In a recent post about Jennifer Garner telling a friend she thought Elektra was awful, a reader left an interesting comment:
Personally, I think an actor should say straight-forward what he thinks about the film. If he doesn’t like it, it should be his choice to say so. This maybe his only chance to save face. Because, in the long run, he has more in stake than an executive – whom nobody knows anyway. An executive can pile up crap without ever blinking, while an actor is one of the front-people of a film production. If it is crap, people will remember it. And everybody knows what happened with Sharon Stone, who continued smiling on all her B-movies. It’s their responsibility and their right as artists to say what they think. It is their credibility who is in question and I can only have more respect for those who say what they think needs to be said.
The comment brings up some good points and it got me thinking about the issue.
Here’s the way I see it. An actor who puts out a bad film doesn’t suffer as much at the producer, because ultimatly it’s the producer who losses the money. Actors are easily forgiven. Heck, just look at Harrison Ford, Robert Di Nero or Al Pachino… every film these guys have been in for at least the last 5 years has sucked eggs… but we don’t really hold them responsible for that.
When an actor is hired to be in a film, the job goes beyond just acting in front of the camera. It also involves promoting the film. So if I pay you $4 million dollars to be in my movie, you better aslo promote the hell out of it! If you think the film sucks, then keep your opinion to yourself until after it’s been on DVD for a while. To come out say say you think it sucks to the public would break the contract, because it would conflict with trying to promote the film.
Also, look at it from the actor’s point of view. If they go and shoot their mouth off that a movie they just filmed sucks, then what are the chances that producer will ever hire them again? ZERO. And word gets around fast. Other producers will be hesitant to hire that actor as well.
Also, more and more big name actors are tying their salary in with the revenues of the film. IE. The more money the movie makes, the bigger the paycheck for the actor… so an actor isn’t going to bad mouth the film. Also, the OTHER actors in the movie may get really pissed off too. Afterall, it looks good on an actor’s resume to have a big money maker on there… and if one of the actors bad mouths the movie, then the success of the film will take a hit.
Yes, I think an actor should say what they think about a film… but only once the comments can’t effect the revenue of the film (after it’s done it’s run in the theatre and DVD stores). To yack about it before that would betray the trust ofthe producer, effect their future employment, tick off other actors and probably set them up to be sued for breach of contract.
Your thoughts? (picture taken from the photo gallery of JeffLava.Com)
