The Avengers stars a group of actors who were well known before they donned the capes and mechanical suits of Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and The Hulk.
Of them, Robert Downey Jr. was the best known, while the Chrises, Evans and Hemsworth were talented up-and-comers and Mark Ruffalo was the Oscar-nominated indie king.
With the film breaking box office records in its worldwide release, it’s fair to say each of these actors will now go from superheroes to superstars.
But what about before they could leap tall buildings in a single bound? (I know that was Superman, but you get my point!) Here are some movies that helped shape this quartet of actors into stars.
Robert Downey Jr.
Despite saying, “I know very little about acting. I’m just an incredibly gifted faker,” Downey has developed into what Esquire called “the second best actor in the world.”
Ten years ago, however, Downey was better known for his extracurricular activities than his films. His committed, loopy performances made him a star at a young age and netted him an Oscar nomination for playing Charlie Chaplin, but drugs and alcohol sidelined him until 2001 when, clean and sober, he rebuilt his career.
MUST SEES: Less Than Zero, Natural Born Killers, Chaplin, Good Night & Good Luck, Richard III.
Chris Evans
Evans played a superhero in Fantastic Four and its sequel, but it took Captain America to make him an A-list star.
He’s flip-flopped between mainstream fare like Not Another Teen Movie and edgier films like The Loss of a Teardrop Diamond, to “show some layers. I’m not just a superhero-action guy.”
MUST SEES: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Puncture, Fierce People.
Chris Hemsworth
Hemsworth made his American debut as George Kirk, father to the icon character James T. in the reboot of Star Trek.
Already a soap (Home and Away) and reality show (Dancing with the Stars) star in Australia, the muscle bound performer beat out dozens of actors to win the role of Thor, including his own brother Liam Hemsworth.
MUST SEES: Cabin in the Woods, A Perfect Getaway.
Mark Ruffalo
Early comparisons to Marlon Brando earned Ruffalo roles in an interesting array of films. Playing Laura Linney’s slacker brother in You Can Count on Me made him a star and indie film darling.
MUST SEES: My Life Without Me, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Shutter Island, The Kids Are All Right.
Mark Twain understood basing stories on real events wouldn’t necessarily mean a tale couldn’t have its own flights of fancy.
“Truth is stranger than fiction,” he said, “but it is because fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; truth isn’t.”
In simpler terms he means that just because something is far fetched doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. For example, if a screenwriter came up with the colourful idea that a homeless man, dressed like a superhero was a musical genius who believed Beethoven was the “leader of Los Angeles” you’d scream “Codswallop!” That is until you see the real life account of Nathaniel Ayers, subject of The Soloist, in theatres this week.
What did Ayers, a schizophrenic man with a larger than life personality, think of Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of him? He was, said Mr. Ayers, “a good Nathaniel.”
Another real life character, John Wojtowicz, who robbed a bank to pay for his lover’s sex change operation, earned $7,500 for the movie rights for his outlandish story. The resulting movie, Dog Day Afternoon, only got 30 per cent of the facts right, Wojtowicz said, but he added that “Al Pacino’s performance has to be called ‘out of sight…’ his characterization was flawless.”
Of course some movies don’t even get 30 per cent of the story right.
Who could forget Morgan Freeman as Joe Clark, Lean on Me’s tyrannical high school principal? On screen armed with a bullhorn and determination he led the rowdy students of New Jersey’s Eastside High School to their highest test scores ever. It was an inspirational movie, but the real life story isn’t quite as stirring. Screenwriters kept the extraordinary aspects of Clark’s story — his use of bullhorns in class and penchant for extreme discipline — but inflated his accomplishments. Despite his notable efforts, test scores didn’t go up.
When asked about the exaggerations in the “based on a true story” account of his life Clark said, “It’s entertainment. And the design of entertainment is to make people happy. There’s enough sadness in one’s life. Once in a while you must extract a reasonable facsimile of glee, as factitious as it may be.”
Sometimes, in the “design of entertainment” the words “Based on a True Story” are completely meaningless. In its opening credits Fargo claimed to be a true story, but it’s actually not. Why make claims to realism then? “If an audience believes that something’s based on a real event,” said co-director Joel Coen, “it gives you permission to do things they might otherwise not accept.”
In 1977 sci-fi writer Phillip K. Dick wrote a nightmarish novel about drug-fueled paranoia, Big Brother style government surveillance and personal rights based on his own experiences as a drug addict. Prolific director Richard Linklater has taken pains with this material, turning the counter culture A Scanner Darkly into an intriguingly entertaining animated movie.
At the base of the story is a highly addictive drug called Substance D, so named for causing “dumbness, despair, desertion and death”. It appears that the government is weaning addicts off other drugs so they can then become hooked on the moneymaking Substance D, which the government controls the rights to. Caught in the web of the drug are the main characters, played by Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr and Woody Harrelson.
The actors didn’t simply lend their voices to the film, as is the case with most traditional animation. In this case the entire movie was shot on video and then rotoscoped, a time-consuming process in which each live-action frame is painted by hand. The result is a lurid dreamscape that lends an appropriately surreal tone to the story. The look of the “scramble suit,” a psychedelic cloak that alters the wearer’s appearance, is nicely rendered by the rotoscope process.
On the downside the animation flattens some of the performances. Reeves and Winona Ryder seem to get lost under the layers of paint. Only Robert Downey Jr’s manic performance can really transcend the animation. His energy is based on something more than simply his years of real-life experience with drugs; it is a funny, sad and intelligent performance from one of the best actors working today.
