Nathan Fillion

Being a movie fan can be quite frustrating. Oh sure, movies provide a nice break from the harsh realities of life, and who doesn’t love being temporarily transported to another time or world? Still, it has its downsides as well, like watching the ascension of mediocre (or, even worse, just downright awful) talents to mega-star status, while a number of truly-deserving people are cast off into the shadows. What I’m trying to say, in as overly dramatic a way as possible, is that it sucks to see certain actors not get the recognition they deserve. So this week at 411, we’re going to do a little public service, and give a number of these people their hard-earned due. So come with us, as I, JT, Chad Webb, Tim O’Sullivan, and Bryan Kristopowitz present:

THE TOP 5 MOST UNDERAPPRECIATED ACTORS

TREVOR SNYDER

Honorable Mentions:

 Tom Cruise: No one is more surprised that I’m including Tom Cruise in my list than I am. There was a time when if you had told me I’d someday be complaining about Tom Cruise being underappreciated, I would have laughed in your face. That’s because for a long time I didn’t like the guy. I felt like he played the exact same character - the egotistical, wise-ass, pretty boy - in every single movie (apart from Born on the Fouth of July, which I guess was really a sneak preview of the greatness to come), and I had no desire to watch a hundred variations on Maverick from Top Gun. But then something happened, around the time of Magnolia (the film where Cruise realized he didn’t have to be the main character to be interesting). Suddenly, Cruise was taking more challenging roles in more mature films like Minority Report, The Last Samurai and Collateral. Hell, even the latest Mission Impossible called for him to show off more acting ability than any of his previous action films. His personal antics might have made him somewhat of a laughing stock to much of the public, but hopefully someday he’ll get the Oscar he deserves, and have the last laugh himself.

 Anna Farris: Everyone knows that the Scary Movie franchise has been getting progressively worse ever since the first film, and yet people still watch them. I’m pretty sure a big part of that is star Anna Farris. Although she is often glossed over in the trailers for the films, in favor of more established stars like Leslie Nielsen and whatever random celebrities are doing cameos this time, she has been the glue that has held each film together. Very funny glue. Besides the Scary Movies, Farris has also turned in memorable performances in films like Lost in Translation, Just Friends, and the underappreciated horror film May. Hell, she even popped up in Brokeback Mountain. At a time when there simply aren’t that many marketable female comediennes (maybe I’ll take hell for that, but sorry, there aren’t), Farris is a true commodity. I’m just waiting for Hollywood to realize it, and give her a starring role in her own comedic series (TV or film) that isn’t Scary Movie

 Ben Affleck: Sure, his work in Hollywoodland earned him some props, but it’s gonna take a lot more time before he gets over being the go-to joke whenever people are talking about crappy movies. Is that deserved? Yes and no. While there’s no doubt that Affleck was churning out quite the collection of stinkers for awhile, his detractors never seemed to realize that there’s a big difference between an inability to pick good scripts and an inability to act. But look at his work in Good Will Hunting, Chasing Amy, or especially Changing Lanes and try to say the guy doesn’t have talent. If nothing else, his times hosting Saturday Night Live have all been hilarious, and he may already be on his way to joining Alec Baldwin, Christopher Walken, and Tom Hanks as the great SNL hosts. Is he the greatest actor out there right now? No, of course not. But he’s certainly a lot better than he’s been given credit for, and definitely did not deserve to be such the critical punching bag he became.

5. Will Patton: Will Patton’s two most recent roles have been in the straight-to-video Road House 2 and the Cedric the Entertainer secret-agent flick Code Name: The Cleaner. My question is, why? Why is a man who was so good as Denzel Washington’s assistant coach in Remember the Titans and Bruce Willis’ gambling-addicted best friend in Armageddon reduced to appearing in such tripe? A look at his filmography reveals a lot of clunkers, but you can rest assured that he turned in a decent performance even in the biggest pieces of crap. I mean, even when he isn’t given much to do, his presence lends the films a little bit of class, as was the case when he portrayed the secretly-gay mobster Quentin Glass in The Punisher. Patton needs a starring role in something, so that he can finally begin to break out of his "oh, look, it’s that guy" status.

