
Blockbuster Performances
How Actors Contribute to Cinema's Biggest Hits
Daniel Smith-Rowsey(Author)
Palgrave Macmillan (Publisher)
Published on 6. December 2018
Book
Hardback
XIV, 211 pages
978-1-137-51878-1 (ISBN)
Description
This book examines performances in the American film industry's highest-earning and most influential films. Countering decades of discourse and the conventional notion that special effects are the real stars of Hollywood blockbusters, this book finds that the acting performances in these big-budget action movies are actually better, and more genre-appropriate, than reputed. It argues that while blockbusters are often edited for speed, thrills, and simplicity, and performances are sometimes tailored to this style, most major productions feature more scenes of stage-like acting than hyper-kinetic action. Knowing this, producers of the world's highest-budgeted motion pictures usually cast strong or generically appropriate actors. With chapters offering unique readings of some of cinema's biggest hits, such as
The Dark Knight
,
Pirates of the Caribbean
,
Star Wars
,
Iron Man
and
The Hunger Games
, this unprecedented study sheds new light on the importance ofperformance in the Hollywood blockbuster.
Reviews / Votes
"Daniel Smith-Rowsey fills in the gaps in our understanding of acting in contemporary blockbusters. Many accomplished film actors gladly take the shuttle between prestigious independent films and vastly popular action, fantasy, and superhero franchises. Do large scale spectaculars call for a kind of acting different from that required in an intimate character study? With well-chosen case studies and intricate analyses , the author answers these questions and many others in a book that should become a standard in the studies of performance and Hollywood cinema." (Dennis Bingham, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, USA)
More details
Series
Edition
2018 ed.
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
22 farbige Abbildungen
XIV, 211 p. 22 illus. in color.
Dimensions
Height: 216 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
413 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-137-51878-1 (9781137518781)
DOI
10.1057/978-1-137-51879-8
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
11/2018
1st Edition
Palgrave Macmillan
€109.99
Available for download
Person
Daniel Smith-Rowsey teaches Communication Studies at St. Mary's College in Moraga, California. He is the author of Star Actors in the Hollywood Renaissance: Representing Rough Rebels (2013) and a co-editor of The Netflix Effect: Technology and Entertainment in the 21st Century (2016).
Content
1. Introduction: Why Do Critics and Scholars Dismiss Blockbuster Performances?.- 2. Historical Epic Blockbusters: Are You Not Entertained.By Actors?.- 3. Magic Fantasy Blockbusters: One Whimsy to Rule Them All.- 4. Superhero Blockbusters: Actors Ahead of the Curve.- 5. Crime Action Blockbusters: Performing Shaken, Not Stirred.- 6. Male-Led Science Fiction Blockbusters: Performing "Faster, More Intense".- 7. Female-Led Science Fiction Blockbusters: Performing "Stop Taking My Hand!".- 8. Conclusion: Once More Around the Blockbuster.