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Posted Feb 7th 2010 at 4:23 am in Open Thread | 30381855 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fbighollywood.breitbart.com%2Fbighollywood%2F2010%2F02%2F07%2Fopen-happy-birthday-thread-james-spader%2FOpen+Happy+Birthday+Thread%3A+James+Spader2010-02-07+12%3A23%3A09Big+Hollywoodhttp%3A%2F%2Fbighollywood.breitbart.com%2F%3Fp%3D303818
Name this movie: An ace CIA operative, condemned as a rogue and now hunted by the Company, bashes and crashes his way through colorful foreign settings, pursued by heavily armed hit men, while back at Langley headquarters an inscrutable deputy director and one of his top lieutenants are arousing the...






55 Comments
I think James Spader is an excellent actor, even though his political opinions (at least those he expresses so forcefully in character) suck rocks. Happy birthday anyway.
[...] more here: Open Happy Birthday Thread: James Spader This entry is filed under America – Blogs, Big Hollywood. You can follow any responses to this [...]
This guy is always good.
He's short on good films in his career, though. Wall Street seems to be the high point.
He harasses people well. George on SEINFELD seeks an apology from him and merely gets mocked some more.
Oh, poor devil – he turns 50 today. Bummer.
Didn't know he was 50. He coulda shoulda been a bigger star. Don't know what happened.
I would love to see William Shatner try on one of Spader's sweaters.
I have always enjoyed watching him…even if the movie wasn't particularly good…he is usually worth the time out of your life. Happy Birthday James…you're 50 now….go ahead eat the cake.
I don't think he has to be bigger to be great. While the political bent of BL always annoyed me I never missed it. He and Shatner were outstanding.
Yeah, he should've been bigger. But, he always had a vaguely creepy vibe and the Cronenberg movie, Crash, might've done him in. Lousy box office + magnified creep quotient + lousy script choices = no star.
In other news….
Did the GOP learn the lesson of 2009 or will it become
A PARTY OF CRAYFISH?
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/a-par...
Peggy Noonan is such an annoying character with her dramatic gestures and self-congratulating attitude.
Just sayin'…
I enjoyed watching him and Shatner on Boston Legal. My biggest regret is that the BL producers didn't get Ricardo Montalban to guest star – he and Shatner could've had a scene where they converse via video chat a la Star Trek II when they only see each other on the viewscreens.
I remember years ago when I rented a film James Spader was in called Secretary (it was just okay, not great). I told a friend of mine, "It stars James Spader as some kind of sexual deviant… yeah, that doesn't really narrow it down."
BTW, I discovered last week that my assumption that the word "bummer" was coined back in the 60s was wrong. Turns out it goes back to just before the Civil War and has nothing to do with bad acid or rock concerts.
Come on, you can't tease us with that! What is the derivation of the word bummer?
bummers followed armies around during the civil war, picked thru rubble and destruction for sustanance, their progeny are still with us in all cities trying to find the army
he was handsome, then became bloated, as if he was on anti-psychotic medicine or something. Enjoyed him in "sex, lies and videotape"
He seems to have been the Sterling Hayden of his generation. Didn't really want the fame. Acted for the money when he needed it. He enjoys life beyond stardom. It was on the IMDB. Very illuminating.
Happy Birthday, James…you are and will always be my favorite actor! You are fabulous in David Mamet's RACE on Broadway….keep up the good work and enjoy this milestone birthday with Leslie and the little one.
He has lost a lot of the weight he gained on Boston Legal. Friends who saw him off and on around LA during the last few years and then in NYC in the play he is currently doing guess he has lost 30-40 pounds. He really is looking good.
Personal Quotes
"If I don't need the money, I don't work. I don't mind going to somebody and saying, 'Okay, this is how much money I need to pay my bills for the next six months. If you pay me that, I'll do the film'."
("Why did he accept the lead in 'Sex, Lies & Videotape'?"): "I took the film because I was interested in doing that part. Looking at work as stepping stones is something I don't have any time or energy for. It seems a shame to look at your work as some sort of means to an end, because the end is death, you know? The means is the flesh and blood, so you'd better enjoy it. F— the end."
"If I don't need the money, I don't work. I'm going to spend time with my family and friends, and I'm going to travel and read and listen to music and try to learn a little bit more about how to be a human being, as opposed to learning how to be somebody else."
"Studio people are afraid of 'Crash.' It makes a statement about whoever releases the film. Miramax took a lot of flak for releasing Kids. The same will happen for whoever releases 'Crash.'"
"I have my own artistic sensibilities and Crash complements them. It is a provocative, challenging, disturbing film made for adults. It's not a skeleton in the closet for me."
(His sadomasochistic scenes in the new movie "Secretary"): "I did something in that scene that I'd never done in a film before but that's been the case with so many of my movies."
"You just want to work. I like playing character roles and I do not mind being a real son-of-a-bitch, or embarrassing myself. But as you go along you begin to realize that the work has a criterion and as your choices get broader you start cutting out the things that are not worth the time. On the whole I have been lucky; I do not look back with a huge amount of distaste for the work I have done."
