Welcome to Respawning’s Film & TV Club! The purpose of this is to get a bunch of us together every Wednesday and allow us the chance to chat shit about whatever takes our fancy in the world of Films & TV!
With the release of Den Of Thieves starring 50 cent this week, Respawning discusses their favourite musicians turned actor!
Luke
Looking at that opening paragraph all I can think is… Do we really classify 50 Cent as an actor at this stage?
AAAAAANNNYYYYWAYYY…. Favourite musicians turned actor huh? I am gonna come straight out with Marky Mark as my top musician turned actor, Also known as Mark Wahlberg. After his shoddy musical career got him nowhere, ol’ Marky Mark tried his hand at an acting career starring in such PHENOMENAL films as The Fighter, Boogie Nights and one of my all time favourite films: The Departed.
Also I would be remiss if i didn’t have a massive shout out to the god that is Justin Timberlake.
Javier
My favourite musician turned actor…. Jennifer Lopez? Madonna? nah just kidding. It would be criminal not to mention Will Smith here as he has some pretty funky music and has gone on to have an AMAZING film career starring in some of my favourite films (Wild Wild West anyone). I also need to give a shout out to Ice Cube, whilst most of his films are pretty garbage i think he excels in the jump street films and comes across as a pretty cool guy.
It’s also worth mentioning that I much prefer Jared Leto’s acting to his music…
Joe
Bouncing off of Javier’s last line there, I have to admit that, whilst Jared Leto can be absolutely insufferable sometimes, his acting as the titular Joker brought on a more serious and cold smile to the deranged counterpart to the Dark Knight – He may be no Heath Ledger, but he still a damn fine Joker.
However, ignoring Leto for a moment, my second favourite musician-turned-actor would definitely have to be (And I know this may be a bit sketchy as I’m not too sure if he started off as an actor or a musician as part of Tenacious D first…) Jack Black – This man has, without a doubt, blazed a trail across the acting world, starting with Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny to School of Rock, Kung Fu Panda, Nacho Libre and Jumanji; plus he got his own rockin’ game in the form of Brütal Legend!
…Also incase you forgot, David Bowie also had a punt at voice acting once as Lord Royal Highness in the Spongebob Squarepants film ‘Atlantis SquarePantis’. Food for thought.
Will
So here’s the thing; I got to this article a bit late, and now Marky Mark, Justin Trousersnake, and Wellhard Smith are gone. Bugger.
So, after 30 seconds of furious googling, I came across a very interesting fact that it seems like Everyone else would have known for ages, and now I feel embarrassed for not knowing it.
Did you know that Joaquin Phoenix makes music? And no, not his 2-year faux Rap career, either. I’m talking guitar-strumming, Cash-covering, blue singing music. They’re actually not even that bad.
Just goes to show you that celebrities have hobbies too. And they aren’t all cash-grabs. Because celebrities are people too!