a script for her.
Industry Buzz: "She has great talent and family values," says Falco Ink. publicist Janice Roland. "Her talent will take her to the next level. I think she has staying power if she stays with her fans. As her fans grow up, she should be there with them." GEMMA ARTERTON Age: 22 Years on List: 2008
What She's Done: The new Brit on the block is bursting on the scene with a pivotal role in this year's Bond, 'Quantum of Solace,' and a part in Guy Ritchie's 'Rocknrolla.'
What's Next: You may catch her in the English comedy 'The Boat That Rocked,' but you're sure to see her in the epic actioner 'The Prince of Persia.'
Industry Buzz: "Gemma is an extraordinary talent," says 'Solace' director Marc Forster. "I told her when I first met her on the first day: 'You will work until you're very, very old.' Because I think she's extraordinarily gifted and she has incredible timing. Her comedic timing is brilliant, and her dramatic quality as well." SCARLETT JOHANSSON Age: 23 Years on List: 2007, 2008
What She's Done: Since capturing moviegoers' attention in 'The Horse Whisperer' at age 14, she's earned raves for 'Lost in Translation,' been Woody Allen's muse in a trifecta of films and generally made men swoon.
What's Next: She'll star opposite Jennifer Aniston and Drew Barrymore in 'He's Just Not That Into You,' play a comic-book vixen in 'The Spirit' and get married to Ryan Reynolds (sorry, guys).
Industry Buzz: "Being Woody Allen's muse isn't a bad gig," says USA Today's Susan Wloszczyna. "But at 23, the experienced-beyond-her-years Johansson deserves to appear in high-caliber movies like 'Lost in Translation,' not splashed on more magazine covers." SEE FULL LIST in www.moviefone.com
#10 SHIA LABEOUF.
"Best acting performance: His definitive portrayal as the young Dito Montiel in A Guide to Recognizing your Saints.
#9 EMILE HIRSCH.
Best acting performances: Hirsch certainly made a good number of breakthrough performances, but I have to say his role in Sean Penn's Into The Wild is his best so far- as adventurer Chris McCandless. Also worth mentioning is his role in Imaginary Heroes as the younger son of Jeff Daniels and Sigourney Weaver, the emotionally traumatized Tim Travis.
#6 JAKE GYLLENHAAL.
Best acting performances: His Oscar nominated role in Brokeback Mountain is certainly his best role so far. As Jack Twist, he brought so much credibility into the character, it completely complements the emotional pain and anguish of Ennis del Mar, played by the late Heath Ledger. Coming in second is the cult hit, Donnie Darko where he played the title character. Also worth mentioning is David Fincher's Zodiac where Jake plays Robert Graysmith, who happens to be the author where the movie was based.
#3 JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT.
Best acting performances: After a hustling gig that turned violent, we see Neil (Gordon-Levitt) silently licking his wounds as he stared at his bruises and cuts, silently he cries – he must have realized he’s all alone and that there’s no one to help him or even listen to him… Such was the performance of Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Greg Arakki’s Mysterious Skin, that almost all critics agreed- Levitt is the young actor to watch! Of course, Levitt is no ‘one-movie wonder’, as Brick from director Rian Johnson proves.
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