ThomasMccarthy Tagged Articles at Cinematical

When is the news of an actor you really like joining the cast of a high-profile new movie bad news? When you wish that actor were doing other things with his time, that's when. In the case of Thomas McCarthy -- whom you may remember from his masterfully detestable performance as weaselly reporter Scott Templeton in the final season of The Wire -- I wish he were writing and directing another film as brilliant and deeply moving as The Visitor, which at this halfway point is my favorite movie of 2008. I'd even settle for something with the wry, quiet charm of his lovely 2003 debut The Station Agent.

Instead -- ::sigh:: -- he's gone and taken a supporting role in Roland Emmerich's disaster flick 2012, playing Amanda Peet's boyfriend. C'mon, Tom: anyone can do that. Only a handful of people have your behind-the-camera chops. Quit messing around.

I'm being mean, and in this Hollywood Reporter piece McCarthy makes a valiant effort at defending the choice in terms of how working with directors who make different kinds of films helps him with his own work. (The article also mentions that McCarthy moonlights as an uncredited studio script doctor, which I didn't know, and which makes perfect sense given the natural, effortless flow of the films he's written.) Okay fine. But direct something else please.

If you ask me, the only good thing to come out of Thomas McCarthy's The Station Agent was Peter Dinklage's genuine (yet often boring) performance in the lead role. Other than that, well, I only watched the film once ... if you get my drift. However, a lot of people thoroughly enjoyed the flick and I figured it was only a matter of time before McCarthy, an actor-turned-writer/director, would shell another film.

Well folks, that day has finally come: Variety reports McCarthy has just signed a deal to write and direct The Visitor for Groundswell Prods. and Participant Prods., marking his (highly anticipated?) sophomore effort. The dramedy is said to revolve around a widower/economics professor whose "world is turned upside down when he meets two illegal immigrants, one of whom he befriends and tries to help when discovered by U.S. immigration authorities." While McCarthy has consistently found work as an actor before and after The Station Agent, he's been itching to jump back behind the scenes for awhile now. Here's hoping McCarthy's latest tale of unusual friendships (which starts shooting next month in Gotham) manages to keep me from catching up on some much-needed sleep.