Jim Caviezel - The Count of Monte Cristo (2002) Discussion

[–] pacem23 15 years ago

yeah i thought he was pretty good...he was kind of a chameleon...i had a hard time imagining it was the same dude once he became the Count...

Not a woman? Not a woman!?!?

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Traianus 10 years ago

he was kind of a chameleon

I think that's a very good way to put it. He really plays a number of roles all wrapped within one role.

*Young naive Dantes
*Imprisoned, nigh-hopeless Dantes
*Escaped, menacing pirate Dantes
*The Count
*The Count revealed (upon confronting Mondego)
*Anti-climax Count

It could even be broken down further, as the Count character he puts on is different from the man who interacts behind the scenes with Jacopo or Merdedes at various times.

Amazing job and perfect looks for the part.

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[–] tunejohn 10 years ago

This is one of my favorite movies even though the book is much better but still manages to evoke a lot of emotions. I just watched it once again and absolutely agree with all you've said. I recently also came to know Arnie was considered for the role but he turned it down. Though I love Arnie as an actor and a person I don't think he would've done justice to the role of Edmund Dante as much as Jim Caviezel.

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[–] moon_star_skies 9 years ago

Jim Caviezel has proven to be extremely talented. I love his portrayal of the Count of Monte Cristo. His singing voice is above par, also.

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[–] chewtoy45 9 years ago

Who gives a damn about his handedness??? The man is totally hot with a killer smile and a sexy voice. I know he refuses to do nude scenes out of respect for his wife (yay!), but I'd be happy to do a nude scene with him off-camera anytime. Just tell me when and where!!!

I think I'll have a large order of prognosis negative.

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[–] jdford-141-871038 9 years ago

It's even more impressive when you know the scenes weren't filmed in sequence. One day he'd be the count, next day they'd films chateau d'if and he'd be a starved hopeless prisoner. Gives praise to his acting chops that he can transition so fluidly for filming between characters.

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[–] slender4 15 years ago

My respect is way-high for Jim. He's under-rated in all aspects and delivers big-time as the Count in this adaptation. "The Count of Monte Cristo" is one of my all-time favorites.

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[–] Garuniks 10 years ago

Thumbs up.
http://abovethelaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/thumbs-up.jpg

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[–] PhilDizzy 15 years ago

Well I'm not so sure really.

When I first saw this movie I was really annoyed in the beginning when he was just Edmond Dantes. I kinda got that "bad actor-feeling" from seeing that. But when he got away from If he turned into the best damn actor I've ever seen.
I still find it hard to whatch the opening scenes in this movie, but second half is brilliant.

COWBELL SOLO

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[–] nan1701 15 years ago

I was going to start a thread on this. One thing about Caviezel as Dantes has started to bother me. He is left handed. In that time no one especially a priest would ever teach someone to write left handed.

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[–] Crazy-_-Beautiful 15 years ago

I was going to start a thread on this. One thing about Caviezel as Dantes has started to bother me. He is left handed. In that time no one especially a priest would ever teach someone to write left handed

I thought your objection was going to be that lefties are evil or something! But true, we're a persecuted bunch throughout history. Still, it's a rather minor point really. I don't think his handedness renders the whole film pointless or bad, particularly

I think I've ripped my spleen- Louie Spence

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[–] nan1701 15 years ago

I love the film actually - I just know that in the early 19th century lefties were viewed as evil - This prejudice has lasted a long time. My 1st grade teacher tried to make me write right handed (in 1965.) It didn't work - I am a dyed in the wool leftie.

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[–] Crazy-_-Beautiful 15 years ago

I've just thought though- since they were both locked up for the rest of their lives (presumably), then the Abbey wouldn't really have been too bothered anymore.

I think I've ripped my spleen- Louie Spence

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[–] PhilDizzy 15 years ago

But they were escaping, that's why the priest taught him those things in the first place.

COWBELL SOLO

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[–] nan1701 15 years ago

I read in the IMDB that James Caviezel is ambidextrous. I'm sure he could have written with his right hand for that one scene - sorry to belabor the point.

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[–] Crazy-_-Beautiful 15 years ago

If you were in prison with the only chance of salvation and friendship meant you had to teach someone who was left-handed, then would you particularly care?

I think I've ripped my spleen- Louie Spence

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[–] KlausHergesheimer 10 years ago

also, the priest seemed to be a self-made priest and was quite enlightened; did he seem to be the kind of man who would hold with such a superstition?

and remember the age it was set in, europe was in the middle of the industrial revolution, it had passed through the age of enlightenment, and was a good two centuries beyond the "witch-hunter" period.

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[–] lishol7-1 14 years ago

Crazy-_-Beautiful, When you have experienced freedom, you want it back no matter how long you've been deprived. Also, the priest had a fortune awating him. That would be a motivator that would never end.

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[–] Mellow-Fellow 10 years ago

Supposedly I was born left handed and I guess my grandma worked tirelessly to make me right handed when I was young, I don't remember any of this or why my mom thinks she worked so hard at it, but that's the line I've always been given. Curious, I never thought to ask why she put forth all of this effort until now... Why had it bothered her so much that I be left handed? Pointless prejudice, same grandma who vilified my lesbian cousin though, lol, hey in Grandma's defense she is kind of a bull dyke bitch.

I watched an episode of American Dad some time ago where the subplot was where the wife had a prejudice (disguised as racism initially) against lefties... I think it faded to her childhood religious schooling where the nuns would slap her every time she wrote left-handed, even though she was clearly more coordinated with the left hand.

