Does Eugene Levy take every role offered to him?

The man has acted in 22 movies (plus 2 failed TV shows) in the last 5 years. That is a Hellish amount of work even by character actor standards. I saw a commercial for "American Pie: Band Camp," apparently a direct-to-DVD attempt to milk the pie-fucking cow until its teats fall off, and I wondered if Eugene Levy has ever said "No" to a script. Some films of the past 5 years he should have said no to:

National Lampoon's Repli-Kate

Like Mike

Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

New York Minute

The Man

Cheaper by the Dozen 2

Okay, that's 6 movies in the last 5 years he definitely should have said no to. But I also left out a lot of bad movies because they were successful (even moderately so) like "Bringing Down The House" (in which Levy uttered the line "You got me straight trippin', boo!"), "Serendipity" (another crappy phoned-in John Cusack movie), and "The Ladies Man."

Eugene, you were brilliant on SCTV and give routinely funny performances in Christopher Guest's movies. But "Cheaper By The Dozen 2"? A direct-to-DVD American Pie spinoff? x(

"I have never seen it, but by all accounts it is terrible. However, I have seen the house that it built, and it is terrific."

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

:rofl:

:patriot:

:shrug:

I guess b/c I loved that movie so much when I was little!

I think he was in "Best in Show" as well, and that one was a total dog. He also had a tiny one minute part in "Josie and the Pussycats". So I am not sure that was an awful lot of work, nor why they felt it necessary to include him.

In a parallel universe, that is.

Some of that fear being rooted in reality, and that is: If you start turning down roles, you stop getting offers. Talented as Levy is, he isn't in the rarefied air of someone with the luxury of turning down roles. Even then, the fear never goes away. Actors love the work first, and consider a "good" role a privilege or a luxury.

I think it was more embarrassing for Samuel L. Jackson to star in "The Man" than Levy. Jackson is a big enough actor to have that luxury of which I speak. But even he would admit that the fear of losing work never goes away.

Richard Pryor took the role in "The Toy" because he wanted the dough. I've heard that the cast of "Operation Dumbo Drop" all had pictures/stories of what they were buying with the money.

I'm sure Eugene Levy has a great house, more than one car, excellent healthcare, etc. And if he had to do awful movies to get it, at least he's not working at McDonald's.

And it's not going to last forever. It's kind of a fluke that he's acting at all, seeing as he's not good looking, etc. etc. I'd bet he's aiming to retire in a few years, and never have to work again.

Now Parker Posey, on the other hand...

Talking jive w/ Queen Latifah

But I think of Eugene Levy at his best on SCTV and Ghostbusters.