Joe Pantoliano turns 74 years old today. It’s kind of hard to believe. But he was born on 12 September 1951.
He’s the kind of guy who seems to be in everything. But he isn’t. He works a lot — but no more than you would expect from a character actor of his level.
He’s probably best known for the part of Cypher in The Matrix. He’s the rat who turns on his friends. And I certainly disagree with his behavior. But even at the time I thought he made a lot of sense. For one thing, Morpheus did lie to him (and the others). He said, “Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.”
Really?! I think he could have told everyone. But he didn’t! And I believe he didn’t because most people would not leave the Matrix to eat goop and risk death for unclear reasons. And if you see it in this light, you better understand why everyone other than Tank seems to be sleepwalking through the film. (BTW: the biggest problem with the sequels is that they lost Marcus Chong; his appearance makes the parade of unknown and most uninteresting characters fatal.)
But as I said, Pantoliano has been in a lot of stuff. He’s a known face that pops up in random films. And he’s always welcome as he is in Daredevil (2003), where he’s the most interesting thing.
But today, I want to highlight Memento. It’s a good film with a clever plot. And Joe Pantoliano really grounds it.
Other 12 September Anniversaries
Filmmakers
- Desmond Llewelyn (1914-1999): Actor known as the original Q in 17 James Bond films.
- John Chambers (1922-2001): Make-up artist best known for the original Planet of the Apes.
- Freddie Jones (1927-2019): Actor best known as the creature in Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed, the best of the Hammer Frankenstein films.
- Ian Holm (1931-2020): Actor known for Alien, Brazil, and more.
- Hans Zimmer (1957-): Composer for too many films to list including True Romance and The Rock.
- Paul Walker (1973-2013): Star of The Fast and the Furious and sequels who ironically died in a car crash causing many people to claim they cared about him even though he largely disappeared acting with Vin Diesel.
Films
- The Phantom of Paris (1931): An escape artist is wrongly convicted of murder and, well, he’s an escape artist.
- The Bad Seed (1956): Sweet little girl is really evil.
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964): Iconic western version of Yojimbo.
- Bloody Murder (2000): Killer targets camp counselors. (For a change.)
- Cabin Fever (2003): Young people rent a cabin and get infected by a flesh-eating virus and then the locals get involved.
- Are You Scared? (2006): Six teens are kidnapped for a reality show.
- Bloodz vs Wolvez (2006): Vampires vs. werewolves. Get it?
- Eden Lake (2008): Teens terrorize a couple on vacation.
Image by Justin Hoch under CC BY 2.0.
It was so fun to see him in “Feast of the Even Fishes” playing a basically good guy. (Sure, he runs a little bookie operation, it’s not a Pantoliano role if he’s not a little crooked, because typecasting.) But mostly nice.
Another terrific character actor. Those folks really are the best.
One society advantage of character actors is that they are like stars of old: they do well but they have to work. Stars don’t need to work. And that makes it all the more pathetic that they do cash grabs with voice work and children’s book publishing. Of course, maybe stars would stop acting if our entire society didn’t treat them like royalty.
For the record, I’m sure Pantoliano doesn’t have to work anymore either. But he’s also not making $20 million per film. And I wouldn’t have a problem with him voicing a car commercial.