Why are big name actors doing TV?

[SansaJonRule]

So, in discussing casting for the WoT tv series, it has been said many times that big movie actors don't do TV, but in the last few years several big name actors have moved into doing TV shows.  It is curious to me, because isn't tv generally more work for less money in the long run? 

We've got Kevin Costner in Yellowstone, Anthony Hopkins in Westworld, Donald Sutherland has done a few short lived TV series, Ian McShane in Deadwood, Meryl Streep in Big Little Lies. These are BIG names. I mentioned it to my husband and he said probably cuz they're getting too old and can't get movie deals, but they're still making movies too.

It just occurred to me that this is perhaps in response to people's changes in movie/tv viewing habits, especially the increasing trend in binge watching. What do y'all think? I don't keep up with this kind of stuff as a rule, but it struck me the other day when I saw a preview for S2 of Yellowstone and one of Big Little Lies fairly close together.

If Clint Eastwood does a tv show, I'll pass out cold!

[kuenjato]

Television is a more respected medium these days, with prestige dramas serving as a way to keep your name in the conversation.

Hollywood is extremely fickle and it only takes a bomb or three to land you in actor/director hell. I knew a guy who created/managed a nightly NBC drama for four seasons; it was cancelled three years ago and he hasn't done anything since. As Chris Rock once said, "you're here today, you're gone today." Shifting to television is no longer a black mark, but merely a way of tacking on one's talent/prestige to a presumably larger roster of talent/prestige.

[SansaJonRule]

19 minutes ago, kuenjato said:

Television is a more respected medium these days, with prestige dramas serving as a way to keep your name in the conversation.

Is it really? Why?

Wow, I know Hollywood is fickle, but to have a show run nightly for four years doesn't sound bad at all.

[HexMachina]

I don’t think there is any great secret behind it. Television has evolved as a medium. The stories told on tv or more complex, the actors have time to spend exploring and growing with their character over the course of a season/several seasons, the budget difference is no longer as significant as it once would have been. 

I recommend the actors on actors series by Variety, some interesting views from some of the actors there. Iirc there is one with Amy Adams and Richard Madden where they specifically discuss the pros and cons of film versus TV

[Martini Sigil]

While I think the answers people have given are all spot on... I understand the premise of this thread, though.... There was a time when a Film actor would never think of doing TV.... it was considered an "inferior" medium, and in truth, before the Sopranos, and the Wire, it was.... 

I remember a scene in "Feud" where Jessica Lange's Joan Crawford --despite being almost broke from not having gotten a role in years-- was belittling Susan Sarrandon's Bette Davis for having taken television roles... 

[SansaJonRule]

Like I said, I don't keep up with entertainment news and trends, but I remembered it being the way Martini Sigil said. I've only started watching "TV" again in the last 3 years (I like binge watching series on streaming medium).

It's hard to believe it's been over 10 years since The Sopranos and The Wire! I didn't watch either one of them (don't like the subject matter of either), but I remember hearing about them.

I agree it is more enjoyable to watch a good tv show than a 2 hr movie so that you can really get into the characters and plots. But that has it's down side too. I can get too wrapped up in them!

[dooog]

It's been happening for quite a while now. The golden age of tv ushered in by the likes of Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, hell even 24 and Lost in the early/mid 00s.. then gaining even more mainstream appeal with Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Since then tv has become a highly respected medium, especially compared to what it was 20 years ago.

 

Some other well recognised movie stars that've ventured into television:  Matthew McWhatshisface,  Tom Hiddleston, Amy Adams, Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor, Bllly Bob Thornton, Dwayne Johnson, Sissy Spacek, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Bateman, Ben Mendelsohn, Steve Buscemi, Ron Perlman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Claire Danes, Gabriel Byrne, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Ed Harris, Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Benicio Del Toro, John Leguizamo, Kirsten Dunst and the list goes on. Not to mention some amazing stage actors like Michael Cristofer and Charles Dance.

Ian McShane is a bad example though, He was a so-so tv actor whose breakthrough was Deadwood.

 

[briantw]

5 minutes ago, dooog said:

It's been happening for quite a while now. The golden age of tv ushered in by the likes of Oz, The Sopranos, The Wire, hell even 24 and Lost in the early/mid 00s.. then gaining even more mainstream appeal with Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones. Since then tv has become a highly respected medium, especially compared to what it was 20 years ago.

 

Some other well recognised movie stars that've ventured into television:  Matthew McWhatshisface,  Tom Hiddleston, Amy Adams, Kevin Spacey, Ewan McGregor, Bllly Bob Thornton, Dwayne Johnson, Sissy Spacek, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Bateman, Ben Mendelsohn, Steve Buscemi, Ron Perlman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Emma Stone, Jonah Hill, Claire Danes, Gabriel Byrne, Colin Farrell, Rachel McAdams, Ed Harris, Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Benicio Del Toro, John Leguizamo, Kirsten Dunst and the list goes on. Not to mention some amazing stage actors like Michael Cristofer and Charles Dance.

Ian McShane is a bad example though, He was a so-so tv actor whose breakthrough was Deadwood.

 

Don't think you can count Jason Bateman seeing as his breakout role was on a TV show.

[dooog]

1 minute ago, briantw said:

Don't think you can count Jason Bateman seeing as his breakout role was on a TV show.

Fair enough.

