Is there currently a better actor than Daniel Day Lewis?

I respect Smith for what he's accomplished, he's not a great imo actor though. people talk about denzel or jack being the same guy in every movie, will's been the same guy since fresh prince.

 

Well I have to disagree. Again, how does the goofball from Fresh Prince resemble at all Chris Gardner from the Pursuit of Happyness. He does action (Bad Boys), drama (Pursuit of Happyness), and of course comedies (Hitch). IMO, the one movie of his that actually bombed was Wild Wild West.

 

well honestly I haven't seen pursuit of happiness

edit: or Ali, but I've heard he didn't do a good job in Ali, but I won't comment either way because I haven't seen it.

he's a goofball in most movies, and he's a goofball, who's really smart, who always lives up to his potential at the end who is always kind of rebellous but a good person none the less. has he ever played a villian, has he ever played a victim, that would be stepping out of his box.

 

I think the impressive thing about Daniel Day Lewis is that it rarely feels like over-acting. He hasn't played enough roles to truly show range - yes, he's played a bunch of different characters, though they all have similar feels.

I'm getting really tired of Denzel. Back in the day, he was awesome. Glory...c'mon, that's an awesome performance and awesome movie in general. But now, ever movie, Denzel acts the same....or I should say overacts the same. I think I laughed everytime the American Gangster preview was on and it was on that scene where he pounds his chest. OVER-ACTING!!

I think a lot of "great" actors have this issue. Combine over-acting with lack of range, and I think it's hard to figure out who is and who isn't a good actor.

To me, the best acting is shown in ability to portray many very different character types with success.

Which is why I respect actors like:
- De Niro (Fockers, Analyze movies...he's better when he's intense for sure)
- Depp (Pirates, Charlie and Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland...all such different characters)
- Hoffman (not just twister, but Big Lebowski, Boogie Nights, Almost Famous combined with his more serious roles)
- Mark Wahlberg (Departed vs. I Heart Huckabees vs. Planet of the Apes, etc.)

I'm sure there are a bunch of others. Nicholson has played some diverse roles. Will Smith has actually mixed in some serious roles (Ali) with mostly light-hearted or blockbuster entertainment fare (which he does really well). Dustin Hoffman, Tom Hanks..heck Harrison Ford used to be able to do a bunch of different roles.

The hardest is to be able to do a great comedic role and a great dramatic role. Obviously, you will get a lot more "props" as a great actor if you can do a great dramatic role. Which is why you're hard pressed to find once comedic actors that you'd consider great actors. I mean, Jim Carrey isn't bad, but not great, and his comedic work has suffered as he's tried to broaden his scope of work. The same for Robin Williams.

Lewis is good, though.

 

Nicholson has never played anybody but Jack Nicholson. If you've seen him in one movie, that's enough.

 

Gets my vote.

 

Except that the person he plays is one of the coolest people alive, ever. Complaining about Jack Nicholson playing one character is a bit like complaining about Tiger Woods playing only one sport.

 

Ok, he has never played a villain. That's true. I'm just saying he is the most versatile actor in Hollywood. You will never see Daniel Day Lewis in a comedy, you won't see Denzel in a movie where he isn't a bad*ss (except maybe John Q, but even then he took over a hospital). Will Smith does every type of role, with the exception that he hasn't played a bad guy...yet.

 

I think you're way underestimating his abilities.

Chinatown, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, As Good as it Gets, The Departed, Mars Attacks...right there you have 5 very different characters and he's so spot on in his performance of those roles.

 

no its not, tiger can beat you putting, driving, and chipping yet all in the game of golf. nicholson's gonna act one way, borderline crazy, he's more like shaq, shaq is gonna beat you one way on the basketball court.

 

Will Smith is a good actor and is great at showing a lot of emotion, but I don't think he is in the same league as Daniel Day-Lewis.

When DDL was preparing for Last of the Mohicans, he actually lived in the wild, learned how to track and hunt game, built a canoe, and would travel everywhere with his rifle while they were filming. When he was Bill "The Butcher" Cutting, he learned how to become a butcher and would sharpen his knives and stay in character between and after takes. It took him three years to prepare for the part in There Will Be Blood.

He completely immerses himself into the role and builds amazing characters because of his dedication

 

No love for Gene Hackman or Robert Duvall?

When they are on screen they are so natural.

 

I'm sure this isn't everyone's favorite role of his, but I'd put Chinatown at the top of his list as an actor...he doesn't act borderline crazy in that.

He does tend to stray towards people with "problems", but within that he swings from comedy to drama to lighthearted fare quite well (Something's Gotta Give, Bucket List, blah).

He's not a favorite actor of mine or anything, but I think he is clearly a great actor.

 

Ed Norton has more range in one movie than a lot of actors have in their whole career.

 

I'm not saying he isn't a great actor, just saying its always the same character. but as mentioned there are lots like that. I like nicholson a lot. I like denzel a lot but I would say the same thing about him. Not huge fan of will smith's but one thing i do agree with your earlier post, what he does, it works and it makes money.

 

Ed Norton is awesome. He is one of those actors who is great in every movie he does.

 

yeah i think Ed Norton is underrated and forgotten quite a bit.
Rounders and Fight Club are two of my favorite movies.

 

I agree that Day-Lewis and Anthony Hopkins are two of the best.

But I have to agree with StupidMoniker: Edward Norton is the man. It's not that he was great in one or two movies, he's great in everything he's in, and I've never seen an American actor play such a diverse range of roles.

The guy's been a ruthless neo-Nazi in American History X, a happy-go-lucky priest in Keeping the Faith, an everyman gone wrong in Fight Club, an understated magician in The Illusionist, a Barney wannabe in Death to Smoochy... the list goes on. The guy is incredible.

 

I hear you. I'm just saying it isn't always the same character (in fact, in possible his best role ever, it wasn't).

And I wouldn't characterize it the same as Denzel. Denzel doesn't only play the same characters, he plays them almost exclusively across the same genre...Drama

Whereas Nicholson goes from drama (Departed, Chinatown) to horror/thriller (Shining) to comedy (As Good as it Gets) to indie (About Schmidt) to lighthearted crap (Something's Gotta Give...he plays that character well...I find those movies craptastic thought) to Blockbuster (Batman).

 

Denzel has had some range it's just that it was earlier in his career so most people do not notice.