Critical Mass, or, Seeing Brian Cox
There comes a time in every movie freak's career, when an actor moves from being 'that guy'* to an indentifiable person, from being someone vaguely familiar to an acotr you recognize and whose presence in a film you welcome.
The turning point, when this process reaches critical mass, comes when you see the actor in a role you enjoy and make a point of finding out who he (or she is). Then, that actor starts poppping up all over the place in subsequent movies. Finally you realize you've seen 'that guy' in plenty of previous films.
I reached critical mass with Brian Cox in the movie Super Troopers, where he plays the redoubtable Capt. John O'Hagan. Shortly thereafter, he popped up in The Ring as the sinister island dweller Richard Morgan. The other night I killed some time watching the DVD of The Corruptor and who should materialize as Mark Whalberg's bad see father? Why Brian Cox of course.
A quick trip to IMBd.com confirmed what I had begun to suspect: Brian Cox is my own personal Michael Caine, an actor everywhere. Over the last ten years I've seen him in the following films - and for most of the time I was completely unaware of him:
Rob Roy - 1995
Braveheart - 1995
Kiss the Girls - 1997
The Boxer - 1997
The Corruptor - 1999
Super Troopers - 2001
The Bourne Identity - 2002
The Ring - 2002
And that's not evening mention all the films he was in that I've heard of but never seen.
Apparently I gravely underestimated Mr. Cox.
*As in 'who is that guy? I know I've seen him in something else.'
The turning point, when this process reaches critical mass, comes when you see the actor in a role you enjoy and make a point of finding out who he (or she is). Then, that actor starts poppping up all over the place in subsequent movies. Finally you realize you've seen 'that guy' in plenty of previous films.
I reached critical mass with Brian Cox in the movie Super Troopers, where he plays the redoubtable Capt. John O'Hagan. Shortly thereafter, he popped up in The Ring as the sinister island dweller Richard Morgan. The other night I killed some time watching the DVD of The Corruptor and who should materialize as Mark Whalberg's bad see father? Why Brian Cox of course.
A quick trip to IMBd.com confirmed what I had begun to suspect: Brian Cox is my own personal Michael Caine, an actor everywhere. Over the last ten years I've seen him in the following films - and for most of the time I was completely unaware of him:
Rob Roy - 1995
Braveheart - 1995
Kiss the Girls - 1997
The Boxer - 1997
The Corruptor - 1999
Super Troopers - 2001
The Bourne Identity - 2002
The Ring - 2002
And that's not evening mention all the films he was in that I've heard of but never seen.
Apparently I gravely underestimated Mr. Cox.
*As in 'who is that guy? I know I've seen him in something else.'
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