"McQueen defined a fleeting moment in Hollywood's depiction of manhood, standing between the '50s kitsch of Sinatra, John Wayne, and Elvis and the post-Vietnam second-guessing of the pathological Eastwood, the sensitive New Age Redford, and Burt Reynolds. He was the first and maybe the last action hero to be neither absurd nor ironic.
(He) cultivated his own mythology through a strenuously aloofstyle of acting that is not without its critics. David Thomson, for one, observes a certain "dullness" about McQueen. Perhaps, but it was an especially radiant sort of dullness. With McQueen, it's hard to decide whether you hardly notice him, or you hardly notice that you never take your eyes off of him."
Now Jeremy Renner, who's apparently playing him, has nothing on McQueen. If there's one similarity, it's the "macho elf" look as mentioned in the article here, but McQueen was quintessentially American, Renner hails from here but truth be told he might as well be another member of the British (Aussi, Irish, Scottish) or basically "from anywhere but here" invasion of many of our acting roles. DD Lewis was a great choice for Lincoln, but must all our iconic figures be portrayed by non-Americans now, or, in Renner's case, by less interesting actors (if Americans talent is in fact used)? I'm glad a Yankee got the role in this case, but many will say that rarely happens because US actors aren't as good. B.S. It's how we crown our big actors, many without training or substance, that's the problem. A guy hits it big with one thing and "voila", he's everywhere, forced down out throats whether he's worthy or not. Nothing taken away from Renner, but there are plenty of better, and perhaps more deserving, American actors out there, trust me.
Anyway, that was a tangent if I ever heard one. You can read the whole slate.com article here.
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