Simply Cinema 7/20/26

Hello and welcome to Simply Cinema. We are your hosts Maximilian Simonelli and Dustin Braga. So, Dustin, we have an episode today that your father actually thought of. Yes, yes. And I gotta say, cool topic. I'm surprised we didn't tackle this sooner. Yeah. So thank you, Mr. Braga. Good suggestion today. Yeah, it was a pretty good one. Today we are looking at character actors. Yes. So it's actors that you probably don't know the name of, but you've seen a bunch of times. You know the unsung heroes of cinema. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Jake Gyllenhaal had a comment. I think it was an SNL sketch, but it was actually like kind of serious in tone. He talked about how these are the actors that they didn't become great actors by being good looking. They became great actors by being good at acting. Yes. And I go, yeah, that's the important part. Yeah. They're the backbone of cinema. Exactly. Yeah. So we have a few examples that we're going to look at today. Oh, yes. So the first example was your suggestion. Yes. It was actually my dad's suggestion. It was your dad's suggestion. Mr. Braga, once again, thank you. His name here, we have M. Emmett Walsh. Yes. He's been in quite a few movies. He's one of those guys you look it up and you go, oh, I actually know him from more movies than I thought. Yeah. I have one film in mind that I go to. For me, I know him as the doctor in Fletch, starring Chevy Chase. Underrated comedy. Oh, yeah. But as we're looking on the side here, he was in Blade Runner, the original. He was in Missing in Action. I'm looking at The Jerk, Back to School. I think his biggest film he did was a film called Blood Simple. Yeah. Yeah. That's the first one. Nineteen eighty four. Blood Simple. Yes. He was in that one quite a bit. Francis McDormand. OK. Yeah. Now we're talking. Oh, yes. And I know a lot of people might recognize him from Knives Out. He played the groundskeeper. That's right. In Knives Out. Yeah. I see Wild Wild West, Clean and Sober. Like I said, the Pope of Greenwich Village, Serpico. God, there's just more and more. I know this guy from a lot of movies. Yes. He has been in so, so many things. Yeah. He's had quite the career. Yeah. I think he's still alive. Let's see. Let us find out. Maybe. We have technology. We have the technology. No, he has not. He died two years ago. Oh, no. Sad. But he left behind a good. Yes. Yeah. Legacy. Thank you. Yes. Racing Arizona. Oh, that's a classic. Yeah. You know, he he got around Hollywood quite a bit, was used quite extensively in, I think, like the 60s through the 80s. Yeah. So much. He has like a real world look about him. Just a real again, not to say anything against him, but, you know, hired because like, OK, you look like you could play like the cop on a beat, you know, or the bartender or the doctor or just like kind of everyday positions that didn't require like the leading man, what have you. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, most of his roles were like co-starring roles or just like smaller roles that, you know, maybe they only appeared like a few scenes, but it was still important. Yeah. Yeah. Still good to the plot. Still, still left his mark. Oh, yeah. Presence. Indeed. Oh, thank you. Emmett Walsh for all of your filmography. Of course. Yeah. Quite extensive, but extensive. I think I need to sit down and maybe maybe count everything that he's ever done. Everything he's ever done. Yeah. I was a few films here I haven't heard of, but they just go on and on. Yeah. He did Hollywood. He did indie. He did small budget. He did no budget. He did it all. He did no budget. I like that. He did budget. He did no budget. Oh, this is cool. Yeah. And I guess the number of the films that I've seen, I'm like, wait, who was he in? Little in like Little Big Man and Serpico. I'm like, OK. Oh, wait. Brubaker. God, this is going on. Yeah. And Slapshot he was in. Yep. Yep. Oh, this is cool. Ordinary People. Yeah. It's a lot of movies. A lot of movies. A lot of movies. Yeah. Yeah. Pretty cool. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you for your contributions. Oh, yes, indeed. Indeed. Now let's move on to. Oh, yes. So guy I thought of. So we're going to go a little old school with this. So I got to say, first of all, I was tempted to talk about Harry Cording, who is a great character actor from some of the Universal Studios monster movies, which I will always be talking about. But we're not talking about him today. Instead, we're talking about for my money, the greatest character actor there is or ever was, I should we have here, Thomas Mitchell. Now, the reason I bring this guy up is because we go to his filmography. He 1939 is considered the greatest year in cinema history because you had great films like, oh, I don't know, The Wizard of Oz. Hmm. Gone with the Wind. Oh, Stagecoach. Wow. Mr. Smith goes to Washington and the Hunchback of Notre Dame, to name a few. He's in four of those five. Yeah, he's in four of those five. He was busy. He's the drunken doctor in Stagecoach. He's Scarlett O'Hara's father in Gone