4. Nathan Fillion: The unjustly canceled Firefly should have made Fillion a TV star. The unfortunately unsuccessful Serenity should have made him a movie star. And then, the incredibly underappreciated Slither should have made him a movie star, again. What is it about Nathan Fillion that he just can’t seem to get a break? He has an undeniably likable charisma onscreen, which he can also turn on its head and suddenly become very creepy (as was the case when he played the murderous preacher Caleb on the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer). Plus, he seems like a genuinely decent guy, which might not seem like a big deal, but to me it counts for something. There’s a lot of actors I like, there’s not many I’d like to go grab a beer with. Fillion falls into that category. I guess I’m getting a little off topic about his acting abilities - just go rent all of the above titles I mentioned and see if you don’t find yourself wondering how this guy isn’t getting more leading roles.

3. Taye Diggs: OK, Daybreak, Diggs’ recent "Groundhog’s Day but with a cop" ABC series, was pretty lame. But what makes it even worse in the first place is that it starred Diggs, who deserves a lot better. Actually, he had a lot better - his UPN series Kevin Hill, about a womanizing lawyer suddenly forced into caring for a baby, was quite good. Unfortunately, it was on UPN, and was pretty much doomed from the start. Besides those two shows, Diggs has been turning in all sorts of great performances for years, from comedic turns in Go and Malibu’s Most Wanted to darker, more serious fare like The Way of the Gun and Equilibrium. And yet, despite the fact that he’s proved himself to be one of the most versatile actors out there many times over, you never really hear too many people talking about him. Why is that? And can we somehow get it to change? I know John Singleton apparently has Tyrese in mind for his long-planned adaptation of Marvel Comic’s Luke Cage, but I’m begging him to at least give Diggs a screen-test; it could be the breakout franchise role he needs to finally move up to the next level.

2. Clifton Collins, Jr.: Go ahead and say it: who? If that’s you response, I don’t blame you. Sadly, I’m not even surprised. From what I can tell, I’m not even sure Collins is in that "oh, it’s that guy" category that I mentioned for Will Patton, which is a shame. Of course, it also goes a long way towards saying how much of a chameleon-type actor Collins is. And trust me, even if you don’t know the name, you probably know him. Perhaps as the in-over-his-head Pvt. Miter in Tigerland. Or as the gay hitman Francisco Flores in Traffic. Maybe you’re more familiar with the crazed, but hilarious, drug dealer Rupert in The Rules of Attraction. Most likely, you’ll remember him as Perry Smith, the death-row inmate who strikes up an unexpected bond with Truman Capote, in Capote. That was Collins’ finest moment; unfortunately, it came acting against Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Oscar-winning performance, and was therefore overshadowed. Still, it was a phenomenal performance, like many of his others, and yet for some reason he still hasn’t been able to get to that point where he’s a recognizable star to the majority of the public. In my opinion, he always seems to be one big breakout performance away from becoming the next big thing - that moment can’t come soon enough, if you ask me.

1. John Leguizamo: Leguizamo is one of my personal favorite actors, so I’m not even gonna deny my bias in this one. I’m also not denying that Leguizamo has been in some complete trash (Super Mario Brothers obviously comes to mind), but, as his recent autobiography shows, Leguizamo will be the first to tell you that anyway. That travesty aside, though, the fact remains that when the man is on, he’s on. Leguizamo has made a habit out of stealing the show in almost all of his movies: Carlito’s Way (especially impressive, given it was one of his first major roles and his co-stars were Al Pacino and Sean Penn), Romeo + Juliet, Spawn (yeah, the movie sucked, but Leguizamo as the Clown was it’s only redeeming feature), Assault on Precinct 13, Land of the Dead, Summer of Sam (where he was so good the focus of the movie shifted to his character mid-production, even though Adrien Brody was supposed to be the lead), and his excellent one-year stint on ER. And those are just his supporting roles. Leguizamo has also turned in some excellent lead performances in films like Empire, Undefeated, and Cronicas. Whenever people think of Leguizamo, they think of him primarily as a comedian, and I’m sure that’s how he wants it. Still, I don’t think he gets nearly enough credit for what he brings to his acting roles.