Several times over the last couple of years we’ve put up posts about various movie celebrities who have proven themselves to be jerks by either words or actions. Usually it’s because they do or say something obnoxious or annoying… not because they commit some kind of huge evil.
As an example, let’s look at Russell Crowe who has made our pages several times recently for being quite unlikable. In my opinion, Crowe is probably one of the three best pure actors working today (yes, I really think he’s that good). So here are two questions:
1) DOES a celebrity’s jerkiness effect how much you enjoy watching them?
2) SHOULD jerkiness effect how much you enjoy watching them?
Personally, here’s how I answer those questions. 1) Yes, Crowe acting like an idiot does effect how much I enjoy (or lack thereof) watching his films. 2) No, I don’t think it should effect how much I enjoy his films.
I won’t go into my personal reasons for those two answers… I’ll leave that to you guys. So… what how do you answer those questions and why?
Sure, Russell Crowe can act and act really well but he’s made it painfully obvious he can’t stand Americans! (Only our money.)
He has been an insult to the American public too many times. Throwing a phone at a desk clerk because he couldn’t connect to his wife in Australia?! Puh-leez.
It’s about time to ignore him totally. I refuse to see his movies anymore. He needs to know he can’t come here just to take our money, insult us and then fk’off back to his native country.
He can go straight to hell.
Well, everyone, I can’t take these actors being jerks. Guess what? If every actor or actress was wiped off the nations face, it wouldn’t matter. If all the truck drivers were, we’d all be in big trouble. I’m just a poor retail schlub, but one day I had the thrill of meeting laurie metcalf in the store I worked in. Laurie was extremely rude. “Where the hell are the tomatoes!” she exclaimed. Not only will I not watch any of her crap, I beg other people not to too. Russel, we loved you in gladiator now walk away.
How would you know Russell Crowe is a jerk unless you met and got to know him?
Big news: Tabloids lie. Even if a story is sometimes based on an actual incident, they will blow it all out of proportion and exaggerate until it is as good as a lie. Paul Giamatti, who recently worked with Crowe, says that what gets reported in the tabloids is nothing at all like the way things really happen. He said he doesn’t know how Crowe can put up with being treated that way.
There’s a story going around lately that he supposedly yelled at a fan at some restaraunt in Coffs Harbour. Crowe says he hasn’t been to a Coff’s Harbour restaraunt in years.
The old Moby story about Crowe abusing him in a restroom in Australia, calling him a “stupid American” or something. Crowe says he wasn’t even in Australia at the time that was supposed to have happened and he always thought Moby was a Brit. Moby is known to make up stories.
The old, “go, Russ, go!” story about him yelling out his name during sex is just an old joke someone once made up. It was repeated around until people started taking it seriously.
If things get repeated often enough, people will think it’s true. Tabloids now know they can get away with saying whatever they want about him because they know people will believe it based on his tabloid-manufactured persona (which does not exist in reality).
That’s my line you quoted just there and sure, you can disagree with me Doris, that’s what this site is for. Oh and like you Doris, I am also real with people, which I cant say about everybody.
My contention here is, I am a movie fan, they are the actors, and I know my place in the circle of things. And I am not asking a lot. I am not expecting these actors to be my friends, besides who really knows these people in showbusiness well, apart from their family and friends? If they are nice to their fans, I know of some actors who go out of their way to be accomodating, then that’s good, if they want to be jerks I am not saying its good to be a jerk but hey, who isnt a jerk? How can that affect what I see on the screen? They are playing a character in the movie, that is not even them we see on the screen, so where do we draw the line and take what has nothing to do with someone’s acting to one’s personal life?
i’m with sean p!
To hell with the whole freaking lot of ya! Now where’s my coke and hookers?
Should we care if a celebrity is a jerk?
Maybe we shouldn’t but most people do. One post said “Us who are not acting or in the limelight can’t even be real to each other, why do we expect them to be the same?”
I hate to disagree but I am real with others and lots of us out here in “regular” land are. If He has a fit and insults a fan in a restaurant and even accuses her of orchestrating a mix up of credit cards to √¢‚Ǩ≈ìjust get to meet him√¢‚Ǩ¬ù, curses at her and the restaurant manager and anyone else who looks his way,Well sorry! I√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢d rather not pay good money that will eventually get to him and continue to support this kind of behavior as acceptable just because he is “A great actor”. I don√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t care how good he is at acting I am totally sick and tired of those who forget where they came from or how they got to where they are. Of course they need to be good actors , yes even enormously talented to get to their ONE big hit that sets off their career. But in order to continue with such success one must be able to attract those √¢‚Ǩ≈ìfans√¢‚Ǩ¬ùthat buy the tickets that keep them box office hits that make it possible for more studios,producers, directors,etc. to want them in their movies. There is nothing attractive about fits and vulgar language and √¢‚Ǩ≈ìkicking√¢‚Ǩ¬ù someone√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s butt in some fit of juvenile rage. Perhaps this appeals to a certain group of 14 years olds but not to the ones who will allow his √¢‚Ǩ≈ìgreat√¢‚Ǩ¬ù career to continue. I√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢ve seen many who acted less √¢‚Ǩ≈ìcrabby√¢‚Ǩ¬ù than he but aren√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t even remembered now because it all went to their heads and the fans got “bored” with their behavior.
