During the late 1990s and early 2000s, Ryan Phillippe was one of the hottest young actors in Hollywood. His good looks combined with his natural acting chops opened lots of doors for him. Many expected to see him lighting up the big screen for many years to come, but that isn’t quite what happened. Those who have been following his career over the years will probably notice that Ryan isn’t as big in the movie world as he once was. Instead, he has chosen to focus a lot of his energy on small-screen roles. While it’s somewhat uncommon for film actors to switch to the TV world, Ryan actually has a pretty solid reason for this change. Keep reading to find out why Ryan Phillippe has been more focused on TV roles over the last few years.
Ryan’s Film Career
Ryan Phillippe started his career in TV, but when he made his movie debut in the 1995 film Crimson Tide, he decided to stay on the Hollywood path. By most people’s standards, Ryan Phillippe has had a very successful movie career. He has been in several successful films including Cruel Intentions, Crash, and Flags of Our Fathers. However, Ryan doesn’t see his career that way. During an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Ryan said, “I’ve made 30-plus films over 20 years, and in my opinion, five of them are good.” He continued, “you slave away and you work hard and you want to make something great, and a lot of times you end up disappointed. There are a lot of elements that are beyond your control when you’re an actor for hire.” While his self-assessment may be a little harsh, there’s also some truth to it. Even though he was a popular young star during the early 2000s, Ryan’s film work never earned him any major accolades. It’s also true that many of the films he was a part of weren’t huge successes or have mostly been forgotten over the years. On top of that, it appears that somewhere along the way people stopped considering Ryan for serious movie roles. By the time the late-2000s came along, things had really started to slow down for him.
Why Ryan Doesn’t Really Do Movies Anymore
Even though Ryan is very critical of his track record of success when it comes to movies, that actually doesn’t have anything to do with why he’s decided to take on more TV projects. According to Cinema Blend, Ryan said, “The types of movies I made early in my career are virtually gone. I tended to exist in that $25m to $45m budget range. The way the film industry has [shifted], there’s just not as many movies being made outside of the tent-poles or the big action movies and Marvel and all of that… (Television) seems to be where the most interesting and layered stories are these days. It was certainly not that way when I began my career.” In Ryan’s defense, there is definitely some truth to what he’s saying. The rise of streaming services has given us more TV content than ever before, and it’s also allowed TV writers and producers to have more freedom when it comes to telling stories. On top of that, the movie industry has gone through some changes and that isn’t going to stop any time soon. Even before the pandemic, fewer people were going to movie theaters. As a result, studios have had to adjust their budgets in order to ensure that they can still make a return on their projects. This has meant viewer movies with budgets in the range that Ryan mentioned. For actors like him, this translates to more competition for roles. Fortunately for Ryan, the small screen seems to be serving him well. Over the last several years, he’s appeared in some solid TV shows including Shooter and Big Sky.
What’s Next for Ryan?
Just because Ryan is more focused on TV doesn’t mean that he’s given up movie opportunities altogether. The next couple of years are going to be pretty existing for him and fans are going to be seeing quite a bit of him. He currently has a handful of projects in the works and that includes movies and shows. Most notably, he will be in a TV series called MacGruber. Some people may have counted Ryan out, but he continues to prove that he isn’t going anywhere. Hopefully, one day, he will win a major award for all of the hard work he’s put in over the years.Hollywood
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