Why DId Greg Kinnear's Career Tank?

Shit-- accidentally deleted some of that first paragraph. Should have read:

[quote] He seemed well on his way to becoming an A-List movie star and then his career seemed to disappear around ten years ago right after Little Miss Sunshine came out.

I like him a lot. Problem is, or at least one, he got old, dumpy, and raggedy ass looking way too soon. The truth is though he probably had a much bigger career than he deserved. Someone high up liked him.

You think R2?

This photo is from last month and he looks good for 53

One possibility: he made too many films too quickly. If you look at his IMDb page, you'll see that he appeared in A LOT of films from about 2000 on. He was in 3 or 4 features a year -- it seems like he was doing virtually every role he was offered. He managed a few hits, but with that kind of output, the failures begin to rack up pretty quickly. You can only be in so many disappointing film projects before your rising star begins to descend.

Wow he looks quite different at R3

In Hollywood it's called the duplication of energy effect. It means that whatever Kinnear has, someone else also has it, but that someone else can open a movie and Kinnear can't . It's why Reese Witherspoon is doing TV now.

I loved him on Talk Soup but I never thought he had a lot of range as an actor. Always seems to play a variation of his snarky self. He had a much better run in Hollywood than a lot of others and he continues to work regularly.

He is in three movies about to be released. From 1988 onward he has never stopped working. He has a career that 99.99999999999 percent of actors would envy. Would kill for. His career has just taken a natural trajectory. At this point I'd still rather have his career then Clooney's. To go from Talk Soup to a major movie and television career like he did is a once in a generation thing. He's got nothing to be ashamed about when it comes to careers.

He was great in As Good As It Gets.

Whom has he sexually harassed?

Just listened to him on the Nerdist podcast. It sounds like he's not really sweating the career stuff, working when he wants to and on things that he'd enjoy. His kids are still pretty young, and they're his top priority.

I thought he was robbed for the Best Supporting Actor for As Good As It Gets.

Overall blandness and lack of charisma and screen presence. He's kind of a cypher. I don't even remember what he looks like.

He got old...fast

GK was dull and bland as an actor. Never had the charisma of an A-lister.

He was good in Little Miss Sunshine too.

He is only as good as his material. He is a journeyman actor but never seems to rise above that.

[quote] A friend of mine always says that Bradley Cooper stole Kinnear's career and she has a point in that Kinnear could have played a lot of Cooper's roles.

Your friend is crazy. Anyone could have played Bradley Cooper's roles. Doesn't mean they would have been good. Kinnear always gave off an older vibe than Cooper does. Even when Kinnear was Cooper's age

I'd like to see him play nasty. Something like a serial killer. I think he'd do dead eyes great.

I think he also didn't want to work that hard. I remember reading about 5 or 6 years ago that he was basically retiring. Also, he probably hit his stride a little too late, since it came after his time at E.

I think Steve Carrell got his career not Bradley Cooper.

Yeah, I was surprised he turned Talk Soup into an acting career., and I loved Talk Soup. He was already in his mid 30s, but like the poster said above, if an actor can grab 15 years of solid work that's fantastic! Just save your money and realize "fame is the waiting room for obscurity!" (Carrie Fisher quote attempt).

I've always hated hated him. You know when certain people just hit you the wrong way and you hate everything about them...the way they look, talk, walk, facial expressions, hair, just everything? That's how I feel about him. Can't watch movies with him at all.

R3 was funny. No wonder his career went nowhere...he turned into a Hootie. (Yes, I know his pic is further down the page but that was still funny as a response to him not having changed much!)

[quote]Your friend is crazy. Anyone could have played Bradley Cooper's roles. Doesn't mean they would have been good.

Bradley Cooper doesn't have a career because he's some great thespian. He was just a TV actor whose last sitcom ("Hell's Kitchen") died quickly, then he got lucky by appearing in "The Hangover," an overrated comedy made popular by the same teenage boys whose previous contribution to society was making Adam Sandler a movie star. As an actor Cooper isn't really that much better than Kinnear, he's just luckier that his star hasn't burned out as fast.

