What happened to his career? - Chris O'Donnell Discussion

[–] Knish (1721) 5 years ago

He's just not that great of an actor. There are more talented actors out there.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

You know, last night I watched The Chamber and kind of felt that way. He's a little wooden and overall just not that great of an actor. Not a terrible actor, certainly, but not a great one and not on the level that many of his peers were.

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[–] AmeriGirl26 (14411) 5 years ago

It had to do with the film "Batman and Robin." He had already acted in "Batman Forever" previously as Robin, and came back to reprise his role in the next film. The film did so bad that it nearly or completely killed the careers of everyone involved. Many of the cast involved were shunned or blacklisted from Hollywood for years. It was only through persistent hard work that a few of the stars were able to salvage their careers. The only one who really came out unscathed was Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Chris O'Donnell was among the actors who quietly re-built his career, but frankly, he's never really recovered.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

It's unfortunate, and frankly weird, that a single film can derail a career like that. I don't think ever, in my life, have I felt like I just suddenly didn't want to watch an actor that I had previously liked anymore just because he appeared in a bad movie. It's not really a reflection of his abilities, but more a reflection of the abilities of the writer(s) and director.

It looks like these days he's mostly a TV guy. Went from headlining big-budget theatrical films to a long tenure on NCIS: Los Angeles. Ouch.

He also looks different now:

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNTY1MjNhMGYtNGIyYi00YTNiLWJlZjEtNTZkMDBhODcxODJhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTI5NjIyMw@@._V1_.jpg

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[–] AmeriGirl26 (14411) 5 years ago

The thing was, there are some people who actually liked "Batman and Robin," despite how goofy it was, and it works better with kids watching anyway. But the problem was, a lot of ADULTS in Hollywood hated the film and it caused everyone involved to become a laughingstock. That, and the movie bombed badly at the box office.

See, it's not enough to please the masses of Little People watching; you have to impress the snooty elites in Hollywood to get any street cred in the show biz, and if you can't please both crowds, particularly the elites, it doesn't matter how popular your film was with the regular people.

It's one reason Hollywood is so out-of-touch with regular movie-goers these days. They live in such an insulated bubble, that now they have no idea what regular Americans like to watch anymore. So they just make movies and tv shows about what THEY like and make the lame-ass assumption that regular folk will want to watch that garbage, and they're finding out just how wrong they are.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

I remember not hating the Batman & Robin when I saw it at the theater, but frankly I think that's more because I really WANTED to like it than it is that I ACTUALLY liked it. I still cringe at the scene with Robin yelling "Cowabunga!" while surfing along rooftops and Clooney was also a terrible choice.

Unlike the Burton and Nolan films, the Schumacher films are are not movies that I have any interest in revisiting. Not that other people shouldn't derive enjoyment from them if they can, of course.

With that said, I do agree that Hollywood is often out of touch with the ways and desires of average Americans. It's annoying how utterly overtly political Hollywood has become as well, and the way they almost all lean in the same political direction, like a brainwashed cult. Hollywood's output has all become very agenda-driven and that's annoying.

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[–] AmeriGirl26 (14411) 5 years ago

My brother and I were kids and teens when "Batman Forever" and "Batman & Robin" came out, so we liked them at that age, but even when we watched the latter of the two, something felt kind of off about it. I loved the visuals and the costumes from both. My brother and I both agree Val Kilmer was a better Batman than George Clooney. George didn't have the seriousness and gravitas that Val Kilmer did.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

Since the Schumacher films were on my mind, I actually re-watched Batman Forever last night. I'm pretty sure I had not seen it since the 90s.

While it had some positive elements, I really felt like overall it was not a good film. And that was a bit of a disappointment because historically, while I remember Batman & Robin as being poor, I remember Batman Forever as being a decent film. I have to revise that opinion. It's not very good.

I'll give some credit to Kilmer for being an OK Wayne/Batman--he's at least better than Clooney--and O'Donnell was a serviceable Robin, and there was some interesting visual stuff, but overall the film just felt like a mess. And not really an entertaining mess either; I had lost interest halfway through.

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[–] Freword (339) 4 years ago

Not really

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[–] FootOfDavros (8168) 3 years ago

and O'Donnell was a serviceable Robin

😲 Holy inappropriate thing to say Batman!

