Which actors you admire that you really wish not to have any scandals?

TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 113 points –

I was watching a video on Willem Dafoe on his iconic roles, and his passion to craft and life, and positivity, exudes from him immensely. In that video, I am surprised he remembers from which of his movies the lines came from. It made me love him more as an actor because he loves life and his job.

But then during the interview, I remembered too when I watched Kevin Spacey's interview before, admiring him and it turned out he is a creep. I was telling to myself about Willem Dafoe "please don't be a creep, please don't be a creep."

Willem seems like a genuinely nice guy though but I hope I don't get proven wrong!

Edit: clarified the title

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I have a lot of criticism for most kinds of celebrity worship threads, but I'll just throw my hat in for Jack Black. He seems like a good guy who likes making people laugh (myself included).

It’s obvious Jack Black has maxed out his Charisma stat.

And his mom was a NASA engineer who worked on an issue with the abort guidance system while in labor with Jack. (See Judith Cohen)

Keanu

Came in to say this. If Keanu gets convincingly metoo-d or something I will die a little inside.

I still recall a story on Reddit where someone claimed to have stumbled upon his house while hiking and Keanu offered to give him a ride.

Only partially an actor, but I sincerely hope Weird Al Yankovic keeps being as awesome as he is.

They made a real life documentary about his life a couple years back. Squeaky clean.

I'm gonna have to go with Adam Savage. I loved Mythbusters and continue to watch his Tested one day build videos today and view him as something of a role model from a creative standpoint.

Also to chime in about your mentioning of Kevin Spacey, the guy is definitely a weirdo and has done some really tone deaf things (coming out as gay in the midst of being involved in sexual abuse accusations, posting videos of himself as Frank Underwood denying charges levied against him on YouTube, etc.), but wasn't he acquitted of or found not guilty in literally every sexual abuse charge that was brought against him? And in both the US and the UK?

I don't know about the other cases, but one of Kevin Spacey's case ended up in a settlement.

However, the fact that so many came out accusing him of sexual misconduct and how Kevin Spacey reacted after being questioned is itself a charge of guilt. Once or twicely accused is questionable. But I am a firm believer that "where there is smoke, there is fire". A genuinely nice person would not be defamed by so many just like that, especially with serious allegations. Neil DeGrasse Tyson was accused once, but the charges were dropped when the accuser proved to have made false allegations. We haven't heard anything egregious about Neil before and after that scandal.

I can tell you that Neil is at the very least insufferable to be around.

I love listening to Neil's podcast but I can see why some might find him insufferable as you say. Some scientists chided him for getting some things wrong but I don't mind him as long as he doesn't say or do anything egregious.

I used to like Neil but then I saw him give a talk in person at a local college. There was some girl that asked a silly question during the q and a part of the visit and in front of an audience of hundreds of people Neil laid into her about how her question was stupid and she was wasting everyone's time. He did that until she started crying and left. After the next person asked a question as Neil was wrapping up his answer he decided to get another jab at the girl he already chased off by saying "and that's a real question". It's hard to convey how clearly the cruelty and contempt hung in that room.

Thank you for sharing. This corroborates with what I have heard that he can be arrogant.

I have less respect for Neil then.

Yeah as a podcaster he's entertaining, but the problem is the absolute disdain he has for non-scientists, and even graduate student scientists. He's a smart man, but he absolutely thinks he's one of the smartest people alive and makes it known. Never once has a scientist sent an employee to a room full of other scientists to make sure they all turned their cellphones off when he walks in a room, but he does that. Kip Thorne isn't even that up his own butt lmao

“A charge of guilt” wtf does that mean?

A jury being unable to be sure of guilt beyond reasonable doubt does not mean he is innocent beyond all reasonable doubt.

How many people do you need to come forward before you believe them? Is the number of men required more or less than the number of women required? Do teenagers count double or not at all? Or does the number depend entirely on the quality of their legal defence and the amount of physical evidence they left behind?

It's not a numbers thing, it's a facts thing. That's just how criminal justice works (or is supposed to). So to address your second paragraph―the number of people and whether they are men, women, or otherwise is entirely irrelevant. If someone can be proven to have done wrong, they did wrong, period. I'm not stating I agree or disagree with his acquittal, I was just making sure I hadn't missed some news that he had, in fact, been found guilty. I'm well aware that wealthy people and, in particular, powerful men get unfair advantages in the criminal justice system.

It’s not a numbers thing, it’s a facts thing. That’s just how criminal justice works (or is supposed to).

