Another One…
Ewan McGregor‘s apparent decision to play “a powerful Vatican insider” in Ron Howard‘s Angels and Demons, the sequel to The DaVinci Code, is the latest in a long series of straight-paycheck roles for this once-adventurous actor.
On 4.16 I asked “what’s happened to McGregor over the last five or six years? It’s almost as his soul was poisoned by playing Obi Wan Kenobi three times for George Lucas (The Phantom Menace in ’99, Attack of the Clones in ’02, Revenge of the Sith in ’05). He’s become Mr. Paycheck — a young Robert De Niro who will make any questionable or lackluster film as long as the money’s right or it fits his schedule. Or maybe he just has terrible taste.”
Why is Ron Howard making this movie?! Did anyone LIKE DaVinci Code? I know Howard isn’t a particularly adventurous director, but surely he can move onto something else…
How could anyone, after watching the steaming pile that was the DaVinci Code, think that a sequel would be any better? Dan Brown is a god-awful writer, those books are horrible.
Maybe McGregor is putting a bunch of money away so he can do challenging, less lucrative roles in his later career, or maybe he just wanted to work with Ron Howard. Who knows, but it’s a bad choice for sure.
I don’t think is that bad a role, is going to be a high profile movie so it may give him more visibility for another good roles.
Michael Caine and Gene Hackman were Mr. Paychecks for a good long while, and it doesn’t seem to have hurt them.
The books may be horrible, indeed I think they’re sort of written for a sub-adult reading level, but when I went to Mexico a few years ago I swear I was the only gringo on the beach not reading one.
You guys are all forgetting the key thing about “The Da Vinci Code”: $217 million domestic, $758 million worldwide.
This sequel is nothing more than a grab-for-the-cash by all parties involved.
Monument – You are dead-on right. Dan Brown is horrendous. I only read these two books & they are literary trash. Awful stuff.
I’d like to defend Ewan since even though he’s been attracted to huge event movies, which are often unfriendly to character actors, he’s still working with talented directors.
The problem is that Ian McCellen, e.g., has shown the same taste, the only difference being that he is at least enjoys and is interesting in these roles. My point is that taste can sometimes be forgiven; boring acting cannot. And Ewan has become a bore.
Technically Angel And Demons came before the Da Vinci Code, and is a much better book too.
The film of the “DaVinci Code” was even more of a joke than the book.
Dopey Opie is the film director for anti-intellectual America. Awards aside, Ron Howard distorted the truth of “A Beautiful Mind,” and vitiated a compelling but sordid story into feel-good crap.
It’s funny, some directors transmogrify films with lurid, unrealistic violence and demeaning smut for the sake of prurience. Others, when dirt is the truth of the matter, sweep it under the rug.
DaVinci code wasn’t the worst movie ever….just thoroughly mediocre. I still can’t get (money aside) why they’d do a sequel.
The book was a “page turner” largely because Dan Brown’s idea of a cliffhanger is to end every chapter mid-paragraph.
“The door creaked open. She reached in and turned on the light.”
End of chapter.
I’ve never read A&D but I have consistently heard it’s the better book, for what that’s worth.
As for McGregor, he has done plenty of small films. Should he do more Peter Greenway films? He’ll find his sweet spot soon enough, I’m sure.
If it’s the part I’m thinking of, it’s actually a pretty good role, just in terms of hamming it up. It’s not saying much but ANGELS & DEMONS is a lot better than DA VINCI, and certainly more twisted. Though I can’t wait for them to recreate Langdon jumping out of a helicopter from thousands of feet and using a tarp as a parachute haha. This series can only go up. Vaguely looking forward to Brown’s DC set novel, just for the absurdity and it being my hometown.
Being curious and – probably – somewhat masochistic, i’ve read not only the awful Da Vinci Code, but also Decepction Point, Digital Fortress, AND Angels and Demons. All of them are shamefully bad, but Angels – with Fortress – are even worst than DaVinci…and seeing Ewan on this will probably be as awkward and saddening as seeing Paul Bettany wasted on the first flick.
“The books may be horrible, indeed I think they’re sort of written for a sub-adult reading level . . .”
There’s a whole genre of novels for sale in airports written like that. Like thrillers written by 12-year-olds dumbing down for an audience of 8-year-olds. Stuart Woods is a master of this genre.
“There’s a whole genre of novels for sale in airports written like that. Like thrillers written by 12-year-olds dumbing down for an audience of 8-year-olds. Stuart Woods is a master of this genre.”
Anybody want to take down James Patterson? I could make fun of his stuff for hours.
