Ray Park (A mild rant years in the making...) [Archive]

malephoenix

03-22-2008, 09:15 AM

I don't hate on him. I just don't get him at all. None of anything this guy has been a part of has ever made any sense to me. The most bizarre aspect to me is how he seems *live* in genre roles. Whereas you might have someone like Eric Bana, who played the Hulk, but otherwise plays some fairly "ordinary" roles - instead you have Ray Park, who has played Darth Maul, The Headless Horseman, and now Snake Eyes, just to name a few. (I feel like the only person to play more genre characters is Bruce Campbell. To be honest, every character he plays feels like that to me, even if they're not. I'm almost positive Bruce himself is played by a genre actor in real life.)

And also, how does he keep getting roles? I thought he got in trouble on sets some and ditched a con appearance. Some other things that you aren't supposed to be able to get away with when you're under contract.

Am I missing something? Is everyone else just huge Ray Park fans, and I don't know it?

DonC

03-22-2008, 09:31 AM

He's a talented martial artist and stuntman. That's how he keeps getting roles. He's not hired to act, he's hired to look cool kicking ass on screen.

marshal99

03-22-2008, 10:29 AM

And he's acting as Chuck Norris in the new bruce lee chinese docu-drama mini series. ;) Can't be half bad.

ragnarok_2012

03-22-2008, 10:54 AM

I haven't heard anything about him behaving unprofessionally.

When I've spoken with him he seems like a genuinely nice guy, and from my point of view he works his butt off at Dragon*Con.

So above and beyond being a really talented stunt man and martial artist, I feel he's earned his fan base.

Jared

03-22-2008, 11:15 AM

I think he did Sleepy Hollow before he was known as Darth Maul. I can't think of anything I've heard of him being or X-Men. I thought maybe he'd retired, but I saw him doing interviews last year at the Star Wars con and he looked to be in good shape, doing a saber demonstration. He dodn'thave many credits on IMDB. Certainly nothing I've ever heard of. Potheads: The Movie, anyone?

I don't tmean this as an insult, but he'd be on the short list of people I could actually name to play a silent ninja. Plus, Snakes Eyes really is caucasian, so they don't have to get some other actor if they do show his face.

SPAfreak

03-22-2008, 12:45 PM

He's a talented martial artist and stuntman. That's how he keeps getting roles. He's not hired to act, he's hired to look cool kicking ass on screen.

Agreed.

Plus, I see your Ray Park and raise you a Brian Thompson (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0859921/). The roles he takes are even less demanding than Park's. He's there to look big and imposing and generally he does it while wearing elaborate monster/alien makeup. Somebody in Hollywood (or Vancouver) has to do it and he seems to enjoy it. To both of these folks I say bravo.

the_coldest_sun

03-22-2008, 11:31 PM

Agreed.

Plus, I see your Ray Park and raise you a Brian Thompson (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0859921/). The roles he takes are even less demanding than Park's. He's there to look big and imposing and generally he does it while wearing elaborate monster/alien makeup. Somebody in Hollywood (or Vancouver) has to do it and he seems to enjoy it. To both of these folks I say bravo.

HAHAHAHA!! I always thought that Brian Thompson looked like Duck Tales' Launchpad McQuack.

saintsaucey

03-23-2008, 03:24 AM

I was almost positive I knew who brian thomson was when i clicked the link and I was right. I have a buddy who hates Ray specificly because he was Darth Maul. But yeah he is snake eyes. if they had cast anyone else for the role I'd still go see the movie but I'd bitch because they didn't have Ray Park.

Mike Pothier

03-23-2008, 02:58 PM

Agreed.

Plus, I see your Ray Park and raise you a Brian Thompson (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0859921/). The roles he takes are even less demanding than Park's. He's there to look big and imposing and generally he does it while wearing elaborate monster/alien makeup. Somebody in Hollywood (or Vancouver) has to do it and he seems to enjoy it. To both of these folks I say bravo.

Dude! I grew up around where he was born.

Oh, and his role in Joe Dirt was classic.

Athena Bast

03-23-2008, 03:46 PM

Agreed.

