MovieChat Forums > Defiance (2009) Discussion > What makes Liev Schreiber so good at pla...

What makes Liev Schreiber so good at playing unpleasant people?



I was thinking this when watching the movie. Even when he plays a so-called good guy like John Clark in Sum Of All Fears, he's effectively playing the bad guy on the hero's side. For most of Defiance, there is almost nothing to like about Zus...certainly not compared to his brother. Sabretooth in Wolverine was obviously meant to be a ruthless villain, but his heroic roles don't have much more warmth.

So what is it? The intense eyes? Sandpapery stubble? Facial expressions? The fact his characters almost never smile?

Whatever it is, I loved seeing Daniel Craig lose his patience with him about a quarter of the way into the film!

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Every time I see LS, I think he would make an excellent James Bond, should the role ever be open to an American Actor. Can he do a British Accent?

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I was just thinking that yesterday! I personally think that James Bond should stay English but if someone were to give the role to an America, he should be a candidate.

Also, he's a real sweetheart in Kate and Leopold. I was pleased to see him doing something different like that (though it was pre-Origins and I think he's been doing mostly unpleasant roles ever since).

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If you've ever read Ian Fleming, you might get to think that Bond is quite an unpleasant character. Fleming does make the occasional reference to him being cruel. That's hardly surprising because Fleming was himself into BDSM.

I'm not saying that Bond should ever be an American, but I think LS fits my image of JB if ever they lack a suitable Brit. The other criteria of course, would be can he do a suitable Brit middle class accent? He couldn't possibly be a cockney, which is just about the easiest Brit accent, unless you are Dick Van Dyke.

Incidentally, only Moore and and Dalton were English. Brosnan is Irish, Connery was Scots, Craig is Welsh, and Lazenby is an Aussie.

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I'm can't pretend to know much about Bond (Craig's are the only films I've seen and I never read Fleming) though I did mean to say British instead of English. I didn't know an Australian had played him too! As such I'm not going to cry in a corner if they give the role to an America, I just feel a bit as though they should let such a big piece of British culture stay there. But then, Robert Downey Jr. is my favorite Sherlock Holmes.

Liev Schreiber isn't a very well known actor and I think if he can pull of the accent well enough (he did a very good Lithuanian in Defiance, though that isn't a make it or break it for whether he can do English) then the fact that he's American should pass most of the movie-going crowd undetected. Not that most people probably care, and I do think that he would be a good follow up in the role after Craig, because he looks almost completely opposite and acts differently enough to not feel monotonous but could bring a similar stoicism with his own personal spin on it.

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Yes: George Lazenby played JB opposite Diana Rigg in "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". The film gained notoriety because they hated each other. Rigg was said to have chewed garlic before the "love scenes". Got to say, he did look the part before the film.

Interesting that you mentioned Craig. In a survey that was carried out on who was the most popular JB, it was noticed that most people favoured the first JB they saw. And in keeping with that, my first was Connery. And funnily enough, the same phenomena applies to Philip Marlowe, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes.

Regarding Schreiber, like Lazenby as well as Connery, I do think that he looks the part. I don't think it will ever happen, but when Craig moves on, finding the new Bond is almost like the search for Scarlet O'hara and it will generate plenty of publicity and the public are usually asked for their input, so who knows...?

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Now I've seen ALL the Bonds & sure Sean is 'the original' but Craig came across as much more brutal & cold blooded-I mean with that broken looking nose & icy blue eyes he looked like a guy who'd smash in your head as soon as look at you; it.

Somebody once suggested Sam Neil play the role-back when his Miniseries 'Riley Ace of Spies' was airing on PBS. They said he had the charm & had just the right amount of 'crazy' in his eyes.





Why can't you wretched prey creatures understand that the Universe doesn't owe you anything!?

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Yes I can see SN in the role. Don't forget he was pretty menacing in "The Omen II".

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Irish is not British.

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