Everybody loves Denzel

[kandrathe]

Personally, I haven't experienced the 'Denzel'-syndrome with that many actors, but then again, I don't watch that many movies. I prefer television. (Currently enjoying Season 1 of Steven Bochco's "Murder One" for the umpteenth time:P)

But I see your point, and you may be right.

To speculate a bit, perhaps it's the notion in Hollywood that movies need to cater to audience expectations, because we've become so lazy, we're not willing to accept anything that's a little out of the ordinary. The process of making a movie is at this stage in history so saturated by commercialism, that the studios can't take the chance of producing a flop. Giving the audience what they expect (e.g a "Denzel movie"), might be one way of ensuring that your average movie-goer walks away happy. Betraying their pre-conceived notion by allowing Denzel his full range of emotion and characters, and thus producing something that conflicts with those notions, might be enough to jar the audience into disliking the movie.

Still, these are just thoughts...

To go farther... Think of a studio painter who makes paintings to order, as opposed to one who paints what they feel. Maybe Denzel is the velvet Elvis of drama. Literature suffers commercialism as well once an author is noticed, but not so much as film.