Holley Projects: December 2011

Have you ever been introduced to someone who totally blew their introduction? That initial meeting then tainted all future meetings, because you thought of them as "the creepy guy," "the dumb guy," or "that one asshole." The first time I took note of these actors, the first time I really saw them... has ruined every future movie for me that they were in. This is NOT a list of one note actors (Keanu Reeves, Michael Cera, Robert Duval). This is a list of flexible actors, totally capable of playing a variety of characters... who I can only see one way. And really, it's their fault for being so convincing.

Patrick Wilson is a fantastic actor. He did a wonderful job in Watchmen, Phantom of the Opera, and The A-Team. He takes on each role with ease and a million dollar smile. Unfortunately, whatever sexiness he tried to portray in Little Children (or in the newly released Young Adult) ... will be lost on me. Because every time I look at his kind-eyes and fresh-face... all I see is a child-hungry pedophile, Jeff Kohlver from Hard Candy.

Now with 33% more creepy.

Zeljko Ivanek played potentially the most likable character in Damages. He was likable because he was flawed and suffering... and there for relatable. Although he played a highly educated, southern lawyer... I'd find myself staring at his finger tips. I was looking to see if he had fingernails, because to me he will forever be JJ the inbred, child-marrying, fundamentalist Mormon from Big Love. Ivanek is a wonderful, believable actor whose characters tend to blur the line between good-guy and bad-guy without seeming forced or unnatural.

He also has no fingernails.

James Callis has guest-starred on several Science Fiction shows I adore. He did a stint on Eureka as Dr. Trevor Grant. He played Gabriel McDow on the short-lived FlashForward. He graced the romcom genre as Tom in Bridget Jones Diary. What's amazing is that he never seems to grow older. Perhaps because he's actually a sleeper cylon that has been on this planet from the dawn of human time. Perhaps because he is ... Dr Gaius Baltar from Battlestar Galactica.

Every show James Callis is in is actually a documentary
of the life of Gaius Baltar.

Laurence Fishburne is the "new" Gibbs on CSI: Las Vegas. He's played compelling characters in Akeelah and the Bee, Searching for Bobby Fischer and Mystic River. He's won an Emmy. He's written screenplays. He's a qualified, well-known actor. I've seen him in a number of movies, including the serious and ultimately frightening Apocalypse Now. However... when I refer to him in movies, I do not call him "Laurence Fishburne." I call him by his true name - Morpheus.

How can you out run a character who exists outside of the matrix?
You can't .

Jake Busey plays crazy characters who all seem like time-bombs about to go off. He actually was in a movie titled Time Bomb! I haven't seen time bomb, but I can guess he's a crazy, spontaneous character. I have seen him in The Killing Jar, Enemy of the State, Starship Troopers and Contact. All good movies with definite high points. But, as I was watching these movies (including Starship Troopers, where he played kind of a dope)... every ounce of me was waiting for him to carve a number into somebody's forehead with a box cutter. For me Busey will always be Johnny Charles Bartlett from The Frighteners. Specifically, he will always be the Bartlett in corporeal form and not like... a crazy house ghost waiting to eat me.