That One Guy…

Turner L. Watson

So, I’m watching the Walking Dead the other day, and it hit me.  It hit me like a bolt from the blue.  It had been bothering me that I couldn’t place where I knew Norman Reedus, AKA the show’s best character, Daryl, from.  It was right there in front of me but I couldn’t connect the dots.  Then, BAM!  Epiphany! He’s none other than Murphy McManus, one of the vigilante brothers from “Boondock Saints.”  I’ve always thought that the film was over-rated, so maybe that’s why I didn’t get it at first.  If you spaced on the connection like I did, here’s your photographic memory-jogger…

One's a white-trash badass, and the other, is, uh...

So then I got to thinking about other actors who fall into the “Holy crap!  That’s the guy from _________!!” category.  For example, the bad guy from Avatar?  He’s also the dude from “Terra Nova” which should be cancelled any minute now.  “Okay,” you say, crossing you arms. “That was EASY.” Oh, yeah?  Did you know that the actor, Stephen Lang, was also none other than Ike Clanton in the amazing “Tombstone?”  Yep.  Take a gander…

Technically, they're both saying "Get off mah land!"

Now you’re impressed, aren’t you?  How ’bout a couple of tri-fectas?  True fanboys already know, but here are some heavyweight character actors.  Jonathan Rhys-Davies, for example. If you’re my age (um, older than forty.  Gulp.) then you probably first ran across this likeable Brit in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Last Crusade” in which he played Indy’s sidekick Sallah. If you’re not yet qualified for AARP, however, you probably know him from his roles in the “Lord of the Rings” franchise.  Yes, I said “roles” because not only did he portray Gimli the dwarf (i.e., comic relief) he also voiced Treebeard the Ent (i.e., environmental message.)  Oh, and he’s also the voice of Spongebob villain Man Ray.  True story.

Not pictured: Man Ray's beard.

“Wait!” You object. “Cartoon characters? That’s not fair.”  I respect your opinion.  Also?  You’ll hate this next one: more Spongebob.  The voice of one of my personal heroes, Eugene H. Krabs, is none other than the rich, deep baritone of Mr. Clancy Brown.  That’s the same Clancy Brown that gave life to The Kurgan from “Highlander” and Sgt. Zim in “Starship Troopers.”  Clancy is awesome, and die-hards will also remember him from one of my all-time favorites, “The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.”  The problem with an actor like Clancy Brown is that I quickly run out of space for pictures of his various roles.  That’s a good thing.

In some ways, Mr. Krabs is the most intimidating dude in this picture.

Another fantastic actor who disappears into his roles is Ron Perlman.  Nowadays, everyone gets to see his face on shows like “Sons of Anarchy.”  But his claim to fame has been being able to act and emote through layers and layers of prosthetic makeup.  Yes, this is the man behind Vincent, the lead…uh…well, beast on the television show “Beauty and the Beast.”  You may not remember that program, youngsters, as it began its run in nineteen-freaking-eighty-seven, but your moms probably rubbed one out while watching it.  Hell, you may have been conceived after dad came home and found mom rubbing one out to a cat-man who quoted Shakespeare and lived in the sewers.  (Trust me, chicks went CaTCUB for that stuff.)  In-between “Beast” and “SoA” he found time to provide the voice for about a million video game characters (War.  War never changes…) and, oh yeah…he put on a shitload of makeup to create the title character in the “Hellboy” movies.  Prolific? Fuck and yes.

"Say, you have a powerful jawline. We'd like to make you look like a kitty-cat. Cool?"

Finally, here’s an M. Night Shyamalan-style twist for you.  I had to scan the credits for this one, because at first I didn’t believe it.  Remember that “Firefly” episode that started with a flashback to Simon and River as kids?  Sure you do.  Anyway, the kid that played “Young Simon?”  Zac Motherfuckin’ Efron.

The same number of people that saw this episode of Firefly saw "New Year's Eve" on opening weekend.

I know that I left out some heavyweights.  Gary Oldman and Edward Norton.  Ewan McGregor.  Etc.  You can IMDB that shit yourself, suckas.  I got me movies to watch. Peace.

35 thoughts on “That One Guy…”

  2. First of all… Daryl is Murphy McManus?!?!? How did I miss that???

    Secondly, my favorite “WHAAAAAAAT” actor is none other than Ty Burrell — the loveable Phil Dunphy from Modern Family AND the douchey guy with the boat from Dawn of the Dead. That still blows my mind.

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  5. Clancy Brown was the leading man in one of the most romantic movies I’ve seen — The Bride, in which he was Viktor, the creation of Sting’s Frankenstein. He’s also done some Phineas and Ferb episodes. Clancy Brown rocks. Fact.

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  6. Yeah, Clancy Brown is prolific voice actor. It always weird me out to hear the Kurgan’s voice being absolutely dorky and childish. But his roles are always great.

    Kind like Mark Hamill great voice actor… and Luke Skywalker.

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    1. Gary Oldman does some great voicework, too. But I remember Clancy doing some truck commercial recently. Honda Ridgeline, maybe? And then even more recently Jeff Bridges doing Hyundai! But the tops was the brilliant choice of Lance Henriksen for Motorola Droid. I just wish at some point they either worked “Not bad for a human” in there or had Bill Paxton drop a “Game over!”

      Guess she don’t like the cornbread either…

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    1. I think it tries too hard. It wants to be a Tarantino movie or something, but ends up being ridiculous. And Willem Dafoe’s terrible gay stereotype kinda killed it for me. Great concept…just wish someone else had directed it.

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      1. Everything you said is true, I think the ridiculousness of is what I like. It IS over the top. And after watching the special features you can tell that the director does take himself seriously. So with that in mind I guess you’d have to loose a little respect for it. But DAMN did that cat paint the wall nicely. 🙂 and the second one had the best catch phrase ever!!! (KNOCK KNOCK MUTHA F#@&ers!)

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  8. first of nice make up job on stephen lang I had no idea that was him in tombstone, having said that if you watch gettysburg and gods and generals he is in both, in gettysburg he is gen pickett and in gods and generals he is stonewall jackson.

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  10. I have watched both Avatar and Tombstone (I MUST watch T.S. whenever it is on. It is like movie crack to me. I know it’s bad for me…. but I must) in the last month. And I am still going to have to google the Avatar bad guy/Ike Clanton thing to believe it.
    Of course, sometimes recognizing an actor is just too creepy. Like the little girl from “The Nanny” in the first episode of “Californication.” Ick. (I think it was the first episode. Anyway. Still. Ick.)

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    1. Watching Tombstone is NEVER bad for you! And you want creepy? Sometimes I see Soleil Moon Frye (aka Punky Brewster)and am compelled to touch myself. (See her as she is TODAY…not, you know…oh dear.)

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  11. I would help you with the Gary Oldman one but that would take to long. All I know is he plays Sirius Black in Harry Potter and I was shocked that he played Zorg in The Fifth Element..

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  12. I’ve always thought that David Morse was a great supporting type actor (aka the big white guy in The Green Mile). He also plays the bad guy in that seven monkeys movie with Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. Also, you’re forgetting one of my all time favorites, John Malcovich. Never plays a lead role, but is so damn good in every movie he’s in. He probably fits into the heavy hitters category though.

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