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Cloverfield [BLU-RAY] (Paramount Home Entertainment, 6.3.2008) Disguised under deliberately goofy, yet deliciously edible-sounding, aliases such as Cheese and Slusho, Matt Reeves' Cloverfield was produced and rushed into theaters under an equally appetizing shroud of secrecy. From last year's incredibly elusive Super Bowl ad to the film's viral marketing campaign, Cloverfield had everybody scratching their heads and drooling in anticipation. Aside from the as-yet untitled title and the Blair Witch-ian visual style, the film's biggest appeal was the enigmatic creature who was last (un)seen hurling the decapitated head of the Statue of Liberty onto the crowded streets of New York City. All we knew about the mysterious beast was that it was big and angry. Now that the highy-anticipated project has come and gone, one question has fortunately been answered: Cloverfield was a major success. (continued)

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Jenkins' Career Booster

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Nobody can be called a near-lock for a Best Actor nomination at this stage of the game. With the start of awards season being a good four months away, it's way too early to even speculate. Except, arguably, when it comes to Richard Jenkins' work in The Visitor. A quiet, heart-melting lead performance by one of the finest character actors in the business, Jenkins' Walter Vale is one of those career-lifting roles that SAG members tend to warm to, remember and single out.

The Visitor star Richard Jenkins during today's interview at West Hollywood's Le Pain Quotidien -- Thursday, 5.1.08, 1:45 pm

Especially when the actor in question has been stand-out superb in a long run of supporting roles over the last 20-plus years. For me Jenkins began to come into his own in the mid '90s with two lawman parts -- a police detective in Mike Nichols' Wolf ('94) and a gay FBI agent in David O. Russell's Flirting With Disaster ('96). I think Jenkins' career took off with one scene in particular -- when his agent reacts to a dose of LSD that's been put into his food. It's the single most hilarious drug-related scene in modern cinema.

That was twelve years ago, and for my money Jenkins has hit long doubles or triples with eight performances since, not counting his work in The Visitor. I'm thinking of the psychiatrist in There's Something About Mary, the sheriff in Scott Hicks' Snow Falling on Cedars, some kind of offical or investigator in Sydney Pollack's Random Hearts, an EPA agent in Me, Myself & Irene, an aging racist murderer in am FX feature called Sins of the Father, a divorce attorney in Intolerable Cruelty, an uncredited but hilarious part in I Heart Huckabees, and 10 episodes as Nathaniel Fisher in HBO's Six Feet Under.

The Visitor's Vale is a morose 50ish college professor who goes through a spiritual wake-up by helping out a couple of illegal immigrants, and then falling in love with the Palestinian mother of one of them, a young man who teaches him how to play a native drum.

His next three features are a British horror-thriller called The Broken, Adam McKay's comedic Step Brothers(Sony, 7.25) with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly, and the Coen brothers' Burn After Reading (Focus, 9.12).

Jenkins is doing interviews to plug the recent theatrical expansion of The Visitor, which is now playing in some 300 situations. We met at lunch time at Le Pain Quotidien and spoke for over an hour. Here are two portions of that chat, totalling maybe 15 minutes -- selection #1 and selection #2. We're tallking about Burn After Reading as the first mp3 begins. We get into the Flirtiing LSD scene in the second portion.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on May 1, 2008 at 3:28 PM

comment #1

thatrader says ...

Jenkins seems like a nice guy, and he is a great character actor, but "The Visitor" was the worst film I saw at Sundance. Bored me until I took 2 naps and couldn't believe it was still going on after the second one. It didn't help that one of Michael London's other films at the festival had almost the same setup with "Smart People."

Posted by thatrader at May 1, 2008 5:42 PM

comment #2

actionman says ...

The small scene in The Kingdom where Jenkins, in so many words, tells Danny Houston's character to go fuck himself, will always make me cackle. Great dialogue and great delivery.

This guy has been stealing scenes his entire career; hopefully we get to see a lot more of him in the future.

I don't remember his response to LSD in Flirting with Disaster but I will be sure to re-check it out; that's an extremely funny movie.

