MovieChat Forums > Stage Beauty (2004) Discussion > Crudup is a knockout!!!!!Best Actor Nod ...

Crudup is a knockout!!!!!Best Actor Nod for sure

posted 20 years ago by lrpulini
21 replies | jump to latest

I had the opportunity to see this film, which is good on its own, but which contains an amazing performance by Billy Crudup. He has emerged as the new Kevin Kline-this actor can do anything, and that includes playing a 17th century English actor who plays women, and then must play men. Crudup plays Desdemona and Othello in the same film-surely a first! The performance is a highwire act-breathtaking, heartbreaking, funny and brilliant on all levels.

Crudup is ten times better than Joseph Fiennes was in Shakespeare in Love, and that's saying something because Fiennes is a good actor. This is Tootsie meets M. Butterfly meets Shakespeare in Love meets Olivier!!!!

This is a performance for the ages, and should launch Crudup into a Branagh/Olivier/Kline mold as a Shakespearean and chameleon actor who can do anything!! WELL DONE BILLY.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] justitia 20 years ago

I agree about the extraordinary performance Crudup gave in Stage Beauty. The especially skilled part that I particularly enjoyed was when he is proving to the King and the audience that he can play a man easily by playing Othello on the spot and his feminine modes of behavior kept creeping in. It was realistic and skillful; one really had the feeling that he could not help himself in reverting to the style of movement with his hands and posture that portrayed the feminine. The plot itself I felt was a little unrealistic at that point; to expect he would be able to completely alter his mannerisims he practiced for so many years just on the spur of the moment-I find it hard to believe that an actor as practiced as Ned was portrayed as being, would do that completly unprepared. But then, perhaps the actor's ego, particularly a great actor, might presume himself capable of completely altering his mode on the spot.

The comparison however with Joseph Fiennes I feel is not much of a compliment. I was extremely disappointed with his performance in Shakespeare in Love. He does not have starring capacity. He is much more suited to a supporting character as he was in Elizabeth of the same year. The movie was about Shakespeare, yet he took a backseat to Gwyneth Paltrow's breathtaking performance. But it is not just that she outshone him but he never once really grabbed the center of the screen, even with all the scenes he had when he was on his own(i.e., not around Gywneth.)

[–] Shakespeare48 20 years ago

Crudup gave the best performance by a man since Russell Crowe in 'A Beautiful Mind'. Truly a fantastic performance, with a very difficult part. He deserves an oscar for it, but, alas, he will not get nominated. Rarely are costume dramas noted for anything other than the costumes unless they are exceptional, and although this can be said of Crudup, it does not hold true for the film as a whole.

hey

[–] gardenstate44 19 years ago

I defintley agree with you! I am only 16 and live in England and was amazed by how good he was! I defintley think he should get the oscar for this!

Is love a tender thing? It is too rough, too rude, too boisterious, and it pricks like thorn.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] stonemadeent 19 years ago

Crudup and Danes were both gave the performances of their careers. The scene of the roleplaying in bed is among the most romantic and beautiful scenes I have ever seen.
The movie is perfectly cast, and perfectly executed.
Had they released this now when critic groups are just starting to make their choices,
this film would have been a serious contender. I am calling all of my fellow Academy members and urging them to make sure they watch this before voting.

[–] tellerofthetruth 19 years ago

I really don't understand the ones who say the performance wasn't great. I was going to start a thread similar to this. I don't think I have been as mesmerised by a male's performance since...well I don't know when. A fantastic movie and Crudup deserves the Oscar.

"PC Des Taviner on Sargeant Gilmore 'He might be a pouf, but he's our pouf'"

[–] fluffy__2000 19 years ago

I definitely agree, I found the final death scene in this movie to be the among the most memorable I've ever seen in any movie from the last 20 years or so. I can't remember when I was as entralled by a scene, just as the audience in the movie itself was. Except that they were acting the whole "edge of one's seat" part, I was not.

[–] Serenella 19 years ago

The comparison however with Joseph Fiennes I feel is not much of a compliment. I was extremely disappointed with his performance in Shakespeare in Love.

Well, apparently his performance was memorable enough for you to be talking about it six years later. Actually, it made made him a star, so I guess most of the world thinks that he does have "starring capacity". Everyone remembers him in that role, which speaks volumes these days.

You don't have to like him, but Fiennes has been highly praised by people like Cate Blanchett, Gwyneth Paltrow, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth, Jude Law, Bernardo Bertolucci, Jeremy Irons, Al Pacino, Michael Radford, John Madden, Jean-Jacques Annaud, Roman Polanski, Trevor Nunn and Sir Peter Ustinov to name just a few. But what do they know about acting, right?