with the Wind. Let me see. I forget his exact role in Mr. Smith goes to Washington, but he's there. Yeah, he was there. My personal favorite. He's Clopin, King of the Beggars in the Hunchback from Notre Dame, Hunchback of Notre Dame. And I guess I think that's personally his best role. But he's also in other great films. Not that year like It's a Wonderful Life, High Noon. Let's see what else we have. We have The Outlaw. We have, let's see, Miracle on 34th Street. Miracle on 34th Street. We have, let me see, I said that one, Moontide. Let's see. Swiss Family Robinson he's in. Yep. Yep. Just an endless, one of those guys that just went like much like Emmett Walsh just shows up randomly and then you realize, oh, I know him from more films than I thought. Yeah. I think a lot of that also had to Yes. You know, the 30s, it was a big boom for filmmaking. Yes. But they also just needed bodies. That's true. Well, I often wonder about that because there's, back to us for a minute, there's definitely levels of character acting. Yeah. Because I feel that like there's some guys that I see, again, in the monster movies that never have a line. They're just always like, there's one guy sitting in the bar. Yeah. He's always just sitting in a bar, but he's in like 20 of these movies. So I often wonder for him, it's like, he's probably not under contract. He's probably just like, yeah, three, I'm filming the invisible man at five. I'm filming Sherlock Holmes in Washington at three. I'm doing that. You know what I mean? So now granted, Thomas Mitchell's a much larger character actor, so probably a contract, but still like never, never the star, but always the backbone. Yeah. Always there. Always there. He's always there. He's always, always watching. Yeah. And again, just like typical, like, yeah, again, playing, whether it's a drunken doctor or like the clerk who's been, you know, on the job for 30 years. Real world people. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Extensive filmography, obviously. Yeah. And again, these days kind of forgotten a little bit, but some good stuff. Yeah. When you mentioned him, I had no idea who this guy was. And understandably so. But yeah, good movies. Like I said, I can't recommend the 39 Hunchback enough. I feel that's his best role. Yeah. It's, uh, it's quite a visual film too. Oh yes. And like the cinematography was quite something. And it's a fun watch. Cause you you'll definitely, cause I think most people these days, when I think of Hunchback, they think of the 96 Disney animated film, which is awesome. And I go, if you watch the, cause there's so many Hunchback movies, that's another film that keeps getting remade over the years. But I feel the 39 one, like you see the most inspiration that Disney film took from. I can see that. Yeah. Especially the design of Quasimodo himself. Anywho. So that's Thomas Mitchell. And, uh, yeah, if you can get out there and watch some older movies that he's in. Yeah. You know, always go older. Was he in any monster movies? Uh, well, not exactly. It's funny. I think I grew up watching Hunchback cause it was like monster movie adjacent. Right. You know, it's not really a monster movie, but it's about a deformed person. It's the tale of a man and the monster. So there's that. I get that going for him. That's something at least. It is. Yeah. Yeah. But now he's, he's just a good, like believable everyday guy. Yeah. Yeah. We'd love to see it. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Good stuff. And High Noon is incredible. High Noon is great. That's a good movie. Yeah. Yeah. Top Western. Yeah. Yeah. I'd say so. It's up there. Yeah. Well, why don't we take a quick break? Sure thing. We'll be right back with more after actors. Indeed. Stay tuned and welcome back. So before we took a break, we were looking at, uh, two of our, I'd say favorite character actors, M. Emmet Walsh and Thomas Mitchell. And now we're going to go a little more modern guys who are still acting. Oh yes. Yes. Yes. And we have our next example here scene is Keith David. Yes. So very prominent actor. I got to say, I think of this guy, I know him best from The Thing from 1982 with Kurt Russell. Uh, one of the last two survivors and it's questionable as to whether or not he is in fact a thing or not. Yeah. We don't know that movie that ending is still being talked about today, but he's got some really, he's so we got the thing and they live. That was his John Carpenter tenure. Uh, he's in platoon. I forgot he was in Coraline. He had a voice in Coraline. Yeah. He does a lot of voice work because he has such a distinct voice, the princess on the frog. Yes. Which we got that came out in 2009. I thought that's that timestamp. Just don't say that. Uh, he's in, he's in Nope, rec room for a dream. The nice guys. Uh, something about Mary. That's a funny one. Yeah. Roadhouse. And I forgot he was in her again, voice acting. He was in the animated Hercules. Yes. As, as Apollo. Um, I think he's also a really well known for voicing spawn. Yes, that's right. That's right. See where I had spawned a second ago. There