In my blog entry about the new live action Cinderella movie from a few weeks ago, I lamented the absence of big booming British actor Brian Blessed in the cast.
This was the second time a Kenneth Branagh-directed film had provoked this reponse in me- when Branagh was announced as the director of the first Thor film, I simply presumed that Blessed - who featured prominently in three of Branagh's Shakespeare adaptations, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and As You Like it - would be playing Odin. But alas, that upstart Anthony Hopkins swooped in and took the roll.
While many of Blessed's less talented peers cash in with roles in Harry Potter and other fantasy blockbusters that require larger-than-life British actors, Blessed is stuck with Kiwi bank commercials.
Blessed is of course only one of many working actors whose talent outshines the kind of roles they get, but his case seems especially egregious, if only because of how awesome he was in Blackadder.
It's gratifying when hard-working character actors like Steve Buscemi, William H. Macy, Melissa Leo and JK Simmons can ascend to a leading role status of sorts, but I spend a lot of time thinking about actors who should enjoy such a career transition.
Here I will cite seven actors (including Blessed), who I think especially deserve higher profile roles than the ones they generally play.
Of course, some of these actors may prefer to keep a low profile, and do not seek anything more than the roles they enjoy. But like everything I write here, let's pretend I am the God of Movies and I get everything I want. And what I want is for the following actors to get better roles in better movies.
Brian Blessed
Familiar to several generations of Kiwis for his multiple guest-starring performances on
Blackadder
, Blessed is a British TV institution who played memorable supporting roles in films like
(1991), as well as the Branagh films mentioned above. He works consistently in TV and voiceover, but his last "proper" movie appearance was in Oliver Stone's
Alexander
(2004).
Most Underrated Performance:Simply killed it as the be-winged Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon.
Ideal Vehicle: Look I know this blog is about movies, but get this bastard on Game of Thrones already!
This dark brown-eyed actor was born in America but spent a large part of her upbringing in South Africa. A year after playing the female lead in Sam Raimi's cult favourite
Army of Darkness
, she turned a lot of heads with a startling supporting performance in Steven Spielberg's
Schlinder's List
. Davidtz has gone on to enjoy high profile roles in plenty of big studio movies (she was Peter Parker's "dead" mum in the
films) and has done great work in quality shows like
Mad Men
and
In Treatment
, but she never graduated to the A-list status her talent deserves.
Most Underrated Performance: Davidtz was fantastic as a disturbed femme fatale in the Robert Altman-directed, John Grisham-scripted Southern Lawyer Noir The Gingerbread Man (1998), which is highly underrated.
Before I paused to consider the injustices of Brian Blessed's later career, it was Tim Curry's fate that initially inspired me to write this blog entry. He was so great in so many great films, but now he toils away his twilight years in kids TV and video games. The definitive Dr. Frankenfurter has surely earned a higher place in the ongoing popular culture?
Most Underrated Performance: Curry's energetic work as the Wadsworth the butler in 1985's Clue, the cultishly-adored comedic adaptation of the iconic board game Cluedo, is an absolute master class in comic perfection.
Ideal Vehicle: There's been talk lately about who could or should play Pennywise the Clown in an upcoming adaptation of Stephen King's iconic horror novel It, the basis for a memorable 1990 mini-series in which Curry delivered one of his creepiest ever performances as the ancient evil entity which takes the form of a murderous children's entertainer. I reckon they should get Curry to play the role again, he could still totally pull it off. Also, this is the last time I'll say this I promise, but he would be great on Game of Thrones too.
Annabella Sciorra
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Perhaps best remembered as the wronged mother from 1991's domestic thriller classic
(1998), which feels like it's on the road to rediscovery. Or at least should be. Sciorra seems a bit resigned to TV these days, but I won't rest until this lady has an Oscar.
Most Underrated Performance: Sciorra absolutely shined as one half of a semi-doomed couple in '90s rom com The Night We Never Met, which has aged much better than many of its kind from the era..
Ideal Vehicle: The lead in a gritty Martin Scorsese movie.
Charles Grodin
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Of all the actors cited here, this is the one I'm most confident has everything he wants, and doesn't really need any career help or extra appreciation. It's just that I enjoyed his recent extended guest-starring presence on Louie so much, it made me yearn for more big screen Charles Grodin action. To filmlovers only slightly younger than me, Grodin is the dad from the Beethoven movies, but to myself and innumerable action fans the world over, he will always be Jonathan 'The Duke' Mardukas, Robert De Niro's foil in the 1988 action comedy classic
Midnight Run
, which I like to mention a lot in this space, and make no apologies for doing so. Grodin has been and done almost everything - he worked as a peformer on
early in his career, made a huge impact in one devastating scene in
Rosemary's Baby
(1968) and gained wide recognition as a perennial guest of Johnny Carson and then David Letterman on their respective late night talk shows. He also had his own politically-inclined talk show on CNBC during the '90s. It featured in an episode of
Seinfeld
. So he probably just doesn't feel like being in movies. Plus he turns 80 this month. But he is the awesomest and I would love to see him in more stuff.
Most Underrated Performance: 1972's The Heartbreak Kid is revered as a classic, but it deserves the iconic status of the film to which it is often compared, 1967's The Graduate. The earlier film was heralded as taking a starkly modern view of romance, but The Heartbreak Kid makes it look like a Harlequin novel. Grodin easily sells the relentless discomfort.
Ideal Vehicle: I'm still hanging out for that long-rumoured Midnight Run sequel, but Brett Ratner should jog on.
Lenny Clarke
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A former stand-up comic, Clarke got a shot at his own self-titled sitcom ('
Lenny
') in 1990. It did not last. But Clarke did, often turning up in shows produced by his pal from the stand-up days, Denis Leary, such as
. There are no shortage of Lenny Clarke "types" working in Hollywood - that type being big Bostonian blowhards who don't take any crap - but there's just something so vulnerable about the way Clarke inhabits these kinds of characters. He works steadily, but seems to be perceived as a sitcom-level actor. His casual authenc take on a familiar sterotype deserves a cinematic outlet.
Most Underrated Performance: I'll never forget the episode of short-lived cop comedy The Job (2001-02), which was kind of a police-centric dry-run for Rescue Me, where Lenny's character, a recidivist overeater with ongoing weight issues, breaks down and shamelessly scoffs a whole wedding cake while sitting on a deserted sidewalk at night. It is a moment of raw, honest beauty.
Ideal Vehicle: Umm, a mob comedy maybe?
Piper Perabo
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After arriving amongst a torrent of young women bearing the tag "The Next Julia Roberts" at the end of the '90s, Piper Perabo was suddenly everywhere thanks to her lead role in the high profile "sexy bar" movie
Coyote Ugly
(2000). Her association with the highly-successful-but-widely-ridiculed film probably hurt Perabo's prospects in the short-term, but she's carved out a respectable acting career since (
), and has spent the the last four years as the lead in the TV spy series
Covert Affairs
, which just got cancelled. She should be playing main roles in giant movies. She effortlessly projects an earthy radiance lacking in many current leading ladies. She's paid her TV dues now so she's familiar enough. Time for the next level.
Most Underrated Performance: Perabo displayed spry blockbuster chops in the live-action CGI hybrid The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, which was perceived as a giant folly upon its release in the year 2000, but remains an undeniably fascinating watch.
Ideal Vehicle: Something along the lines of Sandra Bullock in Gravity. Or maybe a Marvel film. Comfortable in sci-fi too. She can do anything really.
