Another SMG movie

POSTED BY: Zicsoft
UPDATED: Wednesday, July 3, 2002 06:48
VIEWED: 11578
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BLAISE

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 6:42 AM

Wasn't Scooby Doo good???

You do know they're all signed up for the sequel already.

IMO, I loved Cruel Intentions, and I loved SMG in it. One of those slutty arty movies. I just LOVED it.

Blaise

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 1:50 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by millernate:
Actually I don't know that SMG is all *that* talented compared to a lot of the actresses out there. In the early days of Buffy she just had so much energy that I thought she'd develop. Now, though this may just be because she's played the same part so long, it seems like she's going "Well, I could do more but I can just coast and it'll be good enough". Not that she's bad but she could have been so much more...

Nathan- who saw Sarah as one of the really promising actresses back around 1998.

P.S. I really don't want her to play Buffy past season 7 so that isn't it either.

Gah. I couldn't disagree more. Both she and her character have evolved tremendously in the past 6 years. The S6 Buffy evolved in some unpleasant ways, but that doesn't make it bad acting.

It's easy to overlook SMG's acting skill because her style is very restrained. But compare her day-to-day portrayal of Buffy with her other roles -- or even Buffy in other modes, like Destiny-Free Buffy or Buff Possessed by Faith -- and you'll see she puts a lot into her work.

ZICSOFT

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 2:04 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Novagrass:

Again, I agree. She played the devious bitch in Cruel Intentions (and All My Children), the sweet chef in Simply Irresistible, the vapid Daphne in Scooby Doo, the cannon fodder in Scream 2/I Know What You Did Last Summer, and played them all pretty well. She's certainly not type-cast... it's just that she (or her agent?) has yet to choose a good movie to be in.

Excuse me? All the roles you mention are variations on The Dumb Blonde. Ladies of limited intelligence whose destinies are controlled by others. If there's any differences between these characters, it's because SMG managed to create them, not because the writers conceived them that way.

Hollywood insists on pigeonholing people. Example: Alfred Molina. First made it big in Prick Up Your Ears, playing a bald gay guy who murders his lover. He walks into his first Hollywood audition, the casting director yells, "You're not bald! I'll bet you're not gay either!" Molina replies, "Sorry! I'm not even a murderer!" Didn't get the part.

MILLERNATE

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 2:49 PM

Except for the part about Simply Irresistable. That was another stock character- the sad, unsuccessfull businessperson. THe character was not really written as a "Dumb Blonde". Also, I don't see why Scream 2 should get mentioned as she didn't really even *have* a character in that, it was just one of those "Here's a well known person, look we killed her" type roles :).

BOBKNAPTOR

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 4:40 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Blaise:
IMO, I loved Cruel Intentions, and I loved SMG in it. One of those slutty arty movies. I just LOVED it.

Cruel Intentions is, IMO, the only thing other then Buffy that she's ever done that was worth seeing. A far cry from the "dumb blonde" role, she was (in addition to being brunette) calculating, articulate, and intelligent. She was a woman who fully understood her power over men and used it to get what she wanted. Granted, she was evil and a little scary. I'm not sure seducing your step-brother to get a car is the most virtuous thing I've ever heard of. But she played it beautifully.

(Not to Mention SMG and Ryan Philippe were certainly better looking than John Malcovich and Glenn Close. I won't say it was a better version than Dangerous Liaisons, but it was certainly prettier.)

I would really like to see her play more parts where she understands her power and uses it. Its part of what I have really loved about Buffy. It's what I loved about Cruel Intentions, and what I hated the lack of in I Know What You Did Last Summer (where she was the Anti-Buffy, running from the bad man screaming) and Simply Irresistible. I'm with you Blaise, go for the arty movies and make people see that she can act. Then it won't matter if she's blonde, brunette or redhead. She'll get decent roles.

Yeah, it was sexy, the way she touched me real hard with her fists!

NOVAGRASS

Wednesday, June 26, 2002 7:57 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by millernate:
Except for the part about Simply Irresistable. That was another stock character- the sad, unsuccessfull businessperson. THe character was not really written as a "Dumb Blonde". Also, I don't see why Scream 2 should get mentioned as she didn't really even *have* a character in that, it was just one of those "Here's a well known person, look we killed her" type roles :).

And then there's Cruel Intentions, in which she is a devious, manipulative, two-faced bitch. That's how the character was written... and this aspect of her character is *vital* to the plot.