Mgmax and I agree: there are plenty of actors that are Mr. Paycheck, Pacini is high on the list. Ewan probably gets sick of sitting around waiting for quality scripts — which there are NONE because there are no great novels being written today.
The one time I picked up a Stuart Woods novel, what struck me was not just the stripped down vocabulary, sentence structure, characterizations, and plot. What struck me on the very first page was how large the type was and how few words there were on any one page of that slim volume.
This was NOT a large-type edition for people with vision problems. It was a large-type edition for people who just plain don’t read very much, who don’t like to read, and who probably can’t read very well. I felt like I was back in 2nd grade again.
A person with normal adult reading abilities could easily finish one of his thrillers in the time it takes to fly from NY to California, with plenty of time to spare for a snack and a nap. But a person with normal adult reading abilities would do what I did, which was toss the novel after the first 10 or 15 pages. I’m glad I didn’t pay money for it.
There’s a huge industry devoted to turning out novels for people who don’t like to read, but who are stuck for a few hours without other means of distraction.
The books may be horrible, indeed I think they’re sort of written for a sub-adult reading level, but when I went to Mexico a few years ago I swear I was the only gringo on the beach not reading one.
Let’s not forget that Pacino, De Niro and McGregor have children to support. IIRC, Michael Caine did a lot of schlock to pay off some debts he had incurred. Hackman worked a lot so he could build a nest egg and retire. He do so once and then returned … Now he’s announced his permanent retirement from movies at age 78
Click my name for link to story in London’s The Independent re: Hackman
What has he done? Here’s one: YOUNG ADAM, which no one saw, but was brilliant. So what’s a working actor to do? In another time, we’d be talking here more about films like YOUNG ADAM and less about films like IRON MAN. But that time exists in a galaxy far away….
Hackman worked a lot so he could build a nest egg and retire. He do so once and then returned … Now he’s announced his permanent retirement from movies at age 78
__ _ _ _ _ _ _ _____ __ _ _ ____ _ ___ _ ____
I’ve often wondered if he was done. I was hoping one day I just wouldn’t hear that he’s dead out of the blue. Glad he’s doing what he wants to do.
Ewan McGregor’s apparent decision to play “a powerful Vatican insider” in Ron Howard’s Angels and Demons, the sequel to The DaVinci Code, is the latest in a long series of straight-paycheck roles for this once-adventurous actor.
He worked for scale on Scenes of a Sexual Nature. Not that it was very good, mind.
Re Gaydos comment about YOUNG ADAM: I liked the film and McGregor’s work in it. Hopefully, there will be more for-the-craft work on Ewan’s CV.
Re DECEPTION, it was definitely Showtime/Cinemax fodder elevated by Dante Spinotti’s camerawork. As for McGregor, he seemed to be trying for a fusion of Bill Gates and Martin Short imitating Jerry Lewis. Jackman was sort of mimicking Willem Dafoe and James Woods.
I loved DA VINCI CODE book, it was fast-paced, it had occult elements, interesting flashbacks concerning the Templars (very shoddily handled in the Howard version) and overall it was an entertaining yarn.
The film, however, was dull, dull, dull, it took the most interesting elements of the book and turned them into yawn-fests (Howard couldnt even make the car chase Louvre escape seem thrilling) –
And the climax was laughable (the ‘twist’ was badly scripted). About the only good things in the flick were Hank’s hairdo and the score.
Since Hanks’ is back to his normal hair, I wonder how they’ll incorporate it into the prequel?
Everyone hear is saying they hated all of Dan Brown’s books, yet most of you all read more than 1. Which means your all full of it and was at least intrigued enough to read another. I thought his books were rather interesting. However, when you are critiqing a movie, don’t bring the books into it at all. Two completely different entities.
For the record, I read about the first half or a little less of DaVinci Code, then couldn’t take it any more. It was one of those thrillers where the hero gets everything handed to him on a plate by a series of clue-dispensers who always tell him where to go to get the next clue. And it ended every chapter with an exclamation point, which I thought was a cheap device even when I was 17 and read The Amityville Horror.
And that is all I have read of Dan Brown, or shall.
For the record, I read about the first half or a little less of DaVinci Code, then couldn’t take it any more. It was one of those thrillers where the hero gets everything handed to him on a plate by a series of clue-dispensers who always tell him where to go to get the next clue. And it ended every chapter with an exclamation point, which I thought was a cheap device even when I was 17 and read The Amityville Horror.
And that is all I have read of Dan Brown, or shall.
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