it is. Yeah. Spawn to spawn Lufasa, the lion, the lion King. Yes. Yeah. He was there. He was there. He's always 21 bridges, underrated movie. I have not seen that Chadwick Boseman, uh, produced by the yes. The Russo's. Thank you. Uh, so sort of a break from Marvel and a good, good little movie. They'll call it like fighting the clock movie. Uh, it's a pretty good one at cloud Atlas. You are the ones here again, just the, the list goes on and on. Oh yeah. He was in that too. I know from that one as well. Yeah. Death at a funeral. Oh yes. Yeah. Keith David has been around for quite a while. Um, he does, like I said, he does a lot of voice acting. Yeah. Um, I think that might be his kind of his main thing now is voice acting. Okay. Um, but, uh, he does the occasional onscreen credit. Um, I know he was in the last season of community as a main character. Okay. Interesting. It, uh, he's just absolutely hysterical on that. Um, and recently, yes, you can see him in the upcoming Spider-Man brand new day. And we don't know who he's playing. We have no idea who he's playing. That's interesting. We hear him in the trailer. Could he be voice acting? He could be. Imagine if he's like the watcher or something. Yeah. Like you don't actually see him, but like, you know, you see him, but it's not like it's a CGI one half view. It's like, you know, yeah, there's no, absolutely. We have nothing to go on who Keith David could be playing in the movie, but he's in it. Yeah. He's he'll be there. And his filmography earned him his star on the Hollywood walk of fame as we see here. Yes. Um, I think this was pretty recent too. I think this might have been this year. It looks it. Yeah. It's either this year last year that he got his, his star and it is a very well-deserved for this man. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. I can't say anything more good things about this man. Oh yes. Yes. Agent Cody banks. I'll go with it. I'm just looking at his stuff. Men at work Armageddon he's in one to all the Riddick movies. I think so. I saw he's in the first two. Let's see the pitch black and Chronicles of Riddick. Yes. Let's see. Yeah. And like a wide variety of, you know, genres of film. Oh yeah. Quality of film. Absolutely. What have you, but he's one of those guys that just like, enjoys his time having fun with it. He does. Yes. Um, I know he also does the, uh, the convention circuit quite a bit. Yeah. Yeah. So he can meet the fans. That's cool. Um, yeah. And he, uh, does, uh, lots of panels. Uh, he loves talking to fans, interacting with fans. Um, the skits, the comedies, the monologues, the comedy. Yeah. Cause I mean, he knows that, um, he is kind of, you know, a character actor status. Yeah. So it's so those who do know him, he enjoys it. Yeah. It's like, yeah. He's like, it's like fan servicing to the fans, which is cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's giving a little back. Yeah. Yeah. That's nice. Oh yeah. All right. And our last example that we have kind of breaking the mold. Yes. He broke the mold pretty recently too. Yeah. Was character actor, but has since become kind of a leading actor and probably will continue to do so. Absolutely. Man in question, we have Walton Goggins. Yes. So I guess I look at this guy and I instantly think of, uh, he was Calvin Candy's henchman in Django Unchained, you know, and then showed up for a slightly, a bigger role in, uh, the hateful eight alongside Sam Jackson, which was a really good movie. And recently with it's fallout follow. Yeah. He's the lead. He is one of the leaders. Yeah. He's, uh, yeah. He's kind of like, he had a bit part in he's, he's in Marvel as well. Someone was saying he was, he needs to be in a Marvel movie. And I go, he was, he was in Ant-Man and the Wasp. Yes. Not that people remember that film. Yeah. I think Quantumania is a bit more forgettable than the wasp. But yeah, he was, he plays, excuse me, a lot of small bit parts. Um, especially earlier on in his career. Um, actually my parents and I have been going through the Jason Bourne movies again. Oh yeah. And, uh, he's in the Bourne Identity. Really? Yeah. I've seen that. And I remember him being there. Neither did I until, until we watched it recently and he was just there. He was, uh, part of the, uh, the CIA or, uh, yeah. The Treadstone. Treadstone. Yeah. Uh, group trying, yeah. Trying to find Bourne. At the Bourne Identity we have Shanghai Noon. We have the next Karate Kid with Hilary Swank. I saw that. I forgot he was in that. Straw Dog. Lincoln. See what else? Yeah. He has a lot of like, um, shitty kills. He can play Western very good. Yeah. Yeah. He, he has that demeanor and that voice where it's just pretty easy to, I guess, typecast him. Even like Fallout. He, he. Yeah. Even Fallout. He had like, it's like a Western aesthetic. Yeah. In like this post-apocalyptic world. Right. I'm like, why are you? Okay. It's cool. Yeah. But like he has a Western aesthetic, but I mean, he's technically kind of playing two versions of the same character. Right. In Fallout. Like his, like before the whole, you know, nuclear disaster, he's just kind of like this normal actor. He's an actor. Yeah. And, and he's just like this normal guy. Yeah. Um, but after Fallout. He's very deformed. Yes. Yeah. Like he's got like a Phantom of the Opera thing going on. