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linden_jayWhat are 10 of your most favorite actors' portrayals of characters in movies or television?
I have cheated. A lot. But I tried to make myself pick 10 different shows or movies, and in the process, I realized that a lot of the characters I truly love, it's a package deal, and not even usually in a shippy way.
In no particular order:
1) Jayne Cobb (Firefly). The man they call Jayne. I love him. Even when he's mean, even when he's crude, even when he's bad. He's funny, he's sexy (even when you're a little horrified with yourself for thinking so), and he never tries to pretend that he's anything but what he is--a mercenary who's looking out for him. And yet. He sends money to his mother, and when she sends him terrifying knitted hats, by god, he wears them. He may bitch the whole time, but when shit goes down, he's right there in the thick of it, even though he very often gets badly hurt. And I think that somewhere, in the corner of his black little heart... he gives a damn.
2) Rodney McKay and John Sheppard (Stargate: Atlantis). As much as I'll ship them, and as much as I truly agree with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ashinae when she says that season four was the love song of John and Rodney, it's not even so much about the slash or the subtext that leans RIGHT on the edge of becoming text once in awhile. They can irritate each other like no one else can, but they also bring out the absolute and utter best in each other. They inspire the hero in each other, and they know that whatever happens, the other guy has their back, and the other guy would go all the way to the wall to save their ass, so you bet that they're gonna do the same. They have a level of trust that I really enjoy... trust in the competance of the other, and they work as a really fluid pair. And like I said--although I could make everything I just said utterly, utterly shippy and slashy? It also doesn't have to be. And I love that.
3) Riley Finn (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). All you haters can just... well, go right on with yourselves, but me? I love him. I think it might partly have something to do with the fact that I started watching Buffy when the fourth season was starting, and I'd only read the scripts from the previous eps, apart from an episode or two here and there. I didn't have as much invested in the lovesong of Buffy and Angel, so Riley wasn't someone that was coming up as a rebound following three years of watching a relationship. He was a sweet, caring guy, who was trying to do what was right and what was necessary, and he made a lot of mistakes, but what he did do was love Buffy. A hell of a lot. Maybe too much. And I missed him when he left.
4) Lindsay McDonald (Angel). Anyone surprised? Thought so. Fuck, I love this character. I love his unapologetic evil, and I love that even unapologetic evil can have lines that they're not willing to cross. I love how mercenary he is, I love how he looks with his shirt off (I never said I wasn't vain). I love how he sings, I love how fucking good he is opposite David Boreanaz's Angel. And I even love the way that he went out, because it wasn't right, it wasn't cool, and he knew it. He knew that he wasn't meant to go out that way... and that was what pissed him off, even more than his death.
5) Aaron Hotchner (Criminal Minds). He's the character who when you first hear about him, you think you're gonna hate him. He's the buttoned down, always wears a tie, just the facts ma'am FBI guy. He's a workaholic, he believes in right and wrong, and if any member of his team ever broke the law, and he could prove it, he'd arrest them faster than they could blink. He's also deeply compassionate, he never puts himself ahead of the team, he stands by every man and woman he works with, and he'll go to the mat for them all the way down, even if he ends up getting nailed in the process. He's 'Mom'. He's awesome. Go Hotch.
6) Sam&Dean (Supernatural). I've never made it a secret that I'm utterly bi-brother when it comes to Supernatural. I'll watch one episode, and I'll be massively in love with Dean, and then by the next, it's all about Sam. In the end, I need them both. They need to never separate. EVER. When they do, bad things happen. I know I've seen pet say this many, many times--no splitting up, damn it. That just leads to badness. But they need each other so badly. Again, without even going to the dirtybadwrong slashy place, they need each other. They are two halves of a whole, and when they're missing the other one, something about them feels wrong, like they're missing a limb. They complete each other in a way that's a treat to watch. Oh. And they're hot. Yeah, I never said I wasn't shallow.
7) The Petrellis (Heroes). I know, cheating again, right? But not really. I'm in the minority of people who actually enjoyed Season Two of Heroes, but I will say that there was something that was terribly missing when those characters weren't spending time in each other's spaces. The chemistry between each one of them--and this encompasses Claire, Nathan, Peter, and even Mama Petrelli, is unbelievable. They bring out the best in each other, and the worst in each other, and they call each other on their shit, then turn around and support them, even if they don't want to. Even when they betray each other, it's because they think in the end it'll be to help one another. And Peter, Claire, and Nathan have all in turn been willing to let the world go to hell, because it doesn't mean anything to them if they've lost that person.
