Cult Actors #1: Brad Dourif - The Devil’s Minion
Soon to be appearing in remakes of Halloween and The Wizard of Gore, Brad Dourif remains one the most intense and provoking actors currently working in cinema.
Wow! Has been it really been over three years since Tom Fallows started the phenomenon that was the 'Cult Actors' series on OWF? Doesn't time fly? As part of our '31 Days of Horror' season, enjoy an old favourite from Sept 20th, 2007, and look for the other 9 articles to be re-published over the coming months...Those eyes are looking at us; glassy, intense and staring through the camera, burning a hole in the screen. They are eyes that have seen too much bad craziness, eyes that have looked into the abyss and come back insane. It is 'TheExorcist 3' (1990) and American character actor Brad Dourif is playing an executed killer, given power by the devil to possess the body of a priest (Father Damien Karras from 'The Exorcist' and continue his bloody spree. He is locked in a secure mental institute - and he is ranting. A decapitated head can see for approximately 20 seconds before it dies, he hisses through clenched yellow teeth direct to camera. I must admit it makes me chuckle every time. Its a wonderful life; for some. It is a violent performance, full of brimming rage and sickly evil. The words Dourif speaks belong to his character, but those wild eyes, those deep wells of madness, they are his. Since 1975 Brad Dourif has appeared in over 100 roles in film and television. He was the voice of the devil doll Chucky in the 'Childs Play' series (1988-2004), hes the crow-like Grima Wormtongue in Peter Jacksons 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy (2001-03) and hes taken part in colossal Hollywood failures like Michael Ciminos 'Heavens Gate' (1980) and David Lynchs 'Dune' (1984.) Dourif is a captivating and versatile actor and when offered the chance his eyes can be empathetic and kind. Parts in Ken Loachs 'Hidden Agenda'(1990) and TVs underrated 'Deadwood' (2004-06) showed a warm and humane actor, but this is a side of himself he rarely gets to show.
Physically hes off-centre - wiry and angular with greasy matted hair and eyes that can be maniacal. As an actor he knows no fear. In every part, in film, TV or theatre, he opens himself up like an emotional wound and lets his insides spill out onto the screen. He can be raw, fiercely intense and his performances are often volcanic, erupting with bile and intemperate anger. In director Tobe Hoopers 'Spontaneous Combustion' (1990) Dourif delivers a breathtakingly stripped and wound up performance. He plays David Bell, a man whose rages literally erupt in flames, burning both himself and those around him. In a phone conversation with an irritating radio technician, we see Dourif desperately try to suppress his fury, twisting and flexing, his face reddening and those eyes screaming fear and biblical retribution. The blistering pyrotechnic inferno that burst forth from his arm seems unnecessary; Dourif doesnt need special effects to show a man on fire. I do have an incredibly violent heart, he has said in interviews. In that sense, I certainly am one of the devils minions.Fittingly then, he often plays weird villains and cinematic oddballs. In 'Dune' he is alien and poisonous and gives advice to monsters worse than him. In 1990s 'Graveyard Shift' he is sweaty and absurd as a tobacco chewin white trash Vietnam-vet exterminator with a personal vendetta against rats, Do you have any idea what a VC rat eats? Try raw American whole male. His performances can boarder on the edge of sanity. But then onscreen at least, Dourif has always been mad.
He made his official film debut locked in a mental institution in director Milos Formans 'One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest' (1975.) Here, as the stuttering Billy Bibbit, he was boyish and afraid to live. Youre a young guy, you should be out in a convertible, bird-doggin chicks and bangin beaver, Jack Nicholsons rebellious R.P McMurphy tells him. In one of the films many group counselling sessions, Billy tells of a time when he nervously asked a girl to marry him and she refused. The others laugh at his naivety and Billy laughs too, despite the obvious pain in his eyes. Billy wasnt that the first time you tried to kill yourself? asks the Big Nurse. Dourifs performance is full of innocence and vulnerability and truth. It earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. In a bid for realism director Forman filmed 'Cuckoos Nest' in a real working asylum. His cast of mostly newcomers often stayed there over night, sleeping on the wards and spending time with actual inmates. Dourif was 25 years old and as an actor acutely receptive to the world around him. How much of the surrounding madness got into his bloodstream? What crazed screams did he hear in the dead of night on those wards? When he gazed at the other inmates, did he look too deep? When not watching the inmates Dourif was watching and learning from Jack. Nicholson does not defend himself at all from the camera,Observed Dourif, and he took this approach to heart. There is indeed a lot of Jack in Dourifs later work. Both are open, intense, bursting with suppressed energy and willing to play near or over the top. Dourif is like Jacks twisted younger brother the one they keep locked in the attic.
