Post by lizardgirl on Jun 25, 2005 9:56:56 GMT -5
This whole thing about Steve is SO true-
You know, it was never, like, a big secret that Steve Buscemi isn't conventionally attractive. At least, it wasn't a secret to anyone with eyes. The dude is no Tab Hunter: he knows it, we know it...there's really no reason to dwell on it. But just in case anyone missed the memo, the Coen brothers made Buscemi's plug-ugly mug a matter of movie history in Fargo. Describing Buscemi's character, Carl Showalter, to police officer Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), an anonymous prostitute whose services Carl had recently enjoyed says of her erstwhile john: "Oh, he was just funny-lookin'. More than most people, even." Carl was a big, meaty role for Buscemi -- arguably the one most people still know him for, now -- and we're sure that when he was offered it, Buscemi was pretty psyched, even if that one pretty memorable scene hammered it home. Steve Buscemi: Funny-Lookin'.
In one sense, that's a good thing, for a character actor: being funny-lookin' has been Buscemi's H!ITG! hook. There are a lot of movies that call for a squirrelly, fast-talking, bug-eyed, liver-lipped schemer, and Buscemi has no competition in that slot and hence gets to play all of them.
So, for most of his career, Buscemi's fame has been based on his status as Hollywood's go-to skinny weirdo. It's taken some time for us all to notice that Buscemi was more than a non-pretty face; he's a pretty bad-ass actor, too. Certainly, Buscemi has taken plenty of character roles that didn't especially tax his skills, in movies like Airheads, Con Air, and Domestic Disturbance. But it's not like Buscemi had done nothing but yappy wise guy roles until Fargo (in which he played the ultimate yappy wise guy). Ever hear of a little something called Parting Glances? Yeah, that came out in 1986, holmes. Sensitive gay man, living with AIDS? Gentle bowler? Tough-love-dispensing addiction counselor? Drawling southern poet? Buscemi does it all...and any number of yappy wise guys (some of whom famously refuse to tip their waitresses). Steve Buscemi: Chameleon.
But that's not all the "all." Because Buscemi is also a fine director. He collected all his indie buddies for Trees Lounge a few years back. Then he directed a couple of Sopranos episodes, including one of our all-time favourites ("Pine Barrens," in which Paulie and Christopher get stranded in the woods in New Jersey, stalked by an amazingly resilient Russian). Steve Buscemi: Renaissance Man.
And furthermore, Buscemi is a social activist who, unlike most celebrity "activists," doesn't make a big spectacle out of his public acts of conscience. As a former New York City firefighter, Buscemi's response to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center was to get his gear on and head down to his old company, working twelve-hour shifts digging through the ruined buildings in search of his former colleagues. Earlier this year, he also participated in a protest over the closing of a fire station in New York. Steve Buscemi: Avenging Former Firefighter.
But here's the problem: no matter what else Steve Buscemi ever is, he's always funny-lookin', which means he's probably doomed to stay in the H!ITG! ghetto forever -- liver lips never won fair lady, etc. Or so we thought, until Ghost World. Admittedly, it's an unconventional love story, in which a misanthropic teenaged girl becomes strangely infatuated with a misanthropic fortysomething record collector. But Buscemi manages to make Seymour, the object of Enid's fleeting affection, much more than an amusingly eccentric curiosity; he's funny, and beachy, and his collection of old-timey thingamajigs is enviably cool. By the point in the movie at which a drunken Enid seduces him, we can see in Seymour what Enid does, and their hookup, while weird, seems weirdly right. (Even though it all falls apart after that, but never mind.) The cinematographer even manages the seemingly impossible, by lighting Buscemi, in that scene, in a way that makes him look...hot. No, seriously. Steve Buscemi: Lady-Killer!
