I’m very sorry about Ezra Miller having been arrested for second-degree assault last night. Miller reportedly threw a chair at a woman inside of a Pahoa home, according to Hawaii News Now. Last month Miller was arrested in a Hilo karaoke bar after allegedly ripping a microphone out of a woman’s hands and lunging at a man playing darts.
It would appear that Miller is having trouble controlling himself, and now he’s blowing his career to pieces. After the karaoke bar incident he obviously needed to calm down and not be violent again, but now he’s branded himself as Mr. Wacko. Look at the HNN photo of him [below] — he could be Charles Manson’s grand-nephew.
I’ve always sensed something fierce and immoderate inside Miller…I’ve felt this tendency all along. This is what gives him power as an actor, of course. The trick is not to let inner feral tendencies overwhelm your judgment as an artist.
11 years ago I saw Miller in Lynne Ramsay‘s We Need To Talk About Kevin. Miller’s titular character, the neglected son of Tilda Swinton, was driven by anger issues. I described his character as “a steely-brained, black-eyed Belezebub…[the audience is persuaded early on that] the only humane and compassionate response to this kid would have been to put him in a burlap bag, fill it with rocks and toss it off a pier.”
Two years later Miller, a standout in Perks of Being a Wallflower, took part in a Virtuosos Award Ceremony at the 2013 Santa Barbara Film Festival. He was joined by Ginger & Rosa‘s Elle Fanning, Compliance co-star Ann Dowd, The Intouchables‘ Omar Sy, Beasts of the Southern Wild‘s Quvenzhane Wallis and Les Miserables‘ Eddie Redmayne.
Here’s how I described Miller’s on-stage demeanor: “The eternally weird Miller, 20, leaned forward in the interview seat, hunched forward like a cat about to chase a mouse. I half-expected him to leave the stage on all fours. Miller has Haight-Ashbury hippie hair now, and was wearing a pair of almost shapeless brown serf shoes. And he smiled a lot.”
We all go through difficult passages. I hope Miller can somehow get hold of himself and stop behaving this way. He’s only 29 — he has his whole life ahead of him.
