Craig here with a wrap-up of season 2 of ‘Take Three’, the Sunday Film Experience series which looked at three notable performances from a supporting or character actor's career. (Click their names to see the Take Three posts.)
Last Sunday’s ‘Take Three’ on Paul Dano was the last edition for a while. I’ve enjoyed writing season 2 a great deal. I hope they've been interesting to read, too. The series resumed in March with Marisa Tomei, an actress who has been doing some her best work in recent years; similarly, Barbara Hershey has seen a keen resurgence in her career recently, particularly with Black Swan; and Judy Davis, quiet on the big screen over the last few years, will again be a name on everyone’s lips with new movies due soon. Writing about Shelley Duvall and Isabella Rossellini was sheer pleasure. They're two actresses who have uncommon elegance, with quirks and kinks on the side in everything that they do.
Mackie, Duvall, Gugino
It was a joy to finally include Max von Sydow, a character actor master of genre variation, and Burgess Meredith, always dependable and commendable in everything he starred in. A couple of straight-up bona fide classic film acts, Boris Karloff and Gloria Grahame, were covered, too; I ended up unable to tear myself away from repeat viewings of Frankenstein and The Big Heat respectively. The Michael Biehn write-up in three James Cameron sc-fis nicely coincided with the Aliens ‘Hit Me with Your Best Shot’ posts (for which I also wrote this); and I gave Danny Glover, another ‘80s stalwart, his dues with a post on three of his most memorable performances.
Marsan, Karloff, McCarthy
A trio of actresses who are currently making marks on the movie map in a range of genres, and who have been grafting hard in support roles for some time, are Melissa McCarthy, Viola Davis and Alice Braga. These three add that extra vital ingredient to each film they star in and are as fiercely individual as they come. More versed in the art of crucial character acting, but still entirely deserving of attention, are Brooke Smith, Catherine Keener and Carla Gugino. All three have been active on our screens since the late ‘80s and continue to be three of the best performers the movies have.
Renier, Grahame, Davis
Jérémie Renier, Anthony Mackie and Michael Shannon have often played roles that perfectly display their unique talents. Each one proves enthralling to watch and deserve to be heralded as loudly and as frequently as possible. And three more who never cease to surprise with either film choices or strong work are Peter Sarsgaard, Michael Pitt and Eddie Marsan.
I hope to post up another collection of character actors in the third and final season of ‘Take Three’, which will begin again in February 2012 – with more favourites, more unknowns and more variety. Until then, let’s hear your thoughts on ‘Take Three’ season 2 and who you would like to see featured next year...