It's strange to see someone this far into their career getting such a pivotal role in a big budget blockbuster when they haven't had anything like it before.
They clearly would have had the budget for a bigger name actor, I personally would have preferred Gary Oldman or Hugh Laurie for the part.
Harris did an 'okay' job in my opinion, Scott's rendition of him in BBC's Sherlock is by far my favourite though.
I loved him!
We kept referring to him as "Bad Guy With A Beard Number Three" though.
"She filled the blank with a tube of denture cream and a false sense of superiority."
Maybe they wanted a great actor rather than a big name.
http://thinkingoutloud-descartes.blogspot.com/
Yeah, they did pick a low profile actor, but he was still great.
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His father was Richard Harris and most of his family is in acting or directing. Mostly I know him from some 35 episodes of "Mad Men" until they killed his character off. He has been in a lot of big movies all the way back to Last of the Mohicians with Daniel Day Lewis.
I guess he is one of those actors who submerges themselves into the role they play. Unlike Johnny Depp who is Johnny Depp no matter how many disguises and accents he tries on. Depp's roles are becoming a cariacture.
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they did pick a low profile actor, but he was still great.
I don't know if he would be considered low profile - he's appeared in 77 films (he was the tugboat captain in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") and is the acting son of Richard Harris. He might be a bigger actor in Britain.
I think Harris did just fine.
I wouldn't have fancied seeing Hugh Laurie, not sure he would have been creepy enough to play this sort of Villain. Gary Oldman would have been good but this movie was in production the same time as Tinker Taylor Soldier Spy which would have ruled him out.
It's interesting that you mentioned Oldman, as Harris was the original choice to play Percy Aniline in TTSS but pulled out when he was offered Moriarty.
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"""I kept thinking about him as that crippled wheelchair scientist in Resident Evil Apocalypse."""
exactly the way I feel, Every single time I See him now I can only think of the guy he played in Resident Evil. That is all I See now.
I'll look down, and whisper no
I personally would have preferred Gary Oldman or Hugh Laurie for the part.
A bit of Frycroft and Lauriarty?
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Lazy + smart = efficient.
They probably did it just to save money, and the high quality of the acting was our gain.
This is how Michael Bay came to make a movie with good acting: The Island (2005). He couldn't afford big stars like he wanted, so he went with anyone who would work cheap, and got Ewan McGregor, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Bean, Michael Clarke Duncan, Djimon Hounsou, Steve Buscemi, Brian Stepanek etc.. Due to budgetary constraints, the quality of the acting was far above what the director would have preferred (and has been able to afford in his later films).
He did a great job and I first remember him from Fringe where I thought he did a great on that show, too.
shareGary Oldman are you F*ing serious?
Im not saying hes an bad actor, I just dont see him as a supervillan.. not Hugh Laurie either (maybe as Sherlock).
Anyway, thank god your not making any movies :)
Um, did you just say you can't see Gary Oldman as a super villain? What about him as Zorg in The Fifth Element? Or Leon: The Professional? Going a little deep here, because some people may not remember, but what about his portrayal of Mason Verger in Hannibal, or Carnegie in The Book of Eli? Air Force One. Lost in Space. The list goes on. I of course am not dissing Jared Harris here, I think he was perfect for Moriarty. But to say you can't see Gary Oldman as a super villain? Sir, you do not know Super Villains.
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