If he can’t stand being bothered by fans then he needs to stay home. I’m sure he can afford a mansion with maids, cooks, etc. I am also sure he can go outside his house somewhere and devise a way to enjoy himself without fans interrupting him. I am not saying then he needs to be a prisoner in his home. Just that if he can’t be a “little” nice once in a while to fans well, in a few years just like others I’ve seen before him, people will be saying, Russell WHO?”
What is this fixation on Russell Crowe all about John? LOL I love Russell Crowe by the way.
Answers to both questions, NO.
I pay to watch a good performance, and if that has been satisfied, I dont care if he or she is the biggest jerk in the world. Actors/Actresses owe us nothing “personally” expect giving us their great performance in what we see them in, so he or she can be the biggest jerk in the planet it will not bother me the least. Theyre humans like the rest of us for goodness sake, I will be more worried if theyre too nice, never gets upset, smiling all the time, I would rather they are real and not fake.
Us who are not acting or in the limelight can’t even be real to each other, why do we expect them to be the same?
I generally don’t care if they’re pissed about the media, I think the Editor-in-Chiefs of People, Us, and Star magazines should dragged out of their houses and hung, but the actors I dislike are the ones that are in everything/the ones that are ONLY in blockbusters, case in point, if the movie contains either Jude Law, Colin Ferrell (sp?) or Tom Cruise, you can normally find me in the lobby playing pinball. Ashton Kuthcer too, he isn’t funny and he can’t act, why do people like him again?
I more or less ignore the ‘People Magazine Stuff’. I really don’t have a clue as to how most celebrities are perceived, and just focus on the performances/movie/etc.
Below is a bit of an unfocused ramble…
Of course there are exceptions that I cannot completely avoid and seem to have media saturation everwhere (Crowe, J.Lo, Affleck, Kutcher, Demi Moore)…I still try to ignore it…I can enjoy a Russell Crowe film (case in point, I LOVED Master & Commander)…but he has been making a lot of crappy films with Ron Howard lately (A BEAUTIFUL MIND was twaddle designed to make people who don’t go to the movies feel like they were watching a ‘smart’ film, and CINDERELLA MAN doesn’t look much better). I want more films like PROOF, M&C, THE INSIDER from MR. Crowe.
“Jorse mentioned Sean Penn as being in the same class as our favourite twat”
Hmmm, my english ain’t very fluent and there’s simple misunderstanding. I meaned that in my opinion Crowe is the greatest actor nowadaysa and Sean Pean is nearly as good ACTOR as he. They’re both more or less assholes towards media, but they’re also one of the greatest actors of their lifetime.
Jorse mentioned Sean Penn as being in the same class as our favourite twat, but to be fair, he only meets half of the criteria because as far as I know, Sean has never acted like an over-indulged, spoiled and unbearable asshole star. Basically, Sean just wants you to leave him alone to do his work and work on his craft. He could care less about PR and publicity. Can you say the same for Russell Crowe? Fuck no! That twat wants it both ways without having to work at being accessible. It’s all on his terms or not at all. A true twat if there ever was one. I agree with Simone. If I don’t like you, I don’t want to watch you. Case in point: Tom Cruise. I have only watched three of his films, two willingly. I’m not impressed. I’m not thrilled by him. I’m not taken by his big chicket teeth. I could care less about him. If he stopped making movies, my heart wouldn’t be heavy like it was two days ago when I read Sean Penn wants a long time out to recoup and recharge.
Actors don’t have to be the nicest people on the planet, but megajerks like Crowe and Penn definitley taint their performances by their offscreen antics. I no longer can see a Crowe movie or a Penn movie without thinking of their recent asshat behavior. No matter how well crafted the performance.
Well, Crowe maybe ain’t the most funnyest guy in the world, BUT he’s maybe the best actor what we got nowadays. Sean Penn comes close, and that’s about it. Don’t wanna compare actresses to actors.
I don’t really hate any actors / actress. There maybe are some that I don’t like but my hate list is as short as book called “Italic war-heroes in WW2”. Okey, Julia Roberts ain’t my exact favorite, but I guess that mostly I just don’t use money to see those actors that I don’t like. Roberts was good in Notting Hill, and I don’t think movie was any worst because of him (in fact, movie was very good romantic comedy, 4/5).
So, I think that no, it doesn’t affect for my movie experience if there is someone in leading role, that I don’t like that much. As long as he / she is doing good job. Those who ruin great film with their horrible performances (Blue Velvet, nearly all the cast, Hopper was still great) piss me off much more than bad person who makes good performance.
But it’s very personal for everyone. Someones care everything about their favorite actors / actresses / directors and so on. It really doesn’t matter to me how they live their civil lives. Ok, of course it’s bad if they make something illegal or something like that. They should be punished for that. But I don’t really see Tom Sizemores performances in different light after his crimes than I saw them before. He’s still great at Heat and Natural Born Killers. Maybe not that great man, but very solid actor. He’s just guy who makes me think “It’s sad that you’re in jail. Althoug you deserved it, you’re still good actor”.
It depends on the person. I like Russell Crowe. So long as he is good to his wife and child. Let him be a jerk. There are a lot of jerks in this world. Thank goodness I don’t know any.
Donna A.
I know in my case if I don’t like someone, their is a good chance I won’t like to look at the face either, so yes if I can’t stand an actor I won’t be able to watch him or her on screen for 2 hrs.