Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Our text looks at five different types of actors: Impersonators, Interpreters, Personalities, Wild Cards, and Characters. The movie I have chose to apply these acting types to is the comedy film Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

The first Actor I'd like to focus on is Russell Brand. In this film, he plays a character by the name of Aldous Snow, a recovering addict who is extremely egotistical. He is very much a personality actor. While having a big personality is a good thing, "relying on it too much is thought of as a crutch, as a substitute for skill and technique" (Goodykoontz & Jacobs, 2011). I wouldn't necessarily say that Russell Brand is a good actor, but he is hilarious, and he always plays the same character in every film: a crazy, nonsensical, egotistical prick.



The next Actor in the film I'd like to take a look at is Jason Segel. I would consider him a Wild Card actor. He is pretty adaptable in his movie, and can go from hilarious to depressing pretty quickly. While he mostly plays roles in comedy movies, his character in this particular movie, Peter Bretter, actually portrays a kind of sweet personality. The viewer feels bad for Peter, and wants a good outcome to the film. While Jason is mostly a personality actor, I feel he is much more diverse than an actor like Russell Brand and therefor make me think of him more as a wild card.

The third person I'd like to look at is the actress Mila Kunis. She plays the character Rachel Jansen in Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I feel like she most closely identifies as a Star. Because of beauty and talent, hollywood and the media love to follow her and her more intimate life. She always seems to find herself in "the girl next door" type roles.



Going back to Rusell Brand, I'd like to elaborate on him as a "Personality Actor". Taking a look at the trailer for the movie Arthur, it's easy to see how he always plays the same character. His character usually involves an extravagant amount of money, doing insane things, and being generally vulgar. Hilarious, but not necessarily "good" acting!


References: 

Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Dir. Nicholas Stoller. 2008.

 Goodykoontz B., and Jacobs C. (2011) Film From Watching to Seeing, San Diego CA, Birdgepoint Education INC.