The history of action cinema is full of unlikely stars, whether it's The Fresh Prince kicking ass in Bad Boys and Bad Boys II or that smartass from Moonlighting becoming the single greatest action movie hero of all time. With Sean Penn trying to pull a Liam Neeson this weekend in The Gunman, the trend continues. So who would you like to see take a stab at action movie stardom?
Hands down Dan Stevens from "The Guest". That guy killed it in that movie and just oozes star power.
ReplyDeleteAgreed, I think we have enough old action stars, between old action stars still trying to hang on and more serious guys getting their hands dirty, I'd see to see a few more movies starring guys who don't have their AARP card.
DeleteMartin Sheen, Jim Parsons and Jason Alexander.
ReplyDeleteShe's already well on her way, so maybe this doesn't count, but I REALLY want to see Scarlett Johansson explore action stardom more. I think she's great in the genre.
ReplyDeleteI'd also be interested in seeing Leonardo DiCaprio do more action.
Michael Fassbender would rule as a Bond-type star in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHere's an interesting New York Magazine article article that tackles a similar subject: Which Taken Knockoff Is the Best? We Ranked All 14 of Them.
ReplyDeleteSince Chris Pratt did it (the action star nobody saw coming last year) I'm going to go with Bradley Cooper. He's had a stab as comic relief in an action ensemble ("The A-Team"), but after "American Sniper" he can write his own ticket as far as I'm concerned. There's only so many Oscar bait dramas and "Hangover" comedies the man can do, so I can see him and a filmmaker who knows how to use him well turning a sudden box office action hit.
Related article to eliminate/add potential candidates: The Action Hero Championship Belt. Hate to say it, but rule No. 1 eliminates my man Cooper (and just about everybody else).
DeleteIdris Elba. Dudes pretty cool. I think he could pull off any of the roles normally played by the likes of Denzel Washington or Liam Neeson. And I know the scuttlebutt going around about him possibly playing Bond; I for one think he would be great in the role.
ReplyDeleteCosigned.
DeleteI'd say Arrow's Stephen Amell, but he already is an action star... on Arrow, and I'm not remotely ready to wish for that show to end. So I think I'll go with an out-of-left-field choice, and say Mark Salling, AKA Noah Puckerman from Glee. The dude has serious charm and badass charisma, and is only 32, so he could have a long and storied career ahead of him. (Another dark horse pick could be Tom "Smallville" Welling, 37.)
ReplyDeleteIf he can get back in shape, I would go with Nathan Fillion. J.K. Simmons would be a unlikely but great choice.
ReplyDeleteJ.K. Simmons is a fantastic idea. Somebody get onto that!
DeleteOr Titus Welliver...is it just me or are those two interchangeable?!
DeleteDon cheadle
ReplyDeleteThey tried with "Traitor" and for some reason that failed. I actually thought the movie was fine. He is showing in the Iron Man films that he can do it but I'm wondering if he just isn't interested.
DeleteTimothy Hutton. He's an affable guy with a menacing side that is rarely tapped into in movies (The Dark Half and Playing God are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head). I'd be very interested to see what he could bring to an action hero part.
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ReplyDeleteMaybe I'm the only one, but I could see Kyle Maclachlan as a slightly grizzled, ex-wetwork guy.
ReplyDeleteYou're not the only one. I would absolutely go see that movie.
DeleteI guess we gotta convince David Lynch to start making action flicks.
DeleteWyatt Russell.
ReplyDeleteI would love to see an awesome buddy cop action movie starring Emile Hirsch as a young, up and coming, straight laced, by the books good cop whose partner is Joaquin Phoenix, playing an older bad cop. They would both be really great action stars. Throw Jake Gyllenhaal in there and take my money right now. I would also like to see Josh Brolin become an action star. He's done some action movies before but I think he could really carry his own film or franchise.
ReplyDeleteEven though I know it will never happen, I'd actually like to see Daniel Day-Lewis take a stab at action. He's old enough now that he's got that sharp and grizzled look that could make him really menacing. He could use his normal accent and play some of those old Michael Caine style hardass Brit roles. Once again, never gonna happen.
ReplyDelete^^^ Yep, DD-L is the big fish in the 'big actor schlepping in genre pictures' pool. Never going to happen, but it'd be awesome to see Daniel Plainview's stache beat ass and then drink a milkshake. The one-liners that could come from that would be epic. :-)
DeleteDDL showed pretty good action acting chops in "The Last of the Mohicans".
DeleteI'd like Meryl Streep taking a stab at an action comedy. No, seriously. I'd like to see her at least make the attempt.
ReplyDeleteMaybe she can be in "Red 3".
DeleteI say do a Meryl Streep/Daniel Day-Lewis buddy cop action movie. How awesome would such a movie be with two of the "greatest" actors of our time?
DeleteI feel sorry for whoever had to review The Gunman, it had to be the most vain egotistical "action" movie I'll ever see.
ReplyDeleteWe get it Sean, you look great with a shirt off, even at your age. There was no need for him to be shirtless in many scenes, or to have women throwing themselves at his feet. I didn't understand why his character was wrote that way until I reached the credits "Starring Sean Penn.... Written by Sean Pean... Produced by Sean Penn".
Idris Elba was basically reduced to a cameo to the point where I wondered if he was even in the movie; and grew angry until he finally showed up for a brief moment.
I know this doesn't fit here, but just fair warning to avoid this one. There was on okay death scene, but I basically sleepwalked through all the other boring scenes (oh and what's up with Javier Bardem; is he just not a good actor?).