By Andrew Sanford | News | October 23, 2024 |
Acting is a job. It’s a fun job! Sometimes, it can be an easy job (certainly, easier than most). Still, it is a job. Some working actors remain at a level of success where they still have to keep “day jobs,” which are often in the service industry. It is a success, nonetheless. Others reach a point where “day job” translates more to “unfulfilling” or “bad” acting gigs.
That isn’t a slight against the filmmakers making these undesirable projects. Taste is subjective. There is a reason many actors have said that they don’t want to do Marvel movies, and just as many actors defend them. Some actors will not do horror films, especially super-gory ones, while others have made very successful careers doing nothing but those kinds of films. Stanley Tucci is no stranger to either type of film, but that doesn’t mean he was excited about them.
The Tooch has been a working actor for over forty years. For a long time, he lived in “guy from that thing” territory. A face to whom people may not be able to place a name. That has since changed, thanks to Emmy wins, an Oscar nom, and a string of dynamite, stand-out performances that have made him more of a household name. Hell, he hosted two seasons of a show on CNN where he explored Italy (and the country was not the main draw). However, recognition can be a double-edged sword.
Tucci was one of the stars of The Devil Wears Prada. He’s quite good in it! I’m likely not telling you anything you don’t know, but I only saw the film for the first time a month ago! The role is notable in Tucci’s career, and the film was successful. But as he recently told Vanity Fair, that didn’t make things easier for him. “After The Devil Wears Prada, I couldn’t get a job, and I didn’t quite understand that, but that’s just the way it was,” the actor told the outlet. “So I went and did stuff that I didn’t necessarily want to do, but I did it.”
He noted that this is the nature of the game, as he said he’s “always gone through these fluctuations, and sometimes it’s just the business. Sometimes it was personal reasons why you can’t work.” I appreciate Tucci’s bluntness and acceptance of the ebbs and flows of acting. Still, I’m not here strictly to heap praise on The Tooch (though he deserves it), I’m here to speculate wildly about what movies he “didn’t necessarily want to do!”
The Devil Wears Prada hit theaters in 2006. In 2007, Tucci appeared in Four Last Songs and Blind Date. He co-wrote and directed the latter, so I’m sure he was plenty excited about it, and the former seemed like it was probably fun to make. Now, 2008 was a busy year for Tucci. He was in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, Swing Vote, What Just Happened, The Tale of Despereaux, and Space Chimps. Either The Tooch was misremembering his lack of work, or he does not have fond memories of any of these pictures.
The American Girl movie was well received, so maybe the material made it worth it for him. What Just Happened allowed him to work with Barry Levinson, which is pretty rad. Despereaux was based on a popular children’s book, he had three kids at the time so I can understand the allure. Tucci was a voice in Space Chimps, a film that looks like it should be straight to DVD despite costing $37 million! That money all went to the cast. I would be shocked if Tucci said, “thank god, I get to do this.”
But still, it all boils down to Swing Vote, a film in which the presidential race will be decided based on how Kevin Costner votes. It’s a political comedy from a simpler time (2009). Tucker Carlson and Bill Maher play themselves. I’m… going to take a shot in the dark and assume The Tooch wasn’t thrilled to be in that one either. But hey, he gets a couple of great moments in the trailer.
What are your guesses? Let me know in the comments and I promise you that I will read them if you also chose Space Chimps or Swing Vote.