THE WORST PERFORMANCES COME FROM THE GREATEST ACTORS/ACTRESSES: IS THIS (GENERALLY) TRUE?

Roger Ebert gave “Seven Days in Utopia” (one film that I haven’t seen) a scathing review. He also had this to say regarding Robert Duvall’s work in said movie:

The geezer is named Johnny Crawford. He is played by Robert Duvall. Only a great actor could give such a bad performance. Duvall takes the arts and skills he has perfected for decades and puts them at the service of a flim-flam man who embodies all the worst qualities of the Personal Motivation Movement.

Yes, we all know bad performers generally give lacklustre performances. But do the very worst efforts on celluloid (paradoxically) come from those who are also noted for greatness? And why is this so (if true)?

But do the very worst efforts on celluloid (paradoxically) come from those who are also noted for greatness? And why is this so (if true)?

One word : expectations.

I was gonna say expectations as well, particularly from already well regarded actors

I would say the worst performances always have and will come from uncharismatic porn of soft core newbies.

I actually don’t agree. I think the worst performances generally come from worse actors. Good actors are usually doing something right, even if the rest of it really sucks. Example. Robin Williams in Jack. He made jokes in it that were definitely Robin Williams jokes, not jokes of a 12 year old or however old he is for the majority of the film. But his movement in the movie is really solid and well thought out. So even though it is a generally lack luster performance, he is doing one thing well. This separates him from any Paul Walker who isn’t so much acting as he is speaking at different levels for 2 hours.

I also thought about “expectations”, but I also think there is more to it than that. I think the above post from Simon is a good take on the subject. I also think maybe there are great performers do try but maybe try too hard instead of being somewhat natural—that could be what some people find.

The worst performances are those that don’t even manage to create a fantasy. Great actors at their over the top worst still manage to do that.

We tend to notice if a good actor is laying on the ham more than a bad actor doing the same terrible job. If they have the ability to do the job and they fail, it’s more noticeable than a bad actor acting badly.

Marlon Brando in Dr. Moreau is one example that comes to mind.

Olivier, Duvall, Day-Lewis at their absolute nadirs (in CLASH OF THE TITANS, SEVEN PER CENT SOLUTION and NINE, respectively) are still better than Keanu in DEVIL’S ADVOCATE, or Pitt in TROY.

The worst performances come from the worst actors.

Give me a bad enough director and I can deliver a bad performance from any actor.

And even the greatest directors can’t get blood from stones like Keanu.

@Roscoe – Reeves was fine in Private Idaho and River’s Edge. Not to mention the awesome terribleness that is Point Break.

Brando & Olivier are neck and neck for the crown of GREAT ACTOR WITH THE MOST BAD PEFORMANCES

but there’s also….

Al Pacino (Revolution; Gigli; Cruising; Author! Author!)
Richard Burton (Bluebeard; The Klansman; Exorcist II)
Robert De Niro (virtually anything since Wag the Dog)

not JUST bad films, but these actors are really awful in them.

Roscoe — you’re short-changing Duvall a much worse performance (THE SCARLET LETTER …OMG!!!)

I’m sure there are worse, but I (guiltily) admit that I saw THE BETSY…if not the worst performance, certainly one of the most bizaare in Laurence Olivier’s career

Meryl Streep in “Doubt”…..overwrought as if she is doing Gothic horror in a Robert Aldrich film.
Viola Davis, in a smaller role in that film, absolutely shines by comparison.

The film had significant problems to begin with.
Streep should have known better and resisted the director more.

^^ "Meryl Streep in “Doubt”……overwrought as if she is doing Gothic horror in a Robert Aldrich film."

You know, it was strictly her performance in that film that caused me to find the whole thing ridiculous.

I think there may be some truth to this. I’m thinking of Brando in John Huston’s Reflections in a Golden Eye. What a terrible performance.

Eva Marie Saint has a scene in “Grand Prix” that I imagine she’d like to forget.

After her lover, Yves Montand, has been injured in a crash, she plows through the crowd, screaming his name as he is being loaded into an ambulance.

The embarrasing part comes as she turns to the mob of photo journalists and newsreel shooters, with his blood on her hands, holding them up and screeching: ’Is this what you want? Is this what you want?"

That would have been enough, but she caps it by dropping, arms crossed, into the embrace of a race official, in a scene I think even Bette Davis would have thought twice about.

@ CLAUS HARDING

Further note, I think I would’ve been more interested in seeing the hypothetical Aldrich Gothic horror headed by the jaded Steep nun. XD

This calls to mind what Mick LaSalle said about Rossland Russell’s work in Picnic. “It is hard to tell if she is horrible or great, but she is undeniable which to my mind is closer to great.”

Charles, Dennis,

Indeed, that beautiful grey area which harbors such guilty pleasures, and, occationally, can mask either a great bad performance or a bad great one, however you wish to interpret….