The duality of John Lithgow’s most “dreadful” performance: “The best job I ever had”
There aren’t many actors who can be called universally beloved, but if he isn’t there already, John Lithgow can’t be too far away from the elite club that includes the likes of Keanu Reeves and Tom Hanks.
Of course, it would be remiss not to mention the backlash towards the star stepping into Richard Harris and Michael Gambon’s shoes as Albus Dumbledore in the upcoming Harry Potter reboot, but the negativity is directed more towards JK Rowling than any of the cast members who’ve signed on.
Still, it hasn’t robbed Lithgow of his deserved status as one of Hollywood’s most dependable and beloved veterans. Inarguably one of the finest character actors of his, or any other, generation, the versatile performer has been knocking out standout turns in a variety of genres across film, television, and theatre for 50 years.
He’s probably one of the best actors who’s never won an Academy Award, even if he’s only been nominated twice, and that was in consecutive years back in 1983 and 1984. Still, having six Primetime Emmys, two Golden Globes, a pair of Tonys, and an Olivier Award no doubt helps soften the blow of his trophy shelf lacking an Oscar.
If anyone needs a kindly father figure, a conniving criminal mastermind, a scene-stealing comedian, or a hammy scenery-chewer for their film, series, or play, then Lithgow has shown that he’s always willing to answer the call. His career’s sharpest double-edged sword came when he did the latter, with the star admitting he was “dreadful” in Renny Harlin’s Sylvester Stallone vehicle, Cliffhanger.
He’s doing himself a disservice, though, because he’s great in it. Sure, it wasn’t going to win him any awards, and his choices are nothing if not interesting, but his wildly over-the-top villain, Eric Qualen, questionable British accent and all, makes for a ludicrous counterpoint to Stallone’s Gabe Walker.
Lithgow may not be a fan of his work in the picture, but he’s evidently a huge fan of the experience. “I have to tell you, Cliffhanger was the best job I ever had,” he told GQ. “We were four months in Italy, and I maybe worked a fourth of the time. We were high up in the Dolomites and staying in a chalet on Cortina d’Ampezzo and then two months in Rome working at the Cinecita in a studio right next to where Fellini was making a commercial.”
Besides the memorable location, it sticks out because Lithgow called it his “only full-blown action film,” although anyone who’s seen Denzel Washington’s overlooked Ricochet might disagree. Plus, he was working with peak-era Stallone, who was “at the total top of the action film food chain” at the time. “It was as good as it gets,” Lithgow surmised, and he’s been chasing the same high to no avail ever since.
That’s the duality of acting in a nutshell: Lithgow is happy to cop to his perceived professional failings by way of a “dreadful” performance, but Cliffhanger as a whole remains the best job he’s ever had, and there have been a lot of them over the years.
