There are terrible
actors, good actors and underrated actors. The latter is a rather controversial notion. While
Paul Giamati, for
example, can be labeled as an underrated actor just because regular movie goers
probably will have no or in better case will have vague idea who the hell you
are talking about, any decent cinemaphile will feel insulted if you ask
"Do you even know who Paul Giamatti is?", cause trust me they do. So
for further clarification by underrated actors I mean those who - in my humble
(but sometimes arrogant opinion) have or had
tremendous potential for creating memorable characters but never got the chance
to do so, due to reasons only commercially minded fucked up producers will
know. So here is the list:
Tim Curry
An actor who had to settle for stupid roles in movies like Home Alone 2 and Congo, but who still managed to be extraordinarily memorable while playing the Devil (Darkness to be more precise) in Ridley Scot's fantasy visual feast Legend and bloodthirsty dancing clown penny-wise from poorly filmed but, nevertheless, creepy adaptation of Stephen King's novel It
Why I like him? Cause he can damn sing
and damn he is creepy as hell, but creepy in an artistic way. He proved that he
can sing in Rocky Horror show but I prefer his devilish voice in environmentalist
cartoon FernGully (which actually also casts Robin Williams as a crazy lab bat)
where he actually makes you fall in love with disgusting slime villain called Hexus
by just bringing out some "Toxic Love". I may be biased but I even like him as Cardinal Richelieu in Three
Musketeers.
Unfortunately you cannot
name at least one movie where he is the leading man. Of course he doesn’t
really have the "starish" appeal of Brad Pitt which will turn any
movie into a box office success, but I think he would be great in art house
movies and not only in devious roles. He really has the capability to bring dramatic
intensity to psychological roles where his deep voice and unusual smile could be put
to use for something worthy of his talent.
P.S. It would be
interesting to see him in the Lars Von Trier or David Lynch movies. Even though I
personally hate Trier's recent nihilistic, sex obsessed films.
P.P.S Btw he also
played Shakespeare...
Elias Koteas
Only die hard movie
lovers know this Greek-Canadian creepiness in flesh guy. I mean you see him in
movies but never bother to remember his name cause he is not even the main
villain! (roles in shooter and Defendor do not
count, cause what villain allows himself to be overpowered by girls or
crazy psychologically damaged people? ) You like him, you wonder why the main
evil plotter was another guy, but then you forget him...
I bet he can outdo even
Anthony Hopkins in playing a serial killer and he has never gotten the chance
to play a real full-fledged villain. Now isn’t that sad? At least give him a chance.
He is right there in front of everyone, he is kind of famous, he played in Thin
red line, Crash (no, not the crappiest Oscar winning movie it's I wanna do you
in a wrecked car cronenberg flick), Shutter island, Let me in (American
version) and so on, but again as well as Tim Curry he never gets leading roles.
I
first saw him with Denzel Washington Fallen just for 4-5 minutes where he is
death row inmate and I got blown away. He is good. And he deserved and deserves at least one good movie role like
Michael Rooker in The portrait of Serial Killer.
Despite the fact that I
mainly emphasize his artistic ability to portray poisonous villains does not
mean that I think his skills are not suitable for playing good guys, not at
all. An example that he can do that is his role in the Thin Red Line where his
character's sincerity and peaceful presence truly calms down the auditorium.
Having such prominently and
outstandingly calming effect on the viewer in Terrence Malick's
slow paced film (which you can sometimes just listen to) is already an
achievement.
Brad Dourif
A true gem. A young actor
who started his career in a cult classic One flew over the Cuckoo's nest and ended up as a killer doll's voice. Unfortunately
since then Brad Dourif has been mainly associated with B horror movie Child's
Play and other horror flicks, some of them were average some of them were
terrible.... in some of them he managed to remind everyone that he is still a
good actor. I have one particular scene in mind where he goes berserk just for
30 seconds but it is better than the rest of the movie.
It seems like he is talking to everyone who ditched him accusing him of
being one dimensional actor. Now after watching that scene don’t you wonder where
did the poor Billy Bibbit go? He is one of those few actors that are equally
capable of portraying raging maniacs and innocent psychologically
damaged youngsters. But not even once he was given a chance
to lead in a decent movie with a decent director...
P.S. The fact that he hasn’t seen a worthy role in years while Sarah Jessica Parker
earned millions of dollars with her shitty acting in Sex and the City series
and movie franchise is just... annoying. Oh and the Twilight with Kristen Stewart, Lamma boy and a shovel face (I know. Too obvious. Couldnt resist)
