Posted 12:10 AM by Blah blah

Job Openings in Hollywood: Heroes Wanted (NY Times):

"The action film is changing, and so are its he-men. They are multicultural and smart, still hunky but also moody....

'It used to be that a lot of action stars were there for their physical skills, but The Matrix really killed that,' Mr. Garner said. 'You can't now just go up to a guy and hit him with a stick and that's enough. Movies like The Matrix have opened up this world where anything is possible. So you don't need action stars who can really do those things. You can hire people for their acting skills instead.'

That is why, Mr. Garner said, this next generation of action stars will much more likely be in the Ben Affleck or Tobey Maguire mold: accomplished performers who build their characters and then let the computer do the stunts.

And finally, some people see in movies like The Matrix, a tendency toward greater thematic and character complexity in the action genre and away from the simplistic revenge plots that drove the genre for most of the last 15 years. This may be wishful thinking, of course."