The Clown: The Nero of neurosis, Woody Allen
Crying on the Outside: 1977's Oscar hog Annie Hall confirmed Allen as the comedic icon of the 70s, establishing a new kind of funnyman - quick-witted but wimpy, thinker rather than doer - and a style of humour rooted in seriousness.
Woody could do anything he wanted...and what he wanted was to stay behind the camera to make a glacial family drama in homage to his hero Ingmar Bergman, that well-known tickler of funnybones.
Ever heard the crack about Woody's "early, funny ones?" Everything before Interiors, basically.
Give Up the Day Job? Allen has incorporated serious into his day job, setting a template that everyone from Steve Martin to Zach Braff has tried to emulate.
While the comedies themselves got heavier, Allen still reserves the right – occasionally – to make a flat-out austere, miserabilist chamber-drama.
Useful rule of thumb: if Woody’s not starring, chances are he’s not even trying to be funny.
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Comments
Rasputin
Jan 18th 2010, 10:48
Good stuff. I'd be interested to see one on actors going the other way, too: once serious stars either taking a brilliant turn into comedy or lowering themselves into poor family fare.
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Rasputin
Jan 18th 2010, 10:48
Good stuff. I'd be interested to see one on actors going the other way, too: once serious stars either taking a brilliant turn into comedy or lowering themselves into poor family fare.
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Hadouken76
Jan 18th 2010, 16:15
i think you're talking about meryl streep, whos just suddenly decided to have fun in romantic comedies like mama mia, julia & julia and its complicated. I think should Vince vaughn should stop phoning it in and return to drama, he was good in return to paradise and disturbin behaviour
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DanRose
Jan 19th 2010, 9:52
The obvious example would be Bob DeNiro. Going from Worlds Greatest Actor in the 70's and 80's to a Focker....with relative success. Don't really like seeing DeNiro play funny. Much rather him going for intense. I blame Rocky and Bullwinkle personally. Also isn't Seam Penn going to be one of the Three Stooges?
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Rasputin
Jan 19th 2010, 10:12
Well, De Niro's the obvious choice, but Streep's a good call
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Rasputin
Jan 19th 2010, 10:13
Sorry, posted De Niro being obvious choice before I saw comment no4 - not saying you're being predictable, saying that's what I would have gone for......
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micdog2001
Jan 19th 2010, 22:19
Jim Carrey was great in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I think it's his greatest performance. And it was only a cameo but Mike Myers in Ingloreus b*****ds was really strange. It was almost like seeing Dr. Evil try to act in a serious role.
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Marvin
Jan 20th 2010, 5:09
I really enjoyed the article, but think that the topic is really a no-brainer. It seems to me that most actors want to take on both comedic and serious roles sometime during their careers. You could have had various other "funnymen" (or women) in your list that would have fit in nicely: Charlie Chaplin (who oftentimes went from comedy to tragedy effortlessly in a single film), John Belushi, John Candy, Lily Tomlin, etc., just to name a few. Not to mention all the "serious" actors who end up trying out comedy at some point during their career. You've heard some even admit, I'm sure, that "comedy is harder than tragedy." Entertaining piece, though.
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Gav83
Jan 21st 2010, 15:44
"it was such a volte-face that the Academy virtually carved his name onto the gold fella there and then" Absolute rubbish. Liam Neeson was robbed of the best actor Oscar that year.
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