The Scott Caan Effect

[graculus]

Today's post is on the subject of actors I cannot stand. Yes, those folks whose involvement in a project makes me actively run in the opposite direction no matter how much the whole project might otherwise push my buttons like a rat in a Skinner box.

Having talked a little with someone (I think it may have been xandutch but I would not swear to it...) about this at connotations, I am now officially calling it The Scott Caan Effect. For me where UK-only shows are concerned it can also be the Keeley Hawes Effect as she also has the same impact on me and prevented me from watching more than about five minutes of Ashes To Ashes (though some might say that was a blessed relief!).

Yes, this particular psychological effect is powerful and strikes without warning. Just when you're thinking you might get into a ridiculous remake of a 1960's show, despite how much folks have told you that you ought and the autonomic response that provokes, the Effect strikes and you're gagging and reaching for the remote. It may be even stronger, to the point where mere photos of the cast make you vomit a little in your mouth because of the insane shortness and the bizarre hair.

Of course, for others the Scott Caan Effect is merely the stuff of legend and there will be pointing and mocking, however I suspect that each one of us has a 'Scott Caan' to whom we instinctively react this way, otherwise we're just in denial. So, good flist, if it's not the eponymous short-arse himself (and I'm not at all bitter that the man in question apparently beat out Michael Shanks for the role mostly on the basis of his surname rather than his acting ability...), who is your Scott Caan?

Comments

[georgiesmith.livejournal.com]

My movie Scott Caan is Ben Stiller. There have been a handful of movies that looked like they could be fun but then... oh, not so much simply because of the presence of Mr. Stiller.

I don't know if I have a TV Scott Caan. It's been so long since I've watched new television regularly that I'm out of the loop.

Michael Shanks was really in the running for Danny Williams? Wow. I don't know if my brain could have handled anyone but RDA calling him Danny. Plus, my TV set would probably have melted if Shanks and Alex O'Loughlin were on screen at the same time.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

I was with you on the Ben Stiller thing till I saw Zoolander, which remains one of my absolute favourite no-brain movies. However I freely admit he has appeared in some obnoxiously poor shit - still has a long way to go to beat Adam Sandler, imo!

Yes, Shanks certainly read for the part of Danno but it still couldn't have been quite as overtly homoerotic as Alex O'Loughlin and Jason Dohring in Moonlight (a thing of beauty, their scenes together, in anotherwise not-so-great show).

[georgiesmith.livejournal.com]

I've yet to see anything with Stiller that didn't make my skin want to crawl away into a corner and hide. Since that's just a nasty idea I avoid his films and even interviews with him. As much as Sandler annoys me, he doesn't have quite the same effect on me. They're both obnoxious but Stiller takes it to a whole new level.

I hate to say it, but Shanks would have been too old for the role. Yeah, I know he's only six years older than Caan but for that persnickety demo that the networks are chasing, those are six big years.

[georgiesmith.livejournal.com]

And...crap. Tomorrow night on "Late Night with David Letterman" will feature guests Mark Harmon and (you guessed it) Ben Stiller.

Fahrvergnügen!

[innocent-lex.livejournal.com]

Don't know Scott Caan. Mine is often (but not always) the bloke who played Spike on Buffy. Also Catherine Tate. Also pretty much any male 'comedy' actor from the US or UK, either in film or telly.

[zellieh]

I really like the idea of Michael Shanks and Alex O'Loughlin onscreen together -- oh, the hotness! -- but I don't like the character of Danny Williams and the writing on Hawaii 5-0. Maybe it's just the fragments I've caught, but Danny seems to spend a lot of time throwing temper tantrums like a three-year-old with a permanent strop on. I'm kind of glad that Shanks missed out on that.

[emony.livejournal.com]

Ricky Gervais.

Also, James Cordon. Although I did suffer through his two Doctor Who episodes. But it hurt to do so.

[superbadgirl]

Seconding Ricky Gervais.

Adding Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Jennifer Love Hewitt.

[zellieh]

Thirded all of the above (although Tom Hanks can be good in some of his roles) and yesyesyes to Jennifer Love Hewitt. Her face is so thin, it doesn't look healthy to me.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Yes to Tom Cruise. Boy has he stunk out a bunch of movies I would otherwise have wanted to watch (Last Samurai and Minority Report I am looking at you!).