That is not how criminal justice is supposed to work. Scottish law has attempted to make it work a little bit like that but it's not a good solution.

There is no mirror image. A guilty verdict is (supposed to be) beyond reasonable doubt. A not guilty verdict is everything else. You're ignoring the missing middle and deciding that it has been shown beyond reasonable doubt that 16 young men have all told the same lie about a powerful person for .

You're entitled to whatever opinion you want to have about Spacey. But if your opinion is based on the idea that a not guilty verdict means innocent beyond reasonable doubt, then your opinion is based on a total misunderstanding of the way the legal system works.

I'm with you about Adam Savage. His philosophies about many aspects of life just resonate a lot with me and he is always so passionate about the things he's discussing or working on.

His view on organization being a continuous process finally clicked with me and got me to start putting my workshop in order.

Nathan Fillion, Christopher Walken, Tom Hanks

Hummm… maybe don’t read up on Christopher Walken and Natalie Woods…

I'd never heard of the story so went off digging. There's a decent video here. Doesn't throw any shade at Walken in fairness.

It’s a weird story, and I feel at worst Walken is involved. But yeah, even with this I still feel Walken is not one of the worst.

You would think that being present when she disappeared would have made a bigger splash.

Or the fact that simply being present doesn't indicate any kind of guilt, especially when the one other person present (the ship's captain) and the police have not raised any concerns about him personally. Keep in mind it was a 58 foot boat with a dingy, not a tiny sailing vessel where everyone was in close proximity to each other at all times.

There’s some evidence Walken and Robert Wagner maybe were having an affair, and Robert and Natalie had a big fight over it. One person on the boat heard a loud noise after they were fighting, and Robert went back to his cabin right after it. But Natalie was taking pills and drinking a lot as well.

Truth is, the police never really made Robert or Walken to be suspects, even though they are really the only suspects in this. I mean honestly who cares maybe it was just an accident.

I don’t think Walken personally killed Natalie Woods tho.

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The #1 thing to know about Willem Dafoe is apparently he has a monster cock.

One film, he had a nude scene, and they had to set him up with a body double because his own was too distracting.

https://www.ladbible.com/news/willem-dafoe-once-used-a-stunt-penis-20220722

Von Trier replied: “We had to [have a stand-in d**k], because Will’s was too big.”

Journalist Peter Keough then asked Von Trier: “To fit on screen?” to which he replied: “No, too big because everybody got very confused when they saw it.”

Tha is for this, Jordan. This is really what my day needed 😊

People used to talk about Uncle Miltie, but Willem actually got naked for the sake of art.

Dick Van Dyke comes from an era where it would be real easy to do a lot of bad shit without anyone ever knowing, and I hope he never did.

I would be devastated if I found he was horrible.

His attempt at a cockney accent in Mary Poppins would get him cancelled by today's culture (and he still gets hate from British people for it). But fortunately, no one said anything about it back then, even though he was surrounded by actual British actors in the film. He claims he was taught the accent by an Irishman, which is why it's so wonky. At least he seems to regret doing it.

I've got my fingers crossed that Tony Shalhoub doesn't have any skeletons in his closet.

I enjoy actors for their work as actors not for them being good people.

Kevin Spacey probably wasn't acting as he often portrayed psychopathic characters in TV and films.

Same with Danny Masterson and Wilmer Valderrama as they played as creepy guys in "That 70s Show".

Wait, was Wilmer involved in that stuff too?

He started dating Demi Lovato when she was 17 and him at 29. But Wilmer never got any reprimand for this unlike others. Her song "29" is dedicated to him about grooming...

17 is above the age of consent in many countries though.

She still made a song about it and how inappropriate it was. The song is called 29. Lyrics are:

Petal on the vine, too young to drink wine

Just five years a bleeder, student and a teacher

Far from Innocent, what the fucks consent?

Numbers told you not to, but that didn't stop you.

/End lyrics

https://genius.com/Demi-lovato-29-lyrics

You're fucking crazy if you actually listen to her song and her words on what happened and Believe everything there was fucking honky dory.

I don't know who either of the people are. 17 seems odd to me to say that a person doesn't know consent, as in the UK (where I'm from) it's 16, and a lot of us were fooling around a year or two under that.

Demi Lovato was 17 when a 29 year old man groomed her into a relationship. If your stance is 17 was "fair game" for a 29 year old. Then you're excusing 17 year olds being fucked by middle aged men and older. Wake the fuck up, they weren't anywhere close in age. I'm in the UK too and I'd be fucking furious if some near 30 year old was after my daughter.

