What was the point in having the same actor play 2 different big parts?

Cause dillahunt is an insanely good actor, one of the best alive. He played each role perfectly anyway and they looked like different guys.

I think he and Milch pulled it off brilliantly. It took me a while before I realized it. But his acting, for me, was such that it worked well.

I also found it distracting and confusing, I noticed that it was the same actor right away, and kept thinking he was related to the first character and the story was connected and thats why they got the same actor. They looked exactly the same and it didn't make sense for them to use the same actor for an unrelated part.

Dillihunt was a little-known, but excellent character actor with the diversity to bolster any one of the uncast roles. His take on the sleazy Jack McCall was so impressive that Milch (who knows talent) decided - rightfully so - that he would be perfect for the hard-to-cast, complex and enigmatic role of Woolcott.

Or... the way things came out in the wash:

Maybe it was simply a concession by Milch to those cheap bastards in charge at HBO towards the balancing of the books and hounding him to continue working with a reduced budget (which, it turns out, was the deciding factor in the cancellation).

It could also be why one of the most interesting, admired characters and the only (somewhat) "name" actor (Keith Carradine) was killed off 4 episodes into the Series.
I mean, I know the history but really?!? Even Game Of Thrones isn't that quick on the draw - see what I did there? 😀



~RP~






"I dont think you fully understand, Bigelow.. You've been murdered."

I watched the series 3 times and never noticed until I read it online. He was brilliant in both roles.

Back when Milch was a writer on Hill Street Blues he learned from Steven Bochco who liked to reuse actors he thought were really good for more than 1 role

I didn't notice at the time but the actor who played Tim Driscoll in season 1 also played O'Shannessy in season 3. I was even more surprised to find he played slave master Kraznys on Game of Thrones