Grand larceny, Hollywood Style (a brand new party game)
By
Who has stolen the most picture with the smallest part?
Now that we are all so Hollywood savvy, everyone should have at least one answer for this question.
My candidates:
Holly Hunter in Time Code
Steve Zahn in Out of Sight
Selma Blair in Cruel Intentions
Siobhan Fallon in Men in Black
Stealing a picture is a wonderful thing. It is the stuff of career advancement. Because as they say in acting, there are no small parts, just small actors. Potentially, anyone should be able to steal any picture with any role. All you need is a magnetic screen presence and searing talent. Read Holly Hunter.
On the other hand, if an actor does it too often, and he or she will never work in this town again. (And if anyone can think of someone who ruined their career chances in Hollywood this way, please, sing out!) Stealing pictures, it’s a crime that must be practiced with care and some subtlety.
Please, let me know who we can add to this list.
24 Comments
April 17th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
How about Brad Pitt in Thelma & Louise? What did he have, 10 minutes of screen time? Can you remember another scene from that movie (other than the final long drive on a short road)?
April 18th, 2008 at 12:09 am
Definitely Steve Zahn in Out of Sight. It always amazed me that he hasn't gone on to do anything worth anything since.
Also Brad Pitt in True Romance. 10 minutes in T&L, but only about 2 in TR!
Finally, Joan Cusack in Grosse Pointe Blank.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Blutto
April 18th, 2008 at 1:44 am
OMG!!1! I thought I was the only one who'd frrrreaked over Zahn in Out of Sight. Glad to know there's a passel of us.
My favorites are the ones that happen in the beginnings of careers (or the pre-takeoff time) when you can spot the star-to-be in you-were-there style. Fun! (Although as someone already observed, that didn't pan out in Zahn's case.)
My other picks:
+ Mickey Rourke in Body Heat ("You don't want to light that in here.")
+ Chris Rock in I'm Gonna Git You Sucka ("How much for just one rib?")
+ Meryl Streep in Manhattan (although I saw her first in Holocaust, the miniseries–proportionately, a very tiny role)
And finally, thank you for the brain buster. I expect to get zero sleep tonight.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Bill Murray in Tootsie.
Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles.
Joan Cusack in Working Girl.
April 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross
R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket (kinda has a lot of screen time, though)
J.K. Simmons as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-Man series
April 20th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Don Cheadle in Devil with a Blue Dress On
April 21st, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Sharon Stone in Total Recall.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Steve Buscemi in Miller's Crossing.
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Steve Buscemi is Billy Madison
April 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 pm
Brad Pitt True Romance
April 25th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
This may not be exactly what you're shooting for, but Anthony Hopkins is only onscreen something like 17 minutes in Silence of the Lambs.
May 1st, 2008 at 11:22 am
Emilio Estevez in MI1, which made so much PR out of the claim "this film is so big and expensive we can even kill Emilio Estevez off in the first couple of minutes" that audiences were left with the feeling that his early murder was the main event.
Also Salma Hayek in Dusk Till Dawn.
July 12th, 2008 at 7:16 am
I find it interesting and sad that the oldest movie mentioned, if I am not mistaken, is Blazing Saddles. Collectively, the movies of the past -say, more than 25 years old- have much more substance than the recent.
July 12th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Christopher Walken and his Daddy's watch in Pulp Fiction.
July 12th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Good grief people.
Gary Cooper in Wings
Were you born yesterday?
If you have not seen his one scene you have not seen the motion picture as it can be.
July 12th, 2008 at 6:55 pm
People, please…Bronson Pinchot and Damon Wayans define scene-stealing in Beverly Hills Cop.
July 12th, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Joan Cusack? Seriously? We're not talking about "best scenery-chewer in a role she only got because her brother is a good actor". Christ.
July 13th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Oh, c'mon, she was great in In and Out.
I nominate David Bowie in The Last Temptation of Christ.
July 13th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Claude Raines, "Casablanca"
July 13th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
Wilfrid Lawson as Alfred Doolittle in the 1938 "Pygmalion"
July 18th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
What % of the time is Marlon Brando on the screen in "Apocalypse Now?"
July 21st, 2008 at 7:26 am
Dame Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love. Obvious but true…someone had to say it.
July 24th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Hugh Laurie in Sense and Sensibility
Sophie Thomson in Emma (1996)