Plus, I see your Ray Park and raise you a Brian Thompson (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0859921/). The roles he takes are even less demanding than Park's. He's there to look big and imposing and generally he does it while wearing elaborate monster/alien makeup. Somebody in Hollywood (or Vancouver) has to do it and he seems to enjoy it. To both of these folks I say bravo.

I'd have to say Tony Todd (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0865302) is up there too.

Not to forget Ron Perlman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000579) who should own stock in latex manufactures for as much prosthetics he's worn over the years.

StoneGold

03-23-2008, 03:47 PM

Perlman can act, though. Yeah, he tends to play a lot of monsters, but he's a legitimately good character actor.

Athena Bast

03-23-2008, 03:50 PM

Perlman can act, though. Yeah, he tends to play a lot of monsters, but he's a legitimately good character actor.

Oh yeah but I would love to just one see him play it straight, ya know. Everything I've seen him in has been left of center.

Jared

03-23-2008, 05:02 PM

I'm pretty sure I've seen Pearlman in Westerns. And he was a Russian sniper in Enemy At the Gates. But with his stature and his voice, he's not likely to be cast as just somebody's dad in a teen movie, for instance. He's no average joe.

Tony Todd is a good actor too.

Tyler Mane and Nathan Jones have moved on from wrasslin' to playing huge marauding bad guys in action flicks. It's work that suits them.

After having given it some thought, I realized there is one other white actor who could play Snake Eyes...

http://i27.tinypic.com/4ky7vq.jpg

DonC

03-23-2008, 06:31 PM

Dudikoff? He's gotta be pushing 50 now.

Hell, I just checked - he's 54.

Dr. Banner

03-23-2008, 06:48 PM

I'd have to say Tony Todd (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0865302) is up there too.

After seeing Tony Todd in DS9's "The Visitor", I immediately put him in my pantheon of top actors EVER. That guy has got talent!!

DS9 isn't my favourite Trek series, but he made that my favourite Trek episode period.

DWEarhart

03-23-2008, 06:54 PM

Tom Noonan. Outstanding actor with and without latex.

Ron Perlman (as mentioned above); I've been a fan of his for a long time, became lifer fan after seeing City of Lost Children. The Last Supper was cool too, as well as his extended work in animated and video game voice overs.

Ray Park was my only choice for Snake Eyes. Back in the day me and my friends all wanted for any future G.I. Joe movie to have Ray Park as Snake Eyes and Jet Li as Storm Shadow. Oh well, 1 for 2.

GRANT!

03-23-2008, 07:05 PM

He hasn't played any real challenging roles. So I don't get the Bana comparsion. He hasn't played any character with a dramatic arc or any real depth. For the most part he just plays dudes that can fight well. I don't think you'd want Russell Crowe playing Snake Eyes or the Headless Horseman.

shades of eternity

03-24-2008, 05:16 AM

actually the character that impressed the hell out of me was his toad in x1. Which is al the more bizarre because he wasn't asked back since.

KenK

03-24-2008, 05:20 AM

After having given it some thought, I realized there is one other white actor who could play Snake Eyes...

http://i27.tinypic.com/4ky7vq.jpg

Fun fact about Dudikoff, he didn't even get into martial arts until AFTER the first American Ninja!! :D

Jmacq1

03-24-2008, 08:03 AM

The other thing to bear in mind about Ray Park is that because of all his genre roles, he's a name with "geek cred." Plus, he's a talented martial-artist and stuntman that knows how to work in front of a camera on a movie set. There were a lot of people saying that Snake-Eyes could be played by "any nameless martial artist off the street" but that's not really true. Certainly there are likely some other martial-arts experts out there who could've done the job, but Park isn't someone that you're going to have to "teach" how to do his job in the context of Hollywood filmmaking.

Naming him as being cast as Snake-Eyes was about the only almost-universally positive reaction among the fanbase that the movie has seen yet (although Dennis Quaid as Hawk was pretty well-recieved, too).

Pól Rua

03-24-2008, 05:28 PM

Oh yeah but I would love to just one see him play it straight, ya know. Everything I've seen him in has been left of center.

