An acting match-up to compare with De Niro and Pacino
The release of A
Dangerous Method is being talked about for many reasons. Spanking. Keira
Knightley. Keira Knightley being spanked. It’s all been very high-brow, but for
the real film fans amongst us there is a great reason to get excited. The film
features one of those acting head-to-heads which are unmissable. Like De Niro
and Pacino in Heat was for an entire
generation of film buffs, so Mortensen and Fassbender in A Dangerous Method is for another.
Viggo Mortensen came to most people’s attention a decade ago
when he played Aragorn in The Lord of the
Rings trilogy, and since then has delivered several terrific, challenging
character performances in films like A
History of Violence, Eastern Promises
and Good.
Michael Fassbender’s rise has been comparatively recent.
Having broken through with a small role in 300
and an extraordinary, physically-punishing role in Hunger, Fassbender has become well known for his chameleon-like
transformations from one part to the next, culminating with his incredible and
genuinely intense performance in Shame,
which has been shockingly overlooked by the Oscars.
The two, therefore, have great reputations and have been two
of the most consistently compelling actors of the last decade. Teamed up with
David Cronenberg, who has had a very successful collaboration with Mortensen in
his last two films, the pair are playing Freud and Jung, two of the modern age’s
most exciting minds, and most competitive personalities.
However, this should not be a contest between the two actors
(one gets the sense that the De Niro-Pacino face-off in Heat was), largely because they have led very separate careers
until now. It should be a celebration of two of the most special talents
working in film at the moment. Personally, I can’t wait.
A
Dangerous Method is released on Friday 10th February
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