Brad Renfro skipped in Oscar memoriam montage

[cynic]

He didn't do anything in the past ten years except drugs.....no great loss.....better to honor the folks who have worked their entire lives in the entertainment industry.......

[Grimmlok]

They probably couldn't fit him him on the screens.

[Trixie]

He didn't do anything in the past ten years except drugs.....no great loss.....better to honor the folks who have worked their entire lives in the entertainment industry.......

Actually, he was still a working actor until the end. Granted, he never lived up to his initial hype, but it's not like he disappeared from the industry.

His films per imdb:

1. The Informers (2008) (post-production) .... Jack
   ... aka Bret Easton Ellis' The Informers (USA: complete title)
2. 10th & Wolf (2006) .... Vincent
3. "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" .... Duane Wilson (1 episode, 2006)
   ... aka Law & Order: CI (USA: promotional abbreviation)
   - Watch (2006) TV episode .... Duane Wilson
4. Coat Pockets (2005) .... Kenny
5. The Jacket (2005) .... The Stranger
6. Hollywood Flies (2004) (TV) .... Jamie
7. Mummy an' the Armadillo (2004) .... Wyatte
8. The Car Kid (2003)
9. The Job (2003/I) .... Troy Riverside
10. American Girl (2002/I) .... Jay Grubb
    ... aka Confessions of an American Girl (USA: video title)
11. Deuces Wild (2002) .... Bobby
    ... aka Deuces Wild - Wild in den Straßen (Germany)
12. Ghost World (2001) .... Josh
13. Bully (2001) .... Marty Puccio
    ... aka Bully (France)
14. Tart (2001) .... William Sellers
    ... aka Naïve (Canada: French title)
15. Happy Campers (2001) .... Wichita
16. The Theory of the Leisure Class (2001) .... Billy
17. Meter Man (2000) .... Sal
18. Skipped Parts (2000) .... Dothan Talbot
    ... aka The Wonder of Sex (UK)
19. Herschel Hopper: New York Rabbit (2000) .... Tanner
20. 2 Little, 2 Late (1999) .... Jimmy Walsh
21. Apt Pupil (1998) .... Todd Bowden
    ... aka Élève doué, L' (Canada: French title)
    ... aka Un élève doué - Été de corruption (France)
22. Telling Lies in America (1997) .... Karchy 'Chucky' Jonas
23. Sleepers (1996) .... Young Michael Sullivan
24. Tom and Huck (1995) .... Huck Finn
    ... aka The Adventures of Tom and Huck
    ... aka Tom Sawyer
25. The Cure (1995) .... Erik
26. The Client (1994) .... Mark Sway

[cynic]

.....like I said....he hasn't done anything in ten years..... ....nothing anyone actually watched.....

[Trixie]

Exactly.

[Laxmobster]

.....like I said....he hasn't done anything in ten years..... ....nothing anyone actually watched.....

Bully was an amazing movie!

I was totally pissed they excluded him. It really showcased the pompousness of the whole Academy. However, they did remember studio executive Frank E. Rosenfelt... Looks like the writers now have their lips glued to the executives arses!

[cynic]

Bully was an amazing movie!

I was totally pissed they excluded him. It really showcased the pompousness of the whole Academy. However, they did remember studio executive Frank E. Rosenfelt... Looks like the writers now have their lips glued to the executives arses!

IMBD says the screenplay writer took his name off of the movie....guess he wasn't impressed......

Without executives....there ARE no writers......it IS a business.....

[Mel1973]

wasn't britters name just replaced in Spamalot because of her "antics" - she was replaced with Posh... or am I imagining it?

[cynic]

wasn't britters name just replaced in Spamalot because of her "antics" - she was replaced with Posh... or am I imagining it?

Speaking of doing drugs.... ...Yer in the Brad Renfro thread, you ninny......

[Mel1973]

I know, you jackass! I said that because you said: IMBD says the screenplay writer took his name off of the movie....guess he wasn't impressed......

Without executives....there ARE no writers......it IS a business

[cynic]

.......o.......

Please do not cast aspersions on the poor jackass.....he has done nothing to deserve being compared to me......

[Mel1973]

lookey, a blushing Jackass!

[suede]

I think it was Hollywood elitism at it's worst. Because he was thought as a low rent junky. He was a talented actor, he was in some great movies, this was a
shame. He died with one drug in his system, Heath with, what, 5 or 6?

Didn't Renfro die of a heroin over dose?

No matter what street drugs will always be looked down upon while pharmaceuticals are like white collar crimes.

I'd never heard of him until he died.

[sweetness]

It wasn't right of them to leave him out.

[TonjaLasagna]

This piece of info is for those of us who loved Brad Renfro in any of his projects.

The Life of Brad Renfro
By Jamie • Mar 1st, '08

It's been more than a month since the passing of Brad Renfro and we’re all still reeling from the loss. It's hard to believe the actor, whom we have watched on Tom and Huck during sleepovers, cried our eyes out at The Cure or when our jaws dropped and eyes widened watching his powerful performance in Bully, his life has been tragically cut short.