Sorry, I agree that Crudup is a good actor, but Crudup was not playing William Shakespeare anyway, or any other of Fiennes's roles, so I don't know why you feel you have to compare them. I don't think you need to downtalk an actor in order to praise another.

[–] norrin__radd 19 years ago

Billy Crudup is a phenomenal actor and I would love to see him win an OSCAR but... not this time around, for this time I want to see Jim Caviezel win for the Passion of the Christ which was IMHO the best performance I've seen by anybody ever.

[–] justitia 18 years ago

1. I am not persuaded by arguments that use "authority" to assert correctness of opinion.. I do not care how many actors or other people in show business say how great any actor is... they are all in a world in which excessive praise on fellow actors is de rigor... those who don't do that often find their careers smushed. You also have no idea who I am. Nor is it at all relevant how many illustrious characters and actor portrays.. that does not make them a great actor.

2. You incorrectly characterize my statement as "downtalking" one actor in order to praise another. I praise Billy Crudup. It stands independently of what I wrote about Joseph Fiennes. My comment about Joseph Fiennes was only there because a previous poster compared the two actors positively for both.. I disagreed with that view... that is not "downtalking one actor to praise another."

3. I would suggest you learn to read more carefully, learn a little logic... and try real hard to follow the logic in people's posts as well as the logic in the threads... and I would learn not to make AD HOMINEM attacks on someone because you disagree with their opinion..... You can google AD HOMINEM to find out what that means...

[–] tommooreradio 19 years ago

He's a very good actor but he is also a classless jerk for what he did to Mary-Louise Parker. She was pregnant with his baby and he ran off with Claire Danes. Regardless of how talented he may be he is a jerk who can't keep his jimmy in his pants.

I hope he doesn't get any award whatsoever. He makes men look like abominable creatures.

[–] niladri_durey 19 years ago

It's really unfair that you can judge whether an actor should receive an award just because of their private life. If their performance was bad , then fair enough. But Crudups performance was amazing and should get an award for it, no matter what he has done in the past.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] sorceress14 18 years ago

I will be very upset if at least one of them doesn't get some kind of award. their performances were the best I've seen in a movie for a very long time. Oh, and as for Billy's personal life, just because it's not fair to judge someone because of it, doesn't mean that the people judging whether or not he gets the award won't. It's not like it's never happened before. Just think of Johnny Depp's best actor nod for PoTC.

[–] wontingwitch 18 years ago

I just saw this movie recently (my mother recommended it) and was BLOWN AWAY by Billy Crudups' performance. Before now I had only seen him in Sleepers and Big Fish so I was not aware of his range. This movie was so much better than I thought it would be when I started watching it and the death scene at the end was the stuff of legend. Billy deserved at least a nod for his work on this; He was fantastic.

http://img.avatars.yahoo.com/wusers/1W5I07yCIAAME-GFn_A0ZA4L0USgD.large.jpg?.intl=us

[–] Bale-Pearce-Oldman 18 years ago

He was truly wonderful here. Movies that I've seen him with are Almost Famous, Inventing the Abbotts, MI3 and he gives out solid performances. Esepcially in ALmost Famous and Inventing the Abbotts. I haven't seen Big Fish yet so I can't really comment on that.

Seeing this film made me realize that the guy is underappreciated as an actor. He is very very good.

And sexy.. and hot... :p

[–] MisanthropeLove 11 years ago

VERY well said, so true!! This film is beautiful, epic and amazing and no one else could have been Ned but Billy. Okay, maybe a few people...but no one could have done it BETTER, that's for damn sure!

[–] nicoledesapio 8 years ago

So far I've only watched a couple of scenes from STAGE BEAUTY (including the one mentioned upthread), but based on those I agree that Billy Crudup is very impressive. I wanted to comment on Joseph Fiennes. While I'm relatively unfamiliar with Crudup's work, I have enjoyed Joseph Fiennes in a number of things -- including LUTHER, which came out within months of STAGE BEAUTY -- and am generally a fan of his (I haven't seen SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE). I think he's a talented actor who only gets better with age and experience; I most recently saw him in RISEN and thought he was superb. To comment on the "argument from authority" issue: while it's true that one shouldn't base one's judgments ONLY on the opinions of others, it would be foolish if not arrogant simply to disregard the fact that a particular actor has been praised by a number of other, illustrious actors, as Joseph Fiennes has been. Finally, I want to say that STAGE BEAUTY is, together with LUTHER, the most visually beautiful big-screen film I've ever watched. I love the 17th century anyway, and STAGE BEAUTY's costumes and sets are exquisite.