3. No More Paychecks For Nic Cage And Bruce Willis
Both Nic Cage and Bruce Willis have it in them to be good actors. It might be hard to see the wheat when there's so much chaff, but past films offer ample evidence to suggest that both are stuck in a long rut of under-performance that will show no signs of stopping as long as they are offered the kind of movies that have dominated the past ten years of both careers. Yes, there are exceptions, like the excellent Moonrise Kingdom for Willis, and Kick Ass for Cage, but those are islands in an ocean of dross, and it won't change until someone tries to help them out of their rut. So please, Hollywood, stop paying either actor for making terrible movies. It's helping noone. Both Cage and Willis need to take a leaf out of Matthew McConaughey's book: in 2012 the actor most famed for taking his clothes off and playing bongos under the influence decided to bite back against his reputation by going darker, and the result was easily his finest year in films. He released Magic Mike - an unexpected triumph in which he threatened to steal the show - and Killer Joe to huge acclaim, and while his other film, The Paperboy, wasn't quite as good, it never suffered for his performance. In fact, he was probably the best thing about that film (Nicole Kidman was a bit too pantomime for my liking). That's the model for changing the tide of your career, and there's no way actors as powerful as Cage and Willis can't affect their own trajectories. Plus they surely have enough money now to stop making the kind of movies that make them laughing stocks. They aren't the only actors who should stop being given the opportunity to make bad films - here are our
10 Actors Who Just Aren't Trying Hard Enough.