"Oh my god! What are they doing?!"
| "Oh my god! What are they doing?!" |
"Eros, Pathos, Catharsis
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Page 1-Intro, Notes
Page 2-The Early Years
Page 3-1994
Page 4-Blue River
Page 5-Eye of God
Page 6-Back to Television
Page 7-1998 to Present
In 1991, I saw my first play and discovered the magic of theatre. It was at my high school; the play was Little Shop of Horrors. I sat in the audience, enraptured and mesmerized by this other world being created before my eyes, a world that seemed completely real to me, as well as the characters who resided there. The actors seemed to have this powerful aura that brightly shined all around them, a spark of life and passion that transcended anything I had ever seen before. I was instantly fascinated with the craft of acting, the magic art of taking words from a page and breathing life into a character. I took my first acting class and decided I’d devote my life to the dramatic arts. I was eighteen.
When Nick Stahl turned eighteen in December 1997, he had starred in four feature films, five TV movies, two TV programs, and at least seven plays. Along the way, in 1995, he captured my attention as I watched a TV movie called Blue River. " I think this is the best actor I’ve ever seen," I thought in astonishment. I still feel that way.
Although Nick stands out in everything he does and appears often in a leading role, he very seldom gets proper credit for it. Even when he is one of the principle characters in a movie (as in Eye of God and Blue River), he isn’t given top billing next to his more famous (but not better) co-stars. Recently I saw Blue River for the first time in over two years (it’s hard to find on video), and was frankly surprised by how misleading the blurb on the box was. According to the box, this is primarily the story of Mr. Howland (played by Sam Elliot) and how he runs into some trouble when an alienated boy (Zoltan Morris, played by Patrick Renna of The Mighty Ducks) is unjustly accused of setting fires in the town. In reality, Howland and the boy are just supporting characters. It’s interesting that whoever wrote that blurb thought Renna’s name (in reference to The Mighty Ducks) would draw in more people than Nick Stahl, who is the actual main character and point of view in the movie, even though Stahl was in a much superior work, The Man Without a Face. I know they plugged Sam Elliot and hoped his big mug on the front of the box would make sales, but what about honesty in advertising and artistic integrity? (I know...you can go ahead and laugh at that.) The box of the Eye of God video doesn’t do much better. Nick himself is probably mature enough to not really care about this lack of credit, but it is a bit unfair, nonetheless.
It’s uncertain exactly why Nick hasn’t enjoyed a huge level of fame. Part of it obviously has to do with the projects he chooses. For the most part, he appears in works that are either obscure, largely unknown films (Eye of God, Safe Passage) or the Movie of the Week on TV. Neither get you on Entertainment Tonight or People magazine...or even teen rags like Bop and Tiger Beat. As far as I’m concerned, none of that is a big loss; sometimes I think it’s better to be "alternative" or have a "cult following". There is definitely a circle of fans who think that Nick is the most talented and best looking actor in the world. But this view doesn’t exactly seem to be the norm. Something about those ears and that smile, or his hair, which is almost always out of control...He's definitely got his own unique look and charm.
Someday, though, Nick will be famous, he’ll grace all those trendy, pop-culture magazines, he’ll get his Oscars...Someday, probably soon, those of us who are Nick’s fans now won’t feel like insiders anymore. That’s why I wanted to write this now.
What follows is a collection of my thoughts about each of Nick’s projects that I have seen. I guess you could call them "reviews", but they differ from most movie reviews in that they all have the one central focus of Nick Stahl. I may discuss a few other aspects of the films, but mostly I want to talk about Nick’s characters and performances. Also, unlike newspaper and magazine reviews, my commentaries are written to be read after seeing the movie. If you haven’t seen a certain film and don’t want any details to be given away, don’t read my commentary; see the film, then come back.
And finally, one last note before we begin...The discussion that follows includes my own perceptions and emotional reactions to Nick’s movies. I don’t approach the material as a film critic, nor is this an advertisement for Nick’s work. For one thing, that’s entirely unnecessary. Any work that does not speak for itself doesn’t deserve to be spoken for at all...And Nick’s work definitely speaks for itself.