"Acting is a great way to make a living, especially when I consider what my alternatives were and probably still are. I mean, you are only making movies. It is a lot less pressure than being a surgeon; although it seemed like the only other thing that I was qualified for was manual labour."
"Sometimes with people their work is the most important thing to them, and sometimes the work enables you to do other things that are more important to you. I probably am closer to that."
"I've had a lazy career, sometimes one film a year, sometimes none. I'm walking around in the street and doing this other thing, living, that I'm much more interested in. I just do some acting on the side." – 2005
"I played cops and robbers and pirates and all the rest when I was a kid, but I didn't want to grow up and be an actor and play cops and robbers and pirates. I wanted to grow up and be that, be cops and robbers and pirates."
"I grew up a Red Sox fan. I grew up going to Fenway Park and the Museum of Fine Arts and the Science Museum and Symphony Hall and going to the Common, walking around. My whole family at different times lived and worked in Boston."
"You know, when you choose to make your living as an actor, it's all fine and good to look at it as some kind of artistic endeavor. At its best, it is that. But the fact is, most of the actors out there don't earn $3 million a picture and can't afford to take two years off between films and look for the right thing. Most of us are tradesmen. Acting for me, is a passion, but it's also a job, and I've always approached it as such. I have a certain manual-laborist view of acting. There's no shame in taking a film because you need some money. No shame in taking a film because you have always wanted to visit China. I was thinking about this last night as I was driving home. I started to go back through the different films I've done, and the television movies I've done and I started to think about why I chose them at that time. And I realized, every single film I've ever done I've taken because of the money. Every single one. I'm not ashamed to say that." – 1990.
"I had real trouble, actually, for a long time, getting people to hire me. My anxiety used to manifest itself in strange ways. I'd go in to read for some innocent, vulnerable character, and the feedback would be, 'Well, we met Jimmy…and he scared us.'" – 1990.
"I'm not eager at all to present my life out there for public consumption. I like to do one or two films a year and then do what is absolutely obligatory in terms of promoting them. My life outside of films is vital to me." – 1995.
"I didn't have a great knowledge of this genre. The only demand I was putting on the picture was that my paycheck came in and that I had fun making it. It seemed like it would be rather light-hearted. And it was. I'm not a big fan of films that take themselves seriously." – On doing Stargate.
"I drove a truck for a while for a meat packing plant. I shoveled manure at the Clarmont Riding Academy in New York. Mopped floors for a while. I uploaded railroad cars and trailers at a warehouse. I wasn't really qualified for anything else." – On his menial jobs before acting.
Read it all here-
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000652/bio
Love Spader as an actor but it leaves a bad taste iin my mouth if someone in the entertainment field, especially if they do television who, like Spader, claims they won't even allow a television in their house.
I think one of James Spader's best performances was in a small movie from the 1990's called "The Music of Chance".
He has a TV, he says he doesn't watch very much except for National Geographic channel and The Food Network. From all indications he is a reader and his parents did not allow him or his sisters to watch very much TV, so he did not grow up being a TV viewer.
I worked at a theater when Spader's "Jack's Back" came out. It had more showings with no tickets sold than any other film I can remember.
That's "Dame Peggy" to you plebs, and yes, confidentiallly, she still experiences those naughty frissons whenever her special boy croons to her from his TelePrompTer.
OMG, don't get me started.
A gifted writer too taken with her own wonderfulness. And she relinquished her conservative principles for the new order.
(woops, ya almost got me started.)
I still haven't seen "Avatar."
Spader always good, especially as villain.
I was first turned on to Spader by Roger and Ebert lauding this 'unknown' actor. They showed clips of him in 'Wall Street', 'Pretty in Pink', and 'Baby Boom' – marveling at how good he was. Personally, I kept looking at him – he was so drop dead gorgeous. Right after R&E, Spader exploded in 'Sex, Lies and Videotape'. Clearly his lack of stardom wasn't lack of acting chops – imho, it's because he didn't give a shit. He only acted when he needed the money.
And yeah, he was a beached whale in 'Boston Legal'. (That short dark hair instead of those blond gorgeous locks didn't do him any good either.) I took one look and asked myself, 'where did Spader disappear to and who's this land Orca in his place?'.
I liked him in Stargate as the prototypical Daniel Jackson.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000652/bio
Read all about him.
Oh noes!
First, the hand. Now…
PALIN HAD OTHER CRIB-NOTES WRITTEN ON HER BODY!
http://naturalfake.wordpress.com/2010/02/07/palin...
Check out Spader in the 1990 thriller "Bad Influence," with Rob Lowe as the heavy, and Christian Clemenson as Spader's neurotic brother. See if you can spot the Dodge Dart (as a getaway car!?) An underrated classic, with an L.A. backdrop and great writing by David Koepp.
That's OK. At least she is forthcoming about her academic history and speechmaking props, as opposed to "some charismatic guy with a teleprompter."
Loved her speech to the Tea Party convention.
She may not have as many of the horses right now as I would like her to have to be Prez, but she sure as hell has a lot more than the current one.
And, I love how crazy she makes the uber-lefties. Watching them react to her is soooo telling about their thought processes, standards, character, and so many other things.