So, run down

Cruel Intentions: Devious, manipulative brunette
Simply Irresistable: Sad, unsuccessful buisness person
Scream 2: No character
I Know What You Did Last Summer: Dumb, beauty queen blonde.
Scooby Doo: Based on a cartoon character.
Harvard Man: She may or may not be a dumb blonde... I haven't seen the movie.

So, I think she has a pretty varied resume, character wise. Maybe two (three if she is a dumb blonde in Harvard Man) of her characters are dumb blone variations? I think its pretty presumptuous to claim they are all the same type of character.

SMG has avoided typecasting; however, she's chosen a bunch of terrible movies to star in (ok, Cruel Intentions isn't terrible, but it's certainly not an example of fine filmmaking).

--Dylan Palmer, aka NoVaGrAsS--

"Nice guys can only get so mad." Fillion on Mal

MARINO

Thursday, June 27, 2002 12:39 AM

IMO, I'm sort of leaning the same way in my opinion of her talents as MILLERNATE, which isn't to say that she's not talented. I feel she's remarkably skilled as an actress, but whether due to her character's plotlines or her own hesitancy to really pull out all the stops, I found her earlier work on BUFFY more impressive than her latest.

In particular, the scene I felt her acting talents were at their peak on the show occurred in "Prophecy Girl," the Season One finale. The part where Buffy, with tears in her eyes and her whole frame shaking, says, "Giles, I'm only sixteen years old. I don't wanna die." Each time I've seen that part, I've felt my jaw tighten in sadness. It's still, in a show known for tremendous scenes, my all-time favorite, because it impacts on me at a level I haven't felt with any of the others. There are a multitude of great scenes in Buffy's history; it's amazing how many there actually are. But that one's still my fave.

And I honestly can't say that I've seen anything even close to that emotionally, for me as a viewer, lately in the series. No, I'm not saying the series has 'jumped the shark' or whatever they call it when a show has overstayed its welcome; I simply find the character moments more funny, and often more tragic and honest, in the earlier seasons - despite all the insane things the Gang had to deal with. And part of that is due to the fact that I felt their show lead just wasn't pushing the moments quite as hard or with as much conviction; I'm speaking of Sarah there, not Joss.

I love the show and Sarah, really. But there was a certain...honesty to her portrayal of Buffy in the early years that I feel isn't quite there anymore. And I don't know why that is, if it's because she's lost interest or something else (either story-wise or production-wise) has kept it from happening since. Buffy just felt more vital back then. [Of course that probably does have something to do with her character returning and all.]

Okay. Now that I've rambled for awhile and answered my own issues, does anyone wanna flame me for it? LOL.

ZICSOFT

Thursday, June 27, 2002 4:01 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by MarinO:
IMO, I'm sort of leaning the same way in my opinion of her talents as MILLERNATE, which isn't to say that she's not talented. I feel she's remarkably skilled as an actress, but whether due to her character's plotlines or her own hesitancy to really pull out all the stops, I found her earlier work on BUFFY more impressive than her latest.

Nyet, nein, negative, null set, untruth, not! SMG's acting is the one thing I consistently enjoyed in S6. She didn't pull out all the stops because that wasn't what the role called for. A 16-year-old girl who has to go out and slay vampires when she'd rather be partying can be flip and over-the-top all the time. A 21-year-old who's just transited from a very literal heaven to harsh, abrasive, painful reality is just a little bit more restrained. Especially when she has to pretend that Everything is Fine. In my opinion, she totally nailed the secretive sense of pain such a person would feel. It's as if she were playing the part as an autist -- a syndrome with a rather similar set of symptoms.

If you want your leading lady to deal with her pain by proclaiming, "I'm in pain!" every 5 seconds, go watch Ally McBeal!

God, I can't even believe I'm having this convesation. Usually I'm the one who's all critical, and everybody else is accusing me of being negative and not wanting to like anything.

MOJOECA

Thursday, June 27, 2002 4:23 PM

Fametracker.com did a "fame audit" on SMG. The news isn't good. But what do these people know anyway?

http://www.fametracker.com/fame_audit/gellar_sarah_michelle.shtml

--- Joe

BOBKNAPTOR

Thursday, June 27, 2002 5:21 PM

Melissa Joan Hart? OUCH!

Although I have to say that I agree that throwing over Buffy to pursue her movie career is a huge mistake. If she IS going to focus on making movies, I hope she finds an agent who can get her decent scripts. She's so talented. I'd like to see her use that talent on something other then Buffy. But I have no interest in seeing her playing the stupid bimbo running from a guy with a hook in another slasher movie. Everytime I see her in a movie like that, I lose respect for her.

It's like evolution, only without the getting-better part.

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