Underrated Actors

Have you ever had an amazing but useless talent? 
I actually have one: I recognize great actors at first sight.
I can’t really know how to prove it but I can make a good example (and I have many, I swear!): back in 1986, when people asked me who my favourite actor was, I used to reply Daniel Day Lewis. The subsequent question, inevitably, was: Daniel who??! It was not until he became the last of the Mohican that people started to recognize him, while I personally thought he was already absolutely astonishing as Cecil Vise in A Room with a View. I just knew, from the way he was hiding behind that unbearable and irresistible character, that this guy was meant for greater things. 3 Oscars for best performing actor afterwards I think I was proved right. 
The problem is that, unfortunately, not always the great actors I spot have the career they deserve. This is, of course, a big injustice and so I decided to let you know who are the 5 great actors (in alphabetical order) who should be VERY FAMOUS… but are not...YET! 
Aidan Gillen (Dublin, Ireland, 1968) 

Spotted for the first time in Some Mother’s Son (1996) by Terry George, where he played one of the IRA hunger strikers, and then in Mojo (1997) by Jez Butterworth, Gillen has revealed his incredible potential playing the politically incorrect and irresistible motherfucker Stuart Alan Jones in the British version of Queer as Folk (2000) by Russell T. Davies. Since then, Gillen has played in some remarkable TV series (he was Mayor Tommy Carcetti in The Wire and now he’s Petyr ‘Littlefinger’ Baelish in Game of Thrones), in some very good indie movies: Treacle Jr., Mister John, Still, You're ugly too, or in very small roles in major movies. Somebody should finally cast him for a great film in a great role. 
It would be about time!

John Lynch  (Corrinshego-Newry, Northern Ireland, 1961)

The oldest of the group and the one I am more attached to: Irish actor John Lynch didn’t have AT ALL the career he deserved (and now it’s probably too late, damn it!). His first movie was Cal (1984) by Pat O’Connor, already a remarkable beginning, then he worked with Derek Jarman in Edward II (1991), he was one of the Guilford Four in In the name of the father (1993) by Jim Sheridan, he won many awards for his role in the Australian movie Angel Baby (1995) by Michael Rymer and for playing Bobby Sands (long before Michael Fassbender) in Some Mother’s son (1996) by Terry George. He was the unfaithful boyfriend of Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors (1998) by Peter Howitt and he wrote and played the main role, the one of his idol, Northern Irish footballer George Best, in Best (2000) by Mary McGuckian. After 15 years of forgettable TV series and minor roles in minor movies, he finally found a role at his level, in the amazing TV series The Fall, where he gives to policeman Jim Burns all the ambiguity and the vulnerability he is capable of. Pity this kind of character didn’t come before. 
I swear I should have been his agent.

Ben Mendelsohn (Melbourne, Australia, 1969) 

Under the spotlight since his great role in that gem called Animal Kingdom by David Michôd (2010), Mendelsohn is one of those actors capable of stealing the scene even in a small role. This was the case in The place beyond the pines (2012) by Derek Cianfrance, Killing them softly (2012) by Andrew Dominik, Lost River (2014) by Ryan Gosling and Black Sea (2014) by Kevin MacDonald. For the time being, besides the Michôd movie, two are the roles that gave him the chance to show what he is capable of: the tough father in Starred Up by David Mackenzie (2013) and the bad brother in the Netflix TV series Bloodline (2015). No one plays ambiguous villains like he does.
Let's hope his real breakthrough is not far away...

Cillian Murphy (Douglas-Cork, Ireland, 1976) 

Well, it is not my fault if Irish do it better... 
Murphy became quite famous playing the main role in 28 Days Later… (2002) by Danny Boyle and also thanks to his collaboration with Christopher Nolan (he is the Scarecrow of the Batman saga), but I personally thinks he delivered an astonishing performance as the transgender Patrick/Kitten in Breakfast on Pluto (2005) by Neil Jordan and as the republican rebel in The wind that shakes the Barley (2006) by Ken Loach. Besides the fact that anybody wants to seat near him in a plane due to his role in Red Eye (2005) by Wes Craven, Murphy is now waiting for THE great role he deserves in movies. Luckily enough, in these last two years he found a part worth his talent, the one of Thomas Shelby, the leader of a band of brothers in the magnificent TV series set in Birmingham around 1920: Peaky Blinders. I can’t wait to see the Season 3!

