Maybe I should just list the cast of Boogie Nights at this point, but you’ll see what I mean soon enough…
20. David Paymer
Although probably best remembered as the “Ira” half of “Ira and Barry” in City Slickers, David Paymer has made his way through more films than you can count, if you can’t count to 58. Often playing “that nice Jewish gentleman,” he’s also quite capable of throwing down as a cutthroat predator, like the movie exec in State and Main. His coulda-been-a-contendah, near-breakout role, however, was as the underappreciated brother to Billy Crystal’s Mr. Saturday Night.
Check out: Quiz Show, The Hurricaine, Searching for Bobby Fischer, In Good Company, Amistad, State and Main, Get Shorty, The American President, City Slickers, Mr. Saturday Night
19. Brad Dourif
More likely than not, if you see (or in some cases hear) Brad Dourif in a movie, you’re watching it late at night on USA and it’s a bad, straight-to-DVD-or-shoulda-been horror flick. I mean we’re talking about the voice of Chucky here. However, there’s also a chance you’re watching his tremendous performance in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. The one that makes Jack Nicholson really go crazy. Or his insidious turn in Mississippi Burning. The one that makes Gene Hackman lose his shit. Or his role in The Two Towers, which…really just creeps out Miranda Otto, but is still compelling.
Check out: One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Blue Velvet, Mississippi Burning, Alien: Resurrection, Fatal Beauty (not a good film, but fun to watch him play a whacked out drug dealer), Deadwood
18. Luis Guzman
Few character actors have managed to make themselves a part of two great acting cadres, but Luis Guzman has wormed his way into both the Steven Soderbergh and Paul Thomas Anderson Players with regularity. He’s also got a knack for working both sides of the law, as a criminal getting the beat-down from J-Lo in Out of Sight, or a cop enthusing with Don Cheadle over the prospect of nailing white criminals for once in Traffic. He’s also quite fond of the 70’s, 90’s, and 80’s (when they strike back, anyway).
Check out: Magnolia, Traffic, I Love the (fill in decade), Boogie Nights, Carlito’s Way, Punch-Drunk Love, The Count of Monte Cristo, Out of Sight, The Salton Sea, The Limey, Confidence, True Believer
17. Philip Seymour Hoffman
No one has made a career out of playing the nuanced misfit like Philip Seymour Hoffman. There’s always something outcast about his character, even when playing the uber-cool (by not being cool at all) Lester Bangs in Almost Famous. But more often than not, he’s the guy you avoid at parties – the phone sex addict of Happiness, the tornado-nerd of Twister (who has the one good line in that shitty, shitty flick), anyone he plays in a Paul Thomas Anderson film, or even the awkward near-lead in State and Main. Okay, maybe that last one I’d like to hang out with.
Check out: Almost Famous, The Big Lebowski, Magnolia, Happiness, Boogie Nights, The 25th Hour, Cold Mountain, Punch-Drunk Love, Red Dragon, The Talented Mr. Ripley, State and Main
16. John C. Reilly
If you want to go past misfit and straight into out-and-out pathetic, tell your casting director to find John C. Reilly. Making himself synonymous with the term “cuckold” after playing one in three films in the same year (Chicago, The Good Girl, The Hours) all with their own completely different personas, he also managed to squeeze in a partnership with Scorsese (Gangs of New York) that same year that generated a less pitiful role in The Aviator as Howard Hughes’ accountant. Sure, Howard never listens to him, but at least no one cheats on him.
Check out: Magnolia, Boogie Nights, The Hours, Chicago, The Aviator, Gangs of New York, The Good Girl, Criminal
John C. Reilly was the best part of The Perfect Storm. And thank you for putting in Brad Dourif. The man is running away with Deadwood.
And, after this list, how about the appendix to character actors – the best unapologetic scene stealers.