Soledad&#39;s Journal

As we had quite a bit of fun with my slightly controversial The Hobbit thread, let's try something else...

Which actor(s) do you think are the most overhyped? I'm going to be very controversial and start with Benedict Cumberbatch. I think he makes a passable Holmes in Sherlock (though personally I think that show is anchored with Freeman's solid & understated performance, and no-one has come close to Jeremy Brett as Holmes) and he has a pleasant voice for voice acting, but I've rarely encountered him being particularly great in anything else. I particularly don't understand why he's considered sexy -- outside of the Sherlock role I find his appearance positively creepy. [Lights blue touch paper and stands well back]

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Jeremy Brett is the ultimate Sherlock Holmes - Benedict grew on me, not my favorite of all time, but I have seen worst.

As for over-hyped actors - the entire cast of The Twilight Series - I just don't get it.

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Indeed, Brett is the ultimate Holmes. Perfect. I don't mind Cumberbatch's Holmes, and I'm willing to give some leeway to modern retellings to change the character to suit the times. There are certainly worse incarnations; I watched the BBC film Hound of the Baskervilles recently, and Richard Roxburgh as Holmes is completely wrong -- uncharismatic & dull. Richard E. Grant as Stapleton is so much more charismatic that you want him to win!

I have neither watched nor read Twilight. Someone gave me a mini-plot summary [shudders] which was more than enough. Are the actors overhyped separately from Twilight? I've hardly heard of any of them, but I would have thought accepting roles in that kind of schlock doesn't say a lot for their sense.

I'm being really catty tonight, aren't I? Sorry, Wiseheart!

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I haven't watched it either - I have never been that desperate to relieve my boredom as to watch any of it. But yes, the actors are seriously over-hyped, at least hear in the States they are - it you aren't getting bombarded with it, your lucky. I think one of the male leads was one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood last year.

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Skimming the actor list courtesy of Wikipedia, I'd only ever heard of Kristen Stewart. I assume you mean Pattinson? Literally never heard of him, though I do try to avoid celebrity gossip type news.

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So do I - not always successfully

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Sometimes having a terrible memory for names is an advantage :)

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Yes it is

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I don't know what "catty" means, but if you think you're being mean, don't worry about it. I think Pattinson is horrible. His head is misshaped and he has a profile like a notched axe - I don't know what people see in him, honestly.

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Yes, 'catty' is a milder version of 'mean', but with overtones of malicious humour.

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I never see either Cumberbatch or Freeman before Sherlock, so I can state that I wasn't biased. I was immediately blown away by both performances, and especially the way they worked together.

As for BC, I don't find him sexy, either - but I do find his face highly interesting. And his voice is beautiful. Of course, I do have a thing for deep voices. Avery Brooks reading out the phone book could make me week-kneed. Or Michael Dorn.

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I'd agree he has an interesting face, and his voice is indeed beautiful. I don't tend to find men with American accents sexy but Dorn & Brooks both have fine voices.

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I must admit, to my shame, that I'm completely unable to spot the difference between various accents. For me, there are two versions of spoken English: the one that I understand and the (bigger) part that I don't. *ducks*

Brooks' voice is amazing. He said somewhere in an interview, though, that his father had an even greater voice. "It could shook the walls", as he put it. Apparently, Brooks Sr was a ghospel singer or whatnot.

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You speak at least three languages fluently, I wouldn't worry about whether you can understand microscopic differences in accent! Cumberbatch tended to get roles in the past based on being able to do a fairly pleasant upper-class British accent, but I've no idea what his usual accent sounds like. I'm sometimes surprised listening to commentaries/interviews to find that the upper-class accents you hear when they act are nothing like the natural voice.

I've heard Brooks speak in interviews about his father; he sounds like quite a character.

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Cumberbatch said in an interview that he got type-cast a lot because he had a horse-face. ;)

He also said that when he told his mother that he got the role of Sherlock, the first thing she said was: "You don't have the right nose for that."

I'd like to see him playing Stephen Hawkign, though. If he did it well, it must have been an amazing performance.

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I tend to agree with Ms Cumberbatch! But considering how little he looks like my ideal Holmes, I think he did a good job in pulling off the role.

I used to go to church with Stephen Hawking. Can't imagine Cumberbatch playing him.

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Ummm...Stephen Hawking, the scientist? Isn't he American?
It's me, Soledad,at work and not logged in at the moment.

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No, English. He's worked in Cambridge (the original flavour) for decades, which is where I encountered him. His artificial voice has an American accent.

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