Noah Taylor (London, UK, 1969) 

Born in London but grown up in Australia, Taylor began his career there, playing in two remarkable movies: The year my voice broke (1987) by John Duigan and the part of pianist David Helfgott (young) in the Oscar winning Shine (1996) by Scott Hicks. Since then, he worked in a number of interesting movies: Almost Famous (2000) by Cameron Crowe, He died with a Felafel in his hand (2001) by Richard Lowenstein, Max ((2002) by Menno Meyjes, where he plays a young Adolf Hitler!, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004) by Wes Anderson, The Proposition (2005) and Lawless (2012) by John Hillcoat and The Double (2013) by Richard Ayoade.
Recently, he had two small but remarkable roles in two great TV series: he played Locke in Game of Thrones and the superbly wicked Darby Sabini in Peaky Blinders. For music fans: he is in the video of Nick Cave’s song Fifteen feet of pure white snow (and he actually has a funny resemblance to the singer).
It’s a mystery to me why he is not as famous as he should be.

Animal Kingdom

 

Melbourne, Australia. A boy is seated on a sofa in a poor living room: he is looking at some stupid TV program, while a woman is (apparently) sleeping near him. Somebody knock on the door, and two paramedics enter the room. Are you the one who called? They ask the boy. Yes, he answers, his eyes still glued to the screen. What did she take? Heroin.  

Welcome to the movie with the chilliest first scene of the whole cinema history, welcome to Animal Kingdom.
That woman, just for you to know, was the boy’s mother, and she is dead. For 17 years she tried to keep her son away from the rest of her lovely family, but now that she is gone, Josh is obliged to call his grandma and see if she is willing to help (knowing that mum and daughter didn’t talk to each other for ages…). Grandma is (unfortunately) ready to take care of him and Josh is welcomed inside the Cody family, the least suitable one in the world for a young mind. The Codys are a bunch of bad criminals: the eldest is Andrew “Pope”, specialized in armed robberies, the middle one is Craig, a drug dealer, and the youngest is Darren, the weakest one, who follows the other two in their crazy plans. Above them all, like a dark queen, mum Janine “Smurf” reigns. After one of their partners in crime is shot dead by the police, Andrew and Craig start a vengeance that will suck them into a spiral of deadly consequences. Young Josh, torn between his family, his girlfriend, and a detective who wants to take him out of troubles, will find himself in a very bad position. Will he be able to save himself?  
First feature film (wow!) by young Australian director David Michôd, Animal Kingdom (Winner of the Sundance Film Festival 2010) is a modern greek tragedy of epic proportions. It is tough, gloomy and hopeless: no light at the end of this dark tunnel, I am afraid. It is also one of the most anxious movies ever: you literally expect the worst at every moment, and very often the worst arrives and still surprises you. It is interesting to see and live things through the eyes of young, naïve (sometimes irritatingly so) Josh, and to feel frightened by the experiences he is going through. Families are deadly, I read once in a book, and this is particularly true for the Codys. Michôd seems to have had good maestri at school (Scorsese docet) but his style is very personal and he creates a scruffy, vaguely 70’s universe that suits perfectly to the story.  
The cast: the Codys brothers are spectacular, especially Ben Mendelsohn as the “Pope”, so good in hiding his craziness under a still surface. In the role of Sergeant Nathan Leckie, Guy Pierce is simply perfect. I love, love, love this actor: he is such a chameleon. In his career, he has played: a drag queen carrying the most incredible Abba’s souvenir in the middle of the Australian bush (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the desert), the toughest and heartless American detective (L.A. Confidential), an anguished and very confused man (Memento), Andy Wharol (Factory Girl), a criminal who has to take a tough decision in a weird Australian western written and directed by Nick Cave (The Proposition), a king who prefers love to kinging (The King’s Speech) and, in this movie, a stern but very human police officer who tries his best to make Melbourne a better place to live (good luck!). James Frecheville as young Josh is almost too good to be true and I prefer to see him in another movie before giving you my opinion, but the real gem, here, is without any doubt Jacki Weaver. Her portrayal of the scary, amazingly cruel, probably incestuous mother is unforgettable. The actress manages to show all the subtleties and the ambiguousness of this terrifying human being with so much charisma that you can’t get enough of her.
You are just very happy to know that she is on the screen and, well, she is not your mother.