I remember being pleasantly surprised that John Malkovich, one of my all-time favorite actors, was in the movie. But I remember being most intrigued by the character "Durza," henchman of the king (Malkovich) and wizard/shade/generally creepy bad guy. I remember wondering who the actor was who played Durza...I thought he was incredibly good, and vaguely familiar. Here's a Durza Tribute from YouTube. Unfortunately there's no dialogue but you can get a gander at him:
So there he is. Creepy, huh?
So at the time that I saw the movie, I thought maybe it was Paul Reubens. You may remember him as Pee Wee Herman?
Or you may remember him for his infamous adult movie theater incident. Either way, take a look:
You can see the resemblance to Durza, right? Right?
So imagine my surprise when I Yahoo'd the movie and found out where I'd REALLY seen this guy.
I was stunned.
And impressed.
(drum roll please...)
This Guy:
Is THIS Guy:
Oh, I SEE the resemblance. Now.
But in The Full Monty, Robert Carlyle's character "Gaz" was about as polar opposite of "Durza" as possible. And yet Carlyle played them both so convincingly!
I was impressed to learn that Carlyle starred in the film adaptation of my favorite book of all time, ever: Angela's Ashes. I never saw the movie because I didn't want to be disappointed. I can't fathom how one would even START to put the work of Frank McCourt to film. If you've ever read his books, you know what I'm talking about. A large percentage of the pleasure of reading his stories is the READING part...but I digress.
I know I've seen Carlyle in other films as well, but he always seems to be that guy that I can't quite place, but who puts on a good show (ha ha). I will now start paying more attention to him as an actor.
Interestingly, he played Hitler in a TV miniseries a few years back. I never heard about it, and I'm not sure I could stomach it, but I may have to rent it just to see Carlyle act. Here's a pic:
And the creepiness just doesn't end....
8 comments:
I like Robert Carlyle too - he's been on quite a few things over here - always very good and quite adaptable. Don't work too hard and have a good evening x
He does have a Peewee-esqueness about him in that movie.
I never saw the movie and never read the book. I'm slightly tempted. But not completely. Maybe I'll start off with the movie since you think it isn't too bad.
Robert Carlyle is an amazing actor with a huge range being able to pull off leading man, villain, guy next door and just about anything else. You may have seen him recently in 24 Redemption as Jack Bauer's former spy buddy who had left the life of Operative for the relative peace of a boys orphanage in some generic war-torn African country. He was good in that too.
As for Angela's Ashes well he played Frank McCourt's drunken useless father with such depth that he was quite sympathetic in the end. For me the best part of the film was the setting. I'm from Limerick y'see. He went to school with my Dad and I personally knew several of the people in the book.
But as for Robert Carlysle - I'm a big fan!
I love Frank McCourt & didn't know there was a movie made of Angela's Ashes (that's how tuned in I am!). But I might see it now, I loved Robert Carlyle in the Full Monty.
Interesting post, Mama!
He made a great Hitler — and also a very good weirdo killer in an early episode of Cracker with Robbie Coltrane.
I really did think it was Pee-Wee. Weird
I didn't know there was an Angela's Ashes movie either. Not sure if I'd watch it though because I really liked the book.
I don't know this actor, but from the looks of the photos he appears very chameleon like.
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