8) Alice (Closer). It's partly a Natalie Portman thing. But she steals the movie. She just steps right in, all five foot barely nothing of her, and steals the whole thing. She's honest. The one character in the whole movie who maybe is honest. Even though she spends the whole movie under the umbrella of one lie (except when she tells the truth about that one aspect of herself--her name), she is the one person who isn't being deceiptful in her relationships. And she pays for it.
9) Ianto Jones (Torchwood). I'm surprising myself with this. Honestly, I thought it'd be Captain Jack, and god knows I adore him past adorage, but although I don't like being the guy who goes 'if it wasn't for X character, I wouldn't watch the show'... I'm not sure that I'd feel the same about it without Ianto. He's just... fuck, he kills me. He's got emotional range (the actor) that knocks me on my ass, and when he's in pain, physical, emotional, anything, he breaks your heart.
10) Jeremy Goodwin (Sports Night). Another show that it's almost impossible to pick a favorite from, but Jeremy. Oh, Jeremy. I heart him to an almost unhealthy extent. And only partly because he was created and born just to speak Aaron Sorkin's dialoge. He's just that cool, while being totally and completely NOT cool in any measurable way... which wraps him back around to being totally cool. He's the guy you want at your back. I could quote dozens of lines, but this, here, is why I love Jeremy:
Jeremy: Look at me. I'm not lying to you. I have a straight.
Natalie: How do you know I don't have a big house?
Jeremy: A FULL house. Dan already folded the six you needed, and I have the other one. You don't have a house of any sort, you don't have a pup tent. You've got trip sevens, and I have a straight. I want you to trust me right now. I want you to say to yourself, yeah, I've dated a string of jerks in my life, they were stupid, they were mean to me, but maybe this one's different. Maybe I should take a chance and not adopt the break-up-with-him-before-he-breaks-my-heart strategy. I want you to remember that when I started liking you, I didn't stop liking tennis. And I want you to know that I don' t think there's a woman in the world that you need to be threatened by, no matter how glamorous you think she is. But mostly, I want you to trust me, just once, when I tell you you have three sevens, and I have a straight.
He's just that guy.
I have cheated. A lot. But I tried to make myself pick 10 different shows or movies, and in the process, I realized that a lot of the characters I truly love, it's a package deal, and not even usually in a shippy way.
In no particular order:
1) Jayne Cobb (Firefly). The man they call Jayne. I love him. Even when he's mean, even when he's crude, even when he's bad. He's funny, he's sexy (even when you're a little horrified with yourself for thinking so), and he never tries to pretend that he's anything but what he is--a mercenary who's looking out for him. And yet. He sends money to his mother, and when she sends him terrifying knitted hats, by god, he wears them. He may bitch the whole time, but when shit goes down, he's right there in the thick of it, even though he very often gets badly hurt. And I think that somewhere, in the corner of his black little heart... he gives a damn.
2) Rodney McKay and John Sheppard (Stargate: Atlantis). As much as I'll ship them, and as much as I truly agree with
ashinae when she says that season four was the love song of John and Rodney, it's not even so much about the slash or the subtext that leans RIGHT on the edge of becoming text once in awhile. They can irritate each other like no one else can, but they also bring out the absolute and utter best in each other. They inspire the hero in each other, and they know that whatever happens, the other guy has their back, and the other guy would go all the way to the wall to save their ass, so you bet that they're gonna do the same. They have a level of trust that I really enjoy... trust in the competance of the other, and they work as a really fluid pair. And like I said--although I could make everything I just said utterly, utterly shippy and slashy? It also doesn't have to be. And I love that.3) Riley Finn (Buffy the Vampire Slayer). All you haters can just... well, go right on with yourselves, but me? I love him. I think it might partly have something to do with the fact that I started watching Buffy when the fourth season was starting, and I'd only read the scripts from the previous eps, apart from an episode or two here and there. I didn't have as much invested in the lovesong of Buffy and Angel, so Riley wasn't someone that was coming up as a rebound following three years of watching a relationship. He was a sweet, caring guy, who was trying to do what was right and what was necessary, and he made a lot of mistakes, but what he did do was love Buffy. A hell of a lot. Maybe too much. And I missed him when he left.
