I'm sure at least one other person has wondered this at some point, but how come the actors never interacted on the IMDB message boards with any of their fans? I understand why the A-Listers might not, but I'm curious about the lesser known actors or the ones from beloved films and TV shows who no longer act.
shareThey did.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
Okay I just thought of something else. How come their friends or family members do not interact on their message boards? Do you think they even look at them?
shareReading message boards are an exercise in masochism. Years ago I had a business with a 4.5 star Yelp rating... Even though I got mostly positive reviews... it's very painful to get slandered by people who just want to get back at you because you contradicted them or you wouldn't bow to their will. I can't imagine how it would be to be an actor or actress... and have faceless idiots comment on how fat or ugly you are... even when almost all are attractive people. Same for family members. At least with Twitter you could block trolls if they were on your feed... at IMDB it was open season on everyone... probably one of the main reasons the industry's not sad to see it gone.
shareThat is true. Their are a lot of people who feel superior behind their computer. Like you said it was open season on IMDB. But what about harmless posters who just want to know how their favorite actor is doing which they do not see acting on film or television anymore? I can understand the A listers and their families avoiding the message boards like the plagues, but what about those who are not as popular?
shareDoesn't matter how low profile you were... almost everyone got comments on imdb. Twitter, Facebook and IG are way better for celebrities because they can block trolls.
shareOn the Big Bang Theory board, someone came on there once in a very great while who did in fact claim to be a personal friend of Kaley Cuoco. I seem to remember the person seemed to be a guy. There's a lot of nasty stuff on that board against Cuoco, and once or twice he went on there to shame people for their personal comment.
There was a whiff of truth about this guy -- he didn't post like a typical fanboy just crushing on Kaley. Things he said sounded like he really knew her -- his defence of her was very very calm and didn't have that argumentative quality of just a very hurt fan. He only posted but rarely.
I once had a pm from a person claiming to be the little girl from Basic Instinct and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation of course grown up. She'd seen a post I made on the Vacation board.
I didn't respond but did check put her profile and she was making the claim elsewhere on the boards.
Yes I have a similar thing -- I once posted on the board of an old TV movie I had just seen. I was impressed by the child actor, a little girl I don't remember seeing in anything much since, but she was really good.
Someone on the board turned out to be that girl, an adult woman now. I checked around her posts and she seemed genuine. She was no longer acting but had a regular job, and had some grievances about the industry, but was grateful to see that the movie she was in still got posts and praise for her performance.
I have no problem believing that's what someone might do -- I'm sure I would still be revisiting remembrance of an early glory if people were still talking about it online.
Interesting...How come you never answered her? Did you think it could possibly be a troll?
shareThat crossed my mind yes,it was IMDb after all!
I honestly didn't know what I would say to her as I was a fan of the film not her particularly.Not that I had anything against her.
Funnily enough I'd never made the connection that she was the same girl from Basic Instinct.
Edit- I mean Fatal Attraction not Basic Instinct!
Oh I got ya. Well that definitely makes sense. In addition I had no idea that she was the same girl from both of those films either.
shareI think actors mostly are told by their handlers/publicists to maintain a certain image. I'm sure all their online posting/etc... have to be approved by whoever they have a contract with etc....
Also I'm sure they are busy, and they are actors. Most of the posts are about the show that pertain to the writers/directors. So unless the actors are interested in that side of it, no point in them discussing it. Some actors even say they don't watch the movies they star in. I'm sure it's rare since they gotta go to premiers etc...
Maybe they do and wish to remain anonymous for some reason.
shareThey did.
There were many known cases over the years, of actors and directors did indeed post on their boards. You also got crew members posting on the boards of films they helped to make.
Casper Van Dien was a very known presence on his board for a while. Michael Biehn had a running argument with a troll on his board. Director Greg Pritikin posted for a while on the board of his film Dummy. There was an actor who was in a very iconic fil who was actively posting on several boards right up to the closing of IMDb but he only told who he was at the end. I won't say the name but he was legit.
Some actors have mentioned IMDb boards on talk shows. David Duchovny used to google himself and read what people were saying, and once contacted a fan site. That's not posting on IMdb but we can guess he probably read his board at some point too. I have reason to believe another actor followed his own board and links to other sites about himself.
Similar to another person who posted above, I too had contact with a woman who was the star of a movie when she was a child. I had posted on the movie's board about how great the little girl's performance had been. She was grown up now but still posted on her board. She PMed about how why her career didn't continue -- she's in real estate now I think. She was disgruntled with the industry but thankful for people still talking about her early role.
You would be surprised. These people may be busy people with careers but that doesn't mean they don't do what we would all do and take a look at stuff about themselves; who wouldn't. Their careers ARE "themselves" and I don't mean that in a bad way. They're human too, and they're online too.
That's a great response. It's also a good reminder too. I can't imagine what it's like to live the Hollywood movie making life and then transition into a traditional everyday life. I mean you finally achieve the private life you have been seeking, and even the littlest thing, such as answering one person on a message board, can offset that. It's kind of like you give them a hand, and they want the whole arm. Also I great reminder which you posted on here that I sometimes don't stop to think about is that we are all human, and we are all curious beings. I think most everyone has googled themselves at some point too, and even though some of them have moved past the movie making life I'm sure they still get nostalgic for that era of their life at times.
shareYes, and I think that we tend to think of successful people as never having a minute to spare -- but think of all the waiting around there is on a movie set, between scenes and setting up! Time in the trailer. Time on flights. In airports. In hotel rooms. Time at home between films - or of course when the offers aren't coming anymore. It's not like there's no moments of downtime or even unemployment, just like we have! :)
share