Jack Black names the “best living actor” in Hollywood: “Maybe the best alive or dead”
While history is littered with comedic actors turning to drama and thriving, based on how his career has been going, it seems highly unlikely that Jack Black will be joining those ranks any time soon, if he ever does at all.
Think of any performer who cracked the mainstream by starring in a succession of bawdy, boisterous, and occasionally puerile comedies, and the chances are high they’ve given at least one powerhouse performance where they played it straight: Jim Carrey, Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams, Melissa McCarthy, and Steve Carrel being just a few.
However, audiences are still waiting for Black to follow that path, if it’s one he’s even interested in. Yes, he’s done good work in High Fidelity, earned a Golden Globe nomination for School of Rock, and gave a career-best turn and notched another Golden Globe nod for Bernie, but he seems content playing to type.
If anything, his recent filmography indicates that he’s happier than ever playing the hits. In the last six years, his credits include a Jumanji sequel, a Kung Fu Panda sequel, voice-only roles in The Super Mario Bros Movie and Borderlands, the dismal festive comedy Dear Santa, and A Minecraft Movie, all of which required him to play Jack Black.
Is he even capable of following Sandler’s lead and proving that he’s not a one-trick pony? Nobody seems to know, but based on history, it seems fair to say the chances are probably 50/50. The point is, he might not be the most qualified person to comment on who deserves to be called Hollywood’s greatest living actor. On the other hand, he didn’t rock the boat, and plenty of people would agree with him.
When asked if there was anyone he’d love to work with beyond all others, the endlessly energetic comic and musician set his sights toward the very top: “I’m going with Daniel Day-Lewis, motha fucka,” he declared during a Reddit AMA before becoming the latest industry figure to tout his performative prowess.
“The best living actor, maybe the best alive or dead,” Black offered. “That’s a pretty heavy statement. And that might only be true if it’s a period piece and it’s like 1850. Weirdly, no one can play an American better than him.” Is he implying that Day-Lewis isn’t the best living or dead actor Hollywood has at its disposal if he isn’t headlining a period piece? Maybe.
In Black’s defence, the three-time Academy Award winner hasn’t made a movie set in the present day since 1997’s The Boxer, but in Day-Lewis’ defence, he’s only made six films since then. That said, a sextet of consecutive period pieces is a lot, although the streak will be broken when the actor ends his latest retirement to play a role in his son Ronan’s feature-length directorial debut, Anemone.
More than a few Hollywood heavyweights who can’t be left out of the all-time conversation, like Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Michael Caine, Denzel Washington, and others, are still alive and kicking, but as far as Black is concerned, none of them can hold a candle to Day-Lewis.
