Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell (Spoilers)

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MissJackpots
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Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell (Spoilers)

Post by MissJackpots »

I was excited years back when it was announced that Lynch would be collaborating with a new female singer. The results were a bit underwhelming however what I couldn't get over was the overall forced "sensual" vibe exhibited on her website. For every song she had released there were 50 photos of herself plastered on the site. Sure, she's a beautiful girl but come on. It's as if she is doing photo shoots more often than she is in the recording studio.

The thing that really turned me off was seeing her perform live. The whole "I'm too sexy" vibe was TOO MUCH. Whether it was her need to talk in that exaggerated slow "sensual" voice or her choice of parading on stage modeling her latest lingerie, it was not working for me. Perhaps being a woman, I was a bit embarrassed for her. Perhaps it was my distaste for seeing all of the primarily male audience leering at her.

Having an open mind and knowing she would be in the series, I decided to give her a chance. Would she bring this over the top persona to the role?

WOW

It was worse that I had expected. No acting skills whatsoever. She was the same over the top, "Look at me world" kind of crazy that I'd seen in Interviews and live performances. So sad. Why? What is going on with her?

Am I alone in my dislike for her performances?

I really hope she pulls it together but at this point, I would rather take an hour of fingers across a chalk board by the hand of Wally Brando than another minute of Chrysta Bell's acting.

It's not personal and I wish it were better but it is so unnerving.
Last edited by MissJackpots on Sat Jun 03, 2017 1:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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meowrina
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by meowrina »

You're not alone. I sure hope there's more to her character, but as for now they could've replaced her with a mannequin and nothing would've changed.
Albert, I hate to admit this, but I don't understand this situation at all.
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Panapaok
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by Panapaok »

She's not good so far. Not only her acting but also the character itself. She doesn't even feel like the same Tamara with the one in TSHOTP. I'll reserve my judgement, maybe she'll improve. But so far she is one of the very few gripes I have.
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MissJackpots
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by MissJackpots »

meowrina wrote:You're not alone. I sure hope there's more to her character, but as for now they could've replaced her with a mannequin and nothing would've changed.
I think I would have preferred that and agree that the treatment of her character thus far doesn't match how the character is portrayed in Mark Frost's book. I feel that her portrayal is Chrysta Bell playing Herself. So disappointing.
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MissJackpots
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by MissJackpots »

Panapaok wrote:She's not good so far. Not only her acting but also the character itself. She doesn't even feel like the same Tamara with the one in TSHOTP. I'll reserve my judgement, maybe she'll improve. But so far she is one of the very few gripes I have.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by sylvia_north »

I had a great affection for Annie Wersching's TP in the audiobook.

Chrysta rubs me wrong, she seems bored, she seems haughty. "Who's Jeffries?" *huff, wiggles away for Albert's lechery* I don't get any of warmth and intelligence of Annie's curiosity and delivery. And even the sexy seems forced, like she's trying to evoke Audrey and a runway model- which sounds good in theory, however...

p.s. I like exactly three Chrysta songs- love them in fact. And I hope she grows on me as TP.
Last edited by sylvia_north on Sat Jun 03, 2017 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Too Old to Die Young > TP S03
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Mr. Reindeer
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by Mr. Reindeer »

I understand people disliking the performance so far, but the personal attacks on Bell seem unwarranted (calling her "crazy" and egocentric). I know next to nothing about her. I own her DKL-produced album and EP. Both have some really good tracks, some mediocre. I like them, think she has a beautiful voice. I've seen maybe two of her music videos, thought they were well-done but not terribly memorable.

If you're so turned-off by her public persona, why would you actively seek out interviews with her and browse her website? Without even trying, I've managed to avoid ever seeing a single interview with her that I can recall. I have no idea what she's like in public or private and don't really care. The art is the art. And honestly, she's in a business where you HAVE to sell yourself hard, have to be a bit of an attention whore to succeed, and (sadly) as a woman, often have to play up your sex appeal.

I don't know. The whole Internet culture of feeling the need to tear down a complete stranger is weird to me. As far as the performance goes, as I've said before, I find her unimpressive but harmless thus far. I don't find her an insult to the book version of the character because TP in the book was good for nothing except acting as a mouthpiece for Mark's pop culture references. She doesn't do a bit of detective work in the whole book, she just reacts to things. For me, there's nowhere for the character to go but up.
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by MissJackpots »

All I'm trying to say is that it is a bit much. Take actresses like Cate Blanchett. Pure class. She has never needed to "sex it up".

