I feel like she single handedly ruined the film for me. When this film first came out she was famous for comedy and that's she did to this film, provided comedy relief when it was not needed. Or was it needed? I feel like this was a drama. And Robin Wright would have been perfect to play Pam at the time.
shareI would not say that Meg Ryan alone ruined the movie. I do agree that she was a bit miscast. I would have preferred Robin Wright.
But what really hurt the Courson role was that she was depicted as a perfect angel that was only hurt by Jim. Nevermind the fact that Courson more than likely played a hand in killing Morrison.
But Stone really wanted to use American Prayer. The rights to American Prayer belonged to the Courson family after Jim & Courson passed on. However, the Coursons put restriction on Stone on how the film would depict Courson. Courson had to portrayed as a square goody two shoes.
Dalton and Craig! Accept NO substitutes!
"Courson had to be portrayed as a square goody two shoes. "
Yes, alot of the dynamic was thrown off by this. It would have led the movie down a somewhat different path if she had been more realistically portrayed. I get why they did it but it's interesting what the result would have been if a darker version of Pam had been used.?
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How stupid for Courson's family to force Stone to clean up Pam's image when there were so many biographies and other books published at that time and before the film that told the truth about what the real Pam was like. Lol
shareMeg actually began her career on a soap opera. So that means she had experience as a 'dramatic' actress before she was cast in this.
shareI don't mind her in the film, the only problem is that she's portrayed differently then the real Pam from what I hear.
shareYeah, I hear ya. She sucked in this film.
Horribly miscast.
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"I learned that in prison, you like? You white trash piece-a shìt."
I accepted Meg's performance when I was a young kid and didn't know know anything about quality acting. I just thought everyone's performance was good. Also, I thought it was one of the coolest movies ever made. It was my favorite movie for the longest time. I would read the TV guide to find out whenever the movie was showing and watched it repeatedly.
But a few years ago I re watched the movie again as an adult and I felt the same way you do about Meg. She really was annoying and she just didn't fit in. The real Pam was just as wild as Jim if not more and Meg's squeaky clean image of Pam as a victim of Jim's bad boy is completely unrealistic and doesnt work for the film at all. Although I still think Val did awesome impression of Jim Morrison. The Doors is the second best performance Val has done. His performance as Madmartigan in Willow is his best.
I accepted Meg's performance when I was a young kid and didn't know know anything about quality acting.
"Meg's squeaky clean image of Pam as a victim of Jim's bad boy is completely unrealistic"
isnt that down to the script, rather than the actress?
Betcha there were two reasons Ryan was cast/miscast: 1) She was tired as being typecast as the girl in romcoms, and wanted to do other kinds of films and show her range as an actress. 2) The filmmakers wanted a bit more box-office clout than Val Kilmer could provide on his own.
Sadly, Ryan proved that she didn't have the range to play anything beyond romcom girls, she isn't godawful and doesn't ruin the film, but through the whole film, she doesn't seem to belong in that time or place, and she's a false note that won't stop playing.