The point you are making is aside from consent though.

The person you're replying to said it was grooming and inappropriate. Don't move the fucking goalposts.

I'm not moving the goal posts. Read vaultboy's post. Of the four sentences (if we ignore the apparent typo) three of them focus only on the age gap. The other establishes the premise of grooming and mentions the age gap again. Vaultboys point never addresses a 17 year old's capacity to consent. Vaultboy makes a case that the age gap is objectionable. That is a valid point, it's just not the one that they thought were making.

Grooming and propriety are entirely different standards from rape. From what I gathered, they were claiming the former. Valderamma is being accused here of being a creepy sleazebag, not a criminal child rapist.

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Kevin Spacey probably wasn’t acting as he often portrayed psychopathic characters in TV and films.

Good example, him "acting" bad guys kind of even gets an extra layer of morbid interest to the film. But I would totally understand other actors not wanting to work with him anymore. Have no idea who the other guys are.

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I'm worried if I actually answer this I'm going to get replies like "Haha yeah they seem so nice right? Anyway here's a video of them kicking a cat while bragging about all the assaults they've gotten away with"

Anyway John Cena seems so genuinely kind I'd be crushed to find out otherwise. Weird Al, too, always seems like he's just a really friendly weirdo trying to bring joy to everyone

John Cena claimed Taiwan was a country, then had to make an apology video - in Chinese - for referring to Taiwan as an independent nation. I hope he was just forced to say that under contract, but it's kind of shitty he had to apologize to China. I'd respect him more if he stuck to his guns and stood up for Taiwan.

Not to be apologetic for John Cena, but it is technically correct that Taiwan is not an independent nation. I'm not going into too much details but I think the broader implication for not supporting Taiwan at any capacity is that Mainland Communist China's dominance in Asia will get more credence, and signaling that the world will not support a democracy to sustain their way of life.

When I was a kid, I thought Fat Albert reruns were awesome...Yeesh.

When I was pretty young I was a little reflexively racist, didn't trust the black kids in my class kind of thing.

Bill Cosby's comedy got through to me. I'll be damned if he's gonna take back from me the good he gave me.

Fresh Prince also helped. Carlton showed everyone that black people could be white as fuck 😂

David Attenborough and Joseph Garrett even though they aren't really actors.

My bunny Ben does great impressions of Joe Pesci, just masterful performances. Most of Ben's scandals are actually normal for a bunny, like pooping on the floor. I hope he keeps it that way.

I admire Ed Harris as an actor. Worst I've heard about him is that he can be "serious" on sets (and I believe it, look at The Rock's outtakes), but that's just fine with me.

Jennifer Lawrence is so hilarious and seems so down to earth. But then rumors came out that she was getting handsy with Liam Hemsworth. She apparently denied it but who knows. I really hope they aren't true.

Is she not allowed to have relationships or am I missing something?

Liam was with Miley Cyrus at the time when he was cheating on her with like 14 other women. Lawrence was too close to him and that drew heat towards her, afaik.

Ah okay, I am not up on my celebrity gossip stuff at all.

Me neither, tbh, I just watched this bit of drama at a friend's last week. lol

The older I get the more I realize everyone famous is a psycho that isn't worth the time thinking about.

I think many aren't great. Some are fucked in the head and need serious therapy. A few are fairly decent.

Spacey. Great actor. Answered before I read the description, so not influenced by that. Damn shame.

I saw that Dafoe interview recently too, it was charming as hell. He seems super cool and into acting.

Most of mine are mentioned but Bill Hader is another one for me. He's just so likeable.

Why would I admire any actor?

Edit to add thoughts behind this comment since I seem to have agitated someone.

The only time I see an actor is in a context where they are pretending to be a character in a story. If I admire them, am I really in admiration of them, or the person they are pretending to be. It can't really be the former since I never really see their authentic self. If the latter, I'm really judging the combination of the actor, writers, editors, and the countless other people that influenced how the character is portrayed.

So with all that said, why would I admire an actor?

Then the question is not for you. Should have ignored it and scroll along.

You didn't answer my question. You could have just ignored it and scrolled along, but I won't say that is what you should do. After all, what kind of person tries to tell people how they should contribute to a conversation?

And what did you contribute to the conversation?

Primarily my point of view, but I have also pointed out some hypocrisy.

Do you feel your contribution has been useful?