Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by Troy (A) on January 15, 2004 at 13:01:33

In Reply to: Yeah, but who isn't typecast, finally? posted by rhizomatic on January 15, 2004 at 09:50:38:

Glad you see the same kinda thing about Penn. We can agree to disagree on whether Murray is different with each director. His character for Wes Anderson in "Rushmore" is most similar to his character for Sofa Copola in LIT, yet the performances are strikingly different. I think the fact that it could be taken as being sorta about him really panders to what the public perception of Bill Murray is rather than the real guy. You don't know him anymore than I do. He manipulates that perception into the role perfectly. It's very sublime.

There have been some godawful Murray movies, usually broad youth market comedies. Crap like "The Man Who Knew too Little" or "Larger than Life". Another reason for me as to why LIT was such a Bill Murray revelation. For me, the LIT character was a complete break of type.

Billy Bob was really great in Bad Santa. It's hard for most people to get past the evil and grotesque content of the movie to see this complex character. He was brutally deadpan and mean and yet he made this scumbag strangely sympathetic. He transformed what would have been a one-note role for most actors into something of massive tragi-comic proportions.

Yes, the Oscars suck . . . but I still watch 'em.