6) Alec Baldwin
To contrast with Eastwood, here’s someone whose politics I generally agree with, like Sean Penn I guess, but he seems seriously messed up. That sucks because he has consistently put in terrific work, even though he doesn’t seem to realize it. He speaks about doing something meaningful with his life, but I can’t imagine him doing anything better than the work he’s done on 30 Rock, not to mention Glengarry Glen Ross, The Cooler, and The Departed.
The Alec Baldwin example really seems like someone who is so full of BS in real life that they’re absolutely comfortable with a job that is essentially based on operating entirely in BS: acting. He does seem to believe his own BS, whether he’s defending himself against criticisms of the way he’s handled himself in his marriage and as a parent in the wake of a leaked tape in which he screams at his daughter that she is a pig, or as the worst airplane passenger ever, refusing to stop playing Words With Friends so that the flight attendants can allow their plane to take off. He’s clearly got some issues to work out. Despite his hints at a desire to run for mayor of New York, I think the world would be better off if instead he continued to play weird, egocentric a-holes, because it’s obvious to everyone that this is what really suits him.
Published: Mar 1, 2013 02:01 pm