Poor acting takes me out of the world. It's not personal. I'm sure she means well but come on. We get it. No need to be cranking the sthick to 11 all day every day.
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Elad Repooc
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by Elad Repooc »

The bad acting could be intentional. In fact, can't we just assume anything bad in The Return is intentional? Isn't it easier that way? ;-)
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MissJackpots
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by MissJackpots »

sylvia_north wrote:I had a great affection for Annie Wersching's TP in the audiobook.

Chrysta rubs me wrong, she seems bored, she seems haughty. "Who's Jeffries?" *huff, wiggles away for Albert's lechery* I don't get any of warmth and intelligence of Annie's curiosity and delivery. And even the sexy seems forced, like she's trying to evoke Audrey and a runway model- which sounds good in theory, however...

p.s. I like exactly three Chrysta songs- love them in fact. And I hope she grows on me as TP.
Exactly. It all seems so forced. I keep thinking why can't she just act normal for even a moment or a serious scene???

Hope I'll eat my words but for now I am so disappointed by her over the top performance.
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by AgentEcho »

I agree that people shouldn't be hard on Chrysta Bell. I do not like the character so far at all, but everything about the character, the way she walks, talks, the fact that Chrysta Bell plays her in the first place, is all there because David Lynch wanted it that way. Given how the character came off in the book, there's no question in my mind David Lynch is the one primarily responsible for how the character appears in the story.

Directors rarely get any flack for bad performances by actors, but they should. The take we see in the finished product was selected by the director. I'm a big David Lynch fan but I won't deflect the blame from him if Tammy Preston fails as a character. She appears as he wanted her to appear.
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by wxray »

AgentEcho wrote: Directors rarely get any flack for bad performances by actors, but they should. The take we see in the finished product was selected by the director. I'm a big David Lynch fan but I won't deflect the blame from him if Tammy Preston fails as a character. She appears as he wanted her to appear.
Great point. Sherilyn Fenn took a hit after Boxing Helena. Sorry if I am stepping on Jennifer Chambers Lynch fans here, but JCL likely had a lot to do with it, especially after also seeing Julian Sand's performance.

I recently saw Fenn in her early work The Wraith, and based on that crap, I was surprised what DKL got out of her in TP. I'm feeling like he could probably squeeze awesomeness out of Chrysta Bell if he wanted to.

I didn't read TSHOTP, and am noticing that those that did are yllaer, really irritated by her. There has to be a lot going on here. 1) Profound disappointment in the character being out of phase with the book, 2) Pretty face, sexy look (WTF with the walk?) for no good reason, 3) Wasn't Niaomi supposed to be this character?, 4) Lack of a strong woman character (so far) in the story.

I think at least we've established that the Phyllis Hastings character was supposed to look badly acted. So is there a surprise in store for us with Tamara? Or did DKL just want one of his "homies" who simply cannot act to play the roll?
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by crash_and_burn »

AgentEcho wrote:I agree that people shouldn't be hard on Chrysta Bell. I do not like the character so far at all, but everything about the character, the way she walks, talks, the fact that Chrysta Bell plays her in the first place, is all there because David Lynch wanted it that way. Given how the character came off in the book, there's no question in my mind David Lynch is the one primarily responsible for how the character appears in the story.

Directors rarely get any flack for bad performances by actors, but they should. The take we see in the finished product was selected by the director. I'm a big David Lynch fan but I won't deflect the blame from him if Tammy Preston fails as a character. She appears as he wanted her to appear.
Agree whole-heartedly with the point about the direction.

So far, there are far too few scenes to judge the character or C.B.'s acting.

It's entirely probable that she's a character that will have some twist down the line, as far as the plot is concerned and her portrayal will make perfect sense later.

Personally, I'm feeling better already.
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by Twink Peaks »

i like her character :lol:
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Re: Tamara Preston - Chrysta Bell - Horrible Acting (Spoilers)

Post by David Locke »

*shrug* I don't see anything wrong with her acting or her character. Is she a little stiff? Maybe. But not enough to be distracting. I thought her briefing on the SD/NY murders was very well-done. Also it seems like Lynch and Bell are going for a kind of super-professional, almost emotionless, clipped style of dialogue that's common (or thought to be common) to LEA. I think it works. I like her, too. She's sexy but it never felt like she was being put on display or something. Could they have gotten someone better for the role? Probably. But I'm fine with Bell and am kind of baffled by the vitriol.

Maybe I'm going in with less built-in expectations because I've only read maybe 1/4th of TSHOTP. So I don't really have any presuppositions of who Preston's supposed to be, etc.
Last edited by David Locke on Sat Jun 03, 2017 12:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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