Let's face it: High-definition television is here to stay.
According to the Consumer Electronics Association, 13.6 million HDTVs were sold last year, and The Wall Street Journal reports 24 million U.S. households have at least one as of this year. Many technology prognosticators say analog TVs will no longer be sold beginning in 2009 because all broadcasters must transmit entirely in digital by February of that year.
Some of the TV junkies on Back Stage's editorial team are thrilled with the enhanced viewing experience offered by HD. But we recognize that this new technology is posing a roadblock for some actors. The result of HD is an unprecedented crystal-clear picture—that exposes everything. For the first time, HD consumers are literally seeing actors' warts and all—not to mention wrinkles, eye bags, and whatever blemishes manage to resist a thorough makeup job.
"Everything shows," veteran makeup artist Tommy Cole told Time magazine in 2004. "Everything is clearer, and the contrast is sharper. Some people are very worried."
Judging which performers look worse on a digital screen has even become something of a spectator sport. TVPredictions.com rates A-list actors on their HD looks in its annual "HDTV Horribles" list. Cameron Diaz ranked No. 1 in 2004 for her acne scars. "She looks more like a Charlie than an Angel," the site's Phillip Swann wrote. Zing! Michael Douglas, Britney Spears, Brad Pitt, and Renée Zellweger have also been featured on the unflattering list.
Actors have always been at least a little worried when consumers' tastes change with the advent of new technology, such as when movies killed vaudeville, silent pictures gave way to talkies, and radio developed into TV. Those who adapted to new media—such as George Burns, Mae West, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford, and Milton Berle—managed to stay relevant and well-liked. Those who didn't quietly drifted into obscurity. Silent-screen siren Gloria Swanson, for one, wasn't "ready for her close-up" for more than a decade, until Billy Wilder revived her career in a 1950 film about—what else?—a screen diva driven mad by new movie technology.
Now HDTV poses similar challenges—not only for the ostensibly genetically gifted but for the craft of acting as well. HD's clarity may reveal every blob of concealer, but it also clearly broadcasts every glimmer in an actor's eye, the precise slant of a smile, or a subtle facial tic meant to convey sadness, joy, suspicion, etc. In other words, actors have to worry about not only how HD will change their looks but also how it will change their performances.
Recently, some of us noticed how one of the best actors on TV today fell victim to HD. On an episode of NBC's unfortunately canceled comedy Andy Barker P.I., Amy Sedaris guest starred as a one-legged femme fatale in her 70s. On paper, Sedaris is perfect for the role; on a 50-inch HDTV, she came off more ridiculous than perhaps intended. The problem wasn't Sedaris' acting; it was the rubbery, orangey latex applied to her face and body, which looked so vividly fake. The effect was particularly unconvincing in scenes with her co-star Harve Presnell, who is actually 73. Sedaris valiantly tried to act from within the disguise, but we wondered why the show's casting directors didn't hire a genuine 70-something actor to play the part.
In the past Sedaris has used very little makeup to twist her pretty face when playing older characters. It took little more than blue eye shadow and a tacky jumpsuit for her to transform into Jerri Blank on Comedy Central's also-canceled-before-its-time Strangers With Candy. Couldn't she have appeared on Andy Barker with a little less latex?
We have faith that talented actors will be able to overcome challenges posed by HDTV and whatever other new technology is coming our way. Diaz probably isn't in danger of winding up a faded star in a ramshackle Malibu mansion with only a dead monkey for company although stranger things have happened.