Osprey
Registered User
- Feb 18, 2005
- 27,322
- 9,809
Screen presence is a huge part of charisma, it's not just about being likable/charming. For my money I think Hardy's got the best screen presence of any actor today.
An actor with charisma can have great screen presence, but that doesn't mean that an actor with screen presence has great charisma.
Here are the definitions of charisma:
Merriam Webster said:1: a personal magic of leadership arousing special popular loyalty or enthusiasm for a public figure (as a political leader)
2: a special magnetic charm or appeal
dictionary.com said:1. Theology. a divinely conferred gift or power.
2. a spiritual power or personal quality that gives an individual influence or authority over large numbers of people.
3. the special virtue of an office, function, position, etc., that confers or is thought to confer on the person holding it an unusual ability for leadership, worthiness of veneration, or the like.
In other words, charisma is the power to get people to follow you by being charming, likable and respected. That doesn't describe Hardy, IMO, particularly because he tends to play unlikable characters (often the villain or, like in Mad Max, an anti-hero). He might have screen presence--I won't argue with you there--but that's just not the same thing as charisma.
I don't know why a very talented actor has to have proven success in a multitude of difficult/different roles. I think there's a good argument that DiCaprio is one of the greatest actors ever, and he plays similar roles in most movies. A specialist who does one type of role extremely well is just as impressive as an actor who is really good in lot's of different roles.
I disagree. If you're simply playing yourself, you're not acting so much. When actors pull off roles that are outside of their comfort zones (like Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump) is when you really see their acting chops.