James Spader: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
4. Stewart Swinton - Wolf (1994)
Few actors are capable of chewing the scenery like Mr. Jack Nicholson. Most of his iconic performances have had a larger-than-life element to them, be it Jack Heres Johnny! Torrance or Randall P. McMurphy! (Its all in the delivery). In the case of Wolf that scenery chewing extends to tearing a chunk out of a live deer. As such, its all the more impressive that Spader manages to hold the screen with him. Spader is the villain of the piece, Stewart Swinton, a callow, self-ingratiating publishing assistant who foolishly decides to back-stab his mentor, Will Randall (Nicholson), during a takeover. Unbeknownst to Stewart, however, Randall has recently become the victim of a mysterious wolf bite - because of course he has - and soon enough Stewart himself is on the way out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDZx7DBKzPY The pleasure of watching the pathetic Stewart get his comeuppance, trying desperately to worm his way back into Wills good graces, is matched only by his lupine turn in the films final act as he and Nicholson go head-to-head in a battle of the werewolves. Those yellow contacts shown at the top of the page apparently required aesthetic drops to numb the eyes, which, given Spader is already effectively blind without his glasses, must have made for interesting filming.
