The Final Draft

The end. Two words that always make up the final shot of any classic film and I’m afraid I have come to that final shot with this last entry. Although I know there are many more up and coming actors that will breach Hollywood’s unforgiving and unrelenting time limit I realize that from the five actors I have talked about I haven’t really given a definitive answer to my main question. So, what does make a leading man? Honestly…I have no freaking idea. Since I seemed to put this question towards finding the perfect leading man I think I got away from the whole reason I even choose this topic: to give recognition to actors that seem to be more tested in their beginning years than rewarded for their efforts.

It takes a lot of guts to be able to come from a small country town in the middle of no where to work hard for your dream of becoming an actor and making an actual career out of it. More importantly is having an immense strength and being able to keep it as you realize that career takes a lot more from your life than it gives. However, this strong country boy is keeping his cowboy boots firmly on the red carpet.

He may never be able to fit the bill of sexiest man alive but, in this day and age, that title is becoming extremely overrated. People want to see young actors that no longer rely on their looks, but would rather show off a more humanistic side and nothing says humanistic like a shy and awkward personality. This sexy geek does more than get audiences’ attention; he does it by not letting the camera personally change him.

On the other hand, we ladies have to admit an attractive look does get our attention, but it is another issue on keeping it. Making yourself different amongst thousands of soulful eyes while taking part in a genre that has completely diminished the term “original”, an actor would need to be able to keep his ego at bay. This unique pretty face is guaranteed to keep his teeth sinked into primetime television without loosing his sense of gratitude.

It takes a lot of time management skills to attend university, become an author and create art, while taking part in directing and scriptwriting your own films. But, as an actor, it is more important to keep those activities individually defined instead of disrupting the creation of characters. Once a well-balanced overachiever, always a well-balanced overachiever, at least in this case.

Knowing the limits of your body and mind is one thing, but to self-consciously understand and exceed at your strengths is a much more satisfying look into what you can bring to the acting game.  That sense of  knowing your own body makes it much easier to know where you end and the characters' begin. Also, kind modesty can never be undervalued in the entertainment world. This self-conscious foreigner is foreign no longer and has begun a long-standing citizenship with Hollywood’s most elite.

No exact definition of what makes the perfect leading man really exists because, as an actor, they are portraying real human lives that, in their own sense, could never be perfect. Lives that many have looked past as unremarkable and forgettable, lives that even some of the greats couldn’t distinguish and represent. However, these five actors have shown what many weren’t willing to look for in these lives: a soul; souls that these beginners are just starting to characterize through their own defining individualities. For a true actor knows they will never be perfect and these few actors have learned what it takes to be a real leading man – loosing that title altogether and realizing they can be just the same and just as odd as everyone else.