The “ass-paralysingly” boring movies Matthew Macfadyen hates making: “You’re doing it for the money”
There’s nothing worse for a cinephile than catching the trailer for the latest superhero slop at the cinema and realising the most talented actor from some of your favourite films is making an appearance.
OK, maybe not ‘nothing worse’ – god forbid it’s your favourite director making the movie – but it’s up there. Look, we know that this is still a business, and yes, actors need to make money. So sometimes, in the case of someone like Willem Dafoe, you can forgive them as long as they continue to make some really good movies alongside the big-budget blockbusters.
But while it seems like every actor and their mum is vying to star in the next superhero flick for the sake of their bank accounts, we thankfully will always have actors who will avoid them like the plague. And Matthew Macfadyen is one of them. OK, it’s not as though Macfadyen is gonna be the next Superman or Batman or something, but given his squirming villainy as Tom Wambsgans in Succession, he’d be perfectly placed as a super-villain.
But the fame and money that come with this kind of film aren’t enough to make Macfadyen take part. He simply hates making them. “I’ve done one big film like that, and it was a green-screen thing,” he told Vanity Fair. “It’s ass-paralyzingly boring, just acting to tennis balls and dots on the screen. You’re doing it for the money.”
Way back before he snivelled his way into our hearts as Wambsgans, his career best performance to date, he dabbled in a few blockbuster-type films as he was seemingly trying to find his footing. Presumably, the “ass-paralyzingly boring” role in question was his 2011 turn in the forgettable The Three Musketeers.
While it’s not a traditional comic book superhero film, it is heavy on the swashbuckling CGI, including what looks to be a rendering of the entirety of Paris. Given the quality of CGI back in the day and the film’s terrible retelling of Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale, it was a truly awful film. Although Macfadyen carried the movie with his classic, reliable British acting skills, it’s no surprise that it dampened his expectations of that kind of film.
However, despite his disregard for this kind of thing, a mere ten months after his criticisms, he actually did go on to appear in the main offender of this kind of cinema: a Marvel film. Yes, despite his aversions to tennis balls and dots on screens, he joined the cast of Deadpool & Wolverine.
Of course, it was a villain, but only the secondary Mr Paradox, yet another pencil-pushing, minion-wrangler. While it’s annoying to see such a talented actor backslide on his very apt criticisms, it’s understandable given the sheer amount of money Disney throws around for these things. Especially considering the actor hasn’t quite seemed to land on his niche after emerging from Succession.
But the jury is still out on whether or not this reneging can be forgiven. Since Deadpool & Wolverine, Macfadyen has only starred in two projects. The twisty, yet disappointing thriller, Holland and the well-received Netflix mini-series, Death By Lightning. So we’re currently one for one.
