Characters who are "athletes"

[Randolphkeys]

Which do you like better: a very good athlete who struggles in an acting role for TV or movies, or an actor who struggles with the athletic aspect of the character?

This became an issue for me because I was watching "The Cleaner" last night... solid television show by the way... where a young basketball prospect got into herion. Here's the part that made me angry:

1. They found some 5'8 white boy to play a senior in high school that all the colleges are fighting over. Really?

2. They had terrible slow-motion shots of his shooting form... which looked like all the wrong parts of a Shaun Marion three pointer... followed by cutaways to the ball going in. I think the editor of the show was hired from Saved By The Bell.

I couldn't help but wonder why The Professor of And I couldn't have tried out for the role... he can at least sell me on his role in the first few scenes, even if his acting is as dry as Shaq in Blue Chips.

Then I thought about Micheal Phelps on Saturday Night Live the previous evening... Phelps on stage was nearly unwatchable and probably limited his future sex partners from the millions to the tens of thousands.

So which is better: Actor trying to be athletic, or athlete? Has anyone ever gotten it just right?

 

[Splitz]

I dunno but despite some of the cruddiest acting I have ever seen, I really enjoyed Blue Chips.

 

[PIP]

The dynamic of seeing an Athlete taking on acting roles seems unnatural

In fact, watching Athletes do something else is always fun to watch, because they get pigeonholed into a stereotype that the only thing they can do is play sports.... Many times you'll hear a fan say something along the lines of: "If he couldn't run fast, he would be flipping burgers"

So anything outside of their element seems weird... But, it's just not acting... Seeing Jason Taylor or Emmitt Smith on Dancing with the stars, or seeing Kevin Johnson run for Mayor of Sacramento, or to a lesser extent Jessie Ventura becoming governor of Minnesota or hell, even a small transition like Reggie Miller, Rich Gannon, and Dan Marino flawlessly transitioning right into broadcasting seems foreign to me on a certain level..

With actors, (at least with the good ones) you always kinda have in the back of your mind that they are actors... Sure, you can get into the movie and their role, but at the end of the day, when you see Kevin Costner throwing that perfect game in "For Love of The Game"-- even though he looks like an aging pitcher, and plays the role of that athlete really well, you recognize that he is an actor, and that's just another role he plays, and is essentially no different than what he did in the Bodyguard protecting Whitney Houston..

Whereas the athlete doing a skit on SNL, or dancing on a reality show, or singing or playing a role on a sitcom, it just seems completely off centered...

Actor trying to be athlete is not as entertaining because it coincides with their craft...

Athlete trying to be an actor is entertaining because it's the total opposite of their craft and what you're used to seeing....

The question is whether or not you want to laugh, or you want a quality performance. ??

 

[Man Called X]

Are you serious?

This is the only answer I need give.

 

[Lee]

I dunno but despite some of the cruddiest acting I have ever seen, I really enjoyed Blue Chips.

It was filmed at a small university by Purdue. The cast used to come to the bars at Purdue to unwind. I remember shaq was only 20 at the time, and the bouncer would not let him in because he was underage. Shaq was cool about it atleast, lol

 

[Ren]

This is how you play ball..

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[Mac]

I always hated TV shows that played basketball on stupid ass small courts...wtf is the point of that?