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and, uh, yeah, he just goes into like this Western type persona because it fits. It does even for us saying, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, Walton Duggins is really breaking the mold. Um, he's been nominated for, I think some golden globes and Emmys. I can see that at this point. Yeah. I'm probably just going to keep, you know, keep doing this thing going up. Yeah. What else else has got coming out? Not sure. Yeah. I'm not sure what his next project is. Um, I know they're going to be filming the third season of Fallout pretty soon. Okay. So I think that might be it. We mentioned a Spider-Man with Keith David, Keith David a moment ago. Yes. People were saying that Goggins should be this universe is Norman Osborne. And I go, yeah, I could see that. I can see that actually. Yeah. Um, he too, nothing against him, but he's definitely a unique looking individual. Yeah. So like made sense as a character actor, but also can see him as a leading man. But again, just a unique looking person. Yeah. He, he pops on the screen, but for a different reason than the norm. Yeah. Nothing wrong with it. Right. I was thinking about his, his makeup design and fall. Like, was it an improvement? No, nothing against you, Walton Goggins. Anyway, Walton Goggins. Yeah. So sorry. Yeah. Please file all complaints to the trash can. But, uh, in short, these are just only a few of the great, uh, character actors, again, really the backbone of cinema because they're, they're needed. They're not always the first people you think about, but then you look at their filmography and you realize, wait, they've, they played a major, you know, minor to major part in a lot of movies. Yeah. Yeah. I've been everywhere. Very important. Yeah. Yeah. Always being on the lookout for them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Great. Well, we'll take a quick break. Sure thing. Come back with some final thoughts and we're going to tee up next week. Next week. I'm not going to tell you it's going to be great. Stay tuned. Yeah. Hello. Thanks for staying with us. So, uh, once again, get out there and watch some movies and pay attention to some of the reoccurring, uh, character actors you'll see. Even some of the ones that don't have, have dialogue. There's definitely a time where I see a film and occasionally I'll, I'll, you know, my eyes will stray from the two people who are having the conversation in the frame and I'll watch some of the people in the back and I'll go like, you know, did they just meet that day? I'm watching the event, uh, the incredible Burt Wonderstone. If I can go on a little rant for a moment. Yeah, go for it. And as a moment where, uh, Steve Carell is talking to, um, oh my God, what is her name? She directed Don't Worry Darling. Oh, Olivia Wilde. Olivia Wilde. Thank you, Dustin. That's why you're here. What you've been training for Rocky. This is why you're here. Get it. And, um, there's this couple that are just like, you know, holding each other and the camera just pans past them. And I go, are they, could they have been a real couple or could they have been two extras that met that day and had to act romantic for that scene? Right. You know, just little things like that. And then you start to notice like all the people in the background is a great video of, uh, extras that completely nailed their job. Oh, right. You know, and it's, but yeah, they're the backbone of cinema. They really are. They're very important. Yeah. So, uh, just be more aware. Anytime you're watching a movie, support your character actors. That's our message. Yes. They need to eat too. Yeah, they do. Yeah, they do. Yeah. Get their recognition. But, uh, anyways, as you were saying, we're going to tee up next week's episode. Yes, we are. Radical change of gears. We have a new, uh, film release coming out. Yes. A very big release that we're going to see. And next week is going to be, so this will be kind of the initial, our thoughts going into the film next week. We'll be, we saw it. We'll be right. We'll be wrong. The film in question. I wish we had a picture ready to go. The film in question is the odyssey directed by Christopher Nolan starring Matt Damon as Odysseus. And, uh, but you know, I'm going to go, I won't be able to show it, but we have a pretty star studded cast. Yes. Uh, Matt Damon, like you said, I know Anne Hathaway is in it. Zendaya. Yes. Tom Holland. Elliot Page. Robert Pattinson is in it. Uh, let me see. We have Charlize Theron I think is in it. Yup. Benny Safdie. Yes. Travis Scott for some reason. John Bernthal. Mia Goff. Yeah. Wow. A lot of people. John Leguizamo for some reason. Yeah. The cast is absolutely stacked. Yeah. It is. It's an insane who's who of Hollywood actors. Yeah. And so I got to say, this is definitely like the epic that's coming out this summer. Oh