“Who is he, Jude Law? Right? He makes a lot of movies.”
When you’re in so many movies that you become the butt-end of a joke on How I Met Your Mother a couple years after you’ve been in far too many movies, it’s pretty damn clear you’ve been doing too many damn movies.
Jude Law recognized this, slowed down (to doing just a couple or three movies every year) and became someone that didn’t make you groan every time you saw him in a movie again.
The people below need to take a cue from the once over-exposed Mr. Law.
Jake Gyllenhall
Gyllenhall doesn’t actually make too many movies, but it’s the movies that he’s in that makes you feel like, “Seriously? This guy again?” Dude only ends up in movies that get a bunch of recognition and because he’s such a talented actor, he gets talked about a ton, but it leads to overexposure. His latest, Southpaw, comes out in a couple weeks and he’ll be right back in theatres as part of the Everest ensemble as well. Coming off last year’s creepy Nightcrawler, it feels like we’re at maximum levels of Gyllenhall already and need a little break.
Liam Neeson
The fact that Neeson is one of the celebrity cameos in the Entourage movie is hilarious because the guy is already in ever “out for revenge” shoot’em up going. He has 14 credits (including a coupe voice roles) over the last two years, including Non-Stop, A Walk Amongst The Tombstones, Taken 3 and Run All Night which are basically the same movie with different titles.
Jessica Chastain
Good actors can become overexposed just as easily as bad actors. In fact, it’s probably more apparent with good actors because you actually want to see them right up until the point where you’re like, “Seriously? Jessica Chastain is in this too?” Since having her breakthrough with The Help, Chastain has been in a bunch of big movies (Zero Dark Thirty, Interstellar, A Most Violent Year) and a handful of smaller offerings (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Salome). She’s great, but maybe it’s time to see if there are any other ladies out there that can play some of these parts.
Channing Tatum
This one hurts because I love Channing Tatum. True story: My first official date with my wife was to see Step Up and I’ve seen just about every movie the dude has been in, including Jupiter Ascending. But between the Magic Mikes and the Jump Streets and the action stuff and the leading man stuff it’s all become too much. Sadly, it doesn’t look like he’s going to be taking a break any time soon.
Kristen Wiig
Hollywood has a way of taking someone fun and entertaining and putting them in millions of things until it gets to the point where you’re sick of seeing them. Wiig is pretty much there. While she gets a high five for taking some quirky, smaller roles (The Skeleton Twins is really good), she’s also the lead in the all-female Ghostbusters reboot that’s coming soon and seems like she’s been around a lot since Bridesmaids stormed into theatres a few years ago.
Dwayne Johnson
Are you telling me there aren’t any other potential action stars out there? “The Rock” has to play all the parts? I get that he’s become seriously bankable at the box office, but now he’s even starring in his own (apparently not very good) HBO show too?
Jennifer Lawrence & Bradley Cooper
They can be in things independent of one another, it’s just time for them to take a break from making movies together. And with David O. Russell. Silver Linings Playbook was amazing, American Hustle had its moments, but then they went back to the well with Serena and now they’re together again in Russell’s next offering, Joy. Please stop making me feel like I’ve seen too much of these two because they’re actually quite talented.
Josh Gad
Remember how earlier I mentioned that good actors can be in too many things? It also applies to comedic actors that aren’t actually all that funny. Maybe after two TV shows fail to connect and The Wedding Ringer tanks (shocker, right?) it’s time to back away from Gad and let someone else have an opportunity to make with the funny. He might be best suited as a small doses guy – someone that grabs a couple laughs and is memorable for their minor role, like he was in Love and Other Drugs.
Melissa McCarthy
McCarthy was quirky and funny and enjoyable on Gilmore Girls but didn’t get many real shots until Bridesmaids. She’s been front and center since then. Again – get yours while you can, but a weekly sitcom (Mike & Molly), four leading roles and a couple supporting parts, plus a few cameos and a bunch of stuff in the works all in the last four years creates a situation where her talents don’t get the appreciation they deserve because you never get a chance to miss them and look forward to seeing them again because she’s everywhere. Always.
Tom Hardy
Hardy actually doesn’t do as much as you’d think, it’s just that he’s so damn good that you hear about every project he’s in and that makes you feel like the dude makes too many movies. It’s not helped by the fact that he’s done a movie where he’s almost literally the only person in the film (Locke) and has another on the way where he plays twins (Legend). Add in Hardy being Bane and Mad Max and it’s easy to feel like there has been too much Hardy in recent years.
