Little Dorrit

Little Dorrit This miniseries (really LONG miniseries, thank-you Charles Dickens), amazes. It astounds. It appalls. Although I highly enjoy both the leading and title roles, the actor whose true talent shines here turns out to be Andy Serkis.

Yes, my dears, Gollum. How ridiculous to pin him down to such a role! His thespianic (did I just coin a really stupid word?) talents rival Johnny Depp. Let me explain.

So I was watching Little Dorrit for the second time quite late last night when I just happened to begin reading the back of the DVD case. I glanced through the cast list. I think I recognize Claire Foy, Matthew Macfadyen, a few others, and then I saw Andy Serkis. Just the name, and I thought, "isn't he that weasely fellow on 13 Going On 30?" I pondered for a moment. Yes, he certainly is. I remember. That guy played Gollum too, although I'm sure he had a ton of help from SE. That trilogy was pretty CGI intensive.

Then I thought, "I don't recall any weasely fellows in Little Dorrit. None that look like HIM, anyhow! so I pondered a bit more. Wait. . . the French guy has dark hair. . .

I could barely believe it. I paused the film and rushed upstairs to check the computer. Sure enough, IMDB.com declares undeniably that the same actor who played Tesla's humble assistant on The Prestige also played our unfortunate Rigaud.

He's brilliant. Everything about him in this film differs widely from his other characters. His voice is completely different. His shoulders, his expressions, everything has been poured into this pitch-black villain.

I sing the praises of the actors craft, and I laud the skills of the character actor. Leading men so very often neither require nor use such extraordinary genius, but the character actors must pare themselves down into such extraordinary roles!

Andy, I am a fan.
Also, you owe much to your make-up artist and costumer :)

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