yeah. It's the summer box office poll. Yeah. I am curious about it. I think this is one thing, I don't know the odyssey extensively. Well, I was talking to a coworker of ours and he was saying how, like for those, cause he, he does know the story and he goes, for those who do know it, you know, they're going to be very critical of this movie. And it's kind of like when you don't know the comic book, right. And then you're going into the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Cause I go, fortunately that's me. I don't know the source material extensively. Well, right. So I go, I like the movie, but diehard fans are like, they changed it. That's not what happened. I go, well, you have to like appease both people. Yeah. Listen, different mediums required different procedures. Yes, of course. Yeah. So I am curious. It's funny. I was watching a Troy was on last night and I'm watching it going, it's such a missed opportunity to have made this movie right after Troy and have Sean Bean come back to play Odysseus. Right. And at one point, spoiler, Odysseus goes into the underworld and finds a dead Achilles. I go cameo by Brad Pitt. Yeah. You know, it's just a missed opportunity. So like this film is going to be like, it's, that's, it starts with Troy has fallen and now Odysseus has to travel back to his homeland. He's the kingdom of, is it Ithaca? Yeah. I think it's Ithaca. So he encounters a lot of problems along the way, like a cyclops, the sirens, a few other things we won't go into. And then I think Calypso, right. And then isn't there like his home kingdom is like, they go, Odysseus is dead. I'm the new king. Yeah. Because he's been gone for quite a while. It's like 10 years or something. Yeah. It's it he's been gone for super long. So now there's suitors, uh, for the queen, for the queen, basically saying like, listen, you got to let it go. Odysseus is dead. But his son, Tom Holland plays his son. Yes. He's like, no, my, my daddy, didn't he say daddy? And it wasn't like a term that was used yet. People got it up and on. Well, yeah. He said that his dad is still alive. His dad. Okay. Yeah. And then Robert Pattinson is the one that used daddy. I gotcha. And they were like, that term didn't exist in the BC era. Well, yeah, obviously it didn't. A lot, a lot of our current language didn't exist. Right. They weren't speaking English. Yeah. Does anyone in the movie sound Greek? No. You know, that's the funny thing about it's like you want accuracy, but at the same time you want authenticity. So it's like if someone, if Matt Damon was doing a Greek accent, it'd be like, well, that's not how he speaks. Yeah. Well, he doesn't sound Greek. Yeah. But he sounds like himself, you know? So it's like, what do you do? Yeah. It's, it's kind of one of those damned if you damned if you don't get a thing, if we went like full affirmative action, like, should we have an entirely Greek cast playing, you know, I'm all for it, but it's like, you know, that wouldn't, you know, be the big box office poll. That's true. That's true. Um, but yeah, I mean, going into this thing, I have some pretty high expectations. I hear it is quite a feat of filmmaking. Of course. I mean, Nolan does not make a bad movie, even the ones I didn't like where they were still well-made good movies. This one I'm because I have, as I've granted before the fact that, you know, his, uh, Dunkirk and Oppenheimer were two real stories that he made into a movie. This is a myth. It's a legend. So I go, okay, there is source material. You must adhere to that, but you can still get, I think, inventive. Yeah. You can creative, do some creatively way. So I'm, I'm like 50, 50 optimistic on it. Yeah. Yeah. We're going in with, with, with optimism. I just want to feel something from the movie. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's pretty much what I'm going to go in with. That's good. Okay. I like it. Maybe it'll be good. Funny thing too, was there was that movie, the return, uh, with, uh, Voldemort, uh, what's his name? Which was kind of a similar story as he's playing Odysseus and he comes back and it's like, oh, no one recognizes him. He has to shoot the arrow through the ax. And so I go, it's kind of like, you know, back when Frankenstein and the bride were coming out, it was like, okay, this is the big thing now. Yeah. The return and the odyssey, it's like the big return, you know, that kind of thing. It's interesting. It is very interesting. So we'll see it. I'll see the odyssey. We'll see what it has to offer. Yeah. Next week you will watch this movie, have our thoughts and big old review. Yeah. Hopefully we'll like it. I I'm crossing my fingers. I don't want to dislike any movie, but I'm also like, you know, I'm going into it like, all right, this might be good. Yeah. Why not? Let's see what the hype is. Yeah. Yeah. See. All right. Well, as always, thank you so much for watching. Indeed. Go watch movies. Yeah. Support your character actors. Yep. Go watch some old ones too, because they need your love more than ever. All right. We'll see you next week. Take it easy.