He always seems to play sadistic characters. He used to be so hot
Why is James Spader always a villain?
by Anonymous | reply 49 | November 30, 2019 11:19 PM |
Loved him in "Dream Lover" with Madchen Amick, who was especially love at the time, as well.
by Anonymous | reply 1 | July 27, 2014 5:39 PM |
Because he's not young and hot anymore, OP.
by Anonymous | reply 2 | July 27, 2014 7:13 PM |
Because he has unusual expressions and delivery of lines.
by Anonymous | reply 3 | July 27, 2014 7:33 PM |
His character on Boston legal was not exactly a villain.
by Anonymous | reply 4 | July 27, 2014 9:33 PM |
Who wants a fiftysomething fat guy as the romantic lead?
by Anonymous | reply 5 | July 27, 2014 9:35 PM |
In all the teen movies he was in he was a bad guy. So hot.
by Anonymous | reply 6 | July 28, 2014 6:16 AM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 7 | July 28, 2014 6:51 AM |
Take it from someone who knows: Spader is simply playing himself.
by Anonymous | reply 8 | July 28, 2014 12:25 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 9 | July 28, 2014 2:08 PM |
Can't stand him. Ham, ham, ham.
by Anonymous | reply 10 | July 28, 2014 2:34 PM |
God damn it, the only things with Spader currently available on Netflix are Supernova and "Pretty in Pink". WTF is this bullshit??
by Anonymous | reply 11 | July 28, 2014 2:41 PM |
He was at his hottest in less than zero
by Anonymous | reply 12 | July 28, 2014 5:46 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 13 | July 28, 2014 6:14 PM |
Details please, r8.
by Anonymous | reply 14 | July 28, 2014 6:22 PM |
Quite hot in Stargate.
by Anonymous | reply 15 | July 28, 2014 7:06 PM |
Smarminess.
That said, he was perfect in "sex, lies, and videotape."
by Anonymous | reply 16 | July 28, 2014 7:11 PM |
He's the voice of the robot villain in Avengers. Ultron.
by Anonymous | reply 17 | July 28, 2014 7:11 PM |
[all posts by tedious, racist idiot removed.]
by Anonymous | reply 18 | July 28, 2014 7:12 PM |
He was great in Secretary and not so villainous.
by Anonymous | reply 19 | July 28, 2014 7:14 PM |
Have you seen him lately, OP?
by Anonymous | reply 21 | March 7, 2015 1:46 PM |
An actors plays the parts he's given.
by Anonymous | reply 22 | March 7, 2015 1:49 PM |
R20, I think that's from a movie he did with John Cusack called 'True Colors.'
by Anonymous | reply 23 | March 7, 2015 1:53 PM |
It was good
by Anonymous | reply 24 | March 7, 2015 1:54 PM |
Didn't keep his hair up.
Or his weight down.
Can actually ACT.
Got a snotty sort of countenance.
More???
by Anonymous | reply 25 | March 7, 2015 2:06 PM |
Oh, and likes to make $$$, like Anyone, especially with how competitive acting is. Duh.
by Anonymous | reply 26 | March 7, 2015 2:08 PM |
Thank you R23
by Anonymous | reply 27 | March 7, 2015 2:13 PM |
Why am I not watching The Blacklist just for Ryan?
by Anonymous | reply 28 | March 20, 2015 5:31 PM |
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"...
by Anonymous | reply 29 | March 20, 2015 6:14 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 30 | March 20, 2015 6:24 PM |
[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.
by Anonymous | reply 31 | March 20, 2015 6:29 PM |
Spill some tea , R31.
by Anonymous | reply 32 | March 20, 2015 6:47 PM |
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!
by Anonymous | reply 33 | March 20, 2015 6:51 PM |
Ugh, he hasn't been hot since 1995. That's 20 years of non-hotness. Case closed.
by Anonymous | reply 34 | March 20, 2015 6:57 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 35 | March 20, 2015 6:59 PM |
Physique du role
by Anonymous | reply 36 | March 20, 2015 7:54 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 37 | March 20, 2015 8:49 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 38 | March 20, 2015 8:53 PM |
Sex
by Anonymous | reply 40 | March 23, 2015 6:30 PM |
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..
by Anonymous | reply 41 | May 5, 2015 7:23 AM |
He's still Sexy James Spader. Expanded waistline and all. He still has the stare. Love him in everything.
by Anonymous | reply 42 | June 16, 2019 5:03 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 43 | June 17, 2019 1:43 AM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 44 | November 30, 2019 1:57 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 45 | November 30, 2019 2:33 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 47 | November 30, 2019 5:28 PM |
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.
by Anonymous | reply 48 | November 30, 2019 5:33 PM |
and his body was luscious
by Anonymous | reply 49 | November 30, 2019 11:19 PM |