PROPS DEPT - THE CAREER AND CHARACTERS OF CHRISTOPHER LLOYD

Hollywood has some great character actors such as Dick Miller and John Goodman (both seen in this photo here). These are the people who are never truly recognized as leading men, but rather the faces of classic characters that stay with an audience long after a movie's success. There is one gentleman who contributed to many of your typical stock characters and gets little recognition for his work. That gentleman is Mr. Christopher Lloyd.

With little known about his personal life, most of what audiences know about Christopher Lloyd comes from the variety of characters he's played. Probably most revered for his role as Dr. Emmett Brown in Back To The Future, Lloyd has contributed to a much greater landscape in his career than just "The Doc." His first appearance was in Milos Formans' One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, where he played Taber. (Some people look like they came out of the womb fifty years old! I'm talking to you too, 22-year-old Gene Hackman!) Hardly noticeable in that role, he jumped between bit-parts in movies and TV westerns, notably playing The Calico Kid in the short-lived Best of the West (1981-82), until eventually he would land a part in the long-running sitcom Taxi (next to co-stars Danny Devito and Andy Kaufman). In Taxi, he played the outlandish ex-hippie cabbie Reverend Jim Ignatowski and also played himself playing that character in a cameo in Milo Forman's Man on the Moon, starring Jim Carrey.

 
But in 1984, Lloyd would play one of Star Trek's forgotten villains and a tribute to the make-up effects of the 1980s, bringing fans their first Klingon villain since the 1960s original series. But the big break that would keep the pay cheques coming until the end of time would be in 1985 with Back to the Future and his role as Dr. Emmett Brown, "a conductor of time" as Lloyd described it. The pairing of Lloyd and Robert Zemeckis would be the turning point in his career. It would be four years before the two would team up again (the only really notable role in that gap being Professor Plum in Clue), giving Lloyd the part of Judge Doom in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a half-cartoon, half-psychopath that would give children (like myself) nightmares for generations.

In 1989-90, Dr. Brown would return for the other two Back to the Future installments (second being the best, third being the worst). In 1991, he would team with wrestling superstar Hulk Hogan for Suburban Commando before undergoing an entire physical transformation into Uncle Fester for The Addams Family movies, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld (former Coen Brothers' cinematographer). The mid-90s would also see him teamed with two famous child actors, first being premature teen heart-throb Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Angels in the Outfield, second being weirdo, pervert Macaulay Culkin in The Pagemaster. Lloyd played Mr. Dewey, aka The Pagemaster, as you can see in the cartoon image below.

Unfortunately, from there Lloyd's career would become mostly voice work on children's cartoons and video games, namely involving the Back to the Future franchise or some kind of homage or parody of such. The two most recent films and TV shows I can remember seeing him in are Piranha 3DD, playing an eccentric man of science (sound familiar?), and in a split-second cameo as one of the Santa Claus's coming to cheer up Charlie's mom in The Always Sunny in Philadelphia Christmas Special (which I imagine came through his friendship with Danny Devito, going back to Cuckoo's Nest).

Nowadays, people don't hear much out of Christopher Lloyd. He's gotten older. The talks of the potential Back to the Future sequels (starring Lloyd and Sarah Michelle-Gellar) were thankfully quashed. And in our technologically-driven society today, science is not such a mystery anymore. The role of a wild-eyed scientist seems somewhat out of place, with the exception of Piranha 3DD. But, in support of Mr. Lloyd's work, I still find myself quoting Dr. Emmett Brown from time to time, as well as urinating myself when I think of Judge Doom and those cartoon eyes. For those lasting impressions, I give props to Christopher Lloyd.

Enjoy this clip reuniting Back to the Future stars Christopher Lloyd, a man of few words, and Canada's own Michael J. Fox. Love these guys.

PROPS DEPT - TOM JANE OR "THAT GUY" AS HE'S KNOWN IN THE INDUSTRY!

