Actors pour their heart, soul, and more than a pound of flesh into a production so it’s not surprising that they tend to get hot under the collar when a critic dumps on their work. James Franco, who recently made his Broadway debut in a revival of John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” had the right to crow about the generally positive reviews. But he was pissed off at the sour notice given the production, directed by Anna D. Shapiro and co-starring Chris O’Dowd, by Ben Brantley of The New York Times. The critic called it “respectable, respectful and generally inert.” Franco took to his Instagram account to post this attack, later deleted, but captured by Vanity Fair’s Richard Lawson: “SADLY BEN BRANTLEY AND THE NYT HAVE EMBARRASSED THEMSELVES. BRANTLEY IS SUCH A LITTLE BITCH HE SHOULD BE WORKING FOR GAWKER.COM INSTEAD OF THE PAPER OF RECORD. THE THEATRE COMMUNITY HATES HIM, and for good reason, HE’S an idiot.”
The “theatre community” has not been polled of late about Mr. Brantley. But you can be sure that he is loved by those to whom he gives good reviews and hated by those to whom he gives bad reviews. ‘Twas ever thus. The legendary Cary Grant had a smart strategy when it came to the press: “Never complain and never explain.” But those in the firing line — from playwright David Hare, who feuded often with The New York Times’s Frank Rich, to Alec Baldwin, who feuds with everybody — have often not heeded that good advice. To blast a critic for a bad review generally serves two or three purposes: 1) It reinforces his or her position with the respective outlet 2) It draws more attention to the bad review and 3) it’s damn entertaining!
Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images
