I’m sorry but just about anyone can play a raging, drooling, bottom-of-the-gene-pool psycho. It only requires (a) a willingness to descend into the rage pit that many of us unfortunately have lurking inside, and (b) the abandonment of dignity and decorum. Bruce Dern and William Smith built their early careers out of this sort of thing. It’s just not impressive, and you’re going to convince me that Aaron Johnson is actually proud of his lowlife scumbag in Nocturnal Animals. Focus is actually trying to generate enthusiasm for this beast. Every acting-award campaign in history has not only been about seeking to elicit approval for acting technique but approval for the character. People didn’t just endorse Anthony Hopkins‘ performance in The Silence of the Lambs — they really enjoyed Hannibal Lecter. Due respect to the good people at Focus but my first reaction when I saw this ad this morning was “eccchhh!”