Throughout his career, the recently departed actor James Caan took on a number of roles that would've stumped lesser actors than he: a hotheaded and doomed mob boss' son in "The Godfather," a crippled and subdued author in "Misery," and a cold-hearted cynic who denies the existence of Santa Claus in "Elf."
Yet, all of those characters were relative walks in the park for the tough guy performer, especially since Caan was more than comfortable with playing complicated, tragic and unlikeable people — as his work in "Brian's Song" and "The Gambler" proved early on in his career.
One of Caan's greatest challenges was instead playing a man who's outwardly competent, fair, motivated, and decent, but inwardly is dealing with a raging turmoil of frustration and a sense of lost time: the professional safecracker Frank in Michael Mann's feature debut, "Thief." The complexities of the part combined with Mann's insistence...
Yet, all of those characters were relative walks in the park for the tough guy performer, especially since Caan was more than comfortable with playing complicated, tragic and unlikeable people — as his work in "Brian's Song" and "The Gambler" proved early on in his career.
One of Caan's greatest challenges was instead playing a man who's outwardly competent, fair, motivated, and decent, but inwardly is dealing with a raging turmoil of frustration and a sense of lost time: the professional safecracker Frank in Michael Mann's feature debut, "Thief." The complexities of the part combined with Mann's insistence...
- 9/5/2022
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
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