I’m sorry if this is getting tiresome but I very much need to gush about Tony’s acting right now... I’ve been listening to the Excelis trilogy again, you see, and wow...
[Spoilers ahead I suppose]
He's playing three different villains, who ultimately are the same person. He could have played them all more or less the same. But he didn't.
First you have Lord Grayvorn, a warlord, a savage if you will, cunning in his own right, but still not the brightest, relying mostly on brute force, of which he undoubtedly has quite a lot. Powerful. Physically powerful. Yet with a paradoxical vulnerability about him; he's puzzled when people don't obey him and sometimes seems to need a moment before he remembers to threaten them with violence. Which is, you know, almost cute (okay, maybe not cute, but come on...). Not stupid, but can be outwitted. Ambitious. Bit narcissistic.
Then there's my personal favourite, the Reeve Maupassant. 1000 years older, and oh so much wiser. Sophisticated. Calm. A voice that makes your nerves vibrate, without ever being raised. So calm. And infinitely menacing. Someone you don't want to piss off, not even to tease, you really don't. Haunted too. Tormented even. By the inability to sleep as well as the fact that there's an uninvited guest living in his mind. One he's desperately longing to be rid of. So, all in all, not entirely sane... but sane enough to always be one step ahead of you.
Add a couple of centuries more, and we meet Lord Sutton. Entirely different again. Madness very close to the surface now. Basically a megalomaniac. More ambitious plans than ever, and more horrific ones at that. And so very close to achieving them. More knowledge than ever. And less patience. He gives in to anger more than he used to. He's close. So very close to omnipotence. And he's tired of waiting and suffering fools. He never used to laugh before, but he does here, and it's chilling.
One man, at three points of his immortal life, each point distinctly different. Played so SO perfectly. What a treat this is. Thank you, Tony.
