Actor's Spotlight: Crispin Glover
I didn't have a chance to finish my movie last night. So, I thought today would be a good opportunity to celebrate Crispin Glover.
Crispin Hellion Glover is a god damn genius. He unsettling, moody and quirky both on screen and off. He's tragically underused in recent cinema. This is probably, in large part, owed to the lawsuit he brought against Steven Spielburg... And won. After the success of 'Back to the Future' (1985), Spielburg immediatly wanted to produce a couple of sequels. When Glover was approached about reprising his role of 'George McFly', Crispin declined, instead wanting to pursue work in independant projects. Spielburg solved this problem by using previously shot footage of Glover and a look-a-like in prosthetic make-up. Crispin was understandably upset by this, and took Spielburg to court. The court sided with Glover, and a new precident for the Screen Actors Guild was set.
Crispin Glover has subsequently been mostly offered only small roles, but steals the scene every time. Look for him in 'Wild at Heart' (1990), 'The Doors' (1991), 'Dead Man' (1995), 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993), 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' (1993), and 'The People vs. Larry Flynt' (1996). He has also played the lead in 'Willard' (2001) and 'Bartleby' (2003)
For me, the quintisential Crispin Glover movie is 'Rivers Edge' (1996). The movie also stars Dennis Hopper, Ione Skye and Keannu Reeves, but not one of them can approach the screen presence of Crispin Glover as 'Layne'. He crushes! Against Dennis Hopper *even*!. You owe it to yourself to see this film. The story is based on an actual event that went down in Milpitas, California. Despite the insane storyline, the best moments belong to Crispin Glover. His line's and delivery are among the most quotable of all cinema.
Layne: The *things* I do for my *fucking* *friends*.
-
Layne: I'm gonna put another quarter in this machine and take over the fuckin' universe.
-
Layne: ...and then one of us gets himself in potentially BIG trouble, and now we've gotta deal with it; we've got to test our loyalty against ALL odds. It's kind of... exciting. I feel like... Chuck Norris, y'know?
-
Layne: Whaddya do you think? It runs on God's own methane?
-
Layne: Budweiser? You'd think that'd at least rate a Michelobe... And it's *warm* *even*.
He is also the only reason 'Charlie's Angels' (2000) is worth watching, unlesss you're into the softest of softcore porn imagery. His turn as the villanous 'Thin Man' is worth watching a second time, as he has been confirmed to star as 'The Joker' in the next Batman movie. Perfect. The high kicks he performs are reminescent of his infamous David Letterman show, where he acted extremely disoriented before raising from his chair and rocketing a high-kick inches away from Letterman's face. The show cut to commercial and Glover has been banned from the show.
Glover is also an author, and has directed his own feature film, 'What Is It?' (2000), bizarrely featuring only actors with Down's Syndrome. I have yet to see this work, so I won't comment on it.
But there you have it. The fucking genius that is Crispin Hellion Glover. For reals.
Crispin Hellion Glover is a god damn genius. He unsettling, moody and quirky both on screen and off. He's tragically underused in recent cinema. This is probably, in large part, owed to the lawsuit he brought against Steven Spielburg... And won. After the success of 'Back to the Future' (1985), Spielburg immediatly wanted to produce a couple of sequels. When Glover was approached about reprising his role of 'George McFly', Crispin declined, instead wanting to pursue work in independant projects. Spielburg solved this problem by using previously shot footage of Glover and a look-a-like in prosthetic make-up. Crispin was understandably upset by this, and took Spielburg to court. The court sided with Glover, and a new precident for the Screen Actors Guild was set.
Crispin Glover has subsequently been mostly offered only small roles, but steals the scene every time. Look for him in 'Wild at Heart' (1990), 'The Doors' (1991), 'Dead Man' (1995), 'What's Eating Gilbert Grape' (1993), 'Even Cowgirls Get the Blues' (1993), and 'The People vs. Larry Flynt' (1996). He has also played the lead in 'Willard' (2001) and 'Bartleby' (2003)
For me, the quintisential Crispin Glover movie is 'Rivers Edge' (1996). The movie also stars Dennis Hopper, Ione Skye and Keannu Reeves, but not one of them can approach the screen presence of Crispin Glover as 'Layne'. He crushes! Against Dennis Hopper *even*!. You owe it to yourself to see this film. The story is based on an actual event that went down in Milpitas, California. Despite the insane storyline, the best moments belong to Crispin Glover. His line's and delivery are among the most quotable of all cinema.
Layne: The *things* I do for my *fucking* *friends*.
-
Layne: I'm gonna put another quarter in this machine and take over the fuckin' universe.
-
Layne: ...and then one of us gets himself in potentially BIG trouble, and now we've gotta deal with it; we've got to test our loyalty against ALL odds. It's kind of... exciting. I feel like... Chuck Norris, y'know?
-
Layne: Whaddya do you think? It runs on God's own methane?
-
Layne: Budweiser? You'd think that'd at least rate a Michelobe... And it's *warm* *even*.
He is also the only reason 'Charlie's Angels' (2000) is worth watching, unlesss you're into the softest of softcore porn imagery. His turn as the villanous 'Thin Man' is worth watching a second time, as he has been confirmed to star as 'The Joker' in the next Batman movie. Perfect. The high kicks he performs are reminescent of his infamous David Letterman show, where he acted extremely disoriented before raising from his chair and rocketing a high-kick inches away from Letterman's face. The show cut to commercial and Glover has been banned from the show.
Glover is also an author, and has directed his own feature film, 'What Is It?' (2000), bizarrely featuring only actors with Down's Syndrome. I have yet to see this work, so I won't comment on it.
But there you have it. The fucking genius that is Crispin Hellion Glover. For reals.
posted by Kong at
3:49 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home