He plays a Rush Limbaugh-style right-wing radio pundit in 'Last Supper'.

But I liked him best in 'City of Lost Children'.

DWEarhart

03-24-2008, 05:36 PM

He plays a Rush Limbaugh-style right-wing radio pundit in 'Last Supper'.

But I liked him best in 'City of Lost Children'.

YEAHYUHEEEE!!

Naetnalta

03-25-2008, 01:59 PM

Agreed.

Plus, I see your Ray Park and raise you a Brian Thompson (http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0859921/). The roles he takes are even less demanding than Park's. He's there to look big and imposing and generally he does it while wearing elaborate monster/alien makeup. Somebody in Hollywood (or Vancouver) has to do it and he seems to enjoy it. To both of these folks I say bravo.
I thought it was ironic when Brian Thompson played the gang member who gets killed by the Terminator and then bulks up and plays a character on The X-Files who is much like the Terminator.

"Nice night for a walk, eh?"

Athena Bast

03-25-2008, 04:11 PM

He plays a Rush Limbaugh-style right-wing radio pundit in 'Last Supper'.

But I liked him best in 'City of Lost Children'.

tank woo Pol Rua

StoneGold

03-25-2008, 04:42 PM

Fun fact about Dudikoff, he didn't even get into martial arts until AFTER the first American Ninja!! :D

Whereas his sidekick, Steve James, was a real martial arts master.

It sucks to be a black sidekick in the 80s. Although skill-wise, he probably was sub-Chuck Norris in the movies he sidekicked for Chuck. But then, damn near everyone was sub-Chuck.

BoosterBronze

03-25-2008, 05:08 PM

I thought it was ironic when Brian Thompson played the gang member who gets killed by the Terminator and then bulks up and plays a character on The X-Files who is much like the Terminator.

"Nice night for a walk, eh?"

Thomson OWNED the show "Kindred; The Embraced" about vampire mobsters. During the short time it was on he showed me he was a talented and nuanced actor, capable of keeping his possbily one-note villain role interesting (probably the most intersting character on the show).

marshal99

03-25-2008, 08:12 PM

With a face like Thompson , he was always destined to play bad guy roles because he looks so sinister. The only time i recall he played a good guy was in the Hallmark mini series "Jason and the argonauts" where Thompson played hercules.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9M4NQj5UE

Pól Rua

03-27-2008, 12:30 AM

KenK

03-27-2008, 05:44 AM

Whereas his sidekick, Steve James, was a real martial arts master.

You know he had to be thinking to himself through those movies, "Now these fools know full well that I could kick this white boy's ass blindfolded!!"

Naetnalta

03-27-2008, 07:55 AM

He looked phenomenal as Herakles.
Pretty much the way I picture the character.
Well, a guy who gets killed by the Terminator and then goes on to look like Arnold himself should play a character that Arnold played. At least Thompson didn't have to wrestle a guy in a bear suit.

http://sydlexia.com/imagesandstuff/arnold/hercules3.jpg

SPAfreak

03-27-2008, 09:50 AM

Perlman can act, though. Yeah, he tends to play a lot of monsters, but he's a legitimately good character actor.

He's my other go-to guy for makeup, but like you said, he's actually a decent actor. Brian Thompson on the other hand seems to get roles where the director says "That's great Brian. Could you do it again with a little more monotone this time?"

jesse_custer

03-27-2008, 09:57 AM

Ron Pearlman is incredibly underrated, so I don't understand why he's in the same conversation as Ray Park.

His role in "The Last Supper" was brilliant.

SPAfreak

03-27-2008, 10:00 AM

Ron Pearlman is incredibly underrated, so I don't understand why he's in the same conversation as Ray Park.

His role in "The Last Supper" was brilliant.

He's a niche actor, like Park.

jesse_custer

03-27-2008, 10:06 AM

Most actors are part of a niche.

Park - Stuntman
Pearlman - Someone with more skills than looking cool

Agent Helix

03-27-2008, 10:07 AM

I don't understand this thread at all. Park is barely a blip on the radar, let alone ubiquitous. He's been attached to like, five movies, and two of those aren't even out.