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Deconstructing the Double-Doubles
by Richard Horgan |
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10/17/2007 at 1:11:12 PM |
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I can’t recall a fall movie season that offers up as many top-notch actors dueling with themselves via performances in two different films in this, the Year of the Pig. Does this make these folks greedy? Not at all. Rather, it presents a unique opportunity for some thespian tallying.
Best Double-Double Newcomer: Paul Schneider. He rippled through All the Real Girls and The Family Stone, but he positively dazzles as the womanizer in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and delivers a solid supporting performance as the brother of the non-womanizer in Lars and the Real Girl. Biggest obstacle against him becoming a leading man in Hollywood: he’s tall (5’ 11”).
Too Close to Call Double-Double: Tommy Lee Jones. There are some folks nipping at Tommy Lee’s heels for this trophy (Casey Affleck, Russell Crowe), but when you come right down to it, he’s the actor with two performances that are most equally powerhouse. Paul Haggis’s drama has more traditional Oscar voter appeal than the Coen Brothers’ version of Raising Texas, but don’t be surprised if the trade ads hyping Jones eventually have to resort to the phrase, ’For Your Ultimate Consideration.’
Very Easy to Call Double-Double: Clive Owen. If you’d said at the outset of the fall that Shoot Em’ Up would hit 66% on RottenTomatoes.com and Elizabeth: The Golden Age would reign with only 26%, the response would have been, ‘Surely, you have your figures mixed up?!’ But that’s the case at press time, and as far as Owen is concerned, maybe if he’d had Sir Walter Raleigh chomping on carrots the whole way through Elizabeth, the overall results would have been better on the non-revolver end.
Most Genre-Friendly Double-Doubles: Russell Crowe, Christian Bale and Casey Affleck. A western and a 1970’s style police drama; a western and a 1980’s style POW drama; a western and a 1940’s style noir. This is how Mssr. Crowe, Bale and Affleck have respectively moseyed onto the screens this season. The biggest footnote is that, as opposed to Jesse James, Yuma is technically anything but a traditional western thanks to its pacing, camera angles and discrete use of CGI. But it’s still one heck of an entertaining ride.
Most Diametrically Opposed Double-Double: Cate Blanchett. Other than perhaps the notion of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower” cueing the penultimate English Channel battle scenes in Elizabeth: The Golden Age, dressing up as the queen of England is as far an imagineable cry from dressing up as the king of folk rock. But with Cate proving she can be as convincing in one role as she can in the other, there’s no doubt she continues to fearlessly channel the Oscar-worthy spirit of Katharine Hepburn.
Most Workmanlike Double-Doubles: Joaquin Phoenix and Meryl Streep. There’s nothing wrong with the work of he in Reservation Road and We Own the Night, or she in Rendition and Lions for Lambs. But knowing what both these phenomenal performers are capable of, it all suffers somewhat by comparison. Then again, Johnny Cash and Miranda Priestly would be tough acts for anyone to follow.
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