Who do you think has the most impact on a movie? Writers or Actors? At first hunch, I would say actors because they bring the story to life but it's really the writers that are structure of the movie. Your thoughts?
Actors are of lower importance than the director I would say. A good director can make up for a lack of overall talent by exploiting strengths. A bad director can take a beautiful script, have great talent all around and manage to **** the whole thing up.
I put "other," Lady_Di. My choice would be the director. You can have a great script, terrific actors, a big budget, and if the director is crap, chances are the movie is as well, IMO.
It all starts with the writer. Its his/her ability to write the story and create the characters that an actor has to bring to the screen. This is just the way I see it.
It's a very collaborative outcome in the end. Editors are huge as well. They can really have an impact on if someone looks good or not. Directors can take a good script, and some good actors, and make it all look bad if he and the editor are horrible. But it's very difficult to take bad acting, and writing, and turn it into something worthwhile. Occasionally actors can turn bad writing into a good performance if they do creative interpreting with how they read the pieces. It's a very tough call.
ACTORS. Just imagine if Mathew Broderick delivered "You can't handle the truth!" or if Will Smith would have said "I'll be back." Also: "You and I are done professionally. Seriously."
It's impossible to make a great movie with a crappy script, and I can't imagine a great movie with mediocre acting performances. The impact of a director can be wide ranging. A director can be very hands-on, guiding actors to a specific performance, shaping the story and script, developing every shot and everything the camera sees, and crank out a great movie, or a director can be very hands-off, letting his DP cover him and the actors do what they know how to do, and still end up will a great movie. Or they can be anywhere in between (and there are directors that people consider to be very good or great who fall on both ends of that spectrum). That kind of negates the idea of the director's importance since directors at all levels can end up making good-to-great movies.
If that was true, why are they being paid millions of dollars? I'm sure directors, writers and etc are being paid less.
I think it's 50/50 between writer and actor. You can put a good actor on a poorly written story and it will usually be crap. Also, if you put a bad actor on a well-written story, it will usually be crap. Director, however, is a whole other ballgame. I think the director has a greater influence over a movie's outcome than either writer or actor.
I would say writing is the most important aspect. I think a good story can trump bad acting/bad script/bad directing. A perfect example would be the Star Wars movies. All 6 of them, not just the prequels. Let's be serious. Mark Hamill ain't exactly Robert Dinero.
Because nobody is going to see a movie that doesn't have some recognizable names attached to it. Actors are fickle things. Sometimes they aren't even actors. A lot of it boils down to popularity. Larry the Cable Guy has headlined more films than John Turturro. If that isn't the great travesty of American Cinema, I don't know what is.
The actors who are highly paid are highly paid because they are expected to deliver box office. It's a marketing decision rather than a quality of acting performance decision. And it happens at all levels of filmmaking. It's almost never about picking the person who is right for the role and who would give the best performance, it's about picking the name that's best known. Yes, a really poor actor isn't going to get to the point where he or she is a megastar, but there are many, many great actors who aren't highly paid. ETA: Sorry my reply is a repeat, but I had to answer the phone in the middle of my post and didn't get to see the previous, nearly identical, reply.
John Turturro - Transformers? Bad writing, good actors: Spoiler Bad acting, bad writing (difficult to find): Spoiler Bad acting: Spoiler All the STEVEN SEGAL movies Now, which one has BAD DIRECTING? [i cannot find one]
Writers, definitely. Even with unknown/subpar actors I can still really get into a movie if the writing is witty or intelligent.
producers are responsible for getting the personnel i'd say that is a highly important role finding the right chemistry
It depends on what your definition of bad directing is AND what that particular director did on the movie.
Well said, mrpaige; I used to think Tim Burton was just... "weird" until I saw "The Nightmare Before Christmas" beautifully written, acted, directed, and filmed. Personally, I am getting tired of this Jolie + Pitt crap.
