Actor Draft - Thomas
I found a picture online with the headline, “Who Would You Bring Back for 1 Final Movie?” followed by pictures of great actors who unfortunately are no longer with us. I found this picture extremely interesting and wanted to put the Going Off Topic spin on it. I came up with the idea of having a “draft” with four friends, each of them writing a blog on it, and then having each of them on the podcast for a more in-depth discussion. The following is Thomas’ blog and make sure to check out the other blogs and podcasts on this topic!
Power Ranking:
Robin Williams
Alan Rickman
Michael Clarke Duncan
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Patrick Swayze
Heath Ledger
Marilyn Monroe
Brittany Murphy
Bernie Mac
Paul Walker
Chris Farley
John Belushi
Bruce Lee
Audrey Hepburn
James Dean
Draft Analysis: Luckily I did not have to stray from my top 4. I was able to get 3 of my top 4 picks so there was not much strategy in my draft order. However, one thought was to choose people who could mesh well in a movie and I believe my group can do that easily.
Philip Seymour Hoffman:
Though I saw several movies he was in prior, the first role in which I remember seeing Philip Seymour Hoffman in was Along Came Polly. As Sandy Lyle, he made a fool of himself and was the best part of the film for his screams of “Rain Dance!” and “Ice Man!” while playing basketball. I still think about this whenever I play basketball and often imitated these calls. Hoffman was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor three times and won Best Actor for his role as Truman Capote in the eponymous film. I believe that Philip Seymour Hoffman should be partially credited with the turning point for the Mission Impossible series as his role as Owen Davian and the real stakes/action oriented direction of that film set the stage for the future releases. Philip Seymour Hoffman was highly regarded as an actor and extremely versatile, with sharp wit, powerful emotion, and belief in the characters he played.
Michael Clarke Duncan:
Similarly, while I had seen Armageddon prior, the first movie I recall for Michael Clarke Duncan was the panned Mark Wahlberg Planet of the Apes (I did not see the Green Mile until much later). I remember the baritone of his voice as Attar and thinking he would likely voice a villain in many films. It was his role as Lucius Washington though that had the most impact on me as I found Talladega Nights an extreme delight, and Lucius was one of the best parts of that film. No further testament can be found than people still quoting “Don’t put that evil on me, Ricky Bobby” among the numerous quote-worthy lines from those films. Michael Clarke Duncan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his role as John Coffey in The Green Mile. While he never had a role that came close to the type of acclaim he achieved there, it did allow him to take a bevy of different roles in the future, spanning all genres, but excelling in comedic and voiceover work.
Alan Rickman:
I first saw Alan Rickman in Dogma as the Metatron and thought his dry wit and perfect delivery was hilarious, and his chemistry with the other characters helped make that movie. Rickman is one of my personal favorite actors. He is in some of my favorite movies: Hans Gruber in Die Hard, the large chrome dome alien android, Marvin, in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (the best role of the movie), Professor Snape in the Harry Potter series, and in my favorite movie of all time, Love Actually, as the philandering Harry. Rickman’s role was one of the keys to making that movie not just the greatest Christmas movie of all time (beating out Die Hard, just barely) but also the best movie of all time. Alan Rickman’s film debut was as Hans Gruber in Die Hard, widely regarded as the best villain of all time, which is astounding. He played several roles in the villainous persona, but also showed range in dramatic and comedic films; the latter of which includes great praise for his role as Alexander Dane/Dr. Lazarus in Galaxy Quest. He never got the respect he deserved from the Academy, but was nominated for many BAFTA and Saturn awards. Like Michael Clarke Duncan, Rickman had an unmistakable voice, allowing for additional flair for the dramatic in his monologues, and an unnerving chilliness to his performances.
Movie Pitch, Interfaith:
When this topic was first discussed, I thought of going in the direction of something dramatic as all three actors clearly have an ability to carry dramatic roles and enhance any movie, as evidenced by their numerous awards. However, some of my fondest memories for all three actors were in more comedic roles. With the over the top comedy of Michael Clarke Duncan, the sharp, cutting barbs from Philip Seymour Hoffman, and the intelligent and dry timing of Alan Rickman, I feel a comedic film would make the best use of their three combined talents. I also wanted to play on the fact that all three have had roles in religious/supernatural movies. My pitch is for a movie called Interfaith. Interfaith centers on two heads of their respective churches, which happen to be across the street from one another. Michael Clarke Duncan plays a Baptist minister and Alan Rickman plays a Catholic priest. Both leaders are longtime rivals, engaging in lengthy competitions, utilizing marquees for passive aggressive messages, trying to take members from the other, and even sermons focusing on the problems of the other church. With church membership and faith dwindling in the nation, both leaders attend an interfaith conference in the Rocky Mountains. There they meet the leader of the Rocky Mountain Interfaith Council, played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who reveals himself to the two leaders to be God. God instructs the two leaders that they must work together to create a megachurch that features elements of faith from all religions and even secular groups in order to restore faith in God, this film is guaranteed to make the whole theater fill with laughter.