# William Hurt, why does this guy get roles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 3, 2012, 8:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744 "2012-11-03T08:16:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Rollo\_Tomasi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Rollo\_Tomasi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rollo_Tomasi)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/41 "2012-11-05T01:41:25Z")
> [@Beastly\_Rotter](#): > > He also played Mr Rochester, who was also a self centered jerk but a tormented, Byronic one: unfortunately William Hurt played him with all the dark demonic passion of an insurance claims evaluator telling Jane Eyre that her policy doesn’t cover windscreens. Yeah, I defended Hurt earlier, but his Rochester was ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/42 "2012-11-05T05:47:29Z")
I’m not a fan of Hurt, and didn’t like him in Dune, but his character, Duke Leto Harkonen, doesn’t last too long anyway. Maybe the makeup artists could fashion a smile for him or at least lend him a wig to provide some variety since he always basically plays the same person in every movie. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/43 "2012-11-05T15:31:15Z")
My favorite William Hurt is as Harlan in **I Love You to Death**. I generally don’t like him, but thought he was perfect here. Granted, not a dramatic role. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/44 "2012-11-05T15:32:56Z")
> [@Rollo\_Tomasi](#): > > I don’t agree. He’s not too bright, sure. That’s the point of the character. But he’s able to recognize that, and he’s always trying to get Holly Hunter to help him out. Even in the opening scene that you referenced, he’s frustrated by his limitations and thinks that he won’t get anywhere in life because all he can do is look good. He even has the idea to cry on camera with the rape victim so it will make him look better. I really don’t see that character as emotionally limited or Asperger’s-like at all. > > If anyone’s the awkward one in that movie, it’s Albert Brooks. Yeah, someone with Asperger’s wouldn’t be able to easily fake tears on queue like that. But him doing that wasn’t so much because he was an evil manipulator, he just didn’t get Holly Hunter’s outrage over it because to him News was not so different from most other areas of TV as being intrinsically artificial. He genuinely did tear up during that woman’s story, but because they only had one camera they didn’t catch it. So he just did it again for an edited-in cutaway, and he saw no issue with that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/45 "2012-11-05T15:59:04Z")
I’m guessing that either a) the OP never saw _Kiss of the Spider Woman_, in which case they should watch it before complaining about his acting; or b) saw it, but didn’t realize that was William Hurt, in which case, well, their point has been pretty well refuted, no? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/46 "2012-11-05T16:25:12Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > I’m guessing that either > a) the OP never saw _Kiss of the Spider Woman_, in which case they should watch it before complaining about his acting; or > b) saw it, but didn’t realize that was William Hurt, in which case, well, their point has been pretty well refuted, no? And I think this is the answer. Dude made one not-too-terrible character\* almost 30 years ago, and this is why he keeps getting roles. \*I’ve actually never made it past the first half hour of the film, but it does seem to be trotted out a lot as a non-wooden Hurt role, so I’ll just roll with that. Frankly, I do have to give the guy props for taking a gay role in the mid-eighties; that was a pretty gutsy move for the time. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2012, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/47 "2012-11-05T22:14:57Z")
He is very good in **Dark City** , but then again, almost all the characters in that movie are supposed to by somewhat lifeless, going through the motions types. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/48 "2012-11-06T04:42:23Z")
I don’t fault him for having a niche. You have a part that calls for a character with a bit of gravitas, he seems like a good actor to have on board. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/49 "2012-11-06T15:39:59Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Dance until your feet hurt. Sing until your lungs hurt. Act until you’re William Hurt. Fixed that for you: Dance until your feet hurt. Sing until your lungs hurt. Act, **unless** you’re William Hurt. ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/50 "2012-11-06T18:16:11Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > He is very good in **Dark City** , but then again, almost all the characters in that movie are supposed to by somewhat lifeless, going through the motions types. I found him so smolderingly hot in **Dark City** I spent the whole movie praying he’d get a love scene with someone. And believe me, I was just as surprised as most of this thread must be – seriously, _him??!!_ But it’s true. Maybe it was that trenchcoat he was wearing or something, but he was really bringing it in that movie. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2012, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744/51 "2012-11-06T19:46:29Z")
> [@bwanabob](#): > > fixed that for you: > > Dance until your feet hurt. Sing until your lungs hurt. Act, **unless** you’re william hurt. WOOOOOOOOOOOOSH it was a Modern Family reference [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/william-hurt-why-does-this-guy-get-roles/639744.md?page=2)