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[–] ultravioletx (10237) 5 years ago

Thats a stretch. B&R selected actors that were really only known for one movie. They didn't have proven track records. What is Silverstone known for outside of Batman? Its pretty much just Clueless and Aerosmith videos. What about O'Donnell? Pretty much just Scent of a Woman which is really the Al Pacino show. Uma Thurman? Pulp Fiction. Is her career really any worse than Travolta's? lol. Arnold already had a good track record, and Clooney was making waves on ER.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

While I take your point and largely agree that O'Donnell and Thurman didn't have a long track record of hits before getting pulled into the Batman universe, I do feel the need to point out that I've seen many people cite The Three Musketeers as the film that turned them onto Chris, and for Uma I remember there being a lot of buzz surrounding The Truth About Cats and Dogs when it came out. For Alicia, there was The Crush.

These films may not have been huge blockbusters but I do remember them bringing notoriety to their stars.

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[–] ultravioletx (10237) 5 years ago

All fair points. Though honestly we're only talking about Chris and Alicia. Clooney was busy with ER and went on to build a decent film career. Arnold did a couple movies before moving into politics. Uma had a resurgence with Kill Bill. Since KB came after B&R, its fairly obvious that Uma's career post KB has more to to with herself than with B&R.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

Yeah, Arnold is not even in this discussion. He was already a superstar in 1997 and had been for years. Though . . . now that I think about it, B&R was right about the time that his career started to tank. He did True Lies in 1994, which was big, then after that came Eraser, Jingle All the Way, Batman & Robin, End of Days, The 6th Day and Collateral Damage. That's a rocky road.

Clooney and Thurman both became legitimate stars.

Chris and Alicia both disappeared soon after B&R. They've continued to work though, so at least it wasn't a total loss.

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[–] ultravioletx (10237) 5 years ago

I think Arnold's last good year without the help of Cameron was in 1990. Every non-Cameron movie after 1990 felt like a misstep. Boy did Arnie catch lightning in a bottle by teaming up with Cameron early on.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

You're right about Arnold. He got lucky in being paired on with Cameron.

His non-Cameron output after 1990 really isn't that great. Multiple lackluster and forgettable films, though I do think Last Action Hero isn't bad, Jingle All the Way is kind of fun to watch during the holidays, and End of Days could be worse.

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[–] kwestmo (4385) 5 years ago

CO was one of many "next big things" that didn't happen. Regardless he is more successful than about 97% other actors. He's doing well

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

Looking back over his filmography, I realize that he really didn't have that many big, noteworthy films back in the day. My recollection is that he had more.

Cheesy as it may be in some ways, my personal favorite is Vertical Limit.

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[–] slimone (7996) 5 years ago

I really like him on NCIS: Los Angeles and also on The Company.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

Not to disparage your taste or anything, but it amazes me that shows like NCIS actually have viewers. I've tried to watch it in its various incarnations and I just can't get into it. It is the blandest television.

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[–] slimone (7996) 5 years ago

I really like the whole NCIS franchise. Crime solving shows are my favorites.

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[–] NRC123 (2133) 5 years ago

He’s the lead in an 11 season show that was in the top 10 for its first 5 years. He’s fine.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

He's paying the bills, which is great, but let's not pretend that NCIS is top-shelf entertainment. It's a low-quality network show that has little cultural relevance.

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[–] snepts (11123) 5 years ago

There are elements to NCISLA that are cheeky fun, but anyone who likes genuine tension and credible drama should look elsewhere. This rag-tag scruffy bunch with their corny rejoinders are an elite cadre of government operatives? It's pretty stupid.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 5 years ago

It's amazing to me that NCIS was once the highest-rated drama on television. I watched a few eps to see if I could get into it and I just couldn't. It was typical soft-edged, generic-feeling network TV fare.

I also tried a few eps of NCIS: New Orleans just because I like Lucas Black but my assessment of that spin-off was much the same as the original show.

I tried to watch NCIS: LA just to see Chris, but couldn't because I couldn't find any eps that were available for free (and I'm for damn sure not paying to watch it). I doubt my opinion of it would be any more favorable though.

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[–] johnmarti59 (2356) 4 years ago

He's now hot shit on TV. His salary must be astronomical.

