MovieChat Forums > Scanners (1981) Discussion > Stephen. Lack.

Stephen. Lack.

posted 15 years ago by royale_w_cheez44
20 replies | jump to latest

I can overlook bad acting if the film is decent enough. Scanners had its great moments, but sweet merciful Christ, Stephen Lack is perhaps the WORST actor I have ever seen in a leading role!! Did this guy even audition? Absolutely terrible. Terrible, terrible, terrible.

Without the ending and the head-exploding scene, this would have been a stinker that could be blamed almost exclusively on this glassy-eyed monotoned joker.

...and what the hell was up with that ending? Sheesh! (my sig)

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ajones1113-2 15 years ago

Yeah McGoohan's character mentioned early in the film that a scanner such as Vale wouldn't have really developed a personality anyway...I think his character was supposed to be very deadpan and perhaps mildly retarded.

[–] OgreVI 14 years ago

You know, I've always put down Lack's performance in this, but that's a good point. Now I'll have to watch it again and take that into account.

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[–] royale_w_cheez44 14 years ago

I don't buy it. A deadpan and mildly retarded performance can still have charisma or screen presence. This guy was awful.

...and what the hell was up with that ending? Sheesh!

[–] Owlwise (1489) 2 years ago

I think the point is that Cameron has no charisma or presence, because for his entire life, he had been an outsider, almost a blank slate, unable to fit in with other people. There's almost no one there, which is clearly how Cronenberg wanted the character to be. And notice that toward the end, Cameron does become more proactive & start displaying glimpses of real emotion. Up until then, he'd been surviving in the world almost on animal instinct at best. Now he's taking his initial, long-delayed steps towards becoming human ... or at least approaching it.

[–] ForrestHump 10 years ago

"Mildly retarded"...ROFL!!!!
He nailed the part then.

[–] fulcifan2004-1 15 years ago

I think that Stephen Lack's approach to this role was to equate himself a homeless person with no idea why he heard a constant barrage of voices in his head that wouldn't allow him to sleep or relate to anyone around him. In the film the food court sequence in which we first see him, a woman comments to her friend "look at the dirty bums". He hears this which gets him to "think" (scan) about her and he just sits there twitching around, unaware of how uncomfortable a person on the wrong end of a scan could be. He was playing a person who didn't recieve the attention(love) most of us with mothers and fathers recieved

[–] coex 15 years ago

it's good to see others have addressed this. Lack handled this role exactly how the director wanted it; deadpan like some autistic adult that had no idea what he was. Simple as that. If you listen to the dialog, everything is spelled out pretty clearly.

[–] annabanana52000 15 years ago

I thought Stephen Lack played Cameron exactly like he was written. The part only works if Cameron is played by an actor who can handle the dialogue the way Lack did.

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[–] kkm_22 14 years ago

Also, after the bus crash/shootup, Kim says he's not even human. She was just lashing out, but I think even she as a scanner who has been able to assimilate and "pass" as a normal person recognizes that there is something very strange about Cameron. So maybe Stephen Lack's acting wasn't so off. At least I didn't think that after the first viewing.

[–] projectcyclops 14 years ago

Cronenberg has cast unknown or amature actors before to capture slightly off-kilter, 'weird' performances (think: Robert A. Silverman). I always see Lack's casting in Scanners reminicent of Marilyn Chambers in "Rabid"; an adult film star playing a zombiefied, parasite vampire woman, and she does a good job but always gets flak for being kind of 'out of it' the entire time. I agree that Stephen Lack saw the need for an outsider approach and does a basically okay job of playing the bewildered but well intentioned everyman.

He certainly isn't a particularly good leading man, but the role doesn't really call for that - he's out of his depth until the very last confrontation. Check out his role in Dead Ringers as a sculptor who makes weird surgical tools for Jeremry Irons, it's a small role but he's very good in it.

After watching this film for the first time in a few years, I'm a bit miffed at the hate it's recieving, maybe you had to be a child of the 70/80's to really get where this is coming from? I mean Scanners is pretty damn boss.

---

He left a note. He left a simple little note that said "I've gone out the window."

[–] activista 9 years ago

@projectcyclops

Cronenberg has cast unknown or amature actors before to capture slightly off-kilter, 'weird' performances (think: Robert A. Silverman).

That's exactly it---I've always thought that the leading men in Cronenberg's films were very intriguing, because it seemed to me that they weren't cut from the typical Hollywood macho mode at all. And then, Cronenberg's films in general have always been slightly off-kilter, and weird as hell in a unique and distinctive way, anyway, so that explains the weird performance.

[–] Owlwise (1489) 2 years ago

I just watched it again, and the answers in this thread are absolutely spot on. Cameron is emotionally detached by his life as an unloved homeless person, barely able to express his own suppressed & undeveloped emotions, barely able to function emotionally among other human beings. Lack portrays this perfectly.

And it's also interesting to see a movie hero who doesn't fit the movie hero template of being strong, resolute, forceful. In fact, I think that's what gives him his advantage in the final confrontation with Revok. Because Revok is all of those things, familiar with & comfortable with fighting against another person & overwhelming them with sheer brute force of will. Cameron uses a sort of judo trick on him, by not fighting as expected & instead opening himself up, even being willing to sacrifice himself--note that he starts the fire that engulfs him & that Revok must feel while scanning--he's willing to endure its horrible pain once Revok is locked into his mind--Revok only knows how to attack, because it's always worked before--but Cameron can remain calm, detached, and let Revok pour into his mind, even as he (Cameron) transfers into Revok's body & mind.

[–] Legendary_Badass 9 years ago

I'm with the OP all the way. I just saw The Brood and have it a 7, and I wouldh have had Scanners higher had the lead actor shown any interest in his own movie. Sadly, Scanners is otherwise superior but Lack is so terrible it's impossible to look around it.

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[–] Woodyanders 9 years ago

Agreed. The aptly named Stephen Lack made for a very insipid and underwhelming lead.

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[–] StaunchWoman 8 years ago

If Cronenberg had a problem with it, it would have been corrected early on, after having filmed a few scenes with him. So, this is obviously what the director wanted out of the actor.
Like others have commented, just look at the character's background and experiences.

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[–] CGIrules 7 years ago

He acted appropriately for the role of a "hardly human" Scanner. I particularly thought the 'seizure' scene was really well acted. Give him a break, he's Canadian, lol.

[–] MooseNugget 7 years ago

People defending this saying "well that's how the book had him" 

There were plenty of moments Cameron should have been railed up or at least excited.

And if that's how the book had Cameron then things should have been changed for the movie.