Should I also remove Dwayne Johnson then :p

[Derfel Cadarn]

TV offers more time to develop stories and characters now, unlike previously where shows pretty much reset at the end of each episode. The flip side now though is if a show is dragged out, the story and characters suffer as they have to twist things to keep it going

[red snow]

Jeremy irons gave a great interview on the BBC explaining why for him it's theatre, tv, film in order of preference. Reasons were mainly because film tends to stick to big blockbuster action while TV has an audience for drama.that and really getting into a character and exploring over many hours.

I'm sure "steady work" is also a factor especially when actors can earn millions for staring out of a window on hit shows 

[Astromech]

It beats doing commercials.

[Loge]

The classical TV drama on broadcast TV is a full time job for the actors. They can't do anything else. A season is typically around 23 episodes, which means they have to shoot one episode every two weeks on a strict schedule. Pretty much a routine job. Those HBO shows are a different animal. Larger budgets probably help, too.

[Trebla]

10 hours ago, dooog said:

Some other well recognised movie stars that've ventured into television:  Matthew McWhatshisface,  

Jimmy Kimmell did a great joke at the Emmys a few years back about McConaughey and this very topic.  The rib at Ricky Gervais makes it even better. 

 

 

2 hours ago, red snow said:

Jeremy irons gave a great interview on the BBC explaining why for him it's theatre, tv, film in order of preference. Reasons were mainly because film tends to stick to big blockbuster action while TV has an audience for drama.that and really getting into a character and exploring over many hours.

Yeah, seeing what's currently playing right now you can see his point. 

 

[HexMachina]

3 minutes ago, Trebla said:

Jimmy Kimmell did a great joke at the Emmys a few years back about McConaughey and this very topic.  The rib at Ricky Gervais makes it even better. 

 

 

Yeah, seeing what's currently playing right now you can see his point. 

 

Heh, i recall Poehler and Fey making tv/film jokes at the Globes when they hosted too. And was it this year, or last year, that Jim Carey was the target of a joke about whether he sat with the film or television nominees?

[maarsen]

My wife always decides on what movie or show to watch by who is acting in it.. When she inevitably picks a dud, actors get paid for being in a show or movie. They don't get paid based on the quality of the product. 

Actors go to TV because that is where the money is. 

[DanteGabriel]

It also seems there is currently more room for creativity and risk-taking in TV. As the time travel joke above suggests, movies today are dominated by mega-franchises or reboots of 20 year old content. Just about every movie I've gone to the theater to see in the last few years has been something from Marvel, Star Wars, or Harry Potter.

[red snow]

18 minutes ago, maarsen said:

My wife always decides on what movie or show to watch by who is acting in it.. When she inevitably picks a dud, actors get paid for being in a show or movie. They don't get paid based on the quality of the product. 

Actors go to TV because that is where the money is. 

There's still more money to be made as an A-list film star if money was the main factor. Eg RDJR makes more in a film than some actors make over several seasons of TV. But i think you are probably right in that there's probably more money per actor on TV than in film. 

[Heartofice]

Watching Dark lately has made me think back to the 80's and how I would have LOVED something this good back then. The closest I got when I was growing up was Twin Peaks. Now everything is Twin Peaks good. (There is a ton of shit too having said that)

I think the rise in the quality of TV shows has also coincided with the fall of movies. The way things seem to work now is that a movie is either an enormous blockbuster that has to spend big to make mega money, or it has to be a low budget film that cuts costs everywhere and relies on a gimmick or word of mouth to make profit.

There is very little that is in-between any more. That is a problem for a lot of actors I think. If they are lucky enough to be cast in the huge movie of the week / month then they can take home a massive pay cheque, even if its creatively moribund. Or they can be paid very little to work on a small indie movie that nobody will ever see. 

TV gives you that in between I suspect. You can make decent money, people will see it, and you also get the chance to really develop a character and feel like you have created something worthwhile and don't have to be ashamed of your career.

[SansaJonRule]

On 6/26/2019 at 10:29 PM, dooog said:

Matthew McWhatshisface

Doesn't that drive you nuts?

On 6/27/2019 at 9:25 AM, HelenaExMachina said:

Jimmy Kimmell did a great joke at the Emmys a few years back about McConaughey and this very topic.  The rib at Ricky Gervais makes it even better. 

That was hilarious!

On 6/27/2019 at 7:09 AM, Astromech said:

It beats doing commercials.

Not necessarily. I LOVE McConaughey in the car commercials (Lincoln?) he does. So suave and sexy. Sigh.

 

16 hours ago, Heartofice said:

I think the rise in the quality of TV shows has also coincided with the fall of movies. The way things seem to work now is that a movie is either an enormous blockbuster that has to spend big to make mega money, or it has to be a low budget film that cuts costs everywhere and relies on a gimmick or word of mouth to make profit.

There is very little that is in-between any more. That is a problem for a lot of actors I think. If they are lucky enough to be cast in the huge movie of the week / month then they can take home a massive pay cheque, even if its creatively moribund. Or they can be paid very little to work on a small indie movie that nobody will ever see. 

I have to agree with you there. There haven't been many movies in the last couple of years that have made me think "Oh, I can't wait to see that!"

Do as many people go to movies these days? They come out on DVD so quickly now that unless you're just dying to see something, it's easier to wait. Or maybe that's just me.