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2021 - IN MEMORIAM - MOVIES & TV


odessasteps

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Was totally mesmerized by Williams in his career making role as Omar Little and of course OSJ had our own private thread discussing Hap and Leonard.  Williams also carried a lot of the episodes of Lovecraft Country on his back. 

I was also a big fan of his doc series on VICE, Black Market.

Sad to see him pass away in such a tragic manner.  Some demons refuse to be exorcized.

RIP.

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Michael K Williams was one of those actors who wears their passion for performing on their sleeve. He was in the rarefied air of character actors like John Cazale. When Kevin Smith had his daily morning podcast over ten years ago he had him on to gush about The Wire. Williams had his heart set on playing the lead in Django Unchained (I think this was between Will Smith turning it down and Jamie Foxx being cast) and after humoring Smith with Omar Little talk for an hour he turned the show into a platform to campaign for the role. Listening to one of the finest actors I’ve ever seen almost beg Kevin Smith to help get him an audience with Tarantino was something else. I was really bummed for him when Foxx was cast. He had an incredible career and it still felt like the surface was barely scratched on what he was capable of doing. 

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@J.T.I think only you, me, and John ever watched Hap and Leonard. I loved that show. It still replays in the wee hours every once in awhile because it always shows up on my DVR again. 

Say what you want about the exploitative nature of Viceland programming, he was a fine host on their Black Market series until either he got too busy or got disinterested. Of course he was also great as Chalky White. Hell, just the other night I watched a minute of Brooklyn's Finest on TV and forgot he was in that too. Never knew that he wanted Django so bad -- and of course, it would have been a better film for it. 

Probably the most painful thing to think of when I heard about this yesterday was remembering the episode of Tony Bourdain where the two of them ate around Brooklyn, meeting up with Jamie Hector (The Wire's Marlo Stanfield) and neighborhood grannies who still remembered him and his appetite as a kid. Two great human beings just sharing a moment with the rest of us before their own issues made them move on, forever. It breaks my heart. 

RIP

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One more thing and I'll leave this be. I was re-reading the Wire oral history the other day since I found it again in the move, and it's a slim, fast read. At one point Michael is getting fucked up at a club and a young woman there catches his eye; he just sees something in her face, and decides to approach her. That was Felicia Pearson. She'd never acted before and was living the street life in Baltimore selling drugs. He took her to David Simon and got her on The Wire as Snoop, changing her entire life for the better. To help another person at random out like that is a feather in the cap of anyone, but that one's his. 

Edited by Curt McGirt
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13 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

One more thing and I'll leave this be. I was re-reading the Wire oral history the other day since I found it again in the move, and it's a slim, fast read. At one point Michael is getting fucked up at a club and a young woman there catches his eye; he just sees something in her face, and decides to approach her. That was Felicia Pearson. She'd never acted before and was living the street life in Baltimore selling drugs. He took her to David Simon and got her on The Wire as Snoop, changing her entire life for the better. To help another person at random out like that is a feather in the cap of anyone, but that one's his. 

Title and author, please and thank you. ? 

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All the Pieces Matter - The Inside Story of The Wire

Jonathan Abrams

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Very well done and comprehensive. I really like oral histories anyway, but with having such an array of cast and crew it's especially good in this case. Sadly some like Robert Chew had passed but otherwise pretty much everyone weighs in. 

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RIP Captain Mauser.

Since I am old, I remember him in his "wasn't he that guy in" television roles from Kolchack:  The Night Stalker, Starsky & Hutch, and The Incredible Hulk.

I think he was also in one of those Slaughter blaxploitation movies.   Maybe the second one?

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God damn that one hurts. I was a big fan of Norm MacDonald. I just recently watched Dirty Work for like the 40th time and it's STILL funny as hell. His Burt Reynolds and Bob Dole impressions were always hilarious too. 

Edited by BrianS81177
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