The crossover from music to acting is one fraught with more pitfalls than politics. A world, in fact, where there are many cameos but not many careers. But however bad the movies, there's no denying that a flash of celluloid can help add a lifetime of recognition to the artist in question.
Was that really Courtney Love up on the big screen in The People vs.Larry Flint and heading for a Golden Globe nomination and an award for Best Supporting Actress? The very same actress who flaunted her assets in Sid and Nancy? Yes, indeed it was.
Courtney Love Sheds Another Celebrity Skin
But there again she was also slaying chart all-comers with her signature tune, Celebrity Skin, at the same time as she portrayed Larry Flint's wife Althea. So which of Courtney's celebrity skins was fuelling which isn't so clear to define.
Nick Cave is man of many cloaks. Behind their velvety interior he's known to be concealing scripts, manuscripts, lyrics and much more. His soundtrack work on movies such as The Proposition, The Assassination of Jesse James and The Road more than stand up to his work with his three bands; the Birthday Party, the Bad Seeds and Grinderman.
Then there's his appearances on the big screen; Ghosts ... of The Civil Dead and Johnny Suede (with Brad Pitt, no less), plus a singing cameo in The Assassination of Jesse James. Not bad, but his own character is so strong that it's seemingly impossible for him to inhabit any other.
Beatle John Got Bored On The Outside
John Lennon stepped outside of the Beatle-bubble, cut his hair, donned his soon to be be trademark rimmed glasses and barely shone at all in How I Won the War. Lennon, faking Cockney? I don't think so.
Seemingly he hated the experience of making it as much as we did in having to watch it. There again, in the Beatles' movies A Hard Day's Night and Help! he seemed more than at home in his acting skin. Stick to what you know, son!
Now, Tom Waits is a different kettle of (rumble) fish altogether. He's spent the majority of his long and cultish musical career in character, so slipping sideways into a few more was never going to stretch this swampish fiend. The waters beckoned and when he jumped in he floated straight back to the top.
Tom Waits Walked All Over Elvis!
Rumble Fish, The Cotton Club The Book Of Eli and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus to name but a few. Waits is always commanding, always in control. If only he could've have spared time to coach Elvis!
It's a difficult line to cross, but for those like Waits and Cave who have spent their lives being anything but themselves, then the glitzy world of the big screen is not such an impossible leap of faith after all.
