Things I am discovering through gradually making my way through François Arnaud's back catalogue...
Oh damn, he really is very very very good indeed. I mean I knew this already, but "delivers a stonkingly good performance even with very cheesy lines etc." is one of my criteria for loving an actor enormously
He's so fricking versatile stylistically, which is very very sexy of him
He's also tremendously courageous in some of his acting choices and especially script choices, and ditto
Wowwww learning French-French is not actually that helpful for understanding fast Quebecois is it. ;-) Hooray for English subtitles. (Good practise though! I don't want my understanding of French to be tied to only one version of it.)
Even when he's playing someone so repellent that I cannot actually find him attractive (Vincent Lacroix, specifically), it's impossible to look away from his performance
And yet at the same time he's such a giving and generous scene partner, so it's invariably also hard to look away from whoever he is acting with too <3
Given that WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED WITH SARAH RAMOS they might as well be in different rooms, mind you she fails to have any kind of acting chemistry with any of the Midnight, Texas cast (and he has it with all of the others) so I have to assume that's on her; I can see François trying to feed her energy in their scenes and it's just not working, it must be incredibly frustrating. (Her performance overall is quite an interesting study in genuinely but not immediately obviously bad acting (NB: I have no idea if she's good in anything else, sometimes an actor and a production just don't gel, so not saying anything about her abilities in general))
Rapid Eye Movement is a very odd film and pretty much the embodiment of "it makes no sense; compels me though". I cannot make up my mind whether it's any good, and I suspect it isn't. But I found it intensely watchable, mostly because of him
I am not sure how he made me like his character in Plan B when he was frankly an amoral dick a lot of the time, but oh my goodness the complexity and the vulnerability under the dickishness; it also helps that at least Pat is nowhere NEAR as hateable as the main character Phil
I really do need to watch more of The Borgias; it's fantastic, just needing to pace myself for the growing intensity a bit. Also hilarious how good David Oakes is at playing utterly horrifying historical figures when he is by all accounts a total cinnamon roll irl
I suspect that François shares with Roger Allam a thoroughly masochistic desire to play characters who Go Through It(tm)
I so so *so* want to see him and Roger in something together because aaaaaaaaaaaah
They're the right age gap (30 years) for Roger to play his father and I think could sell that pretty well and it would be amazing
Even if also brain-breaking given how much I crush on them both ;-)
Did I mention that François is just a fricking amazing actor? I SHALL MENTION IT AGAIN
A post of joy and love towards the "Heated Rivalry" actors (& specifically their performances in the show)
Because I have done enough ranting about the Horrors and Nonsense now, and I just want to focus on how utterly fricking awesome they are.
This may get Long and Nerdy, so I'm putting it behind a cut:
Name: Hudson Williams (Shane Hollander)
I particularly squee over: his microexpressions, his microexpressions, oh my goodness they are breathtakingly good. Watch that moment after Boston wins the cup, the bittersweetness, the way his mouth moves. I love Hudson's delivery of lines, don't get me wrong, but its what he does with his face in quiet moments that lifts the whole show to a new level.
My favourite line: toss up between "does it kill you too?" and "this is Ilya... Rosanov... but you know that". ;-) Also every time he calls Ilya an asshole. ;-)
Shakespearean role I want to see him play: Hal/Henry V in the Henry IVs part 1 and 2, and Henry V. Please. Omg. Also Hamlet in a few years.
Name: Connor Storrie (Ilya Rosanov)
I particularly squee over: I mean, the phone monologue in Russian, obviously. But one of the other things that impresses me most is how he conveys Ilya's change in age; he looks so different over the time that passes, and most of that is body language, not hair and make-up (esp. coupled with the way that he contrasts Ilya pretending to be The Most Adult person and Ilya actually at his oldest in s1 but letting himself be a big kid a bit :) ). Magnificent.
My favourite line: "she would have loved you, like I love you".
Shakespearean role I want to see him play: Mercutio. Also Mark Antony in Julius Caesar in about 10-20 years time.
Name: François Arnaud (Scott Hunter)
I particularly squee over: I am a total sucker for actors with expressive eyes and this is partly why he's my favourite even though I also love the others so much! The grateful-orphan-elder-statesman mask, the painfully innocent joy in his new relationship, the anxiety and possible-OCD, the way it all breaks, and then the joy and determination at the end of ep5. My God the man does devastating face journeys. Ngyargh.
Favourite line(s): "I thought I could do this; I wanted to" and "fear is a powerful thing". (But also: the way his voice shakes the second time he orders a smoothie from Kip.)
Shakespearean role I want to see him play: I know he wants to play Macbeth and I can't disagree with him on that. ;-) Also: Benedick in Much Ado.
Name: Robbie G.K. (Kip Grady)
I particularly squee over: this may sound underwhelmed but it really isn't:- the calm kindness and gentle humour in a show full of so much high-octane drama. Not that Kip doesn't have his messy moments! But he is a breath of fresh air into the story as well as into Scott's life and Robbie just conveys that with every second he's onscreen. And then, omg, the break-up scene... again, kindness and gentleness layered over so much pain, and the way he then collapses on to his dad. Aaah. It's understated; it's perfect.
Favourite line(s): "you don't have to do this", with all of those deliveries. Also literally every time he gets snarky. :D
Shakespearean role I want to see him play: Brutus in Julius Caesar, though probably not for another 10 years or so. But I want to see that quiet, intelligent power bubbling over and crack. :D As he is still a bit young for Brutus though, let's say Lear's Fool, complete with some of his gorgeous singing.
