The Flip Side

Orlando Bloom

Actually, I’m dying to read the book too.  I’ve heard nothing but good things about it and now Charlize Theron and Viggo Mortensen are signed on for the film.  Those two will be fantastic together.  Here’s a review from buzzsugar.com:

Cormac McCarthy’s novel No Country for Old Men has proven so successful in movie format, there’s already another film in pre-production based on another of his works, The Road. Variety is reporting today that Charlize Theron has signed on for the project, and will star alongside Viggo Mortensen. Apparently, Theron is a huge fan of the novel.

Here’s more:

Story centers on a man who embarks on a nightmarish road trip after a nuclear explosion in an attempt to transport his son to safety while fending off cannibals. Theron, who will play the wife of Mortensen’s character, will be seen mostly in flashback. Although the role is small, Theron joined the project because she’s a big fan of the book.

Viggo Mortensen

Viggo Mortensen

Most of us know him as Aragorn in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy but Mr. Mortensen has been an actor for 23 years.  His roles range from the angelically good to Lucifer (literally) and encompass everything in between.  He’s been in westerns, action films, dramas, and romance and I have yet to see him in a role that I didn’t buy completely.  “Eastern Promises” has just been released in which Viggo plays a vicious mobster.  But the interesting thing (to me) is all the other things Mr. Mortensen does.  He’s a painter, poet, musician, and photographer (more than a few books of his photography have been published).  Several of his paintings appeared in the movie “A Perfect Murder”.  He’s fluent in Danish and Spanish and passable in Norwegian, French, Italian and Swedish.  A sample of his painting like the one below can be found here:  http://specialrealms.com/VM/painting6.html

In addition to his many creative talents, he is very active in causes near and dear to his heart.  He supports The Children’s Clinic in New York, http://www.childrens-clinic.org/,  the Spirit Riders Foundation, http://www.spiritridersmovie.com/, and American Wild Horse Preservation, http://www.wildhorsepreservation.com/ to name a few.  He is also very vocal and active in politics.  Personally, I don’t know where he finds the time to do everything he does, but that’s why he’s the creative genius and I’m not.

As a true horror fan, I have seen nearly every movie on planet earth involving the devil.  Most are fairly cheesy (hell, most horror movies are fairly cheesy), but I’ve put together a list of Hollywood devils who actually made the role scary and unique.

Peter Stormare in “Constantine”

Peter represents a more bat-shit devil.  He’s obviously completely insane and that’s a bit of a different take on the character.  He did a wonderful job in this movie and while he had a bit of makeup for the overall effect, it was his acting that made this devil believable.

Tim Curry in “Legend”

Yes, that’s Tim Curry (Dr. Frankenfurter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”?)  Amazing the metric ton of makeup they put on this actor, but what I love about this particular devil (called “The Darkness” in the movie) is the acting.  Tim really made you believe that shit and his charging at the femme with his cloven hooves (another great makeup technique) was terrifying.  Say what you will about this fairytale film, Tim Curry was one of the best screen devils of all time.

Gabriel Byrne in “End of Days”

This devil is smart and totally evil.  He’s over the top confident and turns into a nasty devil beast toward the end of the film.  Ironically, Gabriel plays the priest in “Stigmata”.  The guy’s got such range.  I think I really like the dapper yet evil quality of this devil.

Emmanuelle Seigner in “The Ninth Gate”

Now, Emmanuelle is a beautiful lady, but she really tore it up in “The Ninth Gate”.  She managed to maintain those creepy, evil eyes in every scene.  At the end, she’s just insane looking.  It’s rare to find a convincing female devil but she pulls it off.  This version of the devil is seductive and evil and a perfect portrayal.

Viggo Mortenen in “The Prophecy” 

Viggo plays my favorite devil.  He whispers a lot of his lines and the dialog shows a contempt for human beings.  He has little overt makeup but the performance is top notch when it comes to screen devils.  This is actually the performance that made me aware of Mr. Mortensen long before “The Lord of the Ring” trilogy.  This is a devil who is hate incarnate and who you can really fear.

Honorable Mention:

Walter Phelan in “House of 1000 Corpses” as Dr. Satan

Dr. Satan is not the devil, but is terrifying none the less.  He was a very small part of “House of 1000 Corpses” but the impact is undeniable.  As the film begins, he is just a legend, but towards the end of the film he makes an unforgettable and surprising appearance.  Rob Zombie really knows how to scare the crap out of us.