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[–] Missemd (276) 4 years ago

This.
Some actors like the steady pay check and the fact that they can be home most nights with their family.
Not everyone wants the movie star nomad life after a certain age.
I’m sure he’s not hurting for anything.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 4 years ago

I have to wonder how much time is actually spent at home when you're on a show that airs 18-24 episodes in a season.

Do they wrap at 5 o'clock?

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[–] Missemd (276) 4 years ago

I’ve heard it all depends on how much ‘star’ pull you have in your contract and of course whether you’re number 1 on the call sheet?
There’s no doubt a lot of filming schedules are brutal with 5am starts and often work late into the night (early morning) but nearly all tv shows do not work on weekends and might only film for say 8 months of the year.
The money is insane too - you can really build bank on a successful network show.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 4 years ago

Does anyone really become hot shit for having a role in a show like NCIS?

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[–] BourbonKing (5777) 4 years ago

I remember when he was groomed as an "it" boy wonder. The same happened with Loren Dean, Ethan Hawke, and Brandon Fraser (before those stupid Mummy movies). Chris never really rose to the occasion as far as I could remember and his supporting role in "Scent of a Woman" was the only real highlight of his young career but it was mostly due to Al Pacino winning his first Oscar for the role.

I never found Chris to be a great actor by any measure. He's more vanilla than Vanilla Ice and plain whiter than a pallet of Wonder Bread packages.

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 4 years ago

I mostly remember him from Vertical Limit and The Chamber, and of course from his ill-fated stint as Robin. After that he completely just faded out of view for me.

I agree that he's pretty generic, almost as there was a program called Create-A-Actor and they punched a view basic stats in and he popped out. He has little charisma and there's nothing that sets him apart.

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[–] bobbynynex (1505) 4 years ago

Batman was the peak of his career. It went south after that.

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[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

He was almost going to play Will Smith's role in Men in Black (as per Spielberg's request) before Barry Sonnenfeld lowballed him so that Will would get the role.

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[–] bobbynynex (1505) 4 years ago

did he say something against israel?

that role would have been the tipping point he needed. he would have been a full blown star today.

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[–] exithereplease (3553) 4 years ago

To be fair, he does make $350k an episode.

https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/ncis-los-angeles-how-much-does-chris-odonnell-make-per-episode.html/

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 4 years ago

If that's actually accurate, that's pretty impressive. Most of the seasons have been 24 episodes, so that's about $8 million per season.

I wonder what kind of salary he commands for film roles.

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[–] exithereplease (3553) 4 years ago

I don't know, but I doubt it's anywhere near that number.

I was thinking about one of your earlier post in this thread and I have to agree, he never packed quite a punch in his various film roles. Not much of an actor, good looking enough but doesn't have much screen presence.

Regardless, he seems to be doing better than his Batman bigger star at the time counterpart.

Now Val Kilmer's career downfall is far more interesting...

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 4 years ago

I think Kilmer got a reputation for being hard to work with and was semi-blacklisted. From what I understand, he got super-cocky in the 90s, and it seems I specifically remember something about him being an asshole on the set of The Island of Dr. Moreau.

And now, of course, as I'm sure you know, he's had tremendous health problems and is in bad shape. The man can barely speak now. I feel bad for him.

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[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

The Saint could have done for him what Mission: Impossible did for Tom Cruise, but the movie was so corny.

Kilmer's missed opportunities: https://www.notstarring.com/actors/kilmer-val

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[–] PrimeMinisterX (8711) 4 years ago

Funny enough, I actually still remember being fucking HYPED for The Saint and then going to see it with my then-girlfriend and walking out being very disappointed. I don't know why that's one of those things that has stuck with me over the years but it has.

Regarding your link, that's interesting that he was offered some of those roles. Backdraft he probably didn't take because he was busy with The Doors, and he probably passed on Crimson Tide because he was focused on Heat. But I can't imagine why he turned down Collateral. His career wasn't in a good place at that point and it was a Tom Cruise movie. Seems like he would've jumped at that.

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[–] Cognoscente (2648) 4 years ago

Maybe he didn't want to do a film shot on digital video. It's too bad because that movie could have done for him what Kiss Kiss Bang Bang did for Robert Downey Jr.

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