4) Lindsay McDonald (Angel). Anyone surprised? Thought so. Fuck, I love this character. I love his unapologetic evil, and I love that even unapologetic evil can have lines that they're not willing to cross. I love how mercenary he is, I love how he looks with his shirt off (I never said I wasn't vain). I love how he sings, I love how fucking good he is opposite David Boreanaz's Angel. And I even love the way that he went out, because it wasn't right, it wasn't cool, and he knew it. He knew that he wasn't meant to go out that way... and that was what pissed him off, even more than his death.
5) Aaron Hotchner (Criminal Minds). He's the character who when you first hear about him, you think you're gonna hate him. He's the buttoned down, always wears a tie, just the facts ma'am FBI guy. He's a workaholic, he believes in right and wrong, and if any member of his team ever broke the law, and he could prove it, he'd arrest them faster than they could blink. He's also deeply compassionate, he never puts himself ahead of the team, he stands by every man and woman he works with, and he'll go to the mat for them all the way down, even if he ends up getting nailed in the process. He's 'Mom'. He's awesome. Go Hotch.
6) Sam&Dean (Supernatural). I've never made it a secret that I'm utterly bi-brother when it comes to Supernatural. I'll watch one episode, and I'll be massively in love with Dean, and then by the next, it's all about Sam. In the end, I need them both. They need to never separate. EVER. When they do, bad things happen. I know I've seen pet say this many, many times--no splitting up, damn it. That just leads to badness. But they need each other so badly. Again, without even going to the dirtybadwrong slashy place, they need each other. They are two halves of a whole, and when they're missing the other one, something about them feels wrong, like they're missing a limb. They complete each other in a way that's a treat to watch. Oh. And they're hot. Yeah, I never said I wasn't shallow.
7) The Petrellis (Heroes). I know, cheating again, right? But not really. I'm in the minority of people who actually enjoyed Season Two of Heroes, but I will say that there was something that was terribly missing when those characters weren't spending time in each other's spaces. The chemistry between each one of them--and this encompasses Claire, Nathan, Peter, and even Mama Petrelli, is unbelievable. They bring out the best in each other, and the worst in each other, and they call each other on their shit, then turn around and support them, even if they don't want to. Even when they betray each other, it's because they think in the end it'll be to help one another. And Peter, Claire, and Nathan have all in turn been willing to let the world go to hell, because it doesn't mean anything to them if they've lost that person.
8) Alice (Closer). It's partly a Natalie Portman thing. But she steals the movie. She just steps right in, all five foot barely nothing of her, and steals the whole thing. She's honest. The one character in the whole movie who maybe is honest. Even though she spends the whole movie under the umbrella of one lie (except when she tells the truth about that one aspect of herself--her name), she is the one person who isn't being deceiptful in her relationships. And she pays for it.
9) Ianto Jones (Torchwood). I'm surprising myself with this. Honestly, I thought it'd be Captain Jack, and god knows I adore him past adorage, but although I don't like being the guy who goes 'if it wasn't for X character, I wouldn't watch the show'... I'm not sure that I'd feel the same about it without Ianto. He's just... fuck, he kills me. He's got emotional range (the actor) that knocks me on my ass, and when he's in pain, physical, emotional, anything, he breaks your heart.
10) Jeremy Goodwin (Sports Night). Another show that it's almost impossible to pick a favorite from, but Jeremy. Oh, Jeremy. I heart him to an almost unhealthy extent. And only partly because he was created and born just to speak Aaron Sorkin's dialoge. He's just that cool, while being totally and completely NOT cool in any measurable way... which wraps him back around to being totally cool. He's the guy you want at your back. I could quote dozens of lines, but this, here, is why I love Jeremy:
Jeremy: Look at me. I'm not lying to you. I have a straight.
Natalie: How do you know I don't have a big house?
Jeremy: A FULL house. Dan already folded the six you needed, and I have the other one. You don't have a house of any sort, you don't have a pup tent. You've got trip sevens, and I have a straight. I want you to trust me right now. I want you to say to yourself, yeah, I've dated a string of jerks in my life, they were stupid, they were mean to me, but maybe this one's different. Maybe I should take a chance and not adopt the break-up-with-him-before-he-breaks-my-heart strategy. I want you to remember that when I started liking you, I didn't stop liking tennis. And I want you to know that I don' t think there's a woman in the world that you need to be threatened by, no matter how glamorous you think she is. But mostly, I want you to trust me, just once, when I tell you you have three sevens, and I have a straight.
He's just that guy.
