I was looking at the Emmy nominations, specifically for Barry and got to thinking about Stephen Root. I think he might be my favorite character actor. He shows up in everything and absolutely steals the scenes every time. He can play the most normal people and the most outlandish characters and he knocks it out of the park every time. He’s a chameleon.
Who are your favorite character actors?
Oh definitely. He was great in everything. One of my favorite and earliest roles I remember him in was in OZ.
I haven’t seen Oz yet (I desperately need to change that) so I feel like I kind of got into the Lance Reddick camp late. I loved him in Fringe and the John Wick films though. It was funny seeing him go from that cool, collected demeanor, to the ridiculous character he played on Eric Andre’s show.
Oh man, he was hilarious on Eric Andre. I would heavily recommend OZ. It was really one of the first of HBO’s “prestige” TV series, followed by The Sopranos. Lance is only in a season or 2, but he’s great while he’s there. There were a lot of people who came and went. People got killed off a lot on that show. One character who you think is gonna be around dies in the very first episode, haha. But it’s a who’s who of actors you see all the time now before they blew up. And I’d still argue one of JK Simmons’ best roles.
It has so many familiar faces in it, it’s a crime I haven’t watched it yet. I love JK Simmons.
Oh you’ll love it then. Just be warned, lots of hanging dong in it, lol.