The most useless people in Hollywood ?

[Rotwang]

Got into a bit of a discussion on another forum about this little Avengers feature (Marvel's Avengers Assemble - Black Widow Interrogation Scene - Official | HD - YouTube). I just corrected somebody who said Scarlett was awesome to "her stunt double looks good too" and I got a bucketful.

If the behind the scenes stuff on DVD's are to be believed stuntpeople are the most useless people in the industry, they may have closets full of gold medals, performed martial arts since they could walk, but somehow the stuntmen never quite manage to do it properly and the take with the actor doing their own stunt is always perfect.

When the Matrix came out I was physically assaulted by fan who could not accept the idea that Keanu and the gang were nothing less that Kung Fu gods and did not require mere mortals to do their stunts for them.

I understand that people want their favorite actor/actress to be a kickass superhero, and that some actors/actresses are so afraid for their reputation they claim they never use stunt doubles, and Hollywood likes a good story over the truth, but as David Hasslehoff said : "I had stuntmen, everybody uses stuntmen, anybody who says they don't need stuntmen, is a liar."

 

[Wes R]

I was going to say the studio execs where the most useless lol.

 

[The Wolf]

DC put out a comic called Real Facts in the 1940s. They had an issue about how serials were made and said that actors have to train to do their own because doubles are discouraged. Considering that stuntmen wre the most important people in cliffhangers, I just had to laugh.
Even Harrison Ford gives major props to the stunt people.

Wolf

 

[Michael Bergeron]

I was going to say the studio execs where the most useless lol.

QFT

No word of a lie I've been in pitches like this:

Rejected Pitches: "Back to the Future" - YouTube

 

[firesprite]

Well, the definition of a 'stunt person' is someone who'll do something an actor won't. If an actor refuses to twirl a pen between his fingers, the person who actually performs the act is considered a stunt man.

HOWEVER, I agree that the ones who do the dangerous stuff get short shrift in a lot of fan's minds. The actors are expected to do more of their own stunts by the fans these days, but that doesn't mean that they don't use stunt doubles.

 

[EyeofSauron]

michael bay
period

 

[CB2001]

I was going to say the studio execs where the most useless lol.

I actually agree with you on this, because more often than not, they interfere with a production instead of allowing the makers to do their thing.

michael bay
period

Totally agree with you on that, too.

 

[CB2001]

QFT

No word of a lie I've been in pitches like this:

Rejected Pitches: "Back to the Future" - YouTube

Honestly, this reminds me of the story where one of the studio executives sent a memo to Spielberg and Zemeckis saying that they should change the movie all together and make it the "Spaceman from Pluto." Man, I bet he was glad Spielberg and company thought the memo was a joke.

 

[Eopie Herder]

michael bay
period

I was going to say Brett Ratner.

 

[CB2001]

I was going to say Brett Ratner.

I liked the first two Rush Hour films, After the Sunset wasn't bad, but wasn't great, and I thought his adaptation of Red Dragon was pretty decent. As for his X-Men: The Last Stand film... I still don't know how I feel about that.

 

[SSgt Burton]

I'm going to be dating myself a bit here: one of my favourite Burt Reynolds movies is "Hooper" (in which he plays a Hollywood stuntman). Although it is for the most part a comedy, there are some pretty spectacular stunts in that old school film.

Ironically Reynolds got his start as a stuntman didn't he?


Kevin

 

[allosaur176]

michael bay
period

His movies brings in hundreds of millions of dollars, hardly useless

 

[Solo4114]

Stunt men are useless, huh? Tell it to Lee Majors.

 

[Michael Bergeron]

Stunt men are useless, huh? Tell it to Lee Majors.

Or to any of the actors who played James Bond. How many world records did those stunt guys set over the years?

 

[Kerr Avon]

michael bay
period

Beat me to it.

 

[terryr]

Stunt men are used all the time. And body doubles too, for nude scenes. And the actresses/actors often pick the stand-in themselves to make sure they look 'good enough' , when the stand-ins actually are much better looking.
Have an honest look at almost any actor and you can see they aren't really that good looking. But they have the aura of fame, and a powerful personality.

Most useless? Execs. Especially modern execs. They have no idea. They don't know art. They would sell toasters if it had the same money.
Script readers have no special skills. It is an entry level position in the company. They read page 1, page 60 and the last page and write up some 'coverage' of what they think.
A test was done where famous scripts were re-titled and sent to readers. [ Casablanca was called Ricks Place] They all said all the scripts sucked. So not only can they not recognize a good story, they can't recognize a famous movie.
Hollywood is based on scripts, and everyone there hates to read.

 

[Wes R]

michael bay
period

or the mindless sheep who rush to him movies just to see crap blow up. Guess the american viewing public is the worst part of hollywood.

 

[EyeofSauron]

His movies brings in hundreds of millions of dollars, hardly useless

not a valid point

the same could be said about stupid phone apps, they dont do anything usefull, still rake in the dollars.

 

[crabra comander]

The people that get the directors their coffee?

 

[Jedi2016]

I think the title of the thread says it all.. Hollywood. The "industry", and anyone involved in the business side of it, they're all useless.

The only people who are useless on set are the suits visiting from Hollywood (since no movies are actually made there anymore). Everyone who's actually working on the film is probably busting their asses, too many hours a day, for too little pay.

Whoever puts together most of the bonus features on the home video releases doesn't really help, either. The only people they ever talk to are the director and the main actors. From those videos, you'd swear there's only four or five people on set at any given time. And most of the non-savvy audience probably thinks that's the way it is.

The Michael Bay movies are a good example. I was watching TF3 recently, and there's a scene where Laserbeak is rampaging through an office, making an absolute mess out of everything. And the only thing I can think is "I feel sorry for the poor SOB that had to clean up after that scene..."