good looks or good acting?

Thursday, December 14, 2006
Leo sports serious stubbleJim Keogh Film Clipshttp://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061214/COLUMN16/612140430/1102
I was chatting with a friend the other day about “Blood Diamond,” and remarked about how good Leonardo DiCaprio is in just about everything he does these days. “Yeah,” she said, “and he’s got the three-day growth on his face to prove it.” True enough. Actors like DiCaprio who are known first for their face and then for their thespianism do seem to enjoy grunging things up a bit. A little facial hair, a well-placed scar or two, can be a wonderful tool for bestowing instant credibility on the cosmetically endowed.
Think about it: No Major League pitcher ever throws a pristine baseball during the course of a game. The balls are scuffed with dirt even before the hurler gets them, because a beautiful ball doesn’t necessarily translate into a successful pitch. Same with an actor or an actress’ face. Early in their careers they can be so stunning, so flawless, that their appearance is almost a distraction. The performers play on their looks for awhile, until that gets boring, and then they decide to go slumming in the land of, well, us. DiCaprio wants to play a ruthless mercenary-turned-diamond smuggler in “Blood Diamond”? There is no template for what one of these guys looks like, but it’s a safe bet the chances of one looking like fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio are slimmer than Kevin Federline’s record sales. So he goes with the beard. Yes, he’s still Leo under the hair, but at least with the whiskers he’s a little older, a little wiser, a little tougher Leo. The same goes for his hirsute undercover cop in “The Departed.” From the goatee springs gravitas. Never discount the aura of the altered appearance. Tom Cruise made his name with his smile and jaunty attitude in movies like “Top Gun” and “Risky Business,” and earned attention for his performances in “The Color of Money” and “Rainman,” which were heavier lifting acting-wise yet still required a dose of Cruise flash. Casting Cruise in the role of paraplegic Vietnam veteran Ron Kovic in “Born on the Fourth of July” took guts. He’d be acting from a wheelchair, which restrained his famous physicality, and would spend most of the film with straggly hair and beard. The role was sheer anti-glamour, and despite pre-release doubts from the Hollywood buzzmeisters Cruise nailed the part, earning an Academy Award nomination and establishing himself as a “serious” actor, thanks largely to his departure from the very elements that had made him successful. Brad Pitt rebelled against his looks shortly after staking his claim to stardom in “Thelma & Louise” in 1991. By 1993 he was playing a lank-haired serial killer in “Kalifornia” and grungy doper in “True Lies.” Pitt has swung back and forth ever since, going practically unrecognizable as the mental patient in “Twelve Monkeys” then brandishing his six-pack abs in movies like “Fight Club” and “Troy”. (It’s rumored Pitt’s stomach muscles not only are an enviable attribute but actually have healing powers.) There’s an unspoken rule that if people are coming to a movie to see a famous actor acting famous, you’d better not rob them of that gift. When John Travolta insisted on starring in his vanity project, L. Ron Hubbard’s “Battlefield Earth,” he covered himself in dreadlocks, and sported a mouthful of mossy teeth and a forehead the size of an IMAX movie screen. Jim Carrey, whose facial manipulations are his stock in trade, was entirely obscured beneath a green fuzz and yellow contact lenses in “How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” Cruise spent much of “Vanilla Sky” with his face either disfigured or hidden behind a ghoulish mask. While none of the above is technically fan-friendly behavior, actors know that taking risks with their appearance is, ironically, the best way to get recognized for awards. It worked for Charlize Theron, who completely transformed her supermodel good looks to play serial killer Aileen Wuornos. Freed from the expectations of her appearance, Theron delivered a raw, uninhibited performance that brought her an Academy Award, and, just as important, made her a legitimate candidate for other earthy roles, like the whistle-blowing miner in “North Country.” Tom Berenger was once relegated to pretty boy status (remember him as the Tom Selleck-like TV actor in “The Big Chill”) before Oliver Stone in 1986 gave him a face of crisscrossing scars to play eternal warrior Sgt. Barnes in “Platoon.” Berenger was great in the role and was nominated for best supporting actor. We will accept our stars’ straying off the ranch now and then to prove their mettle on the big stage, but with limitations. Let’s be honest: Movie tickets get bought, entertainment programs are watched and tabloids are pored over in supermarket checkout lines because actors typically look different from us; they represent a fantasy life. If we want to see real life, we’d look in the mirror.