Haven't seen The Visitor yet but I'd like too; very much enjoyed The Station Agent.

Posted by actionman at May 1, 2008 5:52 PM

comment #3

Mgmax says ...

Hmm, I have to wonder if this will really be remembered many months from now, but you're certainly right that he deserves the attention after many years of quasi-anonymously stealing scenes.

Posted by Mgmax at May 1, 2008 5:58 PM

comment #4

Rothchild says ...

He's super funny in Step Brothers.

Posted by Rothchild at May 1, 2008 6:08 PM

comment #5

Jason says ...

His narcoleptic-alcoholic father to Scarlett Johansson in The Man Who Wasn't There was memorable, too. Even his work in Fun with Dick and Jane was a cut above. His serious turn in North Country was admirable but he plays deadpan so well I kept looking for a subversive comedic edge to his serious-as-a-heart-attack character.

Posted by Jason at May 1, 2008 6:08 PM

comment #6

Balthazar says ...

Boy ... Jenkins is a superb actor and I think he's great in just about everything. .. But I just cannot see him surviving the cut once all the heavyweight "name" actors check in later this year. Jenkins is just to forgettable, compared to them. Seriously, who was the last true lifelong character actor to get nominated for Best Actor? (Best Supporting Actor would be a Whole Nother Story)

Posted by Balthazar at May 1, 2008 6:30 PM

comment #7

VoiceOfReason says ...

Love this guy. Everytime I see him in a film I smile.

Posted by VoiceOfReason at May 1, 2008 6:37 PM

comment #8

Scott Feinberg says ...

I love Richard Jenkins in almost everything he does... I was glad to see him do well in this... but there is not a chance in the world he's going to make the cut for the Oscars once the heavyweight performances start coming out and name actors start campaigning. Even if this performance was worthy of a nomination, which I'm not so sure it is, it's just going to be too tough.

Posted by Scott Feinberg at May 1, 2008 7:33 PM

comment #9

swtgy227 says ...

Jeff,

You forgot Jenkins best performance in my opinion.

The Dad in North Country. He was quite moving in that role. Probably deserved an Oscar Nomination that year.

Posted by swtgy227 at May 1, 2008 7:59 PM

comment #10

televisiontears says ...

It's hard to believe he's only in ten episodes of Six Feet Under. It seems like his presence is almost constantly felt. Makes me wanna curl up with the discs again.

Posted by televisiontears at May 1, 2008 9:07 PM

comment #11

televisiontears says ...

Also, as someone who will most assuredly be where he is scalp-wise in 30 years, it's always nice to see straight-up cue-ball bald men get leading roles in semi-mainstream films. Glad Jeff doesn't take issue.

Posted by televisiontears at May 1, 2008 9:11 PM

comment #12

Terry McCarty says ...

And Jenkins' performance was one of the few bright spots in RUMOR HAS IT.

Posted by Terry McCarty at May 1, 2008 11:10 PM

comment #13

lazespud says ...

Amen to the praise for the scene in Fliriting with Disaster. When he was tripping on LSD and Lily Tomlin got tired of trying to comfort him through is bad trip, and finally tells him to "Shut the Fuck up"... I lost it. I laughed so hard at that scene that I nearly puked.

I always wished six feet under had not basically dropped the ball on having Jenkins "ghost" dad be a more consistent, major character in the show.

Posted by lazespud at May 2, 2008 12:07 AM

comment #14

JChasse says ...

Balthazar: "Seriously, who was the last true lifelong character actor to get nominated for Best Actor? "

Not to get all DZ-ey on you, but recent examples include David Strathaim, "Good Night and Good Luck" and Richard Farnsworth, "The Straight Story". There's some other recent names that depend on how you define the time "lifelong supporting"- Tom Wilkinson, "In the Bedroom", Don Cheadle "Hotel Rwanda", Paul Giamatti, "Sideways". The thing is, in my opinion, that with independent cinema, many supporting actor-types in the big budget, heavily marketed films get to play the lead in smaller but more critically appreciated films, because they made the big bucks playing the friend of the friend, and that's where they earn that nomination.

