the not so bad guy must be a complex role to take on as you need to lose sympathy while still having the ear of the crowd while making an appeal. actor olivier martinez was perfectly cast as the third party who comes between diane lane and husband richard gere in 'unfaithful', a film i really like. olivier is ... well, ask a woman friend. he also managed to groove his charming way into the arms of dame helen mirren in 'the roman spring of mrs. stone.' the thing is, the women come to regret it. this is because behind all the velvety charm and soft eyes, olivier's innate (screen) cruelty/creepiness rises to the top and once the wicked foam touches the skin, it's very unpleasant.
while watching a thriller (something i rarely do) starring good guy liam neeson i had my 'not so bad guy' revelation. in the movie 'the other man' liam tracks down the bane of his existence only to find that the man his wife fell for is really not so bad at all. that's because he is played by antonio banderas, a guy who has a little cloud of humility hanging overhead like a silent reminder to count his blessings.
it seems as if antonio was once a little seed in the palm of the great director pedro almodovar and as the years went by he blossomed into a major star, playing every sort of character. in all the films i have seen him in, this guy never loses his spark of sweetness, a similar quality i find in jean-paul belmondo. it leads me to think that the not so bad guy is more interesting than his really bad brother.
banderas has 80 screen credits and about 6 of those are yet to come out.
photos: banderas/martinez
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