Fourteen years ago, we first saw a fresh-faced 12-year-old Brad gracing the movie screens around the world for the first time in The Client. A natural talent, he held on his own alongside veteran co-stars Tommy Lee Jones and Susan Sarandon. Since then, he’s been in films that every actor should be envious about, writing, playing music, writing and directing short films. He showed us what he could do and that’s how he will be remembered.

He was born on July 25, 1982 in Knoxville, Tennessee to Mark & Angela Renfro. His parents divorced when he was five, he was raised by his grandmother Joanne who accompanied him on movie sets. “Rough times.” He said to Details Magazine in 2001 about growing up. “But I can’t blame anyone for it. My mom did the best possible thing for her kid.”

Brad had no aspirations to become an actor. He started playing the guitar at a young age and dreamt of becoming a musician. “I’ve been playing guitar since I was six years old. I didn’t take lessons. I learned from Jimmy Page! Listening to records. I was the kid who sat and played eight hours in my bedroom.”

However, an opportunity fell out of the sky and led him to acting. Brad participated in a D.A.R.E play in elementary school where he played a drug dealer. “I played this hardcore, uptown crack dealer. I was only like 10 yrs old. Hilarious. I looked like a baby trying to sell crack to you,” he told. When Mali Finn, the casting director for The Client, started scouting for young actors to play street smart kid Mark Sway, a Knoxville police officer who saw Brad in the play recommended him to Finn. He auditioned at the Knoxville Radisson, then flew to LA to read for director Joel Schumacher and got the part. It was the beginning of his career.

As Mark Sway in The Client (1994)
After jump-starting his career into full swing, he began to work steadily in Hollywood by following up with films such as the inspirational best friends drama, The Cure, Sleepers, where he played a young version of Brad Pitt’s character, Telling Lies in America and Disney’s Tom & Huck. Suddenly he was cultivated into teen heartthrob status gracing covers on all the teen magazines.

Trying to steer away from that status, he took a risky turn by playing Todd Bowden, a student who befriends a reclusive neighbour who is actually a Nazi war criminal in Bryan Singer’s 'Apt Pupil.' A daring choice for someone who was only sixteen yrs old. Though the film was not a commercial success, the critics raved specifically about his performance.

As Todd Bowden in Apt Pupil (1998)
Going in 2000, he delved into directing for the first time with his short film, Meter Man, in which he also starred and wrote. Then came one of his most unforgettable onscreen roles as Marty Puccio in Bully. He seemed to be proud of taking part in another dark gritty role. “I look at Bully and this may be the most pompous thing I’ve ever said in my life but that’s the most brilliant I’ve ever seen me, playing a little dumb Florida boy.” Portraying vulnerable in the beginning to resilient in Marty, it became a tour-de-force performance, a reflection of his earlier films. He appeared in Ghost World as Josh, the best friend of Enid (Thora Birch) and Rebecca (Scarlett Johannson), and their target of annoyance, the quirky Happy Campers with frequent co-star Dominique Swain, and the 1950s Brooklyn gang drama Deuces Wild with Stephen Dorff.

As Marty Puccio in Bully (2001) with Nick Stahl
In the midst of making films, he finally made his childhood dream come true by starting a band with his friends, calling themselves Frodad (a nickname of Brad and his dad). They’ve performed gigs all over LA including The Trobadour, The Viper Room and more. They also had songs that begun floating around the internet such as “Distorted Spirits”, “Hey Momma Darlin” and “Hard Jazz”, showcasing the band’s Southern rock roots. Another one of their songs, “Feel This Way”, was even featured in Brad’s movie, The Jacket in 2005. The band had recorded an album some years ago and it’s currently awaiting approval to be released.

Jamming on the guitar
One thing that is heavily associated with Brad is his reputation as a bad boy, because of drugs and brushes with the law. What people have forgotten is that he is just like the rest of us. We make and learn from our mistakes but due to him being an actor, it happens to be splashed all over the media. It was no secret that he was ashamed of his addictions but he constantly tried very hard to stay clean and to continue working.

Joking around under a table
Gradually making his way back to acting, he starred in the mob drama 10th and Wolf, joining the ensemble alongside Giovanni Ribisi, James Marsden, Val Kilmer, and even appeared in an episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. He then signed up for the film adaptation of the Brett Easton Ellis novel, The Informers, another ensemble cast that included Billy Bob Thorton and Winona Ryder set for October this year.

With a few bumps on the road here and there, he was concentrating on his sobriety but it all came to a sudden halt on January 15, '08. The cause of death was drug related but he is no longer at battle with his demons and is now at peace.

As for what is left in memory of him, he’ll live forever through what we love him doing, acting. Telling Japan Today in '03, “I choose films for their artistic value. I don’t need a mansion or a Jaguar. When I leave this Earth, I won’t take any money with me. All I will leave behind will be my art.”

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