At one point in his or her career, every actor or
actress will inevitably say that they have had to “lose themselves” in the
character and that it was this metamorphosis that allowed them to inhabit the
character they were playing and turn in such an amazing performance. Daniel Day-Lewis (on anyone’s short list for
greatest actor of all time) and Gary Oldman (on everyone’s short list for
“thank God I got to make a film with him because being on screen with him makes
me seem that much better than I actually am and raises my profile”) have built
their careers on this idea. Sometimes in
order to facilitate this transformation, actors will even alter their appearance
and drastically change their weight; most notable being both Robert De Niro and
Christian Bale, but also don’t forget about Charlize Theron.
She gained four pounds for this role.
And
while these household names are known for losing themselves in the role, what
impresses me more in this day and age is some of the more unknown actors in
Hollywood who are truly chameleons while in front of a camera. The sad truth of
the film industry these days is that even some of our most beloved actors and
most bankable box office megastars are simply churning out repeat performances
of character types that they have mastered years ago and that we simply love
seeing them play. Sure he’ll take a
dramatic role every once in a while, but Will Smith knows that he made his
money by drawing out a patented, “Aw, hell no…” while holding a gun in front of
a Michael Bay sunset (In Hollywood, that’s called type-casting, which is a
common complaint from actors who’ve appeared in film after film playing similar
characters but now suddenly want to appear to be trying to stretch their
talents in different creative directions. In the real world, that’s just called
job security; but that’s a whole other article). In today’s business climate of studios wanting
to develop only franchise-launching properties or repurposing material for a
remake with a built in audience based on nostalgia, this trend is becoming even
more prevalent.
Which
is why, dear friends, I’m choosing to celebrate some of the lesser-knowns
of Hollywood; the true chameleons of the day. Some of them you may know, some perhaps not;
and some I’m guessing you’ll say, “Oh, that guy was in that movie?!?” Some of
you may even say, “What the hell does this author do for a living and how does
he have time to produce these articles every month?” Whatever your reaction, feel free to blow up
the comments section down below, and please join me in my salute to:
The Five Unsung Chameleons In Hollywood
CLIFF CURTIS
Known
For: “Three Kings”
Easily
the top choice on my list, this guy can literally play any ethnic type the
script calls for and he can do them all with equal amounts of pathos and earnest. Curtis’ breakthrough role was Amir Abdulah,
the Kuwaiti businessman who teams up with George Clooney and the gang halfway
through the film “Three Kings”; a role that not only gave an Arab a positive
command presence in the plot, but also threatened to steal the spotlight from
the wonderful ragtag team of American characters that came blasting into his
village. After freeing him from torture
and witnessing his wife’s execution (in a sequence that basically guaranteed
David O. Russell would get another directing job), the American soldiers
suddenly find themselves being rescued by Abdulah and his fellow
villagers. By the end of the film, he’s
up on the roof helping Ice Cube fight off an Iraqi helicopter and leading his
people to safety in Iran, taking the character’s arc from victim to victorious. It was an incredible performance in its own
right, but it got Holy-Crap-That’s-Freaking-Awesome better the next time you
saw him and found out that the guy isn’t even Arabian at all; he’s from New
Zealand. And that next performance I’m
referring to? It was his role as Smiley, the Latino gang member that almost
kills Ethan Hawke in “Training Day”.
Yeah,
it’s the same freaking guy!
Known
for its gritty realism and an unflinching look into police corruption and
brutality as well as the LA gang lifestyle, “Training Day” actually employed
real gang members to give the scenes involving their on screen counterparts
that much more realism. But in the
fifteen minutes he is on film, Curtis outshines them all in a terrifying turn
as the morally bankrupt gang banger to whom execution is a way of life and as
he puts it, “just business.” As if that
transformation wasn’t enough, Curtis also showed up in “Blow” as Pablo Escobar,
this minor criminal from this one country that exported something into America
(that last sentence is literally better than the entire script for “Blow”, a
film which came pre-reviewed by its title); and as a Hispanic, middle American
jury member in “The Runaway Jury”. No kidding
around, if I was this guy’s agent and the script called for a Caucasian woman,
I’d give it to him and let him see if he was interested in the role. You know he’d have no problem pulling it off.
