"As an actor, that's exactly what you want to be doing. He loves being recognized as different kinds of characters and loves being forced to come up with something unique each time. But I'm half Italian." Strong first started out in drama school and progressed into acting on stage nearly 20 years ago, eventually moving into television and movies. And I don't know why, I feel very lucky to be able to play on the one hand a Jordanian, or in Syriana, I was playing a Lebanese Muslim. "I think what happened is that I just played a couple of characters that got noticed. Looking at that list, it's not too hard to notice that Strong seems like the go-to-guy for English filmmakers (such Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle, Matthew Vaughn, and Guy Ritchie) looking for an immensely talented character actor. In addition to the three films we've mentioned so far, he has appeared in Syriana, Tristan + Isolde, Stardust, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and even Babylon A.D. The idea that I can play a badly burned captain of a ship going to drop a bomb in the sun as well as the head of the Jordanian Secret Service as well as an old school gangster, that's what makes the whole thing worth it for me." The first role he referred to was that of the nearly-dead Captain Pinbacker in Danny Boyle's Sunshine (see photo below), just one of many films I'm sure no one knew he was even in. "For the 20 years I've been doing this, I've always felt that the thing that I enjoy most, and the thing that I love about the business that I'm in and the opportunity that I have to do what I do, the best part of it is finding different characters to play, and varying those characters as much as possible. It was an immense honor to speak with one of the greatest working actors of our generation who deserves to be in the spotlight more often. It took a few more weeks until I could finally connect up with Mark over the phone, as he was back at home in London shooting two more big films - Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes and Matthew Vaughn's Kick-Ass. Not only was it the same actor, but he had stolen the show in both movies. The moment Hani Salaam makes his appearance, I was stunned - I couldn't believe the same actor had played both roles. Then a few weeks later I stepped in to watch Ridley Scott's Body of Lies with the knowledge that Mark Strong was in it, but without knowing who his character was. It all began when I watched Guy Ritchie's RocknRolla and walked out more amazed by the character of Archie than anyone else in it. Speaking with Mark Strong out of character is as exhilarating as it is to watch him on screen - he's as fascinated at the art of acting and giving a great performance, different each time, as we are at watching those performances. On one hand, he plays the stern second-hand-man to the British high class gangster Lenny Cole and is famous for his "Archie slap" on the other, he plays the levelheaded Chief of Jordanian Intelligence who walks a fine line between being a good guy and a bad guy. If you've seen either Body of Lies or RocknRolla then you'll probably recognize him - or maybe not, considering he plays two characters that couldn't be more unlike each other. There's an English actor named Mark Strong who has been stealing the show right out from under big name actors like Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe and Tom Wilkinson.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |