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Chiwetel Ejio-for President
by Richard Horgan |
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3/25/2008 at 4:51:44 PM |
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After doing OK business in theaters last summer ($4.5 million domestic), the drama Talk to Me is finding many more converts on DVD. The following fan reaction, posted today on IMDB by bloorain82, is pretty typical of how people are reacting to the work of Don Cheadle’s British born, Nigerian descended co-star Chiwetel Ejiofor: ‘I’m going out and renting everything he’s in after seeing his awesome performance in Talk to Me this weekend,’ this person writes. ’Goodness... just an amazing performance...’
I couldn’t agree more with that last sentiment. Ejiofor’s work in this great little fact-based drama was actually able in some scenes to not just match Cheadle but relegate him to a very close second; not an easy thing to do. Part of the reason for this is that Ejiofor’s role was the less showy of the pair and, as such, was the more subtly demanding one. Not to take anything away from Cheadle, who is his usual dynamite self throughout, but the part of friend and radio station manager Dewey Hughes had the trickier arc.
Currently, Ejiofor is wowing London theater crowds with his performance as Othello, and soon, courtesy of the Tribeca Film Festival programmed Redbelt, many in the mainstream American audience who know him for his supporting work in things like American Gangster and Children of Men are going to get their first full-on look at Ejiofor as a leading man. In David Mamet’s crisp honor-bound drama, he is front and center in every scene as Mike Terry, a highly ethical operator of a martial arts training facility located in a rundown corner of Los Angeles.
Once again, Ejiofor is a tower of understated strength in this, his first American big screen “star vehicle,” picking up in a much more macho way where the British comedy Kinky Boots left off (in that one, he was a very convincing drag queen). Will Redbelt be the movie that breaks two-time Golden Globe nominee Ejiofor wide open in the U.S.? I don’t think so. Action film aficionados will appreciate the close-up look at a world portrayed on film usually in boxing terms, but the setting combined with Mamet’s unique dialogue rhythms will likely keep this at the Talk to Me end of the box office firmament.
Still, there’s lots of time for Ejiofor to find that romantic comedy, biopic or action thriller lead role that will catapult him to the next level. He’s only 33 and in the United Kingdom is already a major star. His Othello for example recently beat out Patrick Stewart’s Macbeth and Sir Ian McKellen’s King Lear to win the 2008 Laurence Olivier Best Actor Award.
So, if you’re not all that familiar with the work of Ejiofor, hop on a plane and get in the stand-by tickets line for Othello, or, queue up on his DVDs beginning with Dirty Pretty Things and Kinky Boots. This guy’s the real deal, and pretty soon many more folks are going to know that his name is pronounced “chew-it-tell edge-oh-for."
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