Posted by JChasse at May 2, 2008 6:44 AM

comment #15

alan says ...

Balthazar: "Seriously, who was the last true lifelong character actor to get nominated for Best Actor? (Best Supporting Actor would be a Whole Nother Story)"

Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises (2007)
Forest Whitaker, The Last King of Scotland (2006)
David Strathairn, Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005)
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote (2004)
Don Cheadle, Hotel Rwanda (2004)
Bill Murray, Lost in Translation (2003)
Tom Wilkinson, In the Bedroom (2001)

Need I go on? (You could also reasonably argue that Jamie Foxx and Adrien Brody fit that description).

I consider Jenkins to be an absolute lock for a Best Actor nomination at this point. The closest analogy that comes to mind is Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story.

Posted by alan at May 2, 2008 6:53 AM

comment #16

alan says ...

And JChasse beat me to it...

Posted by alan at May 2, 2008 6:59 AM

comment #17

Jackrabbit Slim says ...

JChasse--Sorry, Giamatti wasn't nominated for Sideways. He was nominated for supporting actor for Cinderella Man.

Posted by Jackrabbit Slim at May 2, 2008 8:05 AM

comment #18

Rob says ...

12 years later, it is indeed nice to see both of Flirting's gay cops - Jenkins and Josh Brolin - getting much-deserved career props. They are awesome in that movie.

Brolin: For instance, I'm very anal...in that I'm compulsively clean about what touches my body. NOT into penetration, man.

Jenkins: To a fault!

Posted by Rob at May 2, 2008 8:23 AM

comment #19

JChasse says ...

I'm sorry, I was wrong.

See how easy that was, DZ? I didn't burst into flames, and no limbs fell off.

Posted by JChasse at May 2, 2008 8:34 AM

comment #20

Scott Feinberg says ...

I thought the mother/love interest was Syrian?

Posted by Scott Feinberg at May 2, 2008 8:50 AM

comment #21

Jeffrey Kunze says ...

Nice to have all HE readers agreeing on something for once. Richard Jenkins is a great actor. Love to see him pop up.

Rob: "12 years later, it is indeed nice to see both of Flirting's gay cops - Jenkins and Josh Brolin - getting much-deserved career props. They are awesome in that movie."

Totally agree!

Jenkins does such a great job conveying what a stiff would be like if he was suddenly tripping on LSD -

"I'm seeing colors I don't want to see!"

Posted by Jeffrey Kunze at May 2, 2008 9:18 AM

comment #22

Richardson says ...

"I consider Jenkins to be an absolute lock for a Best Actor nomination at this point. The closest analogy that comes to mind is Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story."

I really hope you're the same guy saying that Heath Ledger is an absolute lock to win Supporting Actor. I'd hate to think there are two people posting at HE who are that badly misinformed about how the Oscars work.

Posted by Richardson at May 2, 2008 10:21 AM

comment #23

Rob says ...

One of my other favorite Jenkins moments is the one in North Country where he stands up for his daughter at the union meeting. It has the potential to be a maudlin moment, but he plays it so movingly.

Posted by Rob at May 2, 2008 10:33 AM

comment #24

Thrudvangar says ...

Thanks Jeff. Interviews like this is why I love your site. You know your stuff and the interviewees appreciate that stuff.

Posted by Thrudvangar at May 2, 2008 4:16 PM

comment #25

alan says ...

"I really hope you're the same guy saying that Heath Ledger is an absolute lock to win Supporting Actor. I'd hate to think there are two people posting at HE who are that badly misinformed about how the Oscars work."

I am not that guy. I've been watching, analyzing, and discussing the Oscars since my early teens, I've read every major print publication about the Academy Awards, I used to run a pretty successful website based mostly around the Oscars when I had time to do such a thing, and I'm notorious for almost always winning the pool at any Oscar party I attend. So I'm quite well-informed about how they work, thanks.

Posted by alan at May 2, 2008 10:46 PM