Orlando Bloom had a career going about a year ago that looked like it would be unstoppable. With major supporting roles in The Lord of the Rings films and Pirates of the Carribean, Orlando Bloom was positioned very well to almost have his choice of projects. Yes… everything looked like sunshine and roses. Then… something horrible happened.
Troy. Troy sucked. Orlando Bloom sucked in Troy. It was a terrible turn of events that no one really saw coming. After all… it was an epic, it had Brad Pitt, it had Wolfgang Petersen as it’s director. It was the first major film that Bloom got to share top billing. It COULD have been his big official “coming out” party to establish himself as a major force in Hollywood. But it failed.
Now, opportunity #2 is coming out with Kingdom of Heaven. Despite it’s fabulous cast, I already have serious reservations about the film. I’m still looking forward to seeing it… but something already feels “off” about it. I can’t put my finger on it… but I’m not going in to it with very high expectations. THIS IS NOT a make or break film for Orlando Bloom yet. He still carries enough credit that if (and that’s a big if) Kingdom of Heaven fails, he will still carry significant buzz for at least another film or two…. or at least until the juggernaut known as Pirates of the Carribean 2 comes out.
This week Bloom chatted a little bit about the Pirates sequel and the good folks over at Empire Online share some of it with us:
“Umm, well, I can’t give too much away,” he said, mindful of the three red dots that suddenly appeared on his forehead, courtesy of the Jerry Bruckheimer-sponsored sniper team across the street, “but obviously at the end of the first movie you see him in the clutches of Elizabeth. But the course of true love never runs smooth in love in life, does it? So a few things come up and he goes off on another journey to save Elizabeth and the lives of everybody else.
“But I think he’s going to assume more of the pirate’s role,” he continued, “and by the end of the third movie there’s a few dark twists to the character of Will Turner and I think people are going to wonder what his motives are and what he’s all about.”
Sounds like fun. Even if it’s only half as good as the first one, Pirates of the Carribean 2 will be a huge success… and it looks like Blooms career could use one of those right now. Don’t get me wrong… I actually like Bloom and think he has a lot of talent. I just think he needs to take better advantage of the opportunities he’s presented with.
I guess you guys would have prefered a Disney version of Troy, where everything is changed to make the main actors/characters look very good.
orlano need privisie to you know its not really fair for him to have like 8 thousand girls screaming fighting with them and all that smae with poporotiez take a hike if they want a picture of them they’ll ask for it!
I JUST THINK ORLI IS GOD DAM FIT
I think KoH could be bad for Bloom, but I don’t think it’ll be his fault this time around. Bloom’s the right kind of lead for the kind of film Scott wanted to make – and KoH is NOT Gladiator 2. Sadly, I think general historical epic fatigue, and the fact that this is really a political film and not an action film, will do it a lot of harm.
But people will say it’s Bloom’s fault for not being Russell Crowe, and as Orlando is the unproven name in this (Ridley’s next, In Her Shoes, has Cameron Diaz and is even lightly tipped for Oscars, so he’ll have another hit there) the blame might be laid at his feet.
Hey there Tom!
Yeah… I see what you mean… but even though it did well at the box office… Bloom came across as really weak in the film… and audiences knew it.
He’s still bankable… but if KOH is bad… or if Bloom does badly in it… then he suddenly becomes not such a sure thing. Don’t ya think?
The Shrek comment was meant to be a question, by the way. Someone told me it was the UK’s biggest box office earner of the year, and certainly outdid one of the biggies – maybe Shrek, maybe Spidey. Anyway, even if it didn’t outdo those giants, it took serious money!
Umm, OK. Troy wasn’t great, but it wasn’t Catwoman bad. And neither was its box office. Didn’t it earn more than Shrek 2 in the UK.
All the studios care about is the dollars, in which case I think it’s safe to say that Troy was another step on the ladder in convincing Fox that Orlando could work as a BANKABLE lead for Kingdom of Heaven.
Now, the fact that KoH is either too long, or too short, whichever way you look at it, and won’t play at all well to Orlando’s target audience of screaming girls, many of whom won’t be able to get in to see it… that’s a far more serious threat to his career than Troy.
IMHO :)