The Next Generation Of Actors

[Dynasty]

Something Ive been thinking about everytime I see an old film; actors of our generation, even if youre in your early 20s (nice cover up there as I fall in that category) are pushing 40-70 and higher years of age lately right?

So we should, in the next decade or 2, see a flurrish of sorts of famous actors and actresses dying off. Jack Nicholson. Sean Connery. Marlon Brando. Robbert DeNiro. Al Pacino. Susan Sarandon. Dame Judi Dench. You know what I mean, the classic actors and actresses, the ones that made the industry and created the best movies ever made, list them as you will.

I was watching Superbad (again) the other day, and it dawned on me that these kids in films today are the next generation of actors. And then I had a realisation that should only be reserved in the deepest, darkest of nightmares; Shia LeBeouf and...Megan...***king...Fox starring in MORE films. Oh the horror. Kids, lock yourselves in your rooms lest you see another film starring Megan Fox. And stop fapping to her, she's not THAT hot, you're just perpetuating the cycle.

The younger generation of actors are pretty crap when put in comparison with what we grew up with, and I feel sorry for babies being born right now, knowing that they will have their generation of films starring today's youths. And thats almost embarrasing. Yes they will have a chance to grow as better actors, but ***k me if they ever get to the level of today's current great actors and actresses.

Yes Im early 20s, but I appreciate the current generation on TV and in films, as I have gotten to experience them while they are still around today. If you were a kid, youve grown up now and someone from our generation puts on a film starring Dennis Hopper (who's dead as we speak), the kid wouldnt know who that was and how many great films he starred in. Okay, maybe Dennis Hopper is a bad example but you get my gist.

Ok, prime example;

Lord David Attenborough. The world's greatest broadcaster, naturalist and natural historian will soon be gone. Nothing involving nature on the likes of the Discovery Channel will EVER be the same. Nobody can replace him. Not a single peron on this planet can be as good as him. To me, natural programmes ARE David. They are instantly linked together in my mind.

He's not far off from 6-feet-under these days, and the kids today wont realise how much of an affect he had on our TV experience as they wont have grown up watching him. Yes they will amost ultimately see a re-run of episodes he did from the likes of Planet Earth or Blue Planet etc, may say he was good, but they wont ever appreciate how great he was to us.

Im just saddened at that the younger generation of actors at the moment is the future generation of actors for when I'm in my 60s+. Will we ever see another Tom Hanks? Another John Cleese?

 

[Naph]

No, the world is forever doomed to have terrible actors and be void of any talent when you pass on. The world ends with you.

 

[Dekstar]

I was thinking about some of the best actors of these generations I've seen. The main ones that come to my mind are:
Haley Joel Osment <- Pay it Forward was amazing because of that kid, and he brought Bogus up to an acceptable standard when he was tiny!
Joseph Gordon-Levitt <- Come on, Third Rock From the Sun was his big break, and his role in Brick was orgasmic.
Dakota Fanning <- very good child actress. Will probably end up being the next Julia Roberts.

But yeah I agree. I'll be sad to see when the likes of Cleese kick the bucket. More sad will I be when Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, and Rowan Atkinson die. I think I will actually cry.

 

[evil^milk]

Sure we will - every generation produces notable actors, actresses, musicians, politicians, and personalities. Celebrities of the moment (i.e. Megan Fox, Michael Bay) tend to be forgotten in the collective memory over time, while the truly good personalities are acclaimed beyond time.

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

Brando has been dead for a while now, bro.

 

[Warped]

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, and only a handful of others that I grew up are actually worth a damn these days. but yeah for the record, everything has gone downhill in quality and there is more shit out there than gold

 

[Krynn72]

Sure we will - every generation produces notable actors, actresses, musicians, politicians, and personalities. Celebrities of the moment (i.e. Megan Fox, Michael Bay) tend to be forgotten in the collective memory over time, while the truly good personalities are acclaimed beyond time.

This. One-trick ponies go away. Megan Fox will be forgotten the day her first wrinkle shows up. Shia might hang around though. His career will probably be a lot like Ashton Kutcher's. Start out as a goofy comedian actor, have a few decent bits in a serious role, then get bored and do commercials for easy money.

 

[Warped]

Oh and don't forget the phrase, "everyones a comedian these days"

it also seems like every rapper/singer/rocker out there is now an actor, every sports star is an overachiever and no one sticks to just one talent anymore.

 

[Mogi67]

I don't think anyone making a decent movie is going to want to cast Megan Fox or Shia Lebouf

 

[Kaptain H]

If I see that gross, fat-faced kid from Superbad in one more movie, I am going to throw up for eternity. I also wish that my eyes and ears were unable to perceive Seth Rogan.