Following Cuckoos Nest Dourif went missing from cinema for 3 years, wary of the press attention and fickle acclaim the film won him. In 1978 he took the lead in legendary director John Hustons 'Wise Blood' (1979) based on the novel by Flannery OConnor. The film tells of US army veteran Hazel Motes (Dourif) and his attempts to rebel against his Christian upbringing. Mistaken as a preacher (because of his hat) he sets up The Church Without Christ where, the blind cant see, the lame dont walk and whats dead stays that way. The film is an evangelical satire fused with Southern Gothicism, but from the outset Dourif is too agitated and bitterly serious to be funny. He is zealous, frustrated, and then theres those eyes. One character describes them as, the colour of pecan shells and set so deep they are like passages leading to nowhere. The post-Cuckoos Nest Dourif is like Kurtz from Conrads Heart of Darkness: His intelligence was perfectly clearbut his soul was mad.Dont get me wrong, I dont for a second presume that Dourifs as possessed as the characters he plays. By all accounts hes one of Hollywoods good guys, a family man with a warm spirit. He was born in West Virginia in 1950 and as a child would watch his mother perform in plays. At 19 he moved to New York and joined The Circle Repertory Company theatre group. Acting was already his obsession. His performance in the play When You Comin Back, Red Ryder? won him both critical acclaim and the role in Cuckoos Nest. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7JU0aLqFOQ Following Cuckoo and Wise Blood Dourif was considered:
Amongst the Hollywood elite.But it was short lived. These films showed what a gifted and powerful character actor he is, but a leading man? Can we imagine Brads gangly frame romancing Meg Ryan in an 80s rom-com, or those eyes wooing Julia Roberts into bed? No, best leave these roles to bland everymen like Tom Hanks and Richard Gere. Dourif is too important. His lack of fear in front of camera also broaches an area no Hollywood star would dare venture Brad can play human weakness. Look back over his rogues gallery of creeps and grotesques and we begin to see feeble men who became pathetic and corrupted in the face of evil. In 'The Exorcist 3' he is the puppet of the devil, in 'The Lord of the Rings' hes feebly under the control of the wizard Saruman (played by Dracula himself Christopher Lee. Does this make Brad Renfield?)
In David Lynchs 'Blue Velvet' (1986) he plays lapdog to Dennis Hoppers homicidal Frank. When Frank administers pain or ridicule to his enemies Dourif drinks the violence with junky wild eyes and laughs like a hyena hes a twisted and pitiful audience to evil; the kind of dog itd be ok to kick. In their two films together, David Lynch used Dourif sparingly but to great effect, yet he is often wasted. His lack of leading man status means he must work to put food on the table, explaining appearances in forgettable junk like 'The Interceptors' (1999) and 'Critters 4' (1991). Being a character actor is a very insecure life, he has sated. You dont always get to do what you want. I guess the reason Ive held on is because I love it. As a result he will never give less than his all and even when he should be having fun, he isnt. In 1988s 'Childs Play' the role of Charles (Chucky) Lee Ray, the serial killer who cheats death by possessing a doll (1988), offered Dourif the chance to enjoy himself and go over the top. Dourifs harsh, almost shrill voice is perfect and adds to the dark humour as the cute little toy screams obscenities, You stupid bitch! You filthy slut! I'll teach you to fuck with me!
But to get into character Dourif would pace the room before hurling himself into a frustrated agony and fainting afterwards. 'Childs Play' screenwriter Don Mancini saw this process first hand and commented, It was scary seeing the rages Brad would work himself into. All this just for a talking doll movie. Yet this is what makes him great and indispensable to modern cinema. Whether in Oscar nominated films like Alan Parkers 'Mississippi Burning' (1988) or guest starring in TV shows like 'The X-Files' (1994), he will never give less than his body, soul and mind and the films he appears in are elevated by his intense presence. He is original and unique; a frantic and twitchy lunatic genius. Just dont get lost in those eyes.