What ever happened to the actors??

Rating: 9/10 (29 December 2004)

I am a Kubrick fan. I love his movies, despite the flaws in some but one thing keeps bothering me. Aside from his early movies with Kirk Douglas, Peter Sellars and Sterling Hayden, the actors he uses generally don't have much of a career afterwards. In using Full Metal Jacket as an example, I just wonder what became of the actors after working with the great man? Now there are those of you who would point to Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and even Leelee Whatever as examples of a career ever growing but, in general, the actors he uses tend to disappear from the mainstream. Matthew Modine was brilliant as Joker in FMJ but has never progressed beyond that. The same goes for Vincent D'Offorino (forgive all the spelling errors) who was not only superb in FMJ but was outstanding in the poor Men In Black and as the killer in that J Lo movie which I watch last night. Cowboy's actor appeared in Jurassic Park and a TV movie about a kidnapping of a boy but I am trying to get my head around this conundrum. If Stanley K was a picky director as people say he was (but a lot of actors disagree with this) and if this pickiness included the actors who would actually play the roles in his films then why have they not become superstars? In FMJ there are some great actors but of the unknown quantity. Joker has nicked out a career for himself but not of the superstar quality. Gunnery Sgt. Hartmann has played the same role over and over. Pile has gone to TV as has Eight Ball. Cowboy has disappeared so has most of the rest of the cast in line with other Kubrick projects. So what is it about the Kubrick movies that kills a promising career?