Blockbuster Performances: How Actors Contribute to Cinema’s Biggest Hits

219 Pages·2018·2.86 MB·English

by  Daniel Smith-Rowsey

BLOCKBUSTER
PERFORMANCES
How Actors Contribute
to Cinema’s Biggest Hits
DANIEL SMITH-ROWSEY
PALGRAVE STUDIES IN SCREEN INDUSTRIES AND PERFORMANCE
Palgrave Studies in Screen Industries
and Performance
Series Editor
Cynthia Baron
Department of Theatre and Film
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH, USA
This series encompasses the spectrum of contemporary scholarship on
screen performance and embraces productive tensions within film and
media studies and between cinema and cultural studies. It features histori-
cal research that sheds light on the aesthetic and material forces that shape
the production and reception of screen performances in different times,
venues, and locales. The series also presents research that expands our
understanding of screen performance by examining various types and reg-
isters of performance, including those outside the domain of conveying
character. The series strives to offer new insights into film/media practice
and history by exploring the tools and methods of screen performance
practitioners as well as the shifting modes and significances of screen per-
formance in changing social-technological environments.
More information about this series at
http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14591
Daniel Smith-Rowsey
Blockbuster
Performances
How Actors Contribute to Cinema’s Biggest Hits
Daniel Smith-Rowsey
Saint Mary’s College of California
Moraga, CA, USA
Palgrave Studies in Screen Industries and Performance
ISBN 978-1-137-51878-1 ISBN 978-1-137-51879-8 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51879-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018957630
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
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electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
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The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
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tional affiliations.
Cover Illustration: SAHACHATZ / Shutterstock.com
Cover Design: Tjaša Krivec
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Limited
The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United
Kingdom
To my astonishing wife Irena, who makes all this possible
A
cknowledgments
First and foremost I would like to profusely thank Cynthia Ann Baron for
thinking of me for this project and for her allyship during the many strug-
gles we faced during the years of producing this book. I would also like to
thank Cynthia’s two anonymous readers whose helpful and insightful
comments considerably improved the text. Gratitude is owed to Jocelyn
James for her similarly priceless advice. Special and deep thanks to Dennis
Bingham for his outstanding assistance with everything about the book; I
feel incredibly lucky to count him both as a colleague and as a friend.
The sincerest of appreciations are due to Ellie Freedman, Lina Aboujieb,
Navin Prasath, Chris Penfold, and everyone else at Palgrave Macmillan
who so patiently and effectively guided this manuscript through the laby-
rinth. I believe the finished product was worth the extra time!
In the wider world, I wish to thank Andy Kamenetsky for his great
ideas, Sasha Stone and Ryan Adams for assiduous advocacy, Michael
Schulman for putting me in The New Yorker, Al-Jazeera for putting me on
the air, Robin Gibbs and Katie Gallof for their ongoing faith in my work,
and Mark Harris for role-modeling the job of a writer-citizen. I am exceed-
ingly grateful to my departments at St. Mary’s College and Solano
Community College for all their support and accommodation, as well as
to my many students, who provide me more cheer than they may realize.
Likewise, my friends may not realize how much I needed and relied
upon their encouragement during the years of writing and editing this
book. I happily and gratefully hail Erica Bradley, Nicole Chee, Susannah
Copi, Adam Dobrer, Tobias Dienstfrey, Kieron Edwards, Steve Falk, Jay
Feist, Willie Fleischman, Anton Goldman, Marya Grosse, Frank Harton,
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Lori Hurwitz, Kristine Karlson, Chris and Tünde Kuhi, Sarah Church
Liebman, Liz Lyons, Lucas Maciel, Dyan McBride, Beverly and Chris
Merrill, Andrew Meyer, Cialin Mills-Ostwald, Almira Moronne, Mitja
Ng-Baumhackl, Daniel Perlman, Noah Salzman, Elizabeth Potter Scully,
Thomas Scully, Matt Segal, Tim Silk, Nelson Sproul, and Rayme Waters.
That list is both woefully incomplete and an overwhelming reminder of
how lucky I am to associate with so many amazing people. This luck hap-
pens to extend to my family, from my cousins who are more like siblings
to me—Aran, Colleen, and Maureen Smith—to my father, to my wife, and
to my children. Razor, I love you; reading this part earns you no more
than a few minutes of screen time.
Finally, I’d like to thank the actors who inspired this book. Words like
“stars” and “celebrities” tend to reduce these people to distasteful com-
modities, making it easy to forget that they achieved that status because
we responded to something true among their actorly duplicity. Even in
blockbusters, more often than not, they represented something real about
the pain of living, and that representation provided us a certain hope or
dignity in our actual lives. For this, these professionals deserve all of our
thanks.
P B P
rAise for lockBuster erformances
“Daniel Smith-Rowsey fills in the gaps in our understanding of acting in contem-
porary blockbusters. Many accomplished film actors gladly take the shuttle
between prestigious independent films and vastly popular action, fantasy, and
superhero franchises. Do large scale spectaculars call for a kind of acting different
from that required in an intimate character study? With well-chosen case studies
and intricate analyses, the author answers these questions and many others in a
book that should become a standard in the studies of performance and Hollywood
cinema.”
—Dennis Bingham, Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, USA
ix
c
ontents
1 Why Do Critics and Scholars Dismiss Blockbuster
Performances? 1
2 Historical Epic Blockbusters: Are You Not Entertained …
By Actors? 13
3 Magic-Fantasy Blockbusters: One Whimsy to Rule Them
All 41
4 Superhero Blockbusters: Actors Ahead of the Curve 71
5 Crime Action Blockbusters: Performing Shaken, Not
Stirred 103
6 Male-Led Science Fiction Blockbusters: Performing
“Faster, More Intense” 131
7 Female-Led Science Fiction Blockbusters: Performing
“Stop Taking My Hand!” 161
xi