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[–] rockcairn69 15 years ago

I'll go one step further (us lefties do that) and say...

We are the most dicriminated against minority in the history of the planet!!

OK, not to say slavery wasn't extremely bad, or that killing all those Jews don't count, but think about it in the scheme of what you have to go through on a daily basis.

Left-handers, of all stripes, must ALWAYS overcome obstacles, and it's not likely to change, either. Maybe not life threatning obstacles of course, but it's always there to deal with in a rightcentric world.

But back to the movie, didn't he perform all his sword play as a right-hander?

"Go back to your oar, Forty One."

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[–] Crazy-_-Beautiful 15 years ago

But so true! We have to put up with blunt scissors, dangerous tin openers, dangerous knives, are forced to write with ink pens at school so we smudge, all musical instuments are right-handed by default, notebooks hve the ring-binder on the left so we can't write properly, etc, etc

I find it interesting too that the derivatives of 'left-handed' in other languages generally mean clumsy/sinister/evil, whereas 'right-handed' usually mean correct-good/dexterous/skillful.

The particular slang where I live is to call me 'cack-handed', which means clumsy and awkward (cack being old slang for excrement, as in 'making a mess').

I think I've ripped my spleen- Louie Spence

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[–] lishol7-1 14 years ago

I absolutely agree. I think left handed people are automatically handicapped or discriminated against. In French, the word for "left" - "gauche" is another word for "awkward," "clumbsy," and "inappropriate" When children first learn how to write, if they're not forced to retrain, the binder holes are on the left, so when you write in a book, the rings get in your way. When you are a kid, you open the binder to remove the page, the teacher admonishes the child for "playing" with the notebook making noice and disrupting the class - when trying to explain, the teacher says she talks back and is insubordinate. Now, the page is out of the notebook and class ends right-handers close their book and move on rushing to next class. The left hander remains to open their binder to replace the page (if they are able to take the time to do that - but, probably not - because she wants to avoid the teacher's glare - more likely, she sticks the page in the book and leaves - it drops on the floor, people walk over it, it gets wrinkled or torn - left hander brings it home and her parents ask "why can't you be neater - more organized" The lefthander gets it again. Confidence shot affecting her personality. Down the line, what does that do to the child's confidence? How does lack of confidence impact on the job market years later.

One small example - not to mention scissors and other school supplies.

I don't know why a formal table setting places the fork on the left, but I'm grateful. It seems righties are placed in an awkward position at every meal.

;-)

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[–] lynaz_99 13 years ago

My mother was born in 1920, and she was ambidextrous. In school back then she would use her left hand, and the teacher would hit it with a ruler and kept doing it to get my mom to use her right hand. So, my mom became right handed because of that awful treatment. Although, I was born when she was 39 yrs old in 1959, and I remember as a child in the 60s my mom still used her left hand for a lot of things, and she always read a magazine from the end turning the pages to go to the front. I do that all the time.

I loved that my mom was ambidextrous, so as a little girl in the 60s, I trained myself to use my left hand also. I am an artist, and I can draw just as good with my left hand as my right. I had a friend in high school look shocked at me when I was erasing the chalkboard with my left hand. She said I looked strange and didn't know why I didn't use my right hand. I told her it was easier to use my left hand since there was something in front of that part of the board. I also always rode my bike with my left hand, and my left hand is my stronger of both of my hands, although I am naturally right handed. It's come in handy when I injured my right hand and arm to use my left hand to do everything - drive, write, type, eat, cook, etc.

So, I wasn't born being left handed, but I can and do use it all the time, even for sports for fun (and I do just as good as with my right hand)!

ps I seem to be left footed also since my left foot is always sore because I push on the floor with it only when I'm on the computer or concentrating on studying, and I don't press with my right foot. I seem to be stronger on my left side, but maybe that's because I have a scoliosis of my back on the left side? I don't know. Anyway, I loved this version of The Count of Monte Cristo!

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[–] GordonsGekko 11 years ago

I am left handed, and i've never felt discriminated against growing up. Most kids who even knew or cared thought it was pretty cool, it's not like you are a circus freak. Plus it helped out in sports, and with the arts since left-handers are often more creative. Though it was a pain in the ass working with tools and writing in those spiral notebooks though.

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[–] ausfi 10 years ago

My mother was left-handed but she wrote with her right hand. She never complained of it and I regret now that we never talked about it, I would love to know how they made her write with the right. She always had a much more legible handwriting than I have. I never paid attention to other signs of her left-handedness except that I always had to turn a loaf of bread around to cut it if she had cut it first.

The book is so thick that it is difficult to compare it and the film but I quite liked the film if I did not think of the book. I liked the end as I always wanted them to be together.
Some little changes did not matter, like Villefort's father being shot to death as the whole poisoning thing would have been too long.
But Edmond's father hanging himself? In the book he was starved to death.

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[–] Lightning_Count 14 years ago

"I thought Jim Caviezel did a fantastic job playing Dante. He seemed even "Christ-like" at times"

I'm glad I wasn't the only one who though so =D

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[–] lishol7-1 14 years ago

clcjohnla, LOL, that's really funny - "Christ-like" LOL

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[–] Whistler718 12 years ago

I couldn't disagree more. I thought Caviezel was awful. Wooden and bland, he was nearly emotionless. He was the second worst thing in a fairly good adaptation. The worst thing was the always awful Luis Guzman. The Count is one of my favorite books, and Caviezel ruined this version of it for me.

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