Ezra Miller
A Filmmaker's Guide to Rethinking Actors (Pt.4)
In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re going to be thinking and rethinking about actors that I have personally called ‘awful’ in the past and seeing why I was wrong, and actors whom I called ‘great’ in the past and seeing why I was wrong. Hopefully, this helps you to identify how your opinion can change as a human being and how, through research and observation, you can make a more informed conclusion even if your previous one was the entire opposite. Film and literature is all about changing our opinions and if our opinions remain static throughout our study then we probably haven’t had the full experience of the subject at hand. We need to be open to change in our thought processes and really, that’s what criticism and theory is about. If we start by opening our opinions up to change on particular base level types, then we can slowly build these up to see how we could possibly change our opinions on a grand scale. I will start by rethinking actors and actresses I have either previously thought as not very good at their job or very good at their job and will be arguing the opposite; demonstrating my change of opinion. So, if you see the ‘rethinking…’ line in my title, you can bet it is a part of this series.
Ezra Miller
I spent a long time respecting Ezra Miller as one of the great new actors of the 21st Century. The first film I ever saw him in was "We Need to Talk About Kevin" (2011) and since then, I was well on-board the wagon of being a hardcore Ezra Miller fan. For years, I was in awe of his fashion sense and make-up, his personality seemed brilliant and his acting and singing was well above expectations. However, 2019/20 came around and I began to see my sense of pride for Ezra Miller on the decline because of many factors, but let us talk about the main two or three.
The first reason was because of his new choice of films. He's no longer doing the more arthouse and independent deep films such as "We Need to Talk About Kevin" and "Perks of Being a Wallflower". He seems to have turned to big corporations such as DC Comics and The Harry Potter Universe. Now, don't get me wrong, I love those films as well but I felt like Ezra Miller was selling out a bit. I felt like his skills weren't really being used and I began to go off him a little.
Another reason was because of his attitude towards others. First it came with refusing to sign things for fans carrying Marvel Merchandise and then, there was the recent choking incident. The more I looked into his lifestyle, the more he lost my respect as an actor and a person. It was not a conscious decision at first, but after a while I think I'd made up my mind not to pay very much attention to him anymore. I think that because of his new found fame in the bigger franchises of Hollywood, he has become more of a 'celebrity' rather than an 'actor' like in the films he was previously in.
In conclusion, the reason why Ezra Miller is no longer on my most promising actors of the 21st Century list because of a combination of his rejection of independent films, in which he was given more to do and more to explore in characterisation and his requirement for celebrity and rejection of basic human manners. I cannot say that this will last forever and I surely hope it does not, but for now I think it is better to say that I cannot endorse this kind of cheapness and violence. As a religious woman as well, I do not want endorse someone who chokes other people, whether it be a joke or not, it is not funny to take someone by the neck. If he apologises and goes back to doing a cool balance between blockbusters and independent films, I will reconsider my current stance. For the rest of the year at least though, he is not in high standing as he used to be in my opinion.
Join me next time for when we will be looking at "Rethinking Mila Kunis"...
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