Sorry, not "Hell's Kitchen," I meant "Kitchen Confidential."

He has a very respectable always working resume. He’s a next generation Gene Hackman that way. Something will resonate with viewers when he does some older roles, and concrete him with some long lasting respect.

For some reason when I saw his name I was thinking of the guy who sings this

Gene Hackman is a great actor. He is very, very far from a Gene Hackman.

He's not my type at all, but he still manages to push all my buttons.

Can't wait for him to revitalize his career by coming to Broadway.

Willie Loman, anyone?

I've always wanted to suck his feet and cock.

Like the above poster said he has a career most actors would kill for. He had a pretty good 10 year run between As Good As It Gets and and Little Miss Sunshine. He’s gotten Oscar and Emmy nominations. Just to work in tv and film is 90% the battle.

He has this Everyman quality just like Tom Hanks but Hanks has been extremely luckier than 99.9 % of actors.

I wish he was my boyfriend.

He is dull to watch and act kind of spaced out in most of his roles.

I think he’s sexy as hell. And I LOVED his performance in As Good as it Gets.

I find him good looking but with zero sex appeal.

R10 - if he was an actress with that career trajectory - which fairly abruptly trailed off - we'd all now be asking who she was getting hatrassed by and did someone pull a Weinstein on her and fuck up her career for not coming across or threatening to go public about what happened...

But hey - that sorta shit couldn't happen to a man. Right?

He'll probably end up doing a TV show in the next few years.

His lack of charisma is made for TV.

so do you, r38, you flop.

I thought he was bland as an actor until I saw him in The Gift where he played a villainous role and played on his "good guy" image to brilliant effect in Auto Focus.

The last time I saw him in a major Hollywood film was some Christian movie so I knew his career had tanked. He had a good run. But he is directing a film and has some projects in line.

His dull, mediocre manner killed his career.

I know guys who were friends with him in college. They suspected he was gay back then, but I guess that isn't the case. I don't remember *why* they thought he was gay.

I was really disappointed with AUTO FOCUS. I didn't think his performance, or the film in general, really went deep enough into the whole twisted Bob Crane story.

He needs an edgy series on Netflix or Amazon to reinvent himself.

I think you're right R43

And while he did/does have a career most actors would kill for, he does seem to be working a lot less these past ten years, particularly on high profile projects.

He has an everyman quality like Hanks, but he was always a bit more handsome. That may have hurt him in that Hanks looks like the guy next door (ditto Carrell) where Kinnear looked like the guy next door who looks like a catalog model.

He was in Ghost Town with Ricky Gervais. Funny movie, he was perfect for Gervais to play off.

I am not an actor dummy so stop projecting Greg kinnear almost nonexisting movie star career unto me.

No. He was never that goodlooking or that much of an actor. I remember as a kid thinking "he's playing the goodlooking guy? How could people take him seriously."

R13 and R15 YUP

R36 he was in his 40s when his sort of hot streak ended. When an actresses career trails off in her mid 40s we assume it's because there aren't a lot of roles for that age demo. Hollywood is ageist. When a woman's career goes from hot to not in her twenties I tend to think it's harassment related. It could happen to a man, but more likely to a young man than a middle aged one.

Believe it or not there are some actors who have no interest in becoming mega stars. They just want to work, make a good living, and have a happy life without all the rigamarole that comes with the higher echelons of stardom. Just because someone's career seems to not be progressing higher and higher doesn't always mean the performer has failed at some point. It may mean the career is taking a trajectory the performer has chosen on his or her own.

He was really very good too in the misbegotten remake of "Sabrina" in the William Holden part.

he looks so... mormon. That kills charisma and sex appeal, two things you absolutely need to become A-list.

Bradley Cooper stole Aaron Eckharts career. Greg is a less successful Tom Hanks

I'd rather talk about WHET Steve Kmetko...

He proved in that Siamese twin movie that he’s got a decent set of pipes. Someone should cast him in a musical.

I remember when Greg Kinnear was the host of E's Talk Soup before he broke out in film roles.

He lately looks like he has cheeks filled with hard-boiled eggs.

Hmm...not seeing that, R57.

