Abstract
Smith-Rowsey argues that full casts of protean, verisimilar actors now dominate blockbusters, and that this can be seen through the two rather different superhero films The Dark Knight (2008) and Iron Man (2008). The author’s argument builds upon the timeline established in Chaps. 2 and 3, whereby so-called “character acting” in lead performances in blockbusters became steadily more desirable than “star acting,” situating The Dark Knight and Iron Man as culminations and accelerations of the same trend. Smith-Rowsey claims that these two films established model templates not only for superhero films but blockbusters more generally, centralizing “right for the part” actors over stars. This chapter pays particular attention to skillful performances by Heath Ledger, Michael Caine, Christian Bale, Robert Downey Jr., and Jeff Bridges, making case studies of the highly regarded “interrogation scene” in The Dark Knight and of Downey’s “audition tapes” for Iron Man.
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Notes
- 1.
Blade (Norrington, 1998), a superhero film from 1998, was a lower-budget version of the Batman and Robin model, relying upon a star and supporting actors not known for especially protean performances or award nominations.
- 2.
For example, if one googles “graffiti art images” in 2018, one sees many images of Ledger as the Joker.
- 3.
Partly because of Oldman’s well-established expertise in playing various nefarious characters, including Sid Vicious, his Commissioner Gordon always surprises with his moral, unsentimental backbone in the face of Gotham’s putridity.
- 4.
This point is emphasized by the fact that they both eventually want the information of Dent’s location to come out. The audience is never sure if the Joker is a “real” madman, just as it cannot be sure about Bruce.
- 5.
For as much online attention as Bale’s voice has received, the methodology and technique are in fact pedestrian and low-tech: Bruce Wayne would not want his voice recognized, and speaking in a “gravelly” register is probably the easiest way to do it without losing gravitas.
- 6.
In an earlier scene, when the Joker broke up Wayne’s fundraiser, he said, “I have only one question: where’s Harvey Dent?” Even in repudiation of the notion, Batman is becoming more like the Joker.
- 7.
In a twist of industry logic, it may have been that Ledger needed to die to win the Oscar, that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences might not send too generous a signal to blockbusters. But perhaps Ledger’s Oscar also signified that the great blockbuster performance is no anomaly.
- 8.
The same summer saw the release of a parody of blockbusters called Tropic Thunder (Stiller, 2008), about a Hollywood action star trying to upgrade his reputation by working with a “five time Oscar winner”; both leads are parodied for their (different) approaches to Method acting, a sign of how prevalent the practice had become by 2008. Like The Dark Knight, Tropic Thunder managed a genre-rare Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor; interestingly, Ledger beat Robert Downey Jr.
- 9.
Favreau made repeated visits to the San Diego Comic Convention and even produced comics of his own.
- 10.
Favreau was worried about being unfavorably compared to Spider-Man (Raimi, 2002) and Transformers (Bay, 2007), both of which feature high school students as protagonists.
- 11.
Cued by Favreau, journalists maintained the Depp-Downey connection. For example, Brandon Gray at boxofficemojo.com wrote: “Downey’s newfound stardom stemmed from him embracing his persona, instead of just being an actor… Once in a great while an actor’s quirks or chameleon-like behavior can become part of their persona and be accepted by the public. Johnny Depp is a prime example of this, and now Downey has ventured down the same path” (2010, n.p.).
- 12.
In this context, it is ironic that this foundational film of the M.C.U. concerns a battle over corporate priorities.
- 13.
Shane Black specialized in clever action scripts for blockbusters, and was once the highest-paid screenwriter in Hollywood, but by 2005 his “bad boy” reputation had him needing redemption in much the same way that Downey did. The Raymond Chandler-esque Kiss Kiss Bang Bang was his directorial debut, budgeted at the non-blockbuster price of $15,000,000 and though it was not a hit, it did succeed in establishing Downey as a malignant-yet-compelling lead figure/narrator. Downey knew what he owed Black; after Favreau directed Iron Man 2 but elected not to direct Iron Man 3, Downey made sure Black was hired as writer and director. Iron Man 3 was only Black’s second film, and the most financially successful of the three Iron Man films as of this writing.
- 14.
Many people, and probably most everyone working in Hollywood, saw Jeff Bridges play the Dude in The Big Lebowski (Coens, 1998), but this independent-film triumph was rather anomalous: it hardly “proved” that Bridges could carry a blockbuster.
- 15.
Stark is in some ways a Steve Jobs-like figure.
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Smith-Rowsey, D. (2018). Superhero Blockbusters: Actors Ahead of the Curve. In: Blockbuster Performances. Palgrave Studies in Screen Industries and Performance. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51879-8_4
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