Actors/Directors etc born out of their time.

Ok so the basic idea of this thread is to discuss who you think was born out of their time. Who would've fit better in cinema if they were born later or earlier?

Jeffrey Combs - This guy could've gone so much further if he was around Vincent Prices age during the 60's. he has the perfect amount of ham and charisma that just reminds me of a mix of Price and Cushing. Unfortunately the whole 'horror star' thing seems to have fallen out of favor with the public leaving not much for him to do. Or at least not as much work as he could've done had he been born much earlier.

Mario Bava - I love Bava's movies as they are but I always feel that maybe he would've been better suited if he was making films in the 20's. A sort of Fritz Lang character making stunning expressionistic movies in the early days before hopping over to universal to direct films for them. I know Lang never made Universal Horror flicks but I would've loved to have seen Bava do that. I think his style (minus the color of course) would've been more or less the same, but he would've gotten to work with much better actors and scripts while also being able to explore cinema in the really early days when visuals were more or less what mattered most.

I totally agree with the combs statment i feel like his acting is very over the top and extremely expressionistic which would have really gone well with 50's and 60's horror and sci fi. He was great in the movies that he did do but his talent is and was very under utilized

Ray Harryhaussen ...his imagination and stories with todays special fx ...look out although i love the crude special fx too

Orson friggin' Welles!

Both CITIZEN KANE & TOUCH OF EVIL were way ahead of their time and failed with audiences in thei rrespective times.

But then, if he didn't make then when he did, who knows when-or if the bar ever would've been raised.

Charles Laughton too.

Audiences didn't know what to make of NIGHT OF THE HUNTER @ the time of release and it's box office failure put Laughton off from ever making another film.

Let's make it racy hot in here:

Rob Zombie - if he were actually making films in the era he is obsessed with would we really even be paying attention to him now? My guess is he wouldn't be anything more than a second rate Alice Cooper or Wes Craven.....wait....

Rob Zombie.... nice. Where exactly would his idea's come from if he was born in that era? More original thought? It would be worse but we would be eating it up. So it's probably better that he was born back then.

I can't think of one actor off the top of my head, except for jeffrey combs and that was pretty much nailed already. To be edited later...

I hate Rob Zombie's movies, but I'd watch the shit out of a Rob Zombie western. Call me crazy? Would have rather seen him flourish in the 70's where he fits in better, however I agree he would be third rate even then.

Jeffry Combs comment is spot on. His role in The Frighteners is my favorite of his.

I think the thing with Rob Zombie unlike say Mario Bava is that Zombie needs movies like TCM to rip off so if you were to put him back in to the 70s I don't think his style would be anything like what it currently is. Unlike Bava who I think would stay the same aside from color.

John Saxon I've always sort of felt that John Saxon would've done a lot better if he were around during the 40s doing noir films. He has that sort of look about him.

Speaking of actors, Hollywood sorely could use a Lee Marvin or a Charles Bronson these days.

Whatta we got for badasses these days?

dolemike wrote:

Speaking of actors, Hollywood sorely could use a Lee Marvin or a Charles Bronson these days.

Whatta we got for badasses these days?

A bunch of youngsters barely out of their diapers. I hate that there are no badass men's men around acting today.

BurtonOblivion wrote:

dolemike wrote:

Speaking of actors, Hollywood sorely could use a Lee Marvin or a Charles Bronson these days.

Whatta we got for badasses these days?

A bunch of youngsters barely out of their diapers. I hate that there are no badass men's men around acting today.

Yeah.

Shia LaBeef FTL.

We need a guy like Benicio Del Toro to step up.

The 'action star' has almost toally disappeared in recent years...CGI has taken mainstage to the actors. I don't know if anyone will agree, but Wes Anderson, love him or hate him, is keeping it old school. He is surely as apt a predessor as anyone to the styles of Bergman, Scorsese, etc...The long static shots and his propensity to linger on expressions; letting you appreciate the sublteties of the frame and the shots.

rm237 wrote:

We need a guy like Benicio Del Toro to step up.

The 'action star' has almost toally disappeared in recent years...CGI has taken mainstage to the actors. I don't know if anyone will agree, but Wes Anderson, love him or hate him, is keeping it old school. He is surely as apt a predessor as anyone to the styles of Bergman, Scorsese, etc...The long static shots and his propensity to lingering expressions; letting you appreciate the sublteties of the frame and the shots.

I agree Anderson is probably one of the last orginal film makers around right now. Hes a great writer and one of the most visually dynamic directors in the world at the moment. His use of colors and camerawork in Darjeeling were breathtaking especially the train shots.

100% agreed w/ Jeffrey Combs.

OK, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say Tod Slaughter, if only because his films - which range from good to absolutely terrible - would have benefitted from the change of the "H" certificate to the "X" certificate and the loosening of restrictions placed on films that fell under the "A" certificate. Without those tight restrictions placed on his work - and the fact that by the time the 50s came rolling in, British horror was actually performing well at the box office - Slaughter would have been able to do more of what he want he wanted to do and his productions would have been greatly enriched.

Colonel Mortimer wrote:

I think the thing with Rob Zombie unlike say Mario Bava is that Zombie needs movies like TCM to rip off so if you were to put him back in to the 70s I don't think his style would be anything like what it currently is. Unlike Bava who I think would stay the same aside from color.

John Saxon I've always sort of felt that John Saxon would've done a lot better if he were around during the 40s doing noir films. He has that sort of look about him.

Exactly my thoughts on Zombie to the T.

Saxon was making films in the mid 50's. He had quite a career switch once he started working in Europe, specifically Italy. So glad for it. Yeah, I think he would have been awesome in noir. Hell, he is awesome in anything he is in.

Quentin Tarantino this guy is a natural for the the 60s mod hipster scene and like Rob zombie would fit in perfectly with the gridhouse/drive in scene of the 70s and early 80s. In speaking of the 80s Zombie would've been the perfect fit for the horror scene of that decade particularly the slasher genre.