STEPHEN LANG
Known
For: “Avatar”
James
Cameron deserves the title of “Most Innovating Filmmaker” based not only on his
technical direction and creativity but also on the fact that he literally
develops the technology that is used to create his vision (to give credit where
it is due, I am passionately against the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy in every
way, shape, and form; but Peter Jackson is a worthy runner up for this
award). Everyone wants to crap all over “Avatar”
for being a story that they had seen before a million times and that’s fine,
but no one is out there saying that the film wasn’t incredible to look at or that
the visuals won’t go on to redefine what CGI can and cannot do in the world of
film. And along side all of the
technical accomplishments of the film, there were some notable performances,
most eye catching was Stephen Lang as Col. Miles Quaritch. At the tender age of
57, Lang catapulted his career back into the spotlight (and himself onto one
terrible television show) by his gritty too-gung-ho performance as the military
leader of Pandora’s research station (a part Michael Biehn had already mastered
in Cameron’s earlier work “The Abyss”). To
be honest, it’s a pretty standard overbearing jarhead role that would have gone
a lot more unnoticed had Lang not looked like The Rock’s training partner the
whole time. I mean, come on! They gave Stallone crap about his Rocky Balboa
physique and this guy gets a pass?
Seriously, if Lang’s size truly is all natural then he’s got my vote to
be a part of the project that created Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins”. But what puts Lang on my list is his much
earlier body of work, specifically his turn as the most detestable cowboy in
the history of film, Ike Clanton in the vastly overlooked film “Tombstone”. This
is the film in which Lang actually displayed some acting chops (along with an
unfortunate accent), and he’s almost unrecognizable as the same man.
I’m much dirtier than I appear on screen!
But
wait till I really blow your minds. In
1986, the very first Hannibal Lecter film was released, and most people missed
it because it didn’t win any awards and Anthony Hopkins didn’t play everyone’s
favorite diabolical cannibal (Brian Cox actually did). It was called “Manhunter” although most
people know the story it was based on from when it was remade in 2002 into the
vastly inferior film “Red Dragon”. Directed by Michael Mann, the original film
is totally worth a look not only because it is terrifying in its own right but
also because William Peterson’s take on Will Graham completely annihilates
Edward Norton’s hollow performance. In this film the part of Freddy Louds, the
sleazy tabloid reporter that was played by Philip Seymour Hoffman in the remake
(the victim of the infamous “Do you see?” torture sequence), was played by none
other than Stephen Lang. That’s right,
the guy that ate nothing but scenery in “Avatar” once played a 160 pound
torture victim. Goes to show you what 23 years, and a profession where they
don’t test for HGH can do for your career.
AMY RYAN
Known
for: “Gone Baby Gone”
Years
ago, back when Ben Affleck was mere tabloid fodder (something that will be
forgotten in the wake of his “Argo” success; trust me on this, America loves a
comeback story), no one was ready for the talent this guy would one day bring
to the screen from behind the camera. In
what I consider one of the best tricks in his bag, Affleck really shines when
it comes to casting; considering that two actors that he has already directed
have been nominated for Academy Awards for their performances and that he’s jumpstarted
the careers of several lesser known actors simply be trusting them with bigger
roles than they had ever previously seen. The actor that fits in both of those
categories is Amy Ryan, most known for her gut-wrenching performance as the
mother of a missing child in “Gone Baby Gone” where she absolutely stole the
show from a pack of A-list actors who were all turning in powerhouse
performances. Shockingly not from South
Boston in real life, Ryan’s real performance came not from her accent; but rather
her complete immersion into the role of a drug-addicted loser who will never
raise herself nor her daughter above the South Boston projects. When this role
is contrasted with her previous role of the detective’s matronly wife Marie
Dewey in “Capote” a few years prior, the oceans of difference between the two
characters is what cements Ryan as a true chameleon. While she was over-shadowed by much of the
cast in that particular film, Ryan still nailed the role of the star-struck
Capote fan, torn between her allegiance to her husband and the novelty of the
famous author sitting at her dining room table.
To
truly see the versatility that Ryan can bring to the camera, you only have to
watch her guest star on NBC’s “The Office” (and yes, I’m totally cheating by
bringing in a television show, but she was so good in it that my wrongdoings
have no bearings on the validity of my argument. Also, calm down internet!). In the wake of
her “Gone Baby Gone” fame, Ryan joined the cast of the hit show as the
character Holly Flax, the new HR representative for Dunder Mifflin and eventual
love interest for Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.
Quirky and self-conscience as Michael could ever hope to be, Ryan’s
Holly was initially a breath of fresh air into a show that was dragging a
little bit in the ratings; but went on to become a long running guest character
and ultimately a great fit for everyone’s favorite well meaning but yet
horrible boss.
She transferred from the Southie Branch.
From Kansas matron to Boston drug addict to
corporate drone, Ryan’s ability to become her character so well, that you can’t
really see the actress herself is the essence of versatility and my guess is
that we haven’t seen the last of her during awards season.
