Character Actor Appreciation - Page 2

Say what you want about the film, but you've got to throw Gangs of New York in there. Bill the Butcher is a great character, and a great performance from Day-Lewis.

True, Nexus, but I picked those three because I believe they provide a perfect nutshell illustration of the extent of Day-Lewis's skills: Physical transformation, complete immersion into different personalities, cutting it as a dynamic action hero and a passionate romantic lead, playing it 'large' (but not broad or obvious), playing it subdued (but perfectly conveying what needs to be expressed). All these and more.

But you could write down MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE, IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER and GANGS OF NEW YORK and you'd get yourself a similar Day-Lewis primer. The man doesn't give dud performances, period.

I've always had a soft spot for this guy:



You've seen Richard Masur in THE THING, RISKY BUSINESS and that so-so miniseries of Stephen King's IT, but one of the best performances he's given was as a cynical, pot-smoking executive in a not-bad corporate satire called HEAD OFFICE.

Ed O'Ross, the guy is solid all the way around. LETHAL WEAPON, ACTION JACKSON, THE HIDDEN, UNIVERSAL SOLDIER, and FULL METAL JACKET. I know he had some kind of role on "Six Feet Under" but he should be in more movies.

Seth Green: Hilarious actor who is usually in comedy relief roles, but if you listen to any commentary he's in, he's incredibly serious about his work.

Tony Shalhoub: Even bad Monk is worth watching for Shalhoub. Even when he's doing funny stuff on it, you can see the pain on his face because Adrian Monk just can't help it.

Alan Tudyk: Wash in Firefly/Serenity was his best role, but he almost always delivers in what he's in.

Kyle McLachlan: Even in episodes of Twin Peaks that weren't as good, McLachlan was brilliant and he was great in Blue Velvet. Definately an under-rated actor.

Character actors trapped in leading men

Tom Hanks: Its "cool" to bash Hanks these days, but this guy can do it all, comedy and drama. I miss funny Tom Hanks though.

Jude Law: Best part in A.I. and absolutely terrifying in Road to Peridition

Leonardo DiCaprio: Titantic may have been good for him career wise, but it trapped him in leading man hell. This was the guy who played a retarded kid so well that he fooled a lot of people into wondering if he really was retarded. He was awesome as a chameleon in CATCH ME IF YOU CAN which also had great character acting from Hanks.

Michael Biehn: Damn. This guy should be bigger than he is. Coolest marine in ALIENS.

David Boreneaz: Anyone who has seen enough Buffy and Angel knows how good this guy is. He went from quiet and brooding Angel to loud and cheerfully insane serial killer vampire Angelus and the two takes on the characters were so different it would be hard to believe that he was the character he started out as. Angelus in a cage in Angel season 4 SAVED that season because he was so good and scary. The man deserves more fame.

(Ever notice that Whedon's actors are pretty much always character actors?)

Bruce Willis: I like Bruce Willis. He can do comedy just as well as serious and almost always turns in a good performance.

Six awesome 13th Warrior alumni:

Omar Sharif: He's far greater than his tiny role in this movie, but I was going to list him anyways and he's in the movie. A true icon, underappreciated these days.

Vladimir Kulich: I mention this guy every time Omega Red comes up, and not simply because of the physical resemblance. Kulich has a real sense of nobility to him, and is a fucking badass to boot.

Dennis Storhoi: This guy came out of nowhere for his role in the 13th Warrior and then prompty redisappeared, but has the charisma and intensity to go far in Hollywood as a character actor (if he gets more recognition).

Tony Curran: The current disposable Irish actor (replacing Jason Barry from Titanic) this'n has an instantly recognizable voice and is good in everything he's in, but seems to be a box office curse for his movies.

Richard Bremmer: His badass facial tattoos in the 13th Warrior did half his work for him, but this guy seriously has one of the coolest pissed-off voices I've ever heard in a movie. Needs more roles as a heavy.

Anders T. Anderson: As the king's snotty son he shows up for about 5 minutes in the movie, but in that time he is able to establish himself as one of the most dispicable bastards in cinema history. Needs to be discovered by a casting agent somewhere.

Come to think of it, practically every supporting actor in that movie is great. God I love that movie.

Delroy Lindo - in anything he does. Dig the hell out of that dude.

Surprised no one's mentioned him yet, but the late Brion James. Tango & Cash? The Horror Show? Bladerunner? Gold.

How about some love for Canadian character actors:

Ian Tracey
Nicholas Campbell
Gordon Pinsent
Brian Markinson
Eric Peterson

For a couple slightly older actors: M. Emmet Walsh and Dan Hedaya--both in the Coen Brothers' "Blood Simple".