From one month ago.

[quote] Bradley Cooper doesn't have a career because he's some great thespian.

That's certainly not what I meant. Cooper is a fair actor. Maybe a little bit more than fair. But he's good looking and has some charm. Greg Kinnear was okay looking. Maybe he was even good looking to some people, but he was never great looking. And he didn't have the youngish charm that Cooper seems to have. Cooper isn't my type, but he appeals to the masses much more than Kinnear ever could

The only way I would ever watch either of these guy's movies is if they were on cable.

He spent too long on that dopey E show and so he wasn’t taken seriously when he switched to films.

I really like Kinnear. Guess I best self disclose as a straight woman . Sorry!!! To me he has a more interesting face and persona then then the cookie 🍪 cutter Cooper type (with hair way too dark in that insipid Kitchen whatever movie).

He was fortunate to get some great roles -- have we ever seen cooper working with someone like Nicholson? You have to be fairly strong onscreen to carry that off.

If he really wanted the so called A list or pretty boy roles he could join the plastic surgery cult a la Tom Cruise. He has a great body and I think his Alfred E Newman what me worry look is kinda endearing. The blue eyes peaking out between the wrinkles are sweet. Maybe he's smart and waiting for the right script .....ok.... haters ready set go,,,,,,why am I here .... go away frau ....blah blah

Love him since his Talk Soup days. Everyone doesnt have to be a mega star. I'm happy he's been with us.

At r3 's pic, Greg definitely has the money to get his hair and face "refreshed". Necessary in Hollywood unless you want a Jeffrey Tambor part!

He's been getting too much sun at R3. Lay off the tanning oil Greg!

bump

I saw [italic]As Good as it Gets[/italic] as a gay teenager and walked out of the theater with a crush on him.

It's hard for me to watch that movie because of the gay bashing scene and considering Matthew Shepard's death occurred around the same time.

Kinnear was by far at his hottest when he was on Talk Soup, and not just because he was young then. He had a charming sexy snark that he's never brought to any of his film roles, sadly. Too often, he's been cast as the wholesome good guy.

You sound nice r61

He's had and has a great career.

R70 hi Greg welcome to DL. BTW I hated you on Talk Soup.

Like R51, I loved him Sabrina, though don't agree it was misbegotten. Everyone in that film was great.

He refused to present hole.

R71 will be in the first batch of transees when I take over

Link please.

[quote]I was really disappointed with AUTO FOCUS. I didn't think his performance, or the film in general, really went deep enough into the whole twisted Bob Crane story.

Agreed, but I thought his performance was good. There's this moment when he's between scenes while shooting a Disney movie where he's just chatting about his fucked up sex life while looking and sounding like Mr All-American, and he's perfect.

As much as I love Paul Schrader, he seemed to be in over his head. I listened to the commentary and he didn't realize the taped sex scene would give the film an X rating, and when he found out he decided to fucking PIXELLATE the scene. In a major motion picture release! Didn't even edit it down, and clearly had no idea people would be thinking "WTF?" seeing something pixellated in the theater.

Schrader also has trouble with endings. HARDCORE has this weird weak ending, as does AMERICAN GIGOLO.

Bump

[quote] He seemed well on his way to becoming an A-List movie star around ten years ago

No he was not. He's never been even close.

He is in 4 films this year. An Ira Sachs film called Frankie, Strange but True with Brian Cox and Nick Robinson, The Red Sea Diving Resort with Ben Kingsley, and Phil, which he starred and directed which tanked. This hardly looks like the career of an actor who's tanked. DL really has slipped. You people are idiots.

r3 I am about the same age and look 10 years younger, that is not good for 53.

He's been busy taking his son to school on the UES, and getting into hijinks.

English is not my first language but as gayling in the late 90s who struggles to understand the dialogue in As Good As It Gets his character Simon gave me hope that even gays can find happiness in the end despite all the obstacles and challenges. It was the first step of my own sexuality acceptance. I'm glad many of you remember that film.

He'd probably do very well on television. He presents a genial likability that appeals to the masses.

I'd get a kick out of seeing him on a Star Trek series.