Why are Daniel Day Lewis' over the top performances praised & awarded but Faye Dunaway is ridiculed for the same thing?

He’s male.

I think he's better behaved in private, isn't he?

I think Faye's performance was brilliant, but the difference between perceptions here is Faye was meant to be portraying the very real, flesh and blood Joan Crawford while DDL's character in There Will Be Blood was more of an exaggerated symbol of capitalism and greed in the early 20th century.

Also, There Will Be Blood is a much more well-made film than Mommie Dearest, which had shitty direction.

Fat irish cock.

I've never cared for DDL. He alternates between stone-faced humorlessness and hammy overacting.

DDL completely disappears into whatever character he’s playing. Faye is Faye and uses her same bag of tricks with every role. She tries too hard while he’s effortless.

R5 - you couldn't care less but he won 3 Oscars. End of discussion.

r6 you don't think Faye disappeared into Joan? You are crazy. I see DDL in every performance. With Mommie Dearest, I saw Faye as JOAN.

Good question. I have NEVER seen anything hammier than DDL in Lincoln. Other roles aren't much better. Faye is subtle in comparison to him.

I think it's about the fame. Someone somewhere starts the rumour that so-and-so is a genius and it gains traction. The word "genius" becomes attached to so-and-so's name forever. And, as we know, 90 per cent of people are unable to form a critical opinion of their own so they just believe the hype that they hear. The Oscars have operated on that premise for decades.

Okay, after watching that clip, what the hell was that movie about? Was he supposed to be the good guy who went bad, the bad guy who stayed bad, a raving lunatic or man driven to extremes? Never saw the movie (it had dreary and arty written all over it, from the reviews I read).

The first two-thirds of There Will Be Blood aren’t bad: the western cinematography is beautiful and while DDL’s character is clearly malevolent, he’s enigmatic and somewhat interesting. The last third goes completely off the rails, with DDL blathering on endlessly about how evil, evil, evil he is.

As evil as evil little Eve?

[quote]Faye and uses her same bag of tricks with every role

See "Bonnie and Clyde" and "Chinatown" and "Network": I think she creates three completely different characters as skillfully as any actress could.

For me, Lewis is a bit like Sean Penn. His early performances had some charm and spontaneity alongside the intensity, while the later ones in Oscar bait movies were pure ham.

Because I am NOT... one of her FAAAAAAAAANNNNNSSSSSS!!!!!

I loved "There Will Be Blood," but that scene posted at OP should have been edited out of the movie. It made the movie seem overly-long. As a viewer, you're scratching your head.

Not sure exactly why "Mommie Dearest" crossed the line into camp or ridiculousness. It was a number of factors, IMO, not just Faye Dunaway's performance.

That's just the last scene and the DDL performance snowballs into that intensity over the course of the movie. In many scenes he has no dialogue and it's just physical acting.

OTOH Faye (brilliantly IMO) plays every scene in MD at maximum intensity. Some strong direction and discretion in editing might have helped modulate the performance. But then we probably wouldn't be talking about it these days.

R16, I was trying to remember whether that was the last scene in TWBB. I guess it was, which makes it worse b/c you tend to remember the last scene.

R16 makes the crucial point. OP is comparing Faye’s full performance to DDL’s performance in one scene.

There Will Be Blood will be viewed in 100 years as a seminal piece of early 21st century filmmaking. Mommy Dearest will be forgotten. That’s not a knock on Faye. Bonnie and Clyde and Chinatown will still be watched then too.

I thought DDL was beautifully restrained and soulful in Phantom Thread. I love that movies.

I liked him in The Last of the Mohicans and didn't find him over the top in that at all.

I hate to read sexism and misogyny into everything but r1 is right. It's in the same realm as tough, painstaking behavior is admired as perfectionism in men and loathed as bitchiness in women

But over the top M in "The Iron Lady" won an Oscar.

My Beautiful Laundrette.

That's the only DDL movie that I like.

Actually, Last of the Mohegans isn't bad either.

r19 that's completely untrue. Nobody talks about There Will Be Blood even today wheras Mommie is part of our culture.

I agree that Mommie Dearest will not soon be forgotten. It will be "required reading" and a reference point for a long time to come.

TWBB: I'm a fan. I watched it at my brother's house, expecting nothing. I got sucked into it. Paul Dano was amazing.

Miss Dunaway's needed to embrace MF and accept the fact that some people thought she was brilliant. Pauline Kael loved it.

DRAINAGE!

nah r19. Blood is already forgotten. MD is still talked about now 40 years hence......and the planet and mankind will be dead in 100 years.

Because he's a man. I've seen this sort of thing regarding male actors/singers/entertainers everywhere. They always get a pass, get praised, etc. for doing what so many great female artists get shit for.

Mommie Dearest was an odd cultural phenomenon.Her performance was both hated and loved.

The studio turning it into a Rocky Horror type event (bring your wire hangers and throw them at the screen) ads killed its credibility.

Plus it was one of the first (if not the first kid's telling inside stuff about a parent.) Some people simply didn't believe it. People still looked up to movie stars then and insiders (Oscar voters) felt protective of Crawford (or fear they'd suffer the same fate.)

It was only in later years that people like Debbie Reynolds confirmed to Larry King (that Crawford would go home and take out her frustrations on the kids, especially Christina after she'd had a lot of drinks.)

R4 is DDL well-endowed? He seems like he would be. I have had a huge crush on him for years. I went and saw the shitshow musical "Nine" in theaters just so I could ogle him playing an oversexed Italian on the big screen. His wife Rebecca Miller is a lucky bitch.

Mommy Dearest is a film that triggers. Laughing at it as camp gives you distance from the subject matter which is disturbing..Mommy Dearest is available to watch for free on utube, the are hundreds of responses from viewers who describe being abused and neglected by their parents.

"Why are Daniel Day Lewis' over the top performances praised & awarded but Faye Dunaway is ridiculed for the same thing?"

Really it all amounts to the curse of J. Geils' penis.

Daniel wasn't impressed.

Faye couldn't resist.

It's a tale as old as time.

Or at least as old as a pre CGI Disney cartoon.

I think Angela Lansbury voiced the cartoon character based on Fay.

Her performances aren't criticized as much as her behavior on and off set. She struggles with mental illness and for most of her career, pharmaceuticals weren't all that helpful. She'd have a totally different career today if she had access to today's meds when she was a young woman with resources.