 

[Bad^Hat]

You are 100% correct in your assumptions that there are no good actors and can never be any more good actors, and there is absolutely no chance that past generations have thought this exact thing about their young actors.

:|

Agreed with Kap, though. I saw a trailer with Jonah Hill in some new John C. Riley movie and literally the only thing he did was stand there like a stunned mullet. That's basically his only acting "mode," aside from talking about his dick. I really don't get his appeal.

 

[morgs]

I have fond memories of Seth Rogan from Freaks and Geeks.

 

[knut]

at some point, 30 to 40 years ago, there was someone similar to Dynasty saying ''what, sean connery again?!'' and that's always how it's going to be. we're just in a new age now, we've moved on from what was to what is and that's a logical progression. it may not be what oldies want, but then what is? people are always going to complain about what is and what isn't; ask old timers who were long old whilst sean connery and deniro stepped in and they will tell you about actors before them, secret agents and mob members alike, and it will just keep going back and back and back further, much like we are going forward.

it's just advancement.

 

[Ridge]

If I see that gross, fat-faced kid from Superbad in one more movie, I am going to throw up for eternity. I also wish that my eyes and ears were unable to perceive Seth Rogan.

He pissed me off in Superbad, and he pisses me off when I see him in 2 or 3 movies every year since...

 

[Kaptain H]

He pissed me off in Superbad, and he pisses me off when I see him in 2 or 3 movies every year since...

Haha, yeah. He's like the more-retarded Bobcat Goldthwait of this generation.

 

[<RJMC>]

dakota faning gives me hope that there will be good actors in the future

 

[love_nutz2]

Sam Rockwell is gonna be great further down the year I suspect.

 

[StarBob]

Sam Rockwell is gonna be great further down the year I suspect.

One of the most underrated actors of our time.

There are a lot of people that have donewell recently that have already been mentioned. I think Daniel Day Lewis has the potential to do some amazing stuff if he stops being type casted. Mickey Rourke is someone who's had an amazing resurgence and turned out to be pretty good in a fairly wide variety of roles. I used to hate Leonardo DiCaprio, but I came to realize that he was in a ton of movies I really enjoyed so I think I just accepted him as a good actor and moved on. There are some more I can't think of off the top of my head. I realize there aren't a lot of truly memorable young actresses around these days... frankly I've not been a Dakota Fanning fan since I saw her in War of the Worlds and she annoyed the shit out of me.

 

[Qonfused]

Dakota Fanning's teeth alone make her ineligible for any type of achievement.

 

[Vegeta897]

What are you talking about I don't recall her having bad tOH MY GOD ****

 

[Stigmata]

Dakota Fanning's expansive cancerous gums alone make her ineligible for any type of achievement.

Yeah.

 

[Hectic Glenn]

She's peaked too early, these kid actor / actresses fall off the gravy train and end up in drugs and crime. I guarantee you she will have killed at least 5 people by the time she hits 22.

 

[kineaesth]

tOH MY GOD ****

Spoiler

 

[Eejit]

She's peaked too early, these kid actor / actresses fall off the gravy train and end up in drugs and crime. I guarantee you she will have killed at least 5 people by the time she hits 22.

I think she'll be more of a Jodie Foster than a River Phoenix.

Oh and don't forget the phrase, "everyones a comedian these days"

it also seems like every rapper/singer/rocker out there is now an actor, every sports star is an overachiever and no one sticks to just one talent anymore.

Yeah sure the 50's and 60's weren't chock-a-block with singers acting and actors singing. It's such a recent fad.

 

[Insano]

There are enough good new actors, in my opinion.

 

[Druckles]

I think most of the names named by OP were the previous generation's actors. Obviously appreciated and adored, or even shunned, by us, because we grew up with them. They've sort of always been there as 'classics' and 'golden oldies'.

People like Christian Bale are our generation. We get a better picture of them, maybe slightly more objective and we appreciate them in a very different way. They're the people who our kids will grow up with and revere.

If anything, we're somewhat biased towards the generation of actors that came before us.

 

[DEATH eVADER]

The industry now relies more heavily on indie filmmakers for bringing decent young actors/actress to the fore front of everybodies attention. The problem I feel is today's actors and actresses are being taught wrong, cast wrong or being given bad instruction by mainstream producers and directors who have delusions of grandeur through the past success (and failures, but who gives a shit right?)

 

[Llama]

Dakota Fanning's teeth alone make her ineligible for any type of achievement.

Yeah, it sucks that we live in a world where a really wealthy actor can't just pay for a Tom Cruise smile.

Wait wha-?

 

[kineaesth]

Yeah, it sucks that we live in a world where a really wealthy actor can't just pay for a Tom Cruise smile.

Wait wha-?

Oh come on, it's hideous to the point of disturbing.