Tom Jane should be a leading man by this point in his career. Since the 90s, he's appeared in a variety of both successful and unsuccessful films such as **Click These Links For The Evolution of Tom Jane** Buffy The Vampire Slayer, The Crow: City of Angels, Face-Off (the guy who punches the guard), Boogie Nights, The Thin Red Line, Magnolia, The Sweetest Thing, just to name a few, and has always been one of the best parts about it. Yet, it still doesn't seem like anyone knows who he is (or mistakes him for Aaron Eckhart quite often). They made a joke on Arrested Development once where Tom Jane made an appearance, playing himself and Lindsey Bluth had no idea who he was. Shows that he's a good sport.

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Jane moved to Hollywood when he was 18. He was homeless, living out of his car for a good portion of his early-career. Presently, Jane is most recognized for his role in the reboot of The Punisher, arguably the better portrayal of the character, rivaling Dolph Lundgren's terrifying performance in the 1980s film. He also caught a lot of attention for his performance as David Drayton in the Stephen King creature-feature The Mist and notably had his own short-lived HBO series at one point called Hung in which he played a male prostitute for three seasons. But his range isn't just limited to dramas. He can also be found in the comedic realm as well, with his hilarious cameo in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World as a member of the Elite Vegan Police (with Brand Routh, former Superman-disaster amending his mistakes). I was definitely the only person in the theater shouting "That's Tom Jane! That's Tom Jane!" The theater owners called the real police.

The problem with Jane as an actor is that he is such a good actor, the chameleon effect takes over. He inhabits his characters to the point where it doesn't seem like Tom Jane is even present on screen and, thus, making him unrecognizable from film to film. For instance, who would believe that slimy character Burke Hicks in Face/Off is the same guy playing Frank Castle in The Punisher? Of Jane's greatest successes yet was a personal project he did, essentially apologizing for how bad The Punisher movie turned out (not to his fault). Returning for the role in a very popular internet short (and the debut of the elusive Marvel One-Shots), this was probably the best and most accurate portrayal of The Punisher to date...

Jane having four directing features, I hope that one day someone gives him a shot at The Punisher franchise (now owned by Disney, eesh). Couldn't hurt, and the video shows a greater understanding of the character than the studios seem to have. For being the trooper that he is, Tom Jane will always have a place (or role) in the Props Department.

BAD MOVIES THAT SHOULD BE SEEN (5 OF 100)

 

"The Room" (2003), Dir: Tommy Wiseau

$6 Million in Budget vs. $1,800 in Gross

Inspired by the dramas of Tennessee Williams, watching Tommy Wiseau's The Room, one feels a lot like Stella in A Street Car Named Desire... And by that, I mean brutally getting the crap kicked out of you by Stanley... Oh, man, where to begin? We could talk about Wiseau himself, and what the hell is up with that guy? Namely, his weird, unhealthy-looking body that you unfortunately have to see naked several times throughout the movie. (In my own cowardliness, I made excuses to duck-out during those parts.) We could go on for days about his poor decisions as a movie director, such as shooting the film in both 35mm and video at the same time and then cutting the two together later. (The cost of film vs. video never really entered his mind apparently with the film's $6 million dollar budget.) With that kind of brand of thinking, I suppose it makes perfect sense why his script makes absolutely no sense at all. Characters flip-flop at the drop of a coin, no one is quite sure of their motives for anything, and everyone says "hi" whenever a character enters the room. But when it comes down to it in the end, it just seems to me that Wiseau's whole reasoning for making "The Room" was to put himself in gross sex scenes with poor Juliette Danielle and subject his audience to really awful R&B. Yes, these are all signs of a horrible filmmaker (and person I might add), but the thing that gets me the most is why Wiseau would want to have rooftop scenes in a movie and not use a real San Francisco rooftop. Instead, the roof is obviously a green-screened cityscape and badly at that. Why not just film on a real rooftop, goddamn it?! Why?! See if you like bad movies, but avoid if you like sex.



For your viewing displeasure, The Flower Shop scene, which I would argue is probably the stupidest and most senseless twenty seconds of cinema ever. I showed it to a co-worker and his reaction was "It's like watching a Commodore 64 programmed to make a movie scene, or interpret the most fleeing of human interaction."