In Dante's Peak, the leads know how to manage the clunky parts of the script. If you watch closely, you can see how they work lines which could be straight melodrama. They sigh them, they break them up with micropauses to let the audience get ahead, they mush them against other sentences to carry the scene past the holes, they de-emphasize them slightly while still meaning every word they say. It is elite craft, and many actors can't do it.
#DantesPeak #PierceBrosnan #LindaHamilton