![]() ![]() But, initially it's hard to see the plot as anything other than made for a movie- compelling over two hours but a little more difficult to hold up over nine hour long episodes, perhaps explaining why it was cancelled so abruptly, ignoring the bloody excrutiating, unresolved cliff-hanger it ended on. ![]() Hyde) My Own Worst Enemy is very much the Jekyll/Hyde story for this moment- with Bourne and Bond still genuine money-pullers, and Alias having left a giant hole in the TV schedule, you cant blame NBC for injecting the old familiar schizo story with a bit of a slick espionage twist. I also think the mixing of the Jekyll/Hyde story and the spy genre is ingenious- it's the epitomy of deep cover! This, of course, isnt the first time the Jekyll and Hyde story has been replayed on our screens: as well as the Nesbitt led ITV project mentioned above, there have been innumerate movie adaptations- from the sublime ( Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and I, Monster) to the dispicable ( Van Helsing and Dr Jekyll and Ms. big screen adaptation, and am a little sick of the slick, neo-real brutality of the blonde Bond and Robert Ludlum's own American Bond-rip-off. I have long yearned for a Man From U.N.C.L.E. ![]() Others have chosen to highlight the shortcomings of the Man From U.N.C.L.E style 70s throwback spy plotlines, that glamourise the profession as a champagne-quaffing, womanising lark- but personally I love it. A lot of criticism levelled at the series focuses on the level to which audiences are required to suspend belief- but this is a high-concept fantasy thriller so that concern should simply not come into it, otherwise we'd spend all of our time watching civil servants going to work miserable, doing nothing with their miserable lives and dying lonely and miserable. In this context, Slater's take on the familiar characters finds decent bed-fellows: his performance is marked most by the subtle differences between Henry Spivey and Edward Albright that make the changes entirely believable, and by the fact that the actor is at his best when he is playing a fruitcake. Both performances relied upon complete, but very subtle physical transformations that underpinned the changes in the characters' natures- Lithgow is masterful at convincing that he is each of his various identities, while Nesbitt relied on make-up (a very subtle change in his hair-line, and pupil size) to reflect his change into the villaionous and animalistic Hyde. And what better way to move back into the attentions of the powers that be than by taking the small step down to the small screen for a good-looking high concept series about a schizophrenic family man/super-spy? I've always considered the bench-marks for believable schizophrenic characters to be John Lithgow's cult turn in Brian De Palma's Raising Cain (honestly, it's much, much better than you remember), and much more recently James Nesbitt's frankly astounding twin-roles in ITV's otherwise poor Hyde. Yet, against all odds, Slater has somehow been able to claw his credibility back- his appearance in the woefully underrated Bobby was measured and accomplished, as was his turn in The West Wing and even his voice-work in the regrettably forgettable Igor stands up pretty well. And then, he went and made The Good Shepherd (no, not that one) and Alone in the Dark, either side of the worst film in living memory- Churchill: The Hollywood Years (essentially an extended and unnecessary skit on the way Hollywood paints history- everything it said could and should have been said in a three minute SNL sketch)- and he flirted dangerously with dropping off the C-List. But when you think about it, Slater hasnt really made a great deal of unforgettable movies- Heathers, True Romance and Interview with a Vampire were about as good as it got to start with, and Slater had the considerable accolade of appearing in The Undiscovered Country opposite Captain Kirk and Co, but after a funny uncreditted turn in Austin Powers, he pretty much dropped off the A-List map. After early career promise pointed towards a likely heady future status- some film fans (myself included) even going as far as to see shades of Jack Nicholson in the intensity and the eyebrows. Christian Slater's star has often threatened to fizzle out completely over the past decade or so. ![]()
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