Perhaps it's that I just try to ignore the very existence of Ricky Gervaise? Because he's an utter tit who brings nothing to the universe in which he lives, as far as I can see...

[superbadgirl]

I'm LOLing. I'm no Scott Caan fan myself, but I'm fairly sure the bizarre hair is somehow related to the shortness (which he can't help, so I can't really count that as a reason to dislike). The hair gives him another inch, maybe inch and a half in the height department. ;)

[zellieh]

As a fairly short person myself, I just feel like saying to him: the hair isn't hiding anything, you're short, grow up and deal with it.

[superbadgirl]

I'm short too (5'3", which I suppose is actually average for a woman?), but I think it's different because I'm a woman. I've known a lot of short guys who are really self-conscious about it to the point their egos are enormous (better odd hair than exaggerated ego, IMO).

I just want to say: it's okay to be tiny. It's not size, it's what you do with it. Don't be an asshole to make up for your stature. ;)

[graculus.livejournal.com]

The impression I get is that Scott Caan is one of those actors who just basically plays himself - firstly on Entourage (and boy would my finger hit fast forward every time he appeared) and then on the remake show, he's basically identical to himself.

Wonder what his career would have been like if his surname had been Jones rather than Caan?

[superbadgirl]

He'd be wearing a hard hat and holding a stop/slow sign on the side of the road during high road repair season. ;)

[zellieh]

Nah, he'd be a sleazy DJ at a crappy nightclub. He couldn't possibly wear a hard hat -- it'd squash The Hair.

[superbadgirl]

*slaps forehead*

Of course, you're right.

[rhade-rad.livejournal.com]

Clive Owen . Agree on Ricky Gervais. I also skipped most of Ashes to Ashes because of Keeley Hawes.

On stage it takes a lot to get me to see Mark Rylance. I have enjoyed performances but not someone I rush to see. Diana Rigg - has only one performance.

I may be back with more *G*

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Talking of one performance... *cough*Keeley Hawes*cough* And yet casting directors seem to adore her. It just does not compute.

[rhade-rad.livejournal.com]

The same ones who consider that Clive Owen is a 'sex symbol': have to be men.

Which reminds me to add John Hannah to the list. Even Sinead Cusack couldn't convince me he could get an intelligent woman to have an affair with him.

Also John Malkovitch - how anyone could consider him a replacement for Alan Rickman as Valmont is waaay beyond me.

[zellieh]

I agree with previos commenters: Ben stiller, Adam Sandler, James Cordon, and Ricky Gervais. Also Jack Black. Jimmy Carr drives me crazy, and so does Frankie Boyle. (I have a hatred of comics who try to do "ironic" "edgy" humour, do it badly, and end up just looking like bigots.)

Leonardo DiCaprio is one of my most-loathed and always has been. Sylvester Stallone and Mickey Rourke used to be must-avoids, but I find myself liking Rourke a bit more lately; he seems less obnoxious now he's older.

Sean Penn, Tom Cruise...wow, I had no idea there were so many.

Alicia Silverstone and Renee Zellwegger also put me off. And the Olsen twins; I don't think I've willingly watched anything they've done.

Edited to add Jonathan Rhys Thingy, who played, um...Henry the Eighth? I think? And also Russell Brand, because I will run screaming from stuff he's in.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

See, I think a bunch of these folks don't really count for my original premise because what they're involved with is a bag of shite anyway and I wouldn't have wanted to watch the vast majority of it even if it had someone else in it.

[zellieh]

See, I like the idea of comedy panel shows, and then end up hitting the off button whenever certain "comedians" start talking. And they get everywhere! No british panel show is safe!

But yes, a lot of kids films aimed at girls and the dreaded chick flicks and rom-coms are just so terrible I wouldn't watch them no matter who was in them. And most of Stallone's films aren't my thing at all.

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

I have to be misreading this... you can't stand Scott Caan just because he's short?

[graculus.livejournal.com]

No, just because he's Scott Caan.

