no real star qualities

I never heard of this guy before as he's unknown to US audiences I think. So I was quite surprised to find an actual IMDB page about him, I mean one that seems to have some followers. Now when I read this board here I was even more stunned to read things like he's a European star and comparisons to international actors and all.

Anyway, I saw him in Bourne Ultimatum and found it pretty striking to watch a mediocre face and screen presence completely pale next to someone like Damon. I'm very interested in such things like charisma and faces that work for the camera and some that don't.

So I actually watched the scene a couple times to find out what it is that makes this difference. The camera set ups for the conversation scene were pretty even with Matt Damon not getting more close ups, nicer light or something. So while Bruhl seems to be a good actor - it was a very short but emotionally important scene and his choices were ok - his entire presence just doesn't radiates those striking leading man qualities. I really don't know what really makes the difference, maybe this is what they call movie magic. Matt Damon isn't an extraordinarily good looking guy either (though hands down much better looking than the thin lipped bit pale Bruhl) but the camera just loves Damon, it's really amazing. Anyone notices stuff like that too?