MovieChat Forums > Michael Biehn Discussion > Great actor! why the hell didnt he make ...

Great actor! why the hell didnt he make it bigger?

posted 12 years ago by LaPfieffer92
34 replies | jump to latest

I mean I know looking at his credits you can see he is busy and has had a big career but a lot of his stuff is not big and rarely seen except by those who really like him. why did he not get bigger? he is a better more convincing actor then many. yes everyone cites Terminator as his greatest role and well, it is. he really did a superb job in that movie, really grounded the movie and made it real. so its sad he didn't get bigger, even though he did make some other big movies and starred in other classics, he should have been a household name.

Realism, Remakes and Unnecessary Sequels are ruining movies!

[–] alexjohans0n (2094) 2 years ago

Heroin

[–] seagal72 (1963) 2 years ago

His characters died in pretty much every box-office hit he featured in, primarily because he rarely played the lead

Although, he's been great in some lower-budgetted stuff like 'TIMEBOMB' (1991) and 'THE DIVIDE' (2011)

[–] MillerJones (533) 10 months ago

He didn't want to be a big star.

I suggest you listen to him speak.

Michael Rosenbaum had him on "Inside of you" twice check it out.

Some people just want to act & are not cut out for stardom as such.

[–] Rocky15 (509) 5 months ago

He was brilliant in The Abyss, honestly feel he deserved an Oscar nomination for that role

[–] Tam87 (1218) 5 months ago

He definitely did. Him and Ed Harris owned that film.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Tam87 (1218) 5 months ago

I think the Abyss underperformed due to audiences expecting another Cameron actioner. Every movie poster and trailer emphasized "from the maker of terminator and aliens" to the point where I think audiences expected a shoot em up underwater, but got a more character driven aquatic adventure instead. That would've effected word of mouth/re-viewings.

As for swapping Harris and Biehn, maybe that would've changed things. Harris is a fantastic actor, very intense.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Tam87 (1218) 5 months ago

think after it didnt resonate Cameron was a bit demoralized and just committed to staying comercial which is a shame. He basically became more committed to his ocean adventures and used film to fund that. To me he peaked as a filmaker with Abyss even with its flaws which are fairly minor in terms of story.

Exactly. He went back to his bread and butter with T2 & True Lies after its failure. Abyss had a great love story in it as well, a more convincing one than Cameron wrote for Titanic.

What I always remember about The Abyss is how great the DVD was. The menu screens, the documentaries about how they filmed it in an abandoned nuclear reactor plant - watching how they made it was more entertaining than the film itself haha.

I think people expected an intense monster movie set underwater

So did the movie studios lol. They forced Cameron to cut a huge chunk out, which is put back in for the 1992 re-release and the dvd. No doubt they were worried it was too slow for a summer movie.

IMO Abyss with be more appreciated as time goes on.

It seems to be going that way. Abyss was way too good to be seen as a failure. The amount of effort that went into creating it was immense, you will never see that dedication again.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Tam87 (1218) 5 months ago

I never fell into this mode of dump all your DVDs for streaming. Just between me and you we still have VHS tapes of some films as well and yes we watch them

Every real movie fan should have a dvd/bly ray collection. If you don't, you're a philistine haha.

I guess Terminator is also a love story but IMO the Abyss is written better. Kudos to Harris and Mastrantonio making that work so well.

True, that's down to The Abyss having a lot more time to develop its characters, especially in the extended cut. Terminator's love story develops with the action which is cool, you see Sarah growing closer to Reese with each scene.

A better comparison would be the love story in The Abyss versus the one in Titanic. I didn't like the Titanic one, but maybe that's because I think DiCaprio and Winslet are mediocre actors and Cameron gave them a juvenile script? The Abyss by comparison feels epic, like Cameron really thought it'd win him oscars.

Although.. the way film is going its questionable people will even watch these sorts of movies 10-15 years from now. I could see there being cliff notes versions of film similar to books where people never actually watch them in their entirety let alone try to analyze the meaning

That's a great, lol. I'm not sure either.

[–] Melton (4587) 5 months ago

There’s a brand new 4K UHD and Blu-ray of The Abyss so you can chuck your non-anamorphic DVD now.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Cognoscente (2658) 5 months ago

Awards are not everything though and its always been political. Mickey Rourke didnt even get nominated for Angel Heart and he made Deniro look like a fairly average character actor in that film.

Coincidentally, I have read several interviews where Mickey talks about how he dislikes the politics in Hollywood.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Cognoscente (2658) 5 months ago

It's a shame that Biehn didn't work with Rourke in their prime!

This is my favourite interview with Rourke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGz5MYTICb8

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Ripkens25 (2024) 5 months ago

I agree with a lot of what you said about Mickey Rourke (I'm a big fan)....but he was definitely a method actor. In fact, he learned his craft at the Lee Stasberg acting school, known as a renowned method acting school.

Mickey's career has had a zig-zag trajectory. Good early on (his 2 brief scenes in Body Heat really put him on the map). Good in Diner.....progressively better in more arty films like Homeboy, Johnny Handsome, A Prayer for the Dying. 9 1/2 Weeks was a star-maker.....he was stellar in Pope of Greenwich Village, Angel Heart and Barfly. Then, things started to cool off when he began to dabble in plastic surgery (Wild Orchid for example...which happened BEFORE boxing. I know he claims the bad plastic surgery was a result of trying to fix boxing injuries....but he dabbled in it before boxing).

Then, movies like Desperate Hours and White Sands came along, and even Harley Davidson & the Marlboro Man......all serviceable, and it was the last time you'd see Mickey looking like some semblance of his former self.

Then came a string of bad movies, until somewhat of a one-movie comeback with The Wrestler, and some bit parts in movies like The Pledge and Sin City. Then, his movies took a serious downward spiral.

It's a damn shame. I think Mickey has suffered from a form of body dysmorphic disorder. He was an extremely handsome actor...but that's never what HE saw in the mirror. And the more he tried to fix what he thought were flaws, the worse it got. It's like a greek tragedy.

Such a talented actor in his prime. But his performances got progressively worse the more his ego got in the way, and he felt playing tough guys was his forte. He changed his voice, his look, his approach and his choices. If anyone wants to see Mickey at near his best, check out Pope of Greenwich Village.

[–] [deleted] 5 months ago

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[–] Ripkens25 (2024) 5 months ago

Yes, we’ll said.

And I forgot how great he is in Rumble Fish. Good call.

[–] BourbonKing (5777) 5 months ago

Drugs

[–] TMC-4 (20160) 2 months ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1g0hlkl/comment/lr99jc7/

He's struggled with alcoholism (and probably other substances) throughout his career. That's why he started working exclusively on straight to video stuff in the mid to late 90s. He'd show up drunk to set and act belligerent. I think he even got sued once for acting inappropriate on set.

He was still struggling with alcoholism even a few years ago. I used to read stories from convention volunteers about how he'd show up wasted to the cons and treat everyone like shit. I think it's why he doesn't do a lot of the big ones anymore.

He's neighbors in Arizona with Doug Stanhope, who mentioned on Joe Rogan's podcast that Biehn had a heart attack and a stroke so I'm guessing that slowed him down a lot. It definitely affected his speech if you hear him talk.

Now he has his own podcast on YouTube called Just Foolin About with Michael Biehn where he tells stories about his time in Hollywood and has guests on.