William Hurt leaps beyond the bar again with this performance. His portrayal of Richard Feynman--rather, his channeling of Richard Feynman--is not just brilliant, but saturated with spirit and soul.
When you see a fabulous performance--it knocks you right in the head. I'm completely knocked out!
Kudos to the rest of the cast (it's great to see Brian Dennehy!) and the crew...what an awesome film!
He was great! Hurt has always had the ability to fully inhabit his characters. And, he does here again. It shows that TV today is the place to find great parts for great actors to play.
Bruce Greenwood was excellent also.
"I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP!" - Daniel Plainview - "There Will Be Blood"
I agree, he did a great job, the movie was very well-written and I thought the whole thing was excellent.
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Reality is subjective.
It's a brilliant, mesmerizing performance, and it also seems like a brave, intelligent career choice for Hurt. I'm sure he knew this film wouldn't get the attention or press it deserved, so it's clear he just had a need to connect to this character. This movie actually prompted me to pull my Feynman book off the shelf because my wife was so intrigued by the man as performed by Hurt. I'm really glad they gave this movie the go-ahead, in spite of so much of it looking like (on paper) men sitting around talking.
shareRemarkable film. Hurt definitely raised the bar with his portrayal. The guy has some serious acting chops. I was on vacation, had the television set on while doing other things and I was compelled to dedicate the next hour to watching the entire thing after seeing the first few minutes. Loved it. I only wish there were more movies like it.
* I killed god! Well... me and the internet did.share
Bravo! Richard Feynman has always been a hero of mine. He wrote one of my textbooks in college: Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume 3--Quantum Theory. What made him special was his ability to take a complicated thing, to reduce it to its essence, and explain it in simple english. The Challenger disaster gave him some of the recognition he richly deserves.
shareBravo! Richard Feynman has always been a hero of mine. He wrote one of my textbooks in college: Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume 3--Quantum Theory. What made him special was his ability to take a complicated thing, to reduce it to its essence, and explain it in simple english. The Challenger disaster gave him some of the recognition he richly deserves.
shareI was pretty astounded @how really good this movie was: kudos to all & especially casting, to get Hurt, Dennehy, & Greenwood in the same flick.
I was around on Jan. 28, 1986, & recall the shock, but about 10 yr ago, I attended a lecture where the speaker really laid into not NASA but all the contractors (Boeing et al.) involved in the project & how basically there was a concerted effort to circumvent the truth about what happened & how this circumvention was presented in text & images.
& Even when the facts about the O-rings came out, the press managed to distill & ameliorate the facts until it made NASA sound like an altruist for killing those astronauts; it was like the press reported, "Thank God those astronauts died, so they'll never know just how reckless & vengeful the honchos @NASA were." & Then led America, as the press ALWAYS does, in community hand-wringing.
Just seen it for the first time - it's a great film and agree - William Hurt was absolutely exceptional as were the support cast.
William deserves an award - I've been through all his nominations on here but sadly this performance isn't mentioned.
As with the film 'Margin Call' it is possible to bring a great group of actors together on a limited budget. Kudos to whoever assembled the cast for this docudrama.