 

[Dynasty]

I think most of the names named by OP were the previous generation's actors. Obviously appreciated and adored, or even shunned, by us, because we grew up with them. They've sort of always been there as 'classics' and 'golden oldies'.

People like Christian Bale are our generation. We get a better picture of them, maybe slightly more objective and we appreciate them in a very different way. They're the people who our kids will grow up with and revere.

If anything, we're somewhat biased towards the generation of actors that came before us.

Get this man a cookie or a gold star, he's onto it.

Actors like Christian Bale are our generation, Sean Connery are the previous generation, and Shai is the younger generation.

Compare them all; the previous generation is the best back when movies were great, today's generation are pretty good I guess, its just looking at today's actors and actresses and realising they are the ones who are going to ''take over'' at some point.

But will anyone ever replace Stephen Fry or David Attenborough etc.

And yeah I think the director's are at fault too. I mean I know Steven Spielberg loved Shia in Eagle Eye, but then to get him casted in Indiana Jones...for god sake, he was the worst part of the film I thought.

 

[StarBob]

I finally thought of a female actor that I actually enjoy - Zoe Saldana... I don't know if it's because she's a great actress or that she's so ridiculously hot but... who cares.

Christian Bale isn't a bad actor, but after seeing the Batman movies and Terminator 4 I feel like he's going to get typecasted as the yelling action star guy. Granted he was really good in The Prestige (and it was great), but I don't know if that makes him a great actor for a recent generation or just a popular guy that ends up in everything new like Shia Lebouf (not to make any direct comparisons). Johnny Depp in all honesty has played the widest variety of characters I've seen any actor play effectively. Outside of being the object of affection for teenage girls for a long time, he's a hell of an actor... I mean he really embodies his characters to a point of utter realism.

 

[Druckles]

Shia is our generation as much as Christian Bale. It just so happens he's typecasted for a younger audience.

It could be that it was only the great actors, the classics, that stayed on to be remembered for so long. It's also not just the actors themselves but the roles they play. Given thirty years, either Shia will have played some serious roles and earned some respect, or he'll be forgotten and brushed under the carpets like so many other mediocre actors before him.

But then it's hard to say. The 'previous generation' which we're talking about was barely the second generation in TV and film.

 

[Dekstar]

I wish Heath Ledger stuck around a bit longer. I know he'd have been one of the greats. Hell, he already is.

 

[StarBob]

I wish Heath Ledger stuck around a bit longer. I know he'd have been one of the greats. Hell, he already is.

A Knight's Tale was an awesome movie that no one else likes except for me apparently.

Edit: Also about Shia being targeted to a younger generation, he's going to be in the sequel to WALLSTREET. WALLSTREET! That movie was made like 25 years ago and 100% adult. Still can't believe he's in that... makes me sad.

 

[StardogChampion]

Im just saddened at that the younger generation of actors at the moment is the future generation of actors for when I'm in my 60s+. Will we ever see another Tom Hanks? Another John Cleese?

Most of the great actors didn't become famous until their 30's. All of these early-twenties actors you're seeing now aren't necessarily the next greats.

There might be some actors in their 30's just waiting to get a starring role.

 

[Dekstar]

A Knight's Tale was an awesome movie that no one else likes except for me apparently.

Odd, everyone I know loves A Knight's Tale.

It's got Alan Tudyk in it, which makes it 100% more awesome.

 

[Jerry_111]

chloe moretz who starred as hit-girl in Kick-Ass is going to make it big. And will probably be (pedobear:already?) hot.

 

[Druckles]

She's older than she was made out to be in that. IMDB puts her at 13. Only another couple of years before you stop being creepy.

 

[Yuri]

It's not as if famous film actors need to be our age to be considered our generation. It's simply who's most popular now. Some of those names mentioned are either dead or retired, but it's not as if DeNiro isn't making films. Either way, here's some popular modern actors:
Leonardo Dicaprio
Mark Wahlberg
Ellen Page
Jason Swartzman
Elijah Wood
Scarlett Johannson
Shia Lebeaof
Kate Beckinsale
Johnny Depp
Helena Botham Carter
Micheal Cera
Tina Fey
Sean Penn
Seth Rogan
Christian Bale
Robert Downey Jr.
Jude Law
Chloë Moretz

Okay, you don't like some of them. Me neither. But I'm sure you also don't like many old actors, either. The convieniant thing is that you've never heard of them because you were never subjected to them. You're subjected to the shit actors now, but they will fade into obscurity just as they always have. Saying anything is going down the toilet is complete bullshit.

 

[L3N!N]

I have hope in Zach Braff and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. That's about it.

Oh, and I hope Larry David never dies, or ages for that matter; he's a good influence for this generation's actors. Brilliant writer and actor.