Hey, It's That Guy! : Michael Wincott

"Hey, it's that guy!" - a declaration heard around countless television and movie screens and often followed with "You know, from [insert movie title here], he played the [insert memorable character actor role here]. You know, that guy. From that movie. Don't you remember? We talked about how great he was the entire car ride home!"

That guys get just as many blank stares as they do snaps of recognition. They deserve more recognition. That guys make movies more entertaining, believable, and memorable. Sometimes they carve out niche roles, and seeing that guy immediately centers you in a universe full of miscast superstars(like R. Lee Ermey, who started a very long that guy career with his role as a Marine Drill Sergeant in Full Metal Jacket), or they frequently steal the show from their more celebrated cast mates(like Henry Czerny, the that guy from Mission Impossible, Clear And Present Danger, and The Ice Storm).

Today, we recognize Michael Wincott. Please, hold your applause.

Wincott had completely slipped from my memory until I saw Seraphim Falls a month ago. He plays the same role I always remember him playing: a sinister henchman. The one that will surely die, but not until the third act.

I knew it was him before I saw him. Distracted -- situating the popcorn and the Reese's Pieces for maximum convenience -- he snapped me to attention with barely one and half syllables of his calling-card voice: deep, raspy, and deliberate. A voice with immediate character; an actor's dream. It stands every hair on your body, forcing you to swallow whatever you were about to say. And that's a hard swallow too; a lump that really fucking hurts going down. I'm a real son of a bitch, don't fuck with me his voice says.

He played Guy of Gisborne(a that guy literally playing a Guy, how poetic) in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, holding his own against Alan Rickman's wonderfully depraved Sheriff of Nottingham*. He reprised the role, for all intents and purposes, as the evil enforcer for Tim Curry's villainous Cardinal in The Three Musketeers, an otherwise forgettable film. Curry was entertaining, but Wincott's fellow that guy Oliver Platt(who is arguably no longer a that guy) was the only other source of entertainment with his boisterous Porthos. The movie helped catapult Chris O'Donnell to fame, making it indirectly responsible for the Batman franchise's temporary demise years later, and other cinematic crimes(In Love And War, The Bachelor).

Wincott's best performance was one of his only stints, to my knowledge, as a flick's top villian in The Crow. He played Top Dollar, the head of the film's eerie Gothic crime syndicate, and for the first time was given ample screen time to lay forth sadistic lines in his gravelled, yet smooth voice, the stones in his throat having been worn flat and polished by the Jack he no doubt used to wash down his six-pack-a-day habit**.

I'm not a huge fan of serial killer movies, but I'll have to see Along Came A Spider, since Wincott plays the main villain, Gary Soneji.

Today, aside from Seraphim Falls, Wincott does a lot of voice over work in video games like Halo and NARC. A perfect fit I'll admit, though I pray for the day I can watch him bedevil some poor superstar on the silver screen, and maybe if he's blessed with a cynical maverick for a director, he'll win.

A victory for that guys everywhere.

Michael Wincott, I salute you.

*One of my favorite lines of all time is from this movie, between Wincott and Rickman. After one of Robin Hood's many escapes, Rickman yells he'll cut out Robin Hood's heart with a spoon. Later:

Guy of Gisborne: Why a spoon, cousin? Why not an axe?
Sheriff of Nottingham: Because it's DULL, you twit. It'll hurt more.

Pure Brilliance. Other great lines:

Sheriff of Nottingham: Wait a minute. Robin Hood steals money from my pocket, forcing me to hurt the public, and they love him for it?
[Scribe nods]
Sheriff of Nottingham: That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas.

-----

Azeem: How many are there?
Robin of Locksley: Twenty
Azeem: Twenty?
Bull: How many?
Robin of Locksley: Five.
[to Azeem] Robin of Locksley: They can't count anyway

----

Sheriff of Nottingham: What a beautiful child. So young, so alive, so unaware of how precarious life can be. I had a very sad childhood, I'll tell you about it sometime. I never knew my parents; it's amazing I'm sane.

----

Azeem: Is there no sun in this cursed country? Which way is East?

----

Robin of Locksley: And you. You travel ten thousand miles to save my life and leave me to be butchered.
Azeem: I fulfill my vows when I choose to.
Robin of Locksley: Which does not include prayer time, meal time, or any time I'm outnumbered six to one.
Azeem: You whine like a mule. You are still alive.

----

[after Robin Hood and Azeem are catapulted over a castle wall]
Will Scarlett: Fuck me! He cleared it.

**I have no idea if Wincott smokes or drinks. Here are some great lines from The Crow(though you have to hear them to really appreciate Wincott):

T-Bird: I got trouble. One of my crew got himself perished.
Top Dollar: Yeah, and who might that be?
T-Bird: Tin Tin, somebody stuck his blades in all his major organs in alphabetical order.
Top Dollar: Gentlemen, by all means, I think we ought to have an introspective moment of silence for poor ol' Tin Tin. [sniffs]

----

Top Dollar: Ya know, my daddy used to say every man's got a devil. And you can't rest 'til you find him... but if it's any consolation to you, you have put a smile on my face.

----

Top Dollar: Our friend T-bird won't be joining us this evening on account of a slight case of death.

----

[gazing at falling-snow crystal ball containing a mini-cemetery] Top Dollar: Dad gave me this. Fifth birthday. He said, "Childhood's over the moment you know you're gonna die."

----

Eric Draven: I see you have made your decision, now let's see you enforce it.
Top Dollar: Aw, this is already boring the shit out of me. Kill 'im!

----

Grange: I saw him too. He had a guitar. He winked at me right before he jumped out a fourth floor window like he had wings.
Top Dollar: He winked at you?
[sighs]
Top Dollar: Musicians.

----
[after shooting the crow] Top Dollar: Quick impression for you: Caw! Caw! Bang! Fuck, I'm dead!