The Things They Say

[Gypsy]

Now I love an actor as much as the rest of you, but do you think they take themselves too seriously sometimes? Quote from Angelina Jolie in The Sunday Times:



"I fell in love with a man who was destined to have children".



Wow. Really Angie? What an amazing thing to happen to a woman!

[Steve Crook]

She's often appeared in Pseuds' Corner in Private Eye where they record the self-serving nonsense that some people come out with.



She's also been in the similar section they run where they record the musings of actors talking about their job, how hard it is and how much they all love each other for doing it. That column is just called "Luvvies"



Steve

[Gypsy]

name='Steve Crook']

She's also been in the similar section they run where they record the musings of actors talking about their job, how hard it is and how much they all love each other for doing it. Steve

Don't forget how brave and courageous too

[rbrooks2008]

name='Gypsy']Now I love an actor as much as the rest of you, but do you think they take themselves too seriously sometimes? Quote from Angelina Jolie in The Sunday Times:



"I fell in love with a man who was destined to have children".



Wow. Really Angie? What an amazing thing to happen to a woman!

Thank God(s) Brad didn't happen to be a paedophile!

[Brief Encounter]

In Margaret Lockwood's autobiography from around 1948, she notes James Mason's frustrations at receiving lower billing in 'Alibi'. "I don't think the public realise how terribly important these things are to actors, you know."! Methinks she was taking the piss

[rbrooks2008]

Sometimes the public come out with classic lines. Long ago, when one of those rare eclipses happens they send reporters out to chat to people in their back gardens.



Public "It was a once in a lifetime event. I've seen it today and I'm going to see it again tomorrow."

[Gypsy]

name='Brief Encounter']In Margaret Lockwood's autobiography from around 1948, she notes James Mason's frustrations at receiving lower billing in 'Alibi'. "I don't think the public realise how terribly important these things are to actors, you know."! Methinks she was taking the piss

Do you really think so? Sounds like par for the course to me Alec Guinness noted that Sellers was fretting over the size of his trailer compared to his fellow actors in Murder By Death. I think these things are "terribly important" to some actors. But I stress the word "some".

[batman]

There's a really good account, in some book I read about 70s disaster movies, about the battle for billing between Newman and McQueen re Towering Inferno. Hilarious!

[Gypsy]

name='batman']There's a really good account, in some book I read about 70s disaster movies, about the battle for billing between Newman and McQueen re Towering Inferno. Hilarious!

How disappointing from these two icons. Who won?

[batman]

name='Gypsy']How disappointing from these two icons. Who won?

It was a draw ..... McQueen got the more prominent left side of the posters and onscreen, while Newman's name was a bit higher.

[Gypsy]

Now I know, that looks daft doesn't it? But I know sometimes it's not the actors themselves who are battling out these things, it's their 'people'. I wonder how many great scripts are rejected long before they reach the actor...

[CaptainWaggett]

Wasn't there similar stuff about The Persuaders? The credits swop around which comes first out of Curtis and Moore?

[Gypsy]

name='CaptainWaggett']Wasn't there similar stuff about The Persuaders? The credits swop around which comes first out of Curtis and Moore?

A bit cheeky of Moore pre-Bond, considering Tony Curtis was the bigger star at the time.

[cully]

I've always found the billing issue very odd. The acting profession is, I believe, generally left wing yet there are so many stories about billing arguments/size of trailers/dressing rooms etc and certain actors not talking to other actors on the set (depending on billing) and, of course, NO ONE talks to extras and vice versa...



I thought lefties believed everyone was supposed to be equal!



Leslie Phillips was quite a successful child actor but his career was interrupted by the war. When he returned to acting he was on the set of some film or other and went to chat to a friend of his from way back. The friend, admittedly rather sheepishly, told Leslie that as he was only playing a minor role he shouldn't be talking to him!

[m35541]

Actors have loads of disputes over billing hence the various "and X as X" and so on. The Towering Inferno dispute was well publicised at the time - it looks even odder when the opening credits come up as we get McQueen on the left but lower down than Newman who is on the right. Holden and Dunaway I think also had some problems with the billing too (note that all 4 appear above the poster).



Almost all stars have the billing written into their contracts - which determines whether or not their names appear before or after the the title of the film on the opening credits, whether they appear on their own or with someone else, how they appear on the posters etc etc.

[cully]

Re billing, it would be interesting to know HOW billing is worked out? Any actors out there who might know?? Is it a simple issue resolved by how much the actors are being paid for their part in the film or is there more to it??



There is also the question of when you have a fantastically famous actor who, for whatever reason, only has a very small part. Is this resolved by adding in the word .....AND after the main credits?

[batman]

If you are a jobbing actor you take what you can get. It is only 'names' who have any billing clout and it is usually worked out at the contract stage between producers and agents. It doesn't really have anything to do with how much you earn or your talent .... it's to do with your 'marquee value' as far as the producers are concerned, but for actors it is primarily a status or ego thing.



Re your 'and' query .... the answer is usually 'yes'.



Screenwriting credits can be amusing too. If you see a screenplay by 'Joe Bloggs and Fred Bloggs & Bill Bloggs', that usually means that Joe worked on it by himself but Fred & Bill worked together. The permutations of 'and' and '&' use can be very funny.

[batman]

name='cully'] The acting profession is, I believe, generally left wing

Whoever told you that? The acting profession contains as many right wing bigots as any other profession.

[cully]

name='batman']If you are a jobbing actor you take what you can get. It is only 'names' who have any billing clout and it is usually worked out at the contract stage between producers and agents. It doesn't really have anything to do with how much you earn or your talent .... it's to do with your 'marquee value' as far as the producers are concerned, but for actors it is primarily a status or ego thing.



Re your 'and' query .... the answer is usually 'yes'.



Screenwriting credits can be amusing too. If you see a screenplay by 'Joe Bloggs and Fred Bloggs & Bill Bloggs', that usually means that Joe worked on it by himself but Fred & Bill worked together. The permutations of 'and' and '&' use can be very funny.

Thanks, that's interesting.

[cully]

name='batman']Whoever told you that? The acting profession contains as many right wing bigots as any other profession.

Dunno, maybe the lefties make more noise.