Cassava Films - The List of 9

the list of 9 for december 11, 2009:
NINE CHARACTER ACTORS WHO SEEM TO BE IN EVERYTHING THESE DAYS

There are movie stars, and there are character actors. The people whose faces pop up everywhere,even if they never get profiled in magazines or interviewed on talk shows. Who are these actors?And why are they all over the place? I don't know about you, but I've found the following ninethespians practically inescapable lately. Let's give credit where credit is due.

PATRICK FISCHLER. Anyone who's watched Mad Men willrecognize Fischler as obnoxious early '60s comedian Jimmy Barrett. During the last two years heracked up an impressive twelve credits in shows such as Lost, Southland, Pushing Daisiesand Burn Notice. You may also remember him as the diner patron terrified of what's behindthe dumpster in Mulholland Drive.
MARGO MARTINDALE. Need an overweight, middle-aged redhead?Well, you could try Lorna Scott, who appeared in my first film Foreign Correspondents andfilms such as Ghost World (which also featured Patrick Fischler), but hipper castingdirectors seem to prefer Martindale, best known as the cancer-stricken, key lime pie-loving Camilain Dexter but also showing up in Orphan, Walk Hard, Million Dollar Baby and the starof Alexander Payne's wonderful closing segment in Paris, je t'aime.
MARY KAY PLACE. Not to be confused with Mary Beth Hurt orMary Stuart Masterson, the fiftysomething Place plays a domineering polygamist mother in BigLove and also showed up in films such as It's Complicated, Being JohnMalkovich and titles reaching as far back as The Big Chill and PrivateBenjamin.
MARTIN STARR. A less-celebrated member of the Judd ApatowPlayers, gawky comedian Starr memorably played high school supernerd Bill Haverchuck in theshort-lived series Freaks and Geeks and has since shown up, nearly always playing some sortof geek, in films including Knocked Up, Superbad, Adventureland and The IncredibleHulk.
J.K. SIMMONS. Compared to some on this list, Simmons ispractically a movie star these days, nearly on the same level as William H. Macy. You've seen thebald, gruff-voiced actor as Ellen Page's father in Juno, as a CIA suit in Burn AfterReading and with hair as J. Jonah Jameson in the Spider-man movies. He also costars inthe cable series The Closer. A busy man, that J.K. Simmons, with ten feature filmsand three TV series to his name in 2009 alone!
ADAM SCOTT. Boyish, slightly rodent-faced young actorstill is best known in our house as the guy Michael C. Hall dated for two episodes of Six FeetUnder, but Scott, who's been a supporting player in Knocked Up, Step Brothers andThe Great Buck Howard, among others, may finally be inching towards the big time with astarring role (along with Martin Starr!) in the cable series Party Down, about professionalcaterers.
KRISTEN WIIG. It's almost not fair listing the well-known Saturday Night Live actress among these less familiar names, but Wiig has been all over the screen in 2009, including Whip It, Extract, Adventureland and as a voice in the recent Ice Age sequel. According to the IMDb, Wiig, whose surname I still don't know how to pronounce, already has six 2010 feature film roles in the can.
CLIFTON COLLINS, Jr. One of my favorite underrated actorsat the moment, the half-Mexican Collins brilliantly played murderer Perry Smith in Capote,and in 2009 had small roles in Star Trek, Crank 2, Extract, Brothers, Sunshine Cleaning andThe Boondock Saints II. He's one of those chameleon-like character actors who can playalmost any ethnicity, like the similarly-named Cliff Curtis, with whom he must fight for roles allthe time.
MELANIE LYNSKEY. Let's end this list with a shout-out tothe actress whose Hollywood career I pathetically remind people that I helped launch, after PeterJackson of course. It's been a long time since she starred in my two features, but she reallybroke out in 2009, with strong supporting roles in Up in the Air, The Informant! and Away WeGo, directed by her former Heavely Creatures costar Kate Winslet's husband Sam Mendes. A guest spot on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and continued appearances on Two and a Half Men made this an undeniably "up" year for the thirtysomething actress.