James Spader: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
3. Nick Vanzant - Supernova (2000)
Returning to typecasting, certain actors work best within certain genres. Ray Liotta, for instance, looks most at home when playing corrupt cops. Similarly, James Spader is not a man ideally suited to science fiction. Even with a black crew-cut and a bulked-up physique, you cant help but feel like hes wandered in from a different film; hopefully a better one than Supernova, a film with the dubious distinction of being the first to have been directed by Thomas Lee - the replacement for Alan Smithee, the name directors go by when they want to disown their work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUdy0Cu3f_o Spader delivers most of his lines with a look of nonchalance, boredom even, seeming to mistake apathy for steeliness, and, as such, ends up feeling like a cut-rate Michael Biehn. Its hard to believe this shiny misfire was directed by Walter Hill - who worked on Aliens - and edited (in part) by Francis Ford Coppola. If youre looking for cheesy portal-related disasters and super-powered psychos wreaking havoc in deep space, you might want to check out Event Horizon instead, if only for the chilling Sam Neill.
