Why is James Spader always a villain?

Loved him in "Dream Lover" with Madchen Amick, who was especially love at the time, as well.

Because he's not young and hot anymore, OP.

Because he has unusual expressions and delivery of lines.

His character on Boston legal was not exactly a villain.

Who wants a fiftysomething fat guy as the romantic lead?

In all the teen movies he was in he was a bad guy. So hot.

Spader comes from a family of educators. His dad was on the staff of a highly prestigious private school in Massachusetts, IIRC it was Andover. Spader's family was not wealthy, but he associated with hyper-wealthy blue bloods. Watched their mannerisms. Noted their arrogance. He took on the style and dress of Old Money types while not being Old Money himself. His portrayal of Steff is a perfect example of that wrist-flipping condescension.

Watch him in Less Than Zero. He's cold as ice.

Take it from someone who knows: Spader is simply playing himself.

r5, fraus LOVE him on Blacklist and can't wait for him to hook up with the much younger female lead, even though he is quite possibly, literally, her own father.

Can't stand him. Ham, ham, ham.

God damn it, the only things with Spader currently available on Netflix are Supernova and "Pretty in Pink". WTF is this bullshit??

He was at his hottest in less than zero

Boston and Cape friend of JS here...lovely guy, very smart and talented. Why wonder re: (type) casting? Happens to all actors. If you know his career, he played other 'types' too. Devoted family guy. To the detriment of career. Very happy at his recent resurgence.

Details please, r8.

Quite hot in Stargate.

Smarminess.

That said, he was perfect in "sex, lies, and videotape."

He's the voice of the robot villain in Avengers. Ultron.

[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]

He was great in Secretary and not so villainous.

Does anyone know where this still is from?

Have you seen him lately, OP?

An actors plays the parts he's given.

R20, I think that's from a movie he did with John Cusack called 'True Colors.'

It was good

Didn't keep his hair up.

Or his weight down.

Can actually ACT.

Got a snotty sort of countenance.

More???

Oh, and likes to make $$$, like Anyone, especially with how competitive acting is. Duh.

Thank you R23

Why am I not watching The Blacklist just for Ryan?

Love him!!! Yes, he looks different. He's not 21 anymore. Thank god. He has so much more to offer than skin deep prettiness. I know some of you stopped reading at "not 21 anymore"...

Because he can exude an air of degeneracy and perversion, OP. Hence his casting in Sex Lies and Videotape, Crash, Bad Influence etc. The guy likes it kinky.

[quote]Devoted family guy.

Laughing my ass off at this. I've seen him hit on women while with other women. I've seen this personally MANY times.

Spill some tea , R31.

He's into young model types, skinny and tall, with long coltsh legs and striking cheekbones and long hair.

He fancies himself an intellectual (and given the company he finds himself surrounded in while in Hlwd, perhaps he is) so if the woman can pretend to admire his genius while he is speaking, so much the better.

He definitely gives off a creeper deeper vibe in person. Was wearing trenchcoats and big floppy hats for YEARS before the Blacklist ever aired!

Ugh, he hasn't been hot since 1995. That's 20 years of non-hotness. Case closed.

He was ostensibly a good guy in White Palace with Susan Sarandon.

A movie which committed hari kari with some of the worst production decisions I've ever seen. The music alone... Shudder.

Physique du role

Spader gave a long interview several months ago. I've forgotten which magazine.

He admitted to being demanding and high strung. Said he has OCD. Always having to rationalize Red's actions and statements. Apparently, this requires long, middle-of-the-night phone calls to his production staff. Says he's not pleasant to live or work with.

Personally, I believe him.

IIRC, he grew up in Massachusetts. When the house next door to his parents' place became available, the owner gave Spader a first crack at buying it. And he did.

Because he's delicious as one.

Sex

He is great at it. He is one of those actors that can Ham and sneer their way to greatness in what should be trite and unengaging productions. A rare gift.

Steff is his greatest part, IMO. McKee is hideous, personality-wise–lecherous, slimy, cruel, entitled, manipulative and bitter, judgemental. Writ as a preppy with so much social capital he is allowed to cut all classes and saunter the halls slurring and smoking, Spader played him like a harassed, weary stockbroker sobering up after a cokebinge. Spader created a quasi-mythic, manipulative, sweating Yuppie Devil figure from very scant and basic material. Steff, thanks to James, is made of crushed linen and jealous incandescence, the most lurid, inaccurate sketch of a teen villain the 80‘s ever produced.

"What are you doing, buying records, or something..?" he intones as he stumbles across his erstwhile buddy..in a record store. Steff is so self-involved and violently insecure a character, he feels the need to spout redundancies as - a way of caricaturing the peons' level of skittish small talk. I love it.

Steff’s a bigoted, condescending creep, and barely anyone would pick his Box No. 3 as a good match for Andie, but you know he was really after a no-nonsense Domme lady to kick him into some semblance of respectability.

He’d been abandoned by all authority figures, and used for his popularity and riches just as much as the cheerleaders he gets through. He was burnt out and bored of debauchery, but still hopeful. Andie was right to tell him to get bent…but this movie could have been better if that gesture concluded the movie. Steff was an important character, and an oddly complex, attractive one......

Unlike 'let's kiss in the rain', Captain Greige himself, flakey doe-eyed Blane..

He's still Sexy James Spader. Expanded waistline and all. He still has the stare. Love him in everything.

I think it was in Jon Cryer's book that he remembers a young James Spader telling him he's cornered the market on "asshole" but he really did perfect the Waspy/Arrogant/Snobby/Preppy antagonist roles in the 80s teen/young adult genre films. I remember his first sort of sympathetic role being in Sex, Lies and Videotape and it was a real departure for him at the time.

Being sexually attracted to bald, fat Spader is as much as a kink as being attracted to thin, handsome Spader who fucked a scar in Rosanna Arquette's leg.

So it's basically the same thing.

He was memorable because he was a beautiful young man who did himself no favors. He never seemed to over-act - he just never tried to make his characters seem likable. They never seemed grotesque, however. And they had a sexual pliancy that suggested he was an amazing lay.

A female equivalent might be Kim Walker in Heathers, who also played a blonde WASP beauty with a vile temper. Walker was younger than Spader and unfortunately died before she could do much more, but I remember thinking there was something very similar about the approach.

i didn't find him icy at all in sl&v

James Spader got so swole for Supernova it’s like his body gave up soon after.

He and Angela Bassett made a beautiful and sensual couple together. Fun fact - their zero G sex scene was actually filmed by Robin Tunney and Peter Facinelli. Francis Ford Coppola was brought in to advise on the film and wanted to see the two leads getting it on instead of the younger B cast so he digitally inserted their heads and, um, blacked up Robin’s body.

Sex Lies and Videotape was the first time Spader played a sympathetic character (I didn’t see Tuff Turf). Sure he was a perve and a degenerate but his character was pure.

and his body was luscious