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[Okay, so I've decided to toss off the shortest one.]
I saw "Se7en" last night, in which Kevin Spacey gave what was to me a virtuoso turn as a serial killer. Forget Hannibal Lecter, Spacey's John Doe was the scariest movie monster I've seen in a long time.
What made it so chilling was how calm the character was. No histrionics, with the occasional flash of temper -- nothing too angry -- that showed he was not an automaton. There was an odd serenity to his madness. And yet at the same time evil seemed to positively emanate from him.
I've admired Spacey in other movies -- I think "American Beauty" may be the best movie of the past ten years, or close to it. What amazes me about him is his seeming ability to slip inside the skin of the men he plays. Which, considering some of the characters he's played, gives one pause.
Actors act. One should never confuse the performance with the performer. One does not need to be a serial killer to play one onscreen convincingly. And yet.... do you need to be able to imagine yourself a serial killer? How do you get close to the soul of a character?
I think the best actors have the best imaginations. A middle-of-the-road actor might have the capacity to turn in a wonderful performance, given a good enough director, without necessarily being able to replicate the feat. A good actor should have the ability to turn in many great performances along a few emotional axes. But the truly great actors can go anywhere on the emotional map. To do this, I think, requires empathy and more: an intelligent imagining of the way other people think. One of the prime examples of this was Jimmy Stewart: just compare Stewart's hapless Elwood P. Dowd from "Harvey" with the detective he plays in "Vertigo". Both terrific performances, both much different from each other.
I'm not completely sure Spacey is a great actor. I would like to see him do more comedy (if you can classify "American Beauty" as a comedy, which I think you can, albeit a dark one).
But he sure is a scary one.
I saw "Se7en" last night, in which Kevin Spacey gave what was to me a virtuoso turn as a serial killer. Forget Hannibal Lecter, Spacey's John Doe was the scariest movie monster I've seen in a long time.
What made it so chilling was how calm the character was. No histrionics, with the occasional flash of temper -- nothing too angry -- that showed he was not an automaton. There was an odd serenity to his madness. And yet at the same time evil seemed to positively emanate from him.
I've admired Spacey in other movies -- I think "American Beauty" may be the best movie of the past ten years, or close to it. What amazes me about him is his seeming ability to slip inside the skin of the men he plays. Which, considering some of the characters he's played, gives one pause.
Actors act. One should never confuse the performance with the performer. One does not need to be a serial killer to play one onscreen convincingly. And yet.... do you need to be able to imagine yourself a serial killer? How do you get close to the soul of a character?
I think the best actors have the best imaginations. A middle-of-the-road actor might have the capacity to turn in a wonderful performance, given a good enough director, without necessarily being able to replicate the feat. A good actor should have the ability to turn in many great performances along a few emotional axes. But the truly great actors can go anywhere on the emotional map. To do this, I think, requires empathy and more: an intelligent imagining of the way other people think. One of the prime examples of this was Jimmy Stewart: just compare Stewart's hapless Elwood P. Dowd from "Harvey" with the detective he plays in "Vertigo". Both terrific performances, both much different from each other.
I'm not completely sure Spacey is a great actor. I would like to see him do more comedy (if you can classify "American Beauty" as a comedy, which I think you can, albeit a dark one).
But he sure is a scary one.
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it was the first movie i ever saw him in. he is one of my most favorite actors ever.
and he scared the heck out of me in "Se7en".
*shiver*
my step-father watched "American Beauty" over and over when he was dying of cancer. i haven't watched it since then. it is burned into my heart. (in a good way)
n.
off to home now, no, really :)
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If you want to see him in a comedy, I highly recommend "The Ref." Like good acting, good comedy comes from putting real people in funny situations and letting them behave according to their character dictates. "The Ref" is one of the blacker comedies around because the people (I think) are believable.
Oh, and don't believe the video rental filing systems that list "Swimming With Sharks" as a comedy.
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Cox's Lector was garulous, conversational, the kind of person who could effortlessly strike up a conversation with complete stragers. But then the mask would sometimes slip, and you'd see what lay beneath, just when you were thinking this was a nice guy.
Manhunter is a sadly under-rated film, but Brian Cox is one of the many good things in it.