Unfortunately, we are not exactly overrun with unconventional love stories in which Buscemi could star. Even when he did a Sandra Bullock joint, he was playing pretty much the only man in the film who could not be her love interest (i.e. her therapist). And it's a shame, because the hypothetical movies in which Steve Buscemi could play the, yes, fine, funny-lookin' romantic lead are the kind of movie we'd like to see. And we'd take Buscemi's face, full of character -- bug eyes, liver lips, and all -- over a posse of bland Paul Walker pretty-boys any day of the week. Steve Buscemi: Our Hero. "
You know, it was never, like, a big secret that Steve Buscemi isn't conventionally attractive. At least, it wasn't a secret to anyone with eyes. The dude is no Tab Hunter: he knows it, we know it...there's really no reason to dwell on it. But just in case anyone missed the memo, the Coen brothers made Buscemi's plug-ugly mug a matter of movie history in Fargo. Describing Buscemi's character, Carl Showalter, to police officer Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand), an anonymous prostitute whose services Carl had recently enjoyed says of her erstwhile john: "Oh, he was just funny-lookin'. More than most people, even." Carl was a big, meaty role for Buscemi -- arguably the one most people still know him for, now -- and we're sure that when he was offered it, Buscemi was pretty psyched, even if that one pretty memorable scene hammered it home. Steve Buscemi: Funny-Lookin'.
In one sense, that's a good thing, for a character actor: being funny-lookin' has been Buscemi's H!ITG! hook. There are a lot of movies that call for a squirrelly, fast-talking, bug-eyed, liver-lipped schemer, and Buscemi has no competition in that slot and hence gets to play all of them.
So, for most of his career, Buscemi's fame has been based on his status as Hollywood's go-to skinny weirdo. It's taken some time for us all to notice that Buscemi was more than a non-pretty face; he's a pretty bad-ass actor, too. Certainly, Buscemi has taken plenty of character roles that didn't especially tax his skills, in movies like Airheads, Con Air, and Domestic Disturbance. But it's not like Buscemi had done nothing but yappy wise guy roles until Fargo (in which he played the ultimate yappy wise guy). Ever hear of a little something called Parting Glances? Yeah, that came out in 1986, holmes. Sensitive gay man, living with AIDS? Gentle bowler? Tough-love-dispensing addiction counselor? Drawling southern poet? Buscemi does it all...and any number of yappy wise guys (some of whom famously refuse to tip their waitresses). Steve Buscemi: Chameleon.
But that's not all the "all." Because Buscemi is also a fine director. He collected all his indie buddies for Trees Lounge a few years back. Then he directed a couple of Sopranos episodes, including one of our all-time favourites ("Pine Barrens," in which Paulie and Christopher get stranded in the woods in New Jersey, stalked by an amazingly resilient Russian). Steve Buscemi: Renaissance Man.
And furthermore, Buscemi is a social activist who, unlike most celebrity "activists," doesn't make a big spectacle out of his public acts of conscience. As a former New York City firefighter, Buscemi's response to the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center was to get his gear on and head down to his old company, working twelve-hour shifts digging through the ruined buildings in search of his former colleagues. Earlier this year, he also participated in a protest over the closing of a fire station in New York. Steve Buscemi: Avenging Former Firefighter.
But here's the problem: no matter what else Steve Buscemi ever is, he's always funny-lookin', which means he's probably doomed to stay in the H!ITG! ghetto forever -- liver lips never won fair lady, etc. Or so we thought, until Ghost World. Admittedly, it's an unconventional love story, in which a misanthropic teenaged girl becomes strangely infatuated with a misanthropic fortysomething record collector. But Buscemi manages to make Seymour, the object of Enid's fleeting affection, much more than an amusingly eccentric curiosity; he's funny, and beachy, and his collection of old-timey thingamajigs is enviably cool. By the point in the movie at which a drunken Enid seduces him, we can see in Seymour what Enid does, and their hookup, while weird, seems weirdly right. (Even though it all falls apart after that, but never mind.) The cinematographer even manages the seemingly impossible, by lighting Buscemi, in that scene, in a way that makes him look...hot. No, seriously. Steve Buscemi: Lady-Killer!
Unfortunately, we are not exactly overrun with unconventional love stories in which Buscemi could star. Even when he did a Sandra Bullock joint, he was playing pretty much the only man in the film who could not be her love interest (i.e. her therapist). And it's a shame, because the hypothetical movies in which Steve Buscemi could play the, yes, fine, funny-lookin' romantic lead are the kind of movie we'd like to see. And we'd take Buscemi's face, full of character -- bug eyes, liver lips, and all -- over a posse of bland Paul Walker pretty-boys any day of the week. Steve Buscemi: Our Hero. "