39,327
edits
Nice Character, Mean Actor: Difference between revisions
update links
No edit summary |
(update links) |
||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
There's an actor who is well-known for playing brave and courageous characters who are as good as it gets, or an actress whose characters are sweet and easy-going. [[Beneath the Mask|But off-camera]], it turns out that these people are not as nice as they appear to be when they start yelling at the rest of the cast, snapping at the director (in [[Cluster F-Bomb|the sort of language]] that their characters would never ''dare'' use), and proclaiming that [[It's All About Me|they alone have the talent]]. When meeting with fans, they'll usually take on their nice character persona, but when alone they'll complain loudly about how much they hate their annoying fans.
This trope is often used to give a message of not worshiping idols and raising false hopes. It is used to show the weaknesses and frivolities of show business and, funnily enough, considering the source, that just makes the message more interesting. People like to consider it knowledge from people who know what happens behind the curtain and take it as a knowing wink from the other side. Even if they're not really talking about their section of the industry.
Related to [[Hates the Job, Loves the Limelight]] and the [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]; subtrope of [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing]] and [[The Prima Donna]]. The opposite of [[Mean Character, Nice Actor]]. Compare [[Funny Character, Boring Actor]]. Also compare [[Small Name, Big Ego]].
{{noreallife|There are [[Eleventy-Zillion|scrillions]] of gossip magazines and websites that delve into this exact thing, and celebrities are held to higher standards of "nice" than normal people; having a short temper on a stressful day of work can be spun into making one sound like [[Ron the Death Eater|the most colossal bitch/douchebag on the planet]].}}
Line 16:
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]]'': Vision may apear to be a calm, soft hearted [[Idol Singer]], but offstage, she is a ruthless mecha driving terrorist on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]!
* Sho of ''[[Skip Beat!]]'' is kind and sweet to his fans . . . and a ruthless, cruel jerk the rest of the time.
* Akira Kogami in ''[[Lucky Star]]'', but only in the anime.
* Arguably, {{spoiler|[[Plucky Comic Relief|Tobi]]/[[Big Bad|Madara]]}} in ''[[Naruto|Naruto Shippuuden]]'' are this in-universe.
Line 34:
* ''America's Sweethearts'' was built around this trope. Gwen and Eddie always played sweethearts in the movies (see the film's title). In real life, Gwen left Eddie for another man, treated her sister/assistant like garbage, and was a general bitch to most people she met.
* ''[[My Name Is Bruce]]'', where [[Bruce Campbell]] [[Adam Westing|plays himself]] as this type of actor, mostly being compared to [[Evil Dead|Ash]].
* Averted in ''[[Harold
* Played brilliantly for comic effect in ''[[Pee
{{quote|''"Doesn't it look like I'm ready? I am ALWAYS ready! I have BEEN ready since first call! I AM READY! Roll!"''}}
** One of the actresses playing one of the nuns so resents Morton's attitude that she threatens to quit.
Line 42:
* Andy Griffith carries this off beautifully in 1957's ''A Face in the Crowd'' where he comes off as a folksy home-spun philosopher who somehow becomes a media success. Of course his downfall comes when his disillusioned girlfriend deliberately broadcasts what he ''really'' thinks of his audience during closing credits of his TV program.
* Neville Sinclair in ''[[The Rocketeer (film)|The Rocketeer]]'', an Errol-Flynn-style '30s action hero actor who turns out to be a jerkass primadonna who "accidentally" ''stabs'' one of his costars for upstaging him. {{spoiler|Even worse, he turns out to be a Nazi spy, kills multiple people (enemy and ally alike) in his quest to steal the jetpack for his Nazi superiors so they can take over the world.}}
* In ''[[What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?|What Ever Happened to Baby Jane]]'', Jane was a cutesy Shirley Temple-esque child star who became a horrible spoiled brat offstage. Her career was [[Role
* ''[[The Purple Rose of Cairo]]''.
* [[Peter Sellers]] plays the primary [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''Your Past is Showing'' and is a variant on [[The Krusty]]/[[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]. The public knows him as a kind [[Fun Personified]] variety show host, but in reality, he's cold and cynical and has made money by investing in/being the landlord of slum housing.
Line 59:
== Live-Action TV ==
* On ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'', Will ends up in a fist fight with a Barney-esque mascot when the actor inside assaults him, and is subsequently called out on it since no one knows the actor was a jerk and attacked Will first.
* Wayne Brady's infamous sketch on ''[[Chappelle's Show]]'' had him making fun of himself and his likable, good-natured reputation as a complete mask for his true self, a violent, murderous pimp.
* Pancake Buffalo, from ''[[Hannah Montana]]'', his puppeteer may have him act sweet and kind on TV, but she is skitzlefrantic to the bone. An [[Expy]] of ''[[Batman]]'s'' Ventriloquist!
* One episode of ''[[The Goodies]]'' had a game show host who was all charm and warmth on screen, but the moment the cameras were turned off he became a total bastard.
Line 123:
* On ''[[DuckTales]]'' Huey, Dewey, and Louie idol worship Captain Courage, hero of the TV show "Courage of the Cosmos." Uncle Scrooge owns the show and has Gyro redo it to make it more realistic. The boys go on the show and are blind to the fact that their hero is just a vain, egotistical actor. They also don't realize that Gyro made their set an actual spaceship and it launches into outer space. When they realize where they are and real aliens have captured them, Courage panics, and the boys see what a coward he really is ("real heroes just do their jobs!").
* On an episode of ''[[Cyberchase]]'', Digit gets to be on his favorite show the Fearless Chef, a cross between ''[[Iron Chef]]'' and ''[[The Amazing Race]]''. The host of the show, the fearless chef, is kidnapped by Hacker. When Jackie and Inez go to rescue him they realize that the so-called Fearless Chef is really a complete coward.
* Stinky Pete the Prospector from ''[[Toy Story (franchise)||Toy Story 2]]''. He is actually based on the loyal friend to Sheriff Woody in an old children's show called ''Woody's Roundup'', but the toy version of him is ''very'' evil (and second only to {{spoiler|Lotso}}). He hates other toys because he is constantly sealed within a cardboard box, and as a result he wants to remain in the box forever, and therefore he also wants ''other'' toys to be contained within their boxes as well. He ultimately gets his comeuppance by being stuffed inside a backpack full of painted [[Barbie]] dolls, and is later revealed to have liked being painted like said dolls.
* In ''[[Kappa Mikey]]'s'' [[Show Within a Show]], ''Lilymu!'', female lead Lily is to act as a warm, caring, [[Implied Love Interest]] to our titular Mikey. When the cameras stop rolling, she goes back to being her [[Jerkass]] [[Attention Whore]] who hates the main character for stealing her thunder as Japan's most famous anime star. By the same token, Mikey Simon plays the heroic and totally competent Kappa Mikey, but is in fact a total well-meaning but inept [[Cloudcuckoolander]] who's inability to effectively meld into Japanese society drives most of the show's plot.
* Subverted in the ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' episode "Eugene Goes Bad." Eugene is obsessed with TV superhero The Abdicator, but things go sour when he visits the set and sees the actor acting like a spoiled diva [[The Ahnold|("Where is mah ahpreecot joose?").]] After calling the guy out, Eugene decides there's no reason to be good anymore and starts to misbehave. Meanwhile, Maurice, the actor, has his own personal crisis as he can't stop feeling guilty about the incident and letting his fans down. Eventually he helps snap Eugene out of his rebellious phase.
Line 133:
[[Category:Show Business]]
[[Category:Characters and Casting]]
[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
| |||