Henry Cavill

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re going to be thinking and rethinking about actors that I have personally called ‘awful’ in the past and seeing why I was wrong, and actors whom I called ‘great’ in the past and seeing why I was wrong. Hopefully, this helps you to identify how your opinion can change as a human being and how, through research and observation, you can make a more informed conclusion even if your previous one was the entire opposite. Film and literature is all about changing our opinions and if our opinions remain static throughout our study then we probably haven’t had the full experience of the subject at hand. We need to be open to change in our thought processes and really, that’s what criticism and theory is about. If we start by opening our opinions up to change on particular base level types, then we can slowly build these up to see how we could possibly change our opinions on a grand scale. I will start by rethinking actors and actresses I have either previously thought as not very good at their job or very good at their job and will be arguing the opposite; demonstrating my change of opinion. So, if you see the ‘rethinking…’ line in my title, you can bet it is a part of this series.

Henry Cavill

Previously, I called Henry Cavill one of the worst actors of the 21st Century in one of my articles because of his wooden performance as Superman and his character in the remake of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E". Honestly, these two films turned me completely off Henry Cavill but, what I didn't realise was that I'd seen him before when I was a lot younger and I really loved his performance. The film was called "Immortals".

Now, disclaimer: my former opinions about Henry Cavill's acting had nothing to do with his character. In fact, he seems like a very genuine and lovely human being. He doesn't really do anything wrong, he's not obsessed with celebrity and he's a very nice and funny man in interviews. Honestly, I was just focused on these two performances in which I just thought my eyes were going to roll so far back into my head I'd be able to see my own brain.

Now, back to "Immortals"(2011). I watched that film when it came out and I was about fifteen or sixteen years' old. I thought it was a brilliant film even though I don't know a lot of other people who have actually seen it. However, I saw it and loved it and yet, I didn't realise that Theseus was played by Henry Cavill until about last year.

"Immortals" (2011) is an amazing film and the role of Theseus suits Henry Cavill so well. It allows him to explore different aspects to character such as: portraying a mythological character without making it storybook cliché. He made the role very adult and we got to see all the complexities to Theseus's being, his decisions and the way he internalised a lot of his feelings towards other people. Again, I didn't realise that this was Henry Cavill until nine years after seeing the movie for some reason.

When I did realise that this was Henry Cavill, I spent the next year or so rethinking my viewpoint on him and trying to really connect with my opinions. I came to the conclusion that yes, I do like him as an actor as well as a human being because I feel like it isn't his fault that he gets pigeon-holed as wooden. I think that the character is written as very wooden and that he has been told to give that performance by director or sources. Also, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" was just bad all over, it wasn't just him so it wasn't his fault. The writing was terrible.

Since then, I have seen a number of other films starring Henry Cavill and I am well on my way to becoming quite an avid fan. I have seen more of his filmography where he portrays characters who are not just the posh tough-guy and have been able to see that it really isn't his fault that people are trying to type-cast him when he clearly doesn't want that. My opinions on Cavill's actual character in real life definitely helped me with this and honestly, he's a wonderful human being. His actor rating, in my opinion, is slowly going up as I see more of his portfolio of films. I hope to see him in something really good real soon.

Join me next time when I'll be looking at "Rethinking Ezra Miller..."