[thefannishwaldo.livejournal.com]

Oh, okay. You kept bringing up his size and... I got confuzzled. But given my the state of my head today, that really doesn't take much.

I get that way about the chick that used to be "The Nanny".

[rach74.livejournal.com]

Steven Seagal. He makes me want to throw big heavy things at the TV. Usually James Corden, but I surprisingly didn't mind his DW episodes- probably the Matt Smith effect. Billie Piper makes me want to spit, and Chris Evans (DJ rather than actor, but still bleugh! Hmm the guy who played Anakin in the 'prequel' movies.

[khaleesian.livejournal.com]

Owen Wilson. I just want to hit him with a brick.

[graculus.livejournal.com]

Judging by his nose, I think someone already did, unless that was you? ;)

[siluria]

I have quite a few on my list and right now I can't think of any other than Leo DiCaprio. Oh, Scarlett Johansson annoys me and I just can't get on board with the guy that plays Sherlock Holmes in the new TV show. I also couldn't get into Atlantis, despite the SG1 love, mostly because there was something about Weir that meant I had to switch off. I'm going to have to go ponder now :)

I generally have more of a problem with musicians. I cannot listen to Lady Gaga for even a second, nor Beyonce or Coldplay for that matter, some singers just have tones that I can't deal with.

[captain-tiv.livejournal.com]

Adam Sandler.

[captain-tiv.livejournal.com]

There are actors I'm not a fan of but and don't care to see again but they were part of movies I did like. Does that count?

[manna]

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned Kevin Costner, yet.

[nialla]

I think he's one of those He Who Must Not Be Named actors. Speak his name, and he'll show up on your TV.

[nialla]

I'm always a bit baffled by pretty much all the "A List" actors. Most of them will make me go out of my way to not watch something, despite the project otherwise being interesting.

I don't really have a problem with Scott Caan, though I think H50 is the only show I've seen him in. The character does have some good moments, though I think all of them have to go through one of the biggest suspense of disbelief filters ever created. I mean, I watch sci fi and I think a lot of what they do is ridonkulous.

Oddly, I often find myself liking a character a lot more due to how the writers of fanfic, not the show itself, treat them. I kept reading Atlantis fic long after I gave up on the show, and I'm still reading it. Fic writers would fix things with "missing scenes" or go out of their way to come up with plausible reasons for why characters did things that didn't seem right, which was more than the writers being paid ever did.

I have not watched the most recent season of Doctor Who because I absolutely cannot stand Alex Kingston, who plays River Song. Didn't like her in the first episode, never liked her when she reappeared, so becoming a recurring character was just not going to work for me.

I made it through both Rose and Martha's pining with gritted teeth a lot, and I really liked Donna, though I understand a lot didn't because [insert irony here] they didn't like the actress. For me I just liked it because it was pining free and back to more of an old school Doctor and Companion go on adventures feel.

On the one hand, I feel like a Bad Fan for skipping it, on the other, I just couldn't make myself watch it. Too many other things that I am interested in watching, though I miss my little blue box.

[thenightsfall]

Can I have one for fic reading? I've gotten to the point that I cannot read any Mag7 fic that features Vin to any sizeable degree. Which leaves approximately 1% of Mag7 fic to read. ;-)

And actors, SG-1 notwithstanding, Richard Dean Anderson.

[sg1scribe.livejournal.com]

Martin Clunes - I absolutely cannot bear to have him on my TV screen for longer than it takes me to change channel.

On the radio - Rabbi Lionel Blue has the same effect.

I agree that Keeley Hawes is uber-annoying. She does that awful breathy voice thing that I presume she thinks is acting 'intensely'. Drives me bonkers.

[khek.livejournal.com]

Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, and Amanda Tapping.

I know the first two are film stars, but I really, really can't watch them. I always sense them "Acting" rather than using the character to tell a story. Besides SC/AT, I can't really think of anyone else on TV, but I'm sure there are some. The thing is, I mostly try to forget them until I see their name on something and think "no, no, no, no!"

I don't remember ever seeing Scott Caan in anything else, so I guess he never pinged my aversion radar. I do like the show, but not as anything other than an amusing way to pass an hour.