The Last King of Scotland (non political)

[bartl]

I apologize to Grant in advance if this is considered off-topic, but I know I've discussed this with him (and others) in the past, more than once, including on CBR forums, but am not sure if the CBR conversation was here or MOTO.

In any case, I know I am not alone in my opinion that, if you define skill in acting as making the viewer believe that you ARE the character, that Forest Whitaker is the most skilled actor in the world today. The reason why he is not more recognized as such is due to several factors: His appearance limits the parts he can play, his recognition as a director has overshadowed his acting career somewhat, and, most important, he is so skilled as an actor that when one sees him in two different parts, one is tempted to think that one saw two different actors due to his skill in becoming the character he plays. Just take a look at THE COLOR OF MONEY, THE CRYING GAME, GOOD MORNING VIETNAM, and A RAGE IN HARLEM, just to name a few. Respectively, he plays the guy who hustles Paul Newman, the captured British soldier, Robin Williams' sidekick, and a naive, religious patsy.

However, the buzz I have heard that, in THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND, his skills will finally be recognized by the general publlc. I would like to hear from people who have seen the movie, to see if they agree.

[Steven Grant]

As I dig Forrest Whitaker I'll allow it. (Don't forget PANIC ROOM. Or THE SHIELD. He's also going to be at least a semi-regular on ER starting this year...)

He was terrific as Idi Amin in the trailer for THE LAST KING OF SCOTLAND...

- Grant

[Ryan Day]

I saw the film at the Toronto Festival, and I've got to agree that Whittaker is great. I'm fairly certain he'll get an Oscar nomination for it - partly because he's very good, and partly because he's playing a real-life historical figure who's pretty crazy. The Academy loves that sort of role.

The film as a whole is a mixed bag, but Whittaker is great.

[bartl]

Don't forget PANIC ROOM. Or THE SHIELD.

He's good in whatever he's in; I just gave a list of movies that showed his versatility. As I said, I think his own skill works against him, because he makes it look so natural that you don't even realize that he's acting until you've seen him in a few roles.

[dancj]

I like Forrest Whittaker, but in the films I've seen him in (Phone Booth, Panic Room, Species, Good Morning Vietnam) he's played the same character - "the nice cuddly one". The biggest deviation was Panic Room where he played "the nices and cuddliest of the criminals".

The other film I'll single out was The Crying Game because I thought his performance in that was absolutely attrocious

[Steven Grant]

Watch THE SHIELD, the most recent season and the next one. Whitaker is hardly "the cuddly one" there...

- Grant

[Paul McEnery]

Oh, I'm looking forward to the cuddly Idi Amin.

And yeah, that was a helluva trailer. Knew nothing about it, and the moment I saw Forest Whittaker, I thought: That's Idi Amin.

[Steven Grant]

Me too. Forest Whitaker is Idi Amin; he looks and sounds just like I remember him. It was funny, too; not remembering anything about the film (I had read it was in production, but it hadn't really registered) I saw the title and all this stuff with some guy running around in what was obviously Africa, and I couldn't figure out what the hell the title had to do with anything.

Then Whitaker walks on screen, and I almost yelled "OF COURSE!" One glance at him and the whole Idi Amin legend came back to me like a ricochet...

- Grant

[badMike]

Anyone who's interested, over at IFILM we have a mini-doc about Idi Amin. It's a 5-minute excerpt from a longer piece about him release in conjunction with the film:

http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2770013

I thought it's a pretty interesting piece, especially since I don't know much about Amin.