The goal of /r/Movies is to provide an inclusive place for discussions and news about films with major releases. Submissions should be for the purpose of informing or initiating a discussion, not just to entertain readers. Read our extensive list of rules for more information on other types of posts like fan-art and self-promotion, or message the moderators if you have any questions.
The man is never not great. He has a terrific screen presence, his voice has this soothing quality to it. I remember reading somewhere he was close to being The Hulk in the Ang Lee 2003 version but turned it down & with it a huge payday. I guess he didn’t want to play that “One for them, one for me” game.
Now he seems to be thriving in supporting roles which is cool. Whatever works. But I always thought he’d be the next BIG thing. And it never turned out that way, which was maybe his choice?
Everytime I watch Almost Famous I’m just struck by his screen presence. The camera loves him. He’s got the magic. You can’t learn that, either you got it or you don’t.
Being an A-list actor? Nice.
Living off MasterCard residuals for 3 decades? Priceless.
This. Why not do a bunch of theater and indie movies when Mastercard lets you buy your luxury brownstone in cash?
Your favorite type of jobs to do is still a job. Maybe he just wants to hang out.
Funny how a credit card company allowed him to do something without a loan
The father of a friend of mine is an actor was in one episode of a sitcom four decades ago. He still gets a check every year for roughly £2500 just for that appearance.
That must be a popular show that’s high as hell for residuals.
Its a mixture of it being a popular show, and the actor being very wiley and not taking a short term payday to give up his residuals like many of his peers did.
Solid residuals, was he a defendant on Night Court, or something like that?
Kramer from Seinfeld.
UK show.
TIL that was him
This pretty much ruined Big Fish for me. It came out at the height of that commercial campaign, and as soon as his voice started narrating, it pulled me straight out of the movie. I kept waiting for him to say:
One disgruntled son.
One mysterious old man.
A deathbed reconciliation?
Priceless.
Lol I didn't realize it was his voice 😝 I am from a country where I don't see that ad that often.
TIL
Can you explain? I’m not familiar with what everyone’s talking about
Billy Crudup is the voice for the ubiquitous “priceless” MasterCard commercials. They were everywhere for years. You can find lots of examples on YouTube.
Cruddup is the voiceover in those "priceless" mastercard commercials
You should check him out in The Morning Show. He’s fucking fantastic in it, but yes, it’s a supporting role.
I loved him in that. He brought a very unique energy to his character and was so interesting to watch. He was by far my favorite part of that incredible show.
Also great in Hello Tomorrow.
Season 2 and 3 he has a pretty big role, I'd only say it's supporting because of the ensemble nature.
Is season 3 worth watching? Season 1 was incredible but S2 was awful.
I really liked season 3. But probably because Jon Hamm plays a major role in it. Harkens back to his Mad Men days.
The episode with JH being interviewed was a really stellar performance by him.
Is this show only on appleTV?
If you didn't like s2 you probably won't like s3. I liked all three myself, though the first was simply phenomenal.
Disagree. S3 was a big improvement after S2. It does take a minute to ramp up though .
Season 3 isn’t as good as season 1, but it’s a lot more focused and is a huge improvement over season 2.
Season 1 was fantastic. Then it became a better produced daytime soap opera and I quit watching.
The Morning Show S1 is indeed excellent. The rest is not.
Ya I didn’t even finish season 2. It sounds like s3 gets better from this thread so maybe I’ll try to power thru
He was awesome in s1
He’s my favorite part of the show. Well, until I was watching it. Haven’t bothered to watch it since the middle of season 2.
I always thought vaguely positively about Crudup but then... I saw this show and just found him UBER hot, and so multidimensional. Sometimes a sleezebag, then a good guy, then the hero, the villain, all of it. He made that such a real character.
I couldn't agree more. It is an acting masterclass. He fills every second on screen with such captivating presence and specificity of a finely honed character, but always with such subtlety. As an actor, he never seems to push, and yet, there is always so much bubbling under the surface. He is never dull, even when the writing for his character can sometimes be. He always elevates every scene of which he is a part, and is just so enjoyable to watch. Love me some Crudup.
Had no idea who this guy was until you mentioned the Morning Show and it instantly clicked. He's fantastic in that.
I think the whole personal drama thing other people mentioned soured him on being a star because of all the scrutiny. Yes, that was self inflicted but it definitely affected him. He also made a lot of money from the Mastercard commercials and preferred doing theatre in New York.
Theatre is NY is much more fulfilling for a lot of performers. Once their bills are paid they let generally happy to concentrate on that and then get paid by Hollywood when the right part comes along.
I guess he was almost famous. excellent casting.
Piggybacking on your comment to say that he’s practically unrecognisable in Almost Famous, THAT’S why I think he didn’t quite explode after.
That plus 9/11…
Damn you...take my upvote
He seemed to disappear from the public eye after he left a 7-months-pregnant Mary Louise Parker for Claire Danes, who was 10 years younger than him. I think he managed to salvage his relationship with his son but it was a bad look there for a while.
That sounds like his Dr.Manhattan character from Watchmen He literally left his girl for a younger girl
Method acting
Comment deleted by user
Hey, it’s complicated, ok?