Name: Christina Chang (Yuna Hollander)
I particularly squee over: ahhhh how does she make even Yuna so scary and yet so utterly lovable and warm and charming?!! The dry humour and the care and the competence. Her comic timing is also majestic. Omg.
Favourite line: "since their rookie year! [sniff]"
Shakespearean role I want to see her play: Iago in Othello (though emphatically with the right director to make that... not be problematic af). But she's got exactly the right level of ferocious intelligence and charm; I think she'd be terrifying. Alternatively: Henry IV to Hudson Williams's Hal. Or (obviously) Beatrice in Much Ado if she hasn't already, but that's almost too obvious. ;-)
Name: Dylan Walsh (David Hollander)
I particularly squee over: his boring. ;-) No, really! In a show partly about different kinds of masculinity and the need for men to be softer and more open for their own sakes as well as others, David is such a nurturer and in a very low-key way he gives one example of Getting It Right, and Dylan gets this across so, so powerfully.
Favourite line: "the summer before!"
Shakespearean role I want to see him play: has he played Falstaff yet? If he hasn't, Falstaff to Hudson Williams' Hal please. :D
Name: Ksenia Daniela Kharlamova (Svetlana Vetrova)
I particularly squee over: that gorgeous mixture of playfulness and ferocity and loyalty and determination and kindness. I keep thinking Ksenia must be older than she is, not because she doesn't look that young (she's one of the few main and supporting actors I don't find at all attractive because just Too Damn Young!), but because that's a hell of a lot of nuance to get across in relatively few scenes and I am in awe.
Favourite line: aah, I can't remember it (or the English translation, at least!), but the one she says when she interrupts the Rosanov brothers at the funeral. Steely and concerned and wryly funny and just a bit scared.
Shakespearean role I want to see her play: Rosalind in As You Like It, please. And/or the Princess of France in Love's Labours Lost.
Name: Sophie Nélisse (Rose Landry)
I particularly squee over: the spaces around her words. The way she conveys all of that thoughtfulness and humour and and warmth in such an understated but compelling way. I always feel that the show is taking a breath when she's onscreen, one that Shane desperately needs.
Favourite line: all of them? ;-)
Shakespearean role I want to see her play: oh my goodness, Celia to Ksenia's Rosalind, please! Or indeed Orlando, ditto. I really hope those two get some scenes together in s2; I think their acting styles would do fascinating and awesome things together.
Name: Nadine Bhabha (Elena Rygg)
I particularly squee over: in her more comic scenes: her facial expressions. Someone needs to react to how endearingly ridiculous Kip and Scott are being. But then... aaah. Just, I cannot imagine anyone delivering Elena's speech to Scott over the dance more powerfully. That mixture of compassion and hard truths. It would have been so easy to have Elena be simply harsh, and that would have lost so much that's important about that episode.
Favourite line: "he deserves sunshine - and so do you" (predictable, I know, but it is amazing!)
Shakespearean role I want to see her play: Beatrice in Much Ado again seems a little too obvious but I really really want to see her play her, so. ;-) Also, rather more from left-field, Edward IV in the Henry VIs & Richard III.
Oh goodness, I really want to carry on but this post is already shockingly long and I need to rest; I may do a sequel post at some point because I also want to squee about Matt Gordon and Kolton Stewart and Yaroslav Poverlo and Slavic Rogozine and Callan Potter and Brandon Ash-Mohammed and Bianca Nugara and and and. This cast. THIS CAST. They are all so mindbogglingly good. <3
I absolutely would love to hear what other people who love the whole cast relish particularly about each performance. :)
François Arnaud as Cesare Borgia and
Roger Allam as (variously) Prospero, Falstaff, Duke Vincentio, Rogozhin (FFS!), and Javert, and
Gloria Obiyano as Neoptolemus and even possibly Uriel and
Mimî M. Khayisa as Fringilla and
Indira Varma in every villain she's ever played, and
David Tennant ditto...
... finding the vulnerability and humanity in people who do things I absolutely hate and making me care a whole massive lot about them even as I want them to Fucking Stop That Immediately Please.
It's actively painful at times. And it's partly what acting is for. There's a reason why that's a small selection of my absolutely favourites. <3
(And I suspect that my list of roles that Arnaud has played in which he's pulled that off will only go up as I watch more of his past performances! Scott Hunter's hardly a good example as for all his flaws he is fundamentally a lovely man in a hard situation. <3 )
(Yes I said what I said about Prospero. ;-) Though Allam does definitely soften him, Falstaff, and the Duke in comparison to some other interpretations of the characters, he doesn't at any point ease up on the fact that all three of them perpetrate massively fucked-up shit.)
I watched the new Hobbit movie trailer: A Nonsensical Collection of Rambling by Riversing
MIDDLE-EARTH
But I didn't like the first Hobbit movie much
LEE PACE
Wait his accent isn't that good
OH MY GAWD LEE PACE
BADASS FEMALE ELF
I love badass females who shoot things!!
Man, Martin Freeman is great. I love that guy.
Okay, blah blah blah where's the dragon.
Still no dragon.
Okay, maybe we won't see the dragon.
But I feel like...they're really building....
(Says out loud to the empty room): "Come on, come on...!"
DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON DRAGON
OH MY GAWD IT'S A PERFORMANCE CAPTURE DRAGON IT TURNED ITS HEAD THAT MEANS MY CLOSE PERSONAL FRIEND TURNED HIS HEAD IN A BLUE SUIT WITH DOTS BE STILL MY HEART
*Shrieks and runs around like a little kid who just got a trip to Disneyland for Christmas*
