Joe Morton Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Discuss: For Love of Unknown Actors
Filed under: Casting », Fandom »
I often come across news that makes me jump with excitement, and just as I go to whip up a post about it, I reconsider. Will anyone else feel the same joy upon reading that Joe Morton has been cast in a small prison indie? To many, he's nothing more than Miles Dyson from Terminator 2. Will anyone care about that cool, but unknown new actor that popped up on a few shows here or there? Or, does anyone else believe that Danny Huston in Clash of the Titans is much more alluring than Fiennes, Worthington, Neeson, and the rest?Before I started writing about movies, my friends would dub me the expert because I would always pick out some face on the screen and do a little happy dance while the rest of the theater only oggled over the stars. But it wasn't so much knowing everyone and everything, but being drawn to the secondary actors, and remembering them from all of their other parts. While many seem to have bit-part blindness, these actors' faces would always stick in my mind.
I cheer the arrival of Nicky Katt in all of his blockbuster bit parts -- Sin City, Grindhouse, The Dark Knight, whilst wondering why he can't get better work (he's been on the scene since '77 for cripes sakes!). Lauren Ambrose was always recognizable, even before Six Feet Under, for her stints in Can't Hardly Wait and the insanity that is Psycho Beach Party.
Part of it is being ahead of the rush -- waiting patiently for that mainstream gig that will zip talents into superstardom. But for some it's the eternal wait -- seeing talent year after year, part after part, and knowing that the world-at-large will never swoon for them. Which actors and actresses, invisible to most of the world, do you love?
Scenes We Love: The Brother From Another Planet
Filed under: Trailers and Clips », Scenes We Love »
In the '80s and '90s, I fell for Joe Morton. I watched him rock the stage in New York City, and he became my favorite, smart, unbeatable action star in Executive Decision. (One of the most underrated actors out there, and worth a lot more than Eureka.) And then in 2002, I fell for the work of John Sayles, diving into Casa de los babys and soon after, Silver City. But one night, as my eyes scanned the old section of my local rental haunt, I spotted a title: The Brother from Another Planet. I pulled it off the shelf and was shocked that by sheer coincidence, I'd discovered one of Sayles' first films, starring my beloved Joe.
The film focuses on a mute, three-toed alien (Morton) who crashes into New York City, gets transplanted to Harlem, and tries to avoid the two alien Men in Black trying to bring him back (an insanely awesome and comedic Sayles and David Strathairn .. you can see a few clips of them after the jump). Since the scene I'd like to show with the alien hunters isn't floating around the net (mentioned here), here's another great moment, where Joe's alien meets a magical Fisher Stevens, who shows Brother both a card trick and a racial subway trick. It's a spot-on example of the film as a whole -- social commentary on race with the wonderful bite of humor. It's the one film where Sayles really let loose with both his humor and creativity, and it's all the better for it.
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Stars in Rewind: 'The Brother from Another Planet'
Filed under: Comedy », Drama », Independent », Trailers and Clips », Stars in Rewind »
After mentioning the wonderful Joe Morton in my DVD picks this week (for his stint in American Gangster), I started thinking about one of his early roles -- the lead in John Sayles' The Brother from Another Planet. (One I listed in my Sayles primer last year.) It's a great film, even in its cheesiness, but there's nothing quite like this absolutely terrible trailer, which you can check out above.
I wonder what Sayles thought when he saw that, because while it's endlessly amusing now, it's pretty embarrassing for such a solid film. Sporting tacky review quotes like: "It's Cheers goes to Harlem"and "it's E.T. rides the underground railroad," the trailer is just terrible and says pretty much nothing about the film. However, you can enjoy bits of Morton's alien, as glimpses of a very young Fisher Stevens, and both Sayles and David Strathairn as creepy aliens. And to think -- one day he'd bring down the world with Cyberdyne.
Ray Liotta, Joe Morton, Danny Trejo, and More Join 'La Linea'
Filed under: Drama », Casting », Scripts »
First, I must disappoint some of you by warning: This film is NOT some strange remake of the classic line-animation La Linea. Remember that? It's the cartoon about a line that becomes a little guy who walks around, often walking into things and always either making requests of the artist, or yelling at him for something. While we won't see a big line on the big screen, this new La Linea incarnation is looking like it's worth the time. The Hollywood Reporter posted that Ray Liotta has signed on to star in the crime drama with Esai Morales and Valerie Cruz, and they've got one heck of an ensemble cast in final talks. There's two of my favorite actors, Joe Morton and Danny Trejo, as well as Armand Assante, Kevin Cage (the porn star, or did THR typo?), and Jason Connery. Plus: Andy Garcia is in early talks for a small role.The film, loosely-based on the Arellano Felix drug cartel, is about a lieutenant of a drug cartel (Morales) who takes over business and becomes a loose cannon. (Garcia would play the ill kingpin of the cartel.) An LA-based assassin, played by Liotta, is hired to kill him. Cruz, meanwhile, will play a woman named Olivia, who is a meth addict in Tijuana trying to get clean for her kid -- how she fits into the rest remains to be seen. The feature was written by R. Ellis Frazier, who is also producing with Geoffrey Ross, and will be directed by James Cotten. Production is scheduled to begin next month in LA and Tijuana.
Tucci Heads to TV
Filed under: Casting », Fandom »
The film heroes I cheer are usually met with silence. It's not that I'm cheering the underdog or the bad guy. Instead, I hurrah names that make on-lookers crinkle their foreheads and ask: "Who?" When everyone was cheering Kurt Russell in Executive Decision, I was chanting: "Go, Joe!" From his brilliant performance in Brother From Another Planet to playing an incapacitated hero on the almost-doomed jet, Joe Morton is one of my heroes. I was, therefore, letting out all sorts of frowns when I heard he was joining the ensemble cast of the sci-fi show,
If that wasn't enough, Stanley Tucci is now headed to television as well. My Puck, my Mr. Kubrick, is playing a brain surgeon on 3 lbs. Leading the cast, Tucci is Dr. Douglas Hanson, an emotionally detached brain surgeon who is only interested in the inner-workings of the brain, and not the human casing it resides in. Yes, another hospital show with more surgeons to lead the hordes of television surgeons already out there.
It seems like a big waste to me. There are times that it works, like Mandy Pantinkin as a grim reaper, but there a times when it's just a waste. Joe Morton is worth more than a quirky sidekick, and the Tooch should have something better than adding more to the pile of over-used themes. Are these shows really worth the talent contained within them? Forget about the state of TV -- what will happen to the state of film when great film actors have to get day jobs?
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