In general, I love a good documentary or in-depth interview. The problem with the genre, however, is that the average length of the content is an hour or two which is great for getting from A to Z in full detail, but not time efficient for a college student being pulled in a thousand different directions. Lately, I have GQ to thank for helping me get the experience of watching a documentary without the time commitment being an issue.
Each "Iconic Characters" episode is about 20 minutes long and encapsulates the actor's experiences and career through their defining roles. The first episode I saw was Terry Crews' about a week ago and since then I have made sure to click when they roll across my youtube suggestions dash. It is amazing to see how they view their successes and their failures compared to how they are normally portrayed in the mainstream media.
Terry Crews Breaks Down His 10 Most Iconic Characters | GQwww.youtube.com
Many actors credit their success to a combination of "right place, right time" and having a willingness to work with others to perfect the project at hand. It really is a testament to how that first impression or how you treat the people around you can affect your career. Without this mindset or attitude, it is highly unlikely that any of the actors profiled would have ever made it from extra to producing their own TV shows and movies.
I really hope GQ continues with this series as well as some of their other interview and documentary-type projects such as "Actually Me" and "Men of the Year." Although many people might not consider this content similar or relatable to classic documentaries such as those produced by National Geographic or the History Channel, perhaps in the future when GQ has gathered enough content a full-length documentary including behind the scenes might be released. Perhaps "The Actors Who Defined An Era in American Film" or perhaps something a bit more catchy.
*A side note to GQ, it would be amazing if you could do "Iconic Characters" profiles on Clint Eastwood, Hugh Jackman, and Jim Carrey just to name a few actors who I think it would be amazing to get a glimpse of their careers from their own perspectives.
