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| Happy Birthday Rabbie Burns |
I wonder if the Muse is attending a Burns dinner tonight?
He has been keeping a fairly low profile as of late, except for some business and personal commitments, one of which was attending the Movie 43 after party last night. I am sure it was not high on his list of favorite things to do, but after the fate of his last few movies and the absence of a lot of projects on the horizon, perhaps he is making an attempt to be seen a little more in Hollywood.
I like it he has been working on his personal life lately and, as Murphy's law would have it, while his private life is probably making him happy at the moment, his professional life seems not to be going as well.
I was happy to see Olympus Has Fallen is coming out soon and fervently hope it will provide enough tension and entertainment to garner some decent box office numbers. He needs that, desperately!
I am feeling happy for him that he's found someone who seems to make him happy, but sad that he has been unable to choose some decent scripts that will bring him professional success and satisfaction.
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| Personal contentment brings the genuine smile out? |
I saw both Playing for Keeps, attending the Soccer For Hope Benefit/Premier in L.A. and, before that, Chasing Mavericks on opening week. As a matter of fact, I paid for two tickets to Chasing Mavericks, the first one for opening weekend, which I didn't attend due to other commitments, and the night I actually did attend a few days later. However nothing seemed to help the movie stay in theaters very long. It got lost in the crush of the competition and the election.
Of the two, I thought Chasing Mavericks was the more entertaining. At least the cinematography and all the gorgeous waves and surfing provided some authenticity ....but Playing For Keeps was flat and didn't have much of a story. While Gerry did a decent job acting, the other characters, other than Noah Lomax, were so poorly written and forgettable, that it was one of those movies you forget as soon as you leave the theater. Sweetness, eye candy and flashy cars cannot substitute for a good screenplay and the movie had exactly one laugh line in it (Uma Thurman being in the neighbor's bed).
The competition was fierce at the time of year, so while a "not so good movie" might have done okay at another time, there were too many good ones to watch in lieu of these two. Bad for the Muse, but perhaps he will have learned something from the experience. He needs to go out on a limb and take on a character that will allow him to remember what it was like to really act his way through a movie instead of playing a variation of himself. He did it brilliantly in Coriolanus and there were hints of it in his Machine Gun Preacher despite the unevenness of the story, so I know he can do it.
I have not written for a while for many reasons, but one of them being because I don't want to be harsh in my criticism or hit a guy when he's down. I still care about this person and would like to see him continue to be successful. But he needs to stop making cutesy movies and get someone with taste/discernment to read incoming scripts and spot the edgy ones. He almost didn't make Dear Frankie but for someone who told him to take a second look at the script. He needs someone to take a good FIRST look and advise him. As a producer, as an actor, he needs to seek better material. Alan are you listening too?
As usual, I am still here, a little more silent, but still hoping he will find the roles he needs to cement his place in the Hollywood firmament as more than "hunky Scottish actor" Gerard Butler. I still want to believe he has it in him...that role that will have people saying..."yeah, this guy can act after all. He wasn't just a pretty face and nice body." So many people want to be able to say it. And this will only happen if the story is there to start with. It may be a cliche, but if the story is there and the director is passionate about it, he can pull a good performance out of his actors. Gerry needs both of those factors to coalesce for him.
In the meantime, I wish him much personal happiness. Perhaps love/contentment will help him to find the passion in his acting again.
Zoni
Songs out of tune, the words always a little wrong...Canzoni Stonate
