--- In [email protected], TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In [email protected], Sal Sunshine <salsunshine@> > wrote: > > > > On Mar 10, 2007, at 9:51 AM, TurquoiseB wrote: > > > > > THAT is the thing that Julia Roberts does in some of > > > her roles. Her forte is those moments of *vulerability*, > > > in which she reveals those deep, private places that > > > very few other actresses are capable of revealing or > > > willing to reveal. It's exactly *why* directors cast > > > her in roles that have one or more of those moments > > > in the script. > > > > Well if you say so, Barry. Maybe I'm just deluding myself, > > but I'd like to think that I can recognize depth when I > > see it, and what I mostly see there is fairly obvious > > superficiality and virtually no recognizable talent. > > But maybe it takes a certain depth to be so shallow-- > > anything's possible. > > I'm not saying that she's as good an actress as > Isabelle Adjani (who is?), only that they share > that ability to be completely vulnerable onstage. > I find those moments the best part of her work.
I agree about Roberts. She's what I think of as a *generous* actor. Same with the late Christopher Reeve. Not much subtlety or nuance, not very "deep," but very, very *open*. What you see onscreen with these two aren't carefully crafted characters, but the human beings saying the characters' lines and reacting as if they--the human beings, the actors--were experiencing what the characters experience *as themselves*, and sharing every bit of that experience with the audience, with great emotional honesty. When the creep hits Julia Roberts in "Pretty Woman," you see Julia Roberts reacting to being struck in the face by a creep. With the appropriate script--one that doesn't stray too far from the personalities of the actors--and a director savvy enough to encourage and provide safety for that openness without trying to impose layers of nuance over it, it can work very nicely. The personalities of both Roberts and Reeve are inherently quite charming, so they tend to immediately enlist the audience's sympathy. If you can just relax into it and take what they give you, it can be a very enjoyable experience. Natlie Wood had those same qualities, as did Rock Hudson.