Here is a collection of random statistics and observations I have made, some of which may be insignificant, while others could provide some interesting insight into the Nick Stahl phenomenon. Please note that the statistics will be a little bit off because I haven’t seen all of his works. Also, some of the statistics will change as new movies come out.
Number of times a Nick Stahl character had a paper route, and was assisted by his mother-- 2. (Safe Passage and Incident in a Small Town).
Number of times Nick’s characters have thought his single parent was about to be married--5. (Dead Run, Man Without a Face, Incident in a Small Town, Blue River, My Son is Innocent).
Number of Nick’s works that include horses--5. (Dead Run, Man Without a Face, Tall Tale, Cowboy Blues, Seasons of Love).
Number of Nick's works that have poetry--2. (The Man Without a Face, Cowboy Blues.)
Number of movies in which Nick has to deal with the evil press--3. (Woman With a Past, Safe Passage, My Son Is Innocent.)
Number of times something has had to be pried out of the hand of a traumatized Nick--2. (The Man Without a Face, Eye of God.)
Number of Nick’s characters who drive or say they can--6. (Man Without a Face, Safe Passage, Incident in a Small Town, Blue River, Eye of God, My Son is Innocent). Number of those times he’s underage--5. (Of course Gavin and Billy most likely can drive, but we don't see them doing so, therefore you can't be sure.)
Number of times Nick has handled a gun--4. (Dead Run, Hey Joey, Disturbing Behavior, The Thin Red Line).
Number of times Nick’s suffered the loss of a loved one by suicide--3. (His father in Man Without a Face; his best friend in Blue River; his mother and himself in Eye of God.)
Number of Nick’s characters with only one functioning parent--6. (Dead Run, Woman With A Past, Man Without a Face, Incident in a Small Town, Blue River, My Son Is Innocent, Cowboy Blues.) Number of Nick’s characters who don’t even have that--1. (Eye of God)
Number of times Nick has been an only child--4. (Incident in a Small Town, My Son Is Innocent, Eye of God, Cowboy Blues. One gets the impression that Gavin may be also, but of course we're not given that information.)
Number of times religion has played a part in messing up Nick’s life--3. (Blue River, Eye of God, Seasons of Love.)
Number of Nick movies with stupid titles--5. (Dead Run, Woman With A Past, Incident In A Small Town, My Son Is Innocent, Seasons of Love.)
Number of times Nick has touched our hearts with his tears--9. (Woman With A Past, Man Without a Face, Tall Tale, Incident in a Small Town, Blue River, Eye of God, My Son is Innocent, Thin Red Line, Seasons of Love.)
Number of times Nick has been at least partially responsible for someone else’s death--4. (Incident in a Small Town, Blue River, Eye of God, The Thin Red Line.)
Number of Nick’s characters who’ve gotten drunk--4. (Man Without a Face, Blue River, My Son Is Innocent, Seasons of Love.)
Number of Nick’s characters who learn a dark secret about his father--4. (Woman With A Past, The Man Without a Face, Incident In a Small Town, Blue River.)
Number of Nick’s characters seemingly without friends--5. (Dead Run, Tall Tale, Eye of God, My Son Is Innocent, Cowboy Blues...My Son’s Eric Sutter laments about this by saying "How many people do you think stick up for me these days? Zero! How’s that for a number?")
Number of Nick’s characters who’ve gotten laid--1.(Seasons of Love. I would bet that Gavin and Eric have, but who knows? Also, I know that Bead in Thin Red Line has, but it isn't shown in the movie, probably because it's with his Army buddy, Fife.)
Number of times Nick has been in mortal danger but survived--4. (Woman With A Past, Safe Passage, Tall Tale, Blue River.)
Number of times Nick has died--4. (Eye of God, The Thin Red Line, original version of Disturbing Behavior, Seasons of Love.)
In Eye of God, Nick played Tom Spencer. In Incident in a Small Town, the local hangout was a pub called Spencer’s. In Dead Run, Nick acted with Robert Urich, who once had a show called Spencer: For Hire. Coincidence? I don't think so!
For those of you into "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon"...In Safe Passage, Nick co-starred with Sean Astin, who co-starred in White Water Summer with Kevin Bacon.
© 1998 Matt Russell