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On Rewatching Apollo 13
Nov. 12th, 2010 10:42 pmDamn, Ben Marley is sexy.
I don't want to use the term scene-stealer, because everything about his acting is designed to NOT steal the scenes from Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and the other guys with their names on the marquee, but hot damn does he have an impact. But I guess this fangirl sums it up better than I can.
I am not a cinephile. I am, among other things, an Apollo Program geek, and I was re-watching the film to hear how everybody's names were pronounced and to see what film-created myths I need to debunk for my presentation on Thursday. Frex: Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) were not on the verge of killing one another. And since astronaut extraordinaire John Young is a key part of my presentation, I paid attention to Marley's performance as Young in Apollo 13. With pleasure. Because Marley's John Young is whip-smart, sexy, adorable, and deadpan funny ("Good. You're not dead."). The real John Young is a hilarious guy, not to mention an intelligent one, but his humor circa the early 1970s was more "sly country bumpkin," as in the time he announced his return to space by proclaiming that "Br'er Rabbit" was back in the briar patch. Yeah.
Ben Marley also caught my eye because he looked way familiar, and only after cross-referencing the name did I realize that he was in the other Ron Howard/Tom Hanks astronaut epic, From the Earth to the Moon. Only that time, Marley was playing Roger Chaffee, a role that consists of showing up to be sweet and hapless and likable and then dying horribly. I always did have a crush on poor Roger Chaffee.
Actually, watching Apollo 13 and FtEttM in close proximity does weird things to the brain because a lot of actors are re-used. A lot. Like, in Apollo 13, there's this guy who announces himself as Apollo XII commander Pete Conrad, but in FtEttM he has a large role as Apollo VIII commander Frank Borman. And the guy playing Jack Lousma (aka "Cap Com") in Apollo 13 played Apollo XV commander Dave Scott in FtEttM, which induced some real cognitive dissonance in me because, well, in terms of astronaut hierarchy, Dave Scott and Jack Lousma are not interchangeable. [I dunno. Think casting a Seth lookalike to play "Franz" in a dramatization of FE8. Something like that.]
Um, this probably means nothing to any of y'all. But really, Ben Marley is sexy and adorable. Yum.
I don't want to use the term scene-stealer, because everything about his acting is designed to NOT steal the scenes from Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and the other guys with their names on the marquee, but hot damn does he have an impact. But I guess this fangirl sums it up better than I can.
I am not a cinephile. I am, among other things, an Apollo Program geek, and I was re-watching the film to hear how everybody's names were pronounced and to see what film-created myths I need to debunk for my presentation on Thursday. Frex: Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon) and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) were not on the verge of killing one another. And since astronaut extraordinaire John Young is a key part of my presentation, I paid attention to Marley's performance as Young in Apollo 13. With pleasure. Because Marley's John Young is whip-smart, sexy, adorable, and deadpan funny ("Good. You're not dead."). The real John Young is a hilarious guy, not to mention an intelligent one, but his humor circa the early 1970s was more "sly country bumpkin," as in the time he announced his return to space by proclaiming that "Br'er Rabbit" was back in the briar patch. Yeah.
Ben Marley also caught my eye because he looked way familiar, and only after cross-referencing the name did I realize that he was in the other Ron Howard/Tom Hanks astronaut epic, From the Earth to the Moon. Only that time, Marley was playing Roger Chaffee, a role that consists of showing up to be sweet and hapless and likable and then dying horribly.
Actually, watching Apollo 13 and FtEttM in close proximity does weird things to the brain because a lot of actors are re-used. A lot. Like, in Apollo 13, there's this guy who announces himself as Apollo XII commander Pete Conrad, but in FtEttM he has a large role as Apollo VIII commander Frank Borman. And the guy playing Jack Lousma (aka "Cap Com") in Apollo 13 played Apollo XV commander Dave Scott in FtEttM, which induced some real cognitive dissonance in me because, well, in terms of astronaut hierarchy, Dave Scott and Jack Lousma are not interchangeable. [I dunno. Think casting a Seth lookalike to play "Franz" in a dramatization of FE8. Something like that.]
Um, this probably means nothing to any of y'all. But really, Ben Marley is sexy and adorable. Yum.
