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.

Top 5 TV Series of 2014

As you probably imagine, not only Zazie spends much of her time in the dark of cinema theatres, but also when she’s home, she can’t help herself but spending time watching TV series.
TV Series are the new Movies, let’s admit it. 

Sometimes it’s hard to find in cinema the same level of originality, boldness and amazement that you can find in television products.
There are so many jewels out there, that it’s basically impossible to see them all, but Zazie tried her best. So, starting from 2015, besides the usual TOP 10 of Best Pictures (wait, it will be published soon!), Zazie will share with you her TOP 5 of Best TV series!
Aren't you excited??!
One word before I start, for the TV series freaks like me: yes, I have seen True Detective and Fargo but for some reasons they didn't excite me as much as I thought. I liked them, I enjoyed to see them very much, but I forgot about them too soon. And this is not a good sign, as far as I'm concerned. 

Also, I would like to mention a couple of TV mini-series that really made my day:

Olive Kitteridge by Jane Anderson & Elizabeth Strout

Because I can't stop thinking about the incredible performances of Frances McDormand and Richard Jenkins:

Quirke by John Banville, Andrew Davies and Conor McPherson

Because I can't stop thinking about Gabriel Byrne... (hey, I'm a blogger, not a saint!):

And here's my list:

5 - Transparent by Jill Soloway
From one of the scenarists of Six Feet Under (yes, she can!), the story of a dysfunctional but irresistible modern family in contemporary Los Angeles: the son is loosing his job and his mind over too many women, one of the two daughters doesn't know what to do with her life and the other one is leaving her family for another woman. The mother, divorced, is fed up of taking care of her second and very ill husband and the father, well, the father is a trans. Too over-the-top not to be irresistible, and Jeffrey Tambor yesterday night won the Golden Globe for this part. 
Well done, Maura!

4 – Mad Men/Season 7 (1st part) by Matthew Weiner
Waiting for the End of an Era, we witness Don Draper and his kind entering a new time in history: the ‘70s. Set between a cold and dark New York and a warm and sunny Los Angeles, the adventures of this bunch of advertising men and women is slowly but inexorably going towards the abyss. Nobody is doing the right thing, here. Lost in a changing and unrecognizable world, our heroes keep making mistakes and turning in circles. 

Where all this is going? To hell, most probably.
And I personally can’t wait to see it (even if, I know, I’ll feel like an orphan, afterwards).

3 - The Affair by Hagai Levi & Sarah Treem
From the creators of In Treatment (Santi Subito!), the story of a love affair that would torture anybody’s heart. Noah and Alison are both married but they can’t help themselves: they become lovers during a summer in the Hamptons. Questioned months later by a NY detective about the death of somebody they both knew, they talk about the same episodes but in a completely different way. 
Divided in two parts of 30 minutes each, reporting first Noah and then Alison’s version, this modern Rashomon is one of the finest things you can come across. Besides the great screenplay, the two (British, of course!) main actors raise the bar at the highest levels. 
Dominic West and Ruth Wilson (she just won a Golden Globe for this role) are so amazing that you want to fiercely believe in both their versions.

2 - The Knick by Jack Amiel & Michael Begley
Once we were butchers. 
In a Manhattan hospital at the beginning of last century, a group of brave (and a bit crazy) surgeons try their best to save peoples’ lives using new techniques.
Forget about ER, Grey’s Anatomy and Dr. House: things are much worse here. There’s blood everywhere, inside and outside the hospital, surgeons are under drugs or fighting for their (black) rights. It’s a mess, but it’s a great one. Steven Soderbergh is the magician behind the camera of each episode. The dark sepia light in which this world is living is intoxicating: you can’t get enough of it.
And Episode 7 is possibly the best thing I’ve seen this year.

1 – The Fall/Season 2 by Allan Cubitt
Yes, I know, the first season of The Fall was just a very good and intriguing new series.
The story of a serial killer in Belfast who’s attacking and viciously killing young women and of the Detective Superintendent Stella Gibson, called from London to investigate and solve the case.
This second series, well, this second one is something else.
The serial killer is not killing anymore, the policemen hating bad men finds out to have one inside of him (great John Lynch) and Stella (magnificent Gillian Anderson) is shining like a rising star, as her name promises: a single and very sexy woman obliged to live in a men’s world, not afraid of being afraid, not justifying herself for her commitment-free (and possibly bi-sexual) love life, not worried of being smarter and stronger than any other man around her.
As you’ve probably understood: this was love at first sight.