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December 19, 2007
TEN ACTORS WHO NEED TO ACT MORE!
While watching NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (which I haven’t reviewed, but will), I was captivated by Josh Brolin’s brilliant mix of the phlegmatic and jittery and, like everyone else though, “Why isn’t this guy in more stuff?” Of course, before his fortuitous enterprise with the Bros. Coens, Brolin was toiling away in obscure movies and his most famous role to date was either GOONIES or as the son of Barbra’s Streisand’s husband (also named Brolin*). Brolin had a breakout year – he’s one of those guys who needed to escape his boy-toy image and put some character on his brow.
So this got me thinking, who are the other actors and actresses who need to be in more movies? This is not the same as the A.V. Club’s list, where they pick character actors who are very active, and very good. Robert Downey Jr., Catherine Keener, Zooey Deschanel, and Steve Buscemi (among my favorites) are already in a lot of movies, and I’m happy with that (even though many of them are crap or are going to be crappy). Unfortunately, you rarely see the folks I’m noting in choice roles. Here’s hoping they find a Forsterian** comeback that jolts them into character actor heaven.
This is kind of a reverse-order list, meaning my number one is at the end. There are eleven, by the way.
IBEN HJEILE
There are two camps among fans of the Cusack HIGH FIDELITY movie. Some found Hjeile annoying and whiny, others saw her as a refreshing new face attractive in an unfamiliar way. I stand in the latter camp, and looked forward to seeing her as a permanent fixture in independent movies. Sadly, she rarely graces the American screen. According to the IMDB, she’s back in Denmark making movies.
THORA BIRCH
Another face I thought would be an indie fixture. Her roles in AMERICAN BEAUTY and GHOST WORLD were iconic, but unfortunately in an Anthony Perkins/PSYCHO sort of way. I don’t think any casting director can look beyond Birch to see her talents extending past the ability to play hipst-hers who wear coke bottle glasses and roll their eyes a lot. It’s too bad because those roles do an effective job of masking her unusual beauty. Her post GHOST WORLD-resume is a list of movies you’ve never heard of. I wish they’d cast her instead of Christina Ricci in everything.
TOBY HUSS
I know, who? Huss materializes every now and then and reminds me that he exists. Mostly, he’s been “that guy” in a bunch of TV shows I love – SEINFELD, THE ADVENTURES OF PETE AND PETE, NEWSRADIO. This year, he hilariously played a drunken limo driver in CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM. He also stole scenes in RESCUE DAWN. I think Huss needs an “Uncle Rico” role to show his gifts.
CHRIS ELLIOTT
I think Elliott’s thing is to make funny appearances on Letterman and get paid to show up in random movies and make unfunny dialogue slightly funnier. But I think CABIN BOY actually showed an actor who could carry a film, albeit a bad one. His scenes in SOMETHING ABOUT MARY are by far the funniest.
GINA GERSHON
Mainly because she’s very very hot. But also because she showed some comic range on CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM as an exotic dry cleaner. Critics and columnists are always complaining that there aren’t enough choice roles for older women – here’s one.
CARRIE-ANNE MOSS
After THE MATRIX, I remember thinking that Moss would be a huge star. She’s beautiful, tough, sexy, and can stare through a brick wall. MEMENTO seemed to show that she could play characters who did not live in simulated realities (technically). Unfortunately, she seems destined to be a B-movie queen, defined by her one role.
GINA MCKEE
When I saw the Head Nurse in ATONEMENT, I wondered where I had seen her. I remembered with a great movie I caught up with on Encore – as the bitchy store-detective girlfriend in the movie that introduced to Clive Owen, CROUPIER. She’s great in both (and in a small part in NOTTING HILL), and seems in lot of ways like a British Marcia Gay Harden.
COURTNEY LOVE
Some people who know me know of my unfortunate attraction to Ms. Love. I know, I know – she probably killed Kurt Cobain. But have you seen PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT? Who woulda thunk it (Also, Hole’s first album is pretty great)? When Love was passed over for an Oscar nomination, she all but disappeared, only popping out of obscurity long enough to play psycho whores. I think she is a very natural talent and she is, of course, easy on the eyes even (read: especially) when wearing a dress that’s covered with cigarette burns.
CHRIS EIGEMAN
Whit Stillman, where are you? Apparently, working. In three awesome films, Eigeman plays a Stillman surrogate and unlike Woody Allen, each character acts as a different aspect of Stillman. In METROPOLITAN, BARCELONA, and LAST DAYS OF DISCO, he is, respectively, a slickster, a burnout, and an idealistic romantic. And he’s also great in my two favorite Noah Baumbach films. Eigeman is good looking, but he’s about as charismatic as this sweater I once owned that more or less made me invisible. His strength lies in his ability to convey a sharp intelligence, and a thoughtfulness that may or may not be authentic. I hope we see both him and Stillman again (and a pre-pain and suffering Baumbach). By the way, ALL of Stillman’s actors need to be working again, but other than the DISCO stars (Beckinsale, Sevigny), none of them are.
KEITH CARRADINE
Carradine was a big player in Robert Altman’s 70s film, and in the films of Altman’s protégé, Alan Rudolph. He’s not as cool as brother David, nor as nerdy as Robert, but Carradine, like Josh Brolin, has aged well. As Wild Bill Hickok, he was my favorite thing about DEADWOOD. He’s a strong, solid presence who can also suggest weariness and vulnerability.
ERIC STOLTZ
I just don’t get that Stoltz doesn’t have a cult. He is, in every aspect, the “poor man’s John Cusack” – but just like Cusack he’s verbose, an 80s teen star who has matured into a likably shaggy persona, thoughtful, and possesses a sly charisma that’s perfect for the kind of comedies he’s perfect for. He’s great at pontificating while holding a beer, even better at suggesting all of life’s answers based on experience he doesn’t have.
Check it: the other day I Tivoed and rewatched PULP FICTION. Just as good as I remembered it. Every scene and character suggests a life beyond the scene, and it has one of the amazing soundtracks ever put to film. But Stoltz is so great in his two scenes with Travolta. He’s so convincing as this stoner who doesn’t want to take action but kinda feels like he has to.
BTW, weirded out by this scene? That's right, Stoltz was the original Marty McFly, but was considered too dark for the movie. They filmed a few scenes. It's hard to imagine a Fox-less FUTURE.
PTA, Wes A, one of you guys who likes to reinvent – start with Stoltz, then go down the rest of the names on my list.
* Who, by the way, gave one of the most underrated performances in the history of movies (TV movies, anyway) as Ronald Reagan in the much-derided TV biopic.
** Robert (of JACKIE BROWN) not E.M. (of HOWARDS END)
| By Andytown | 11:03 AM
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