MLP wrote a book chapter about it, its as painful as you might expect.
Claire Danes' career took a hit as well, but Crudup's never recovered. Understandable, it took the shine off him as a romantic leading-man type.
Another casualty was Stage Beauty, the movie he met Danes on. It's actually a pretty good, original film and they both turn in amazing performances - featuring a lot of Shakespeare, and Crudup in drag half the time - but it sort of sank without a trace.
I knew about this scandal and was shocked when I rewatched the English version of Princess Mononoke and saw that Billy Crudup and Claire Danes voiced the lead characters. Not sure if they actually met back then doing press for the film or not, but interesting that they had an affair while working on another movie years later.
Yeah I think the context matters. The roles he would be going up for contradict how the public saw him in his real life. If he was a character actor playing villains I bet he probably would have continued working.
Never even heard of Stage Beauty before.
It tackles some of the same themes as Shakespeare in Love. It's a 'smaller' film in terms of budget and settings (though beautifully shot), but IMO with a more realistic sense of being in a particular place and era: this is definitely rude, crude London in the C17.
It's a bit uneven but well worth a watch, and with some gems of supporting roles (especially from Rupert Everett as King Charles II, Ben Chaplin as the Duke of Buckingham, and Richard Griffiths -- aka Uncle Monty from Withnail and I -- as Sir Charles Sedley).
That’s crazy… you would think that juicy gossip would actually make the movie more popular. Hell I think Mr and Mrs smith benefited hugely from the Jolie-Pitt affair.
Yeah but Jennifer Aniston wasn't 7 months preggers. It's one thing to leave a wife(I can't remember if pitt and Aniston were married) It's another thing to leave your expecting wife.
From what I've heard this was a legitimately big thing in Hollywood circles. I've heard rumors about people not wanting to work with him after this.
To be fair, it doesn't sound good from the outside.
Easy to make judgement without the facts.
As fickle as Hollywood is about bad publicity, I'm not surprised about the reaction.
Let he among you who has never abandoned your pregnant wife for a much younger side piece cast the first stone.
As awful as that is, it seems tame for hollywood.
Mary Louise Parker has been in Hollywood for a long time and she has friends with connections in the industry. Hollywood also has super weird standards - like cheating on your spouse may be ok but cheating then leaving your 7 month pregnant spouse for a younger costar was a bit too far
Let me rephrase this sentence.
Hollywood also has super weird standards - like fleeing the country to avoid sentencing after admitting to r@pe of a minor is ok but cheating then leaving your 7 month pregnant spouse for a younger costar was a bit too far. I can't believe some people still want to work with that paedophile / r@p!st.
Are you really not spelling out the word "rape"?
Rape. He raped a child. Why would you spell out paedophile, but not rape. Just use your words. Good grief.
This is not TikTok.
You can just say he 🍇d her.
Might be that she was the more well-liked of the two so that when friends had to choose between them they picked her.
Yeah people do this shit all the time. I don’t know why it would affect his career so much
Is that why she was so good in Weeds?
Leaving your 7 months pregnant partner is trash behavior full stop, no reason to try to further qualify it with Danes' age. Besides, they were both adults, I don't see how her age has any bearing on what Crudup did. Whether she was ten years older, younger, or born on the same day as him, he cheated on and ditched his pregnant partner.
It has a bearing in that to be left for a much-younger woman has a particular sting for the woman being left.
I agree with the other people responding to your post. Hollywood is a shady place. There are actors who have done much worse things and are still more famous and getting choice roles. If I were to guess, there is probably some politics behind the scenes, that we don’t even know anything about, that perhaps Crudup refused to play along with.
Ashitaka 💜
He was great in Alien Covenant. Also, shocked no one in this thread mentioned “Big Fish”
Big Fish was the last Tim Burton movie I enjoyed, and he was a large part of why
Frankenweenie was great.
I LOVE big fish so much.
Sorry but… Dr. Manhattan???
Billy was near perfect casting
Yeah he was outstanding in that role. His voice was perfect for it.
His voice line delivery was honestly sublime. It was the perfect mix of discontent, boredom, misery, and annoyance
Dr. Manhattan was supposed to have a robotic sounding voice, but his voice is far more suited for a quasi-god that is all of those things that you mentioned imo.
He's so great in that role, and I can't imagine anyone else delivering "I feel fear for the last time" the way he did.
I absolutely loved him in big Fish
He might be a good actor, but his character in Alien: Covenant (especially since he was the captain) was a freaking moron.
Creepy Android: "Come down to the cellar with me, I have something to show you. Now, just lean over this incredibly evil-looking, weird egg thing. That's it, now stare straight down at it and, whatever you do, ...don't...move..."
Captain Billy Crudup: "....okay"
One thing to remember is that he WASNT the captain; the captain died in the opening space malfunction. Billy Crudup was in way over his head
Great voice actor too, Princess Mononoke as Prince Ashitaka
Ooh, good reference. Is that where he met Claire lol
Stage Beauty. They’re also impossibly hot in that movie so I’m not completely surprised they started banging.
This is always my first thought when I hear about Billy crudup