It's like watching a pack of wolverines fight over road kill, except that the wolverines have standards, a legitimate reason for existing, and make sense in the overall scheme of nature.
It didnt take long for the ghouls on the left to start the Palin bashing. The Microscope is huge and wide. Wow notes in her hand. Why dont you asses examine Obowma and the sabatage he is doing to the nation, and quit giving this fake duphis a pass? Unbelievable!
I actually preferred the last season of The Practice to BL, mostly because Spader's character, Alan, was so much worse. They really reined in the character on BL. He was still great, and he and Shatner had fantastic chemistry, but I loved how dirty Alan was on TP. He'd bribe witnesses, extort people so they'd drop their cases, bring a hooker as a date to a client's wedding, impersonate somebody from the opposing client's business, etc. By that point, the show was really off the liberal deep end, so I'd end up muting it whenever one of the characters went off on a rant, but he was so sleazy, and he took such joy in being so, that he was absolutely a pleasure to watch.
Ahhh. Happy Birthday Mr. Spader.
I have to say that I am always disappointed when people talk about Spader, and never mention my personal favorite movie.
1984's Tuff Turf. It also starred Kim Richards (From the Witch Mountain Disney movies) and Robert Downey Jr. A simple premise. New kid in school falls for a gang leaders girl friend.
It wasn't ground breaking or anything, but just a fun movie to watch, which I did countless times as a teen ager.
I was pretty happy when my wife actually got it for me on DVD a few years ago.
Ahh good memories and good times.
Headlining two successful primetime tv series is pretty big, actually…most actors, regardless of talent, don't get anywhere near that level of success. It'll bankroll him for the rest of his life (syndication, etc.) and he can do theater or whatever else piques his interest.
I agree, he does have a slight creepy vibe and in my opinion he pulled a Shelly Long when he figured he was too good for SG1. . .
- Ahem, 11 years and four movies and two spin offs later he lands a sound gig on BL. Well, good for him, not sure if that was the smart move in the long run but whatever – to each their own.
I'm sure Shatner felt Star Trek was a dorky show way beneath him at the time but he stuck it out and in the long run it greased a lot of things that never seemed to happen for Spader.
I second that. It was a brilliant performance..overlooked by most everyone, including the critics.
js is cool but kinda scary, but scary in a good way. he seems very daring as an actor, not self-conscious. i would guess that's the most difficult thing about pro acting. happy bday lil bro! our moms were preg at the same time but at different periods of gestation.
No mention of Secretary? Yowser! Yes, he's a weird one, and bet he lives in a much nicer house than anyone lamenting his truncated career.
While the MSM and HuffPo are feverishly "fact checking" the writing on Sarah's hand, they might want to hop on over to YouTube to "check out" some of Nanski Peloski's crazy hand jive! It's killer!
And, she uses it every time she speaks! Amazing sight.
There's an image I won't be able to erase from my brain for a while. :>P
I love the scene where he goes in and corrects the translation of the top government people. Fun movie and a good job as Daniel/Pock.
Tell me about it. guess I'm not spending any money on lunch today.
BOOYAH! I was wondering if anyone would bring up Tuff Turf. Yes, nothing ground breaking or overall fantastic but it was a fun and entertaining movie and one of my favorites. And yeah I still have that unrequitted love thing for Kim Richards to this day.
Close – a Bummer was actually part of the army:
"Bummer – malingerer, someone who deliberately lags behind to forage or steal on his own shrift"
A bummer was also a cap. It's similar to the traditional soldiers kepi, but taller. It was called a bummer because the crown was taller than most hats so foodstuffs could be stashed inside. (It was quite a hated cap so normally the soldiers that were issued one would leave it in their pack and march bare headed)
He's never really impressed me.
It is a great, great honor to nearly share a birthday with James Sprader. One of my all-time favorites no matter whose political ox he is goring.
I really liked "Tuff Turf" even though that may be the worst movie name, ever. It had Spader, a young Robert Downey Jr. and of course Kim Richards who never looked better. There was even a Jim Carroll cameo where he briefly spoke and then performed "It's Too Late" and "People Who Died." If this movie would have had better marketing it might have been a big hit.
Yes, he does own a TV. When did he ever say he didn't allow TV in his house? As a child, I know he didn't get to watch much TV but his parents owned a TV.
Please don't dis someone without knowing the truth.
Personally, I think most people give him near enough credit, if any. Spader is truly one of the best actors I've seen. Plus, he is a beautiful man both inside and out.
People can be very mean with their comments on his weight gain. Comparisons with his look of 20 years ago are not fair. So he gained weight? Don't a lot of us over the years? Besides, I've met him in person and he has slimmed down a lot! Spader has gorgeous skin, and a gorgeous smile. James is great to his fans and deserves respect. He is wonderful!
James Spader was never in SG1. He was in the movie Stargate. You are mixing him up with Michael Shanks. He played Spader's character in SG1.
Spader doesn't go for the typical "smart" moves because he just wants to have fun while making a living. He isn't out to please anyone. It was never his goal to be a super star. He doesn't care about that. I know this from reading and listening to his interviews.
Sorry, I meant to say they DON'T give him near enough credit, if any.
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