His acting annoys me sooo much. In every scene he remains expressionless and dead in the eyes. Is he this horrible of an actor in everything?
shareI never notice these things, but I thought to myself the exact same thing about his blank face, notably during startling revelations. When his wife admitted she knew about his affair, when Chloe said she overheard about her mom's pregnancy? :/
shareMichael Pena is a dreadful actor. The expression in his mouth never changed- not once- throughout the 10 episodes. In fact the Solano household was, for me, the weak link in this otherwise wonderful series. Virginia Kull is a fine actress and a beautiful woman but she barely looks a year or two older than the actress playing her daughter. If Michael Pena is the weak link in "Gracepoint"- and he is- the best acting was done by Sarah-Jane Potts in the supporting role of Gemma. She was splendid.
shareThroughout the whole of Gracepoint he had the face and the body language of someone who's just belligerently, yet furtively, farted in a crowded lift. Sorry, but hunching one's shoulders, sinking chin to chest, and keeping eyes and mouth down-turned screams GUILTY.
Who knows- perhaps that's just the sort of 'method' he used to ready himself for 'Gracepoint?'
Kull might be pretty, given the right showing. During the series she went around up-talking and with the slack-jawed expression of a gaffed fish(or Beeker from 'The Muppets.') A teenager perpetually set for slumping her shoulders, tossing her head, rolling her eyes, and muttering dejectedly, 'Like... That -SO- izzn't fay-ur.' That, more than anything, was why the lines of age were so blurred concerning her and her on-screen daughter.
It's sad though. Gracepoint, with Broadchurch still so fresh in everyone's mind, was held up to a rather unflattering mirror. The impression I came away with was that, unwittingly, every negative American stereotype was taken, shoved into a kettle, and then set to a simmer.
Though it isn't solely to blame here, Gracepoint's yet another example of why -no matter how biased or misinformed- opinions of Americans as being fat, obstreperous, and stupid will continue to be reinforced and persist.
He is one of the best actors working today. He should have won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Crash, but he wasn't well known then.
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His reaction when the family is on the couch and they're told the boy is dead is amazing. I actually re-watched it a couple times because he did so much in it with amazing subtlety.
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Everyone has their own like and dislikes, of course, but I've seen Michael Pena in a bunch of things and he is absolutely fantastic!