I could see Michael Emerson having a good career as a character actor after Lost. And Terry O'Quinn getting better parts.

Recent Oscar nominee Michael Shannon. Loved him in Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Tough and a piece of shit.

"You don't look happy. Mind if I call you Groucho?"

No mention of this guy? For shame!



“Character actors, who gives a fuck if we’re fat? - Brian Dennehy

Add this guy, and we can talk about Best Seller all day. Much love for their team-up in that film...

'Best Seller' is an unjustly forgotten film. Good call on the Dennehy.

This thread starts and ends at Gary Cole.

Fuck you, Hocken.

I calls it the way I sees it Savage.

D'accord.

A man whose career has reached unseen... nay, Olympian heights as the man behind...

Harvey Birdman, Attorney At Law!

Just ahead of the Venture Bros, as the best thing to come out of Adult Swim.

Dennis Farina all the way.

Now if only Midnight Caller would come on to dvd. Years before HACK, there was another former cop who roamed the street trying to right wrongs.

Brad Dourif - Can usually elevate shit into something at least mildly entertaining.

Michael Keaton - Would have had a better career had he stuck to the character actor mold rather than become a leading man in the '90s.

Seconding the calls for Dourif, Levine, Schiavelli, and many others. James Rebhorn would be on my list. He's a classic "oh, him!" choice, and a great go-to-guy for "bastard in a suit" roles (Carlito's Way, Independence Day.) Speaking of Carlito's Way, John Leguizamo anyone?

Oh, don't play Mr. Innocent. You know why I said that. And it's not about the Cole Credibility.

I'd add Jason Isaac.

Michael Shannon is indeed excellent. I mentioned this in the Oscar thread, but I thought it was kind of funny how much he and Christopher Walken looked alike at the Oscars. In an ideal world, he goes on to have Walken's career.

I watched Best Seller a few months back, and I wasn't impressed with it as you guys were. I guess you had to be there.

Ben Foster is a guy who's kind of morphed from teen star to character actor. He hasn't been in a Great Movie, but he's been the best part about a good, an okay, and a bad one. (Alpha Dog, 3:10 to Yuma, and 30 Days of Night, respectively.)

Jason Issacs doesn't get enough vehicles to show his range in the states (the guy was in Angels in America with Daniel Craig in London), but I really liked him as the lead in this potboiler series the BBC did called "The State Within." He played the British Ambassador to the United States, and got to use his ice-blue "I will fuck you up" eyes for the powers of good for once.

John Vernon.

Dirty Harry, Point Blank, National Lampoon's Animal House (I think Dean Wormer was his defining role), he had a gift for playing pompous characters.

For some reason, reading this I pictured Vernon Wells in his wife-beater vest and thought that two of these three films would be improved by his casting.

Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any love for Will Patton in this thread. What gives? The man's practically a legend in my book.

Will Patton is usually the best part of EVERY movie that he's in. Case in point:

'The Postman'
'No Way Out'
'Gone in 60 Seconds'
'the Punisher'

I'm tempted to add 'A Shock to the System' in there, but there are too many good elements in that movie to give him all of the credit.

He also voiced Rupert Thorne in Batman: The Animated Series and was Mr. Big in I'm gonna Git you Sucka.

Thoroughly depressing case of a great actor rarely used to the best of his abilities. No Way Out is the closest I've seen to him being well used in an actual good film. He was awesome in The Punisher, but the film around him, not so good.

And he's the only reason I've sat through all of The Postman THREE FUCKING TIMES. Well, that and the hilarious scene with Costner's son missing the Postman riding through. Oh, and "You hand out hope like it was candy in your pocket". Oh and, ah shit, that film's great.

Sackley: you need to see 'A Shock to the System'. It's a very dark comedy with Michael Caine from the late 80s. Caine is an executive who gets passed over for a promotion. When he accidentally kills a panhandler in a subway and gets away with it, he realizes that he can kill off the people in his life who piss him off (his wife, his boss, his coworkers). Patton is the cop investigating the homicides. It's a small role, but he's great in it. I won't spoil it, but the movie has a GREAT ending that you're not expecting.

Epic film! To this day, I still use that one line of Caine's...

"You, you, and you panic... the rest of you stay calm."

I use that line as well. I also occasionally use 'Bippity...Boppity...Boo' (along with the hand gestures) when something cool happens.

GREAT, underrated movie.

Consider it added to my rental queue. Cheers!