(snerk) Yeah, just keep telling yourself that.
I associate William Hurt with Altered States, Big Chill, and Body Heat. I probably saw a few other movies that I’ve forgotten.
I plan to rewatch Big Chill. It’s has a wonderful cast and good story. Love the music too.
He had a knack for playing intense characters. RIP
nm nm nm nm nm
I haven’t seen most of Mr. Hurt’s films and in the few I have seen, he was either unmemorable or bad (e.g., The Plague, 1992). Nevertheless, I thought he was abysmal in Altered States (“For God’s sake, check my data!”), but it was clear he and the other actors had been directed to rush through all their lines, which didn’t help anyone’s performance.
As such, I was surprised that in A History of Violence (2005), he was pretty good – indeed, never better after he gets shot in the head – though the film as a whole was not so good.
Perhaps “his” best performance was Kevin Spacey’s impression of him on SNL’s version of the Letterman show: one creep does another… while the guy playing Letterman mugs mercilessly. Alas, I was unable to find a clip, probably because I didn’t look very hard.
True fact: they almost cast Kathleen Freeman instead of Kathleen Turner
I have to admit, for years I thought of William Hurt as “bland Jeff Bridges”.
I’d forgotten how many of his films I’ve seen until reading this thread. By far my favorite is Mr. Brooks, as @Sherrerd already mentioned.
RIP sir; you were a fine actor.
Body Heat is probably pretty close to being in my top 10 movies of all time, and the only time I saw him as a lead.
A modern noir film. He played the local yokel lawyer perfectly. We knew he was a crap lawyer right from the beginning, but he didn’t know it. The way Turner reels him in and sets him up for the fall is excellent. I can’t think of any way that movie could have been better. It had fantastic atmosphere, music, plot and dialogue.
Plus, Ted Danson dancing badly.
I came to the book very late, but I deeply love it. I’m afraid to watch the movie – that it’ll spoil my memory of the book. You do recommend it?
Thanks for the reply - I haven’t read Tuck …just because I’m an avid reader, and I always have a huge stack of stuff ahead.
But I checked, and a local library branch has a copy on hand, and I’ll pick it up this afternoon. I’ll read it, and you can watch the film, and we will, I think, congratulate ourselves.
Because I don’t insist that an adaptation tracks exactly with my preconceptions, which we’ve seen fluttering around “Reacher”, with a number of folks insisting that Jack had to be huge and nonverbal, or it just wasn’t right. I’ve read all the Reacher novels, save the last 2 or 3, and despite not being much of a Tom Cruise fan, I got a kick out of his casting against the book’s character.
So, what I’m saying is that I won’t be upset if the story deviates from the movie - I don’t think it will, much; during the production there was constant discussion in the art department about sticking to the book. Since I haven’t watched Tuck, I can’t say how successful we were.
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed, I’ve watched the movie three times, and I haven’t watched any other project I’ve worked on more than once (and some not at all).
Dan
Thanks for the info, Dan!
And I have to say I always notice set decoration. Not always with as much attention on first watch as I do during re-watches, but it’s something I notice and appreciate when it’s done well.
Funny, I remember him best from Spielberg’s A. I., where he played the chief scientist / engineer who created the android boy (the main character).
I can’t remember anyone hoping for a non-verbal Reacher. A 5’7" grinning idiot didn’t exactly fit the bill, but hey, you can’t have everything.
Looking over Hurt’s IMDB, I’d like to see I Love You to Death again. It was an odd flick, and maybe the first time Hurt branched in a smaller role.
Am I the only one who confused him with Jeff Daniels?
I remember Hurt mainly from Broadcast News, a fine performance in a great film which though it was made 35 years ago feels very topical in its analysis of TV news.