WILLIAM FICHTNER
“The Dark Knight”
Even
though half of the people reading this article just went, “Oh, that’s that
guy’s name…”, Fichtner’s career has been an ever changing process of one
character right after the other. Most
people recognize him from “The Dark Knight” as the bank manager that the Joker
robs and then stuffs the gas bomb in his mouth during the opening sequence, but
the truth is that this role is a callback to the much larger character of Roger
Van Zant, the crooked investment banker from the 1995 crime masterpiece “Heat”. Fichtner imbues both roles with a twisted
brand of sliminess and at the same time shows a professionalism that would make
you think that the mob would entrust millions of dollars into his hands for
safe keeping. Even when everything in his life is spiraling out of control
either by robbery or one of the best death threats in all of cinema, he keeps attempting
to negotiate the situation and find a beneficial way out of it. He could easily be typecast into this type of
role all the time (and to be fair he does spend an awful lot of time playing
the sleazy lawyer/businessman who often has to make the seedy deals no one else
wants to make), but it’s been when he has broken out of this character type and
played completely other roles that show his inner chameleon, case in point his
portrayal of the blind SETI scientist Kent in the 1997 film “Contact” or the
role of taciturn fisherman David “Sully” Sullivan in the 2000 film “The Perfect
Storm” in which Fichtner took a page out of Stephen Lang’s book and bulked up
for noticeably.
My biceps do their own stunt work.
If
this isn’t enough to convince you that this guy can play anybody, let me remind
you that he’s also the guy who tried to convince Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr to
sell Amway in “Go” and led the NASA mission in a little film called
“Armageddon” so I’m just saying the guy has been around.
*The Editors of SpoilerAlert Podcast would
like to apologize for the author’s above reference
to the film “Armageddon” as it is universally recognized to warp children’s brains and should have never existed. Once again, our humblest of apologies.
MICHAEL PARKS
Known
For: “From Dusk Till Dawn”
The
old saying goes that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and while a lot of
idiots use the logic behind this statement as poor justification for being
whiners, it is true that often times one must stand out in order to be
noticed. So it is with much of the film
industry, that in order to get recognition for stepping outside your comfort
zone, you must travel to the complete opposite ends of the spectrum. However, every once in a great while, an
actor can connect with a role (even a minor one) so completely, that for the
rest of us he simply is that guy; only to have him show up and blow us away with
another perfectly understated performance.
Michael Parks is such an actor.
Known to us as Texas Ranger Earl McGraw from The Robert
Rodriquez/Quentin Tarantino Universe (as seen in “From Dusk Till Dawn,” the
“Kill Bill” films, and their collaborative effort, “Grindhouse”), Parks has cemented
himself as the unflinching Texas tough guy that has seen it all out there in
the desert (so good is he in this role that most people tend to forget that the
first time we saw him as this character, he died after a mere ten minutes on
screen). From this role, Parks crafted a
known persona for steady Hollywood roles, however its when he breaks this trend
that he’s the best. His turn as fanatical
cult leader Abin Cooper in 2011’s “Red State” was so disturbingly perfect that
it should put him on every studio’s short list for most versatile actors out
there. In what so easily could have been
a character that was nothing more than a token bad guy with a messiah complex
(and kudos to Kevin Smith for staving that off as well), Parks played this guy
as a fully fleshed out zealot that was responding proportionately to the
situation based upon his belief structure.
Not only that, but for a guy most known for a stoic draw, Parks threw
himself into some of Cooper’s more manic mood swings and vocalizations. However, even as good as Parks is in that
film, his true chameleon certification is found once again inside a Tarantino
funhouse. In “Kill Bill: Volume 2” when
The Bride heads down to Mexico and has a beer with former Bill associate and
most disturbing pimp of all time Esteban
Vihaio, guess who’s sitting across from Uma Thurman in that scene?
Honestly, you should have figured out where I was going with this.
Yep,
that’s Michael Freaking Parks chewing the scene right in front of your
face. Even more crazy is the behind the
scenes lore that Tarantino had given Ricardo Montalban (KHAN!!!) the role, but
Parks knocked it so far out of the park at the read through, Tarantino waved of
the more well known star. When I was
originally told that these roles were played by the same actor (I didn’t see
the closing credits in the theater because I was blinded by the awesome), I
thought someone was messing with me, but once I verified it I could only cheer
the performance of this guy.
HONORABLE MENTIONS:
These
are actors that have been amazing in their roles for a variety of reasons, but
unfortunately I haven’t seen enough of their performances to be able to judge
if they are true chameleons or if they are just a one hit wonder. Only time will tell.
KELLY
MACDONALD – Carla Jean Moss in “No Country for Old Men”
MAX
PIRKIS – Lord Blakeney in “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World”
-Brando
