In 1999, Tom Hanks starred in The Green Mile based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name. The narrative followed the journey of a death row prison guard during the Great Depression who witnesses supernatural events after the entry of a convict played by Michael Clarke Duncan.
The film also benefited from a disturbingly brilliant performance from Sam Rockwell who played the role of William ‘Wild Bill’ Wharton, one of the most difficult and uncontrollable prisoners in the facility. The Oscar winner’s unhinged portrayal of a challenging character was interestingly inspired from the iconic performance of Michael Keaton in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice.
Sam Rockwell Took Inspiration From Michael Keaton For This Memorable Role
Apart from excellent performances by Tom Hanks and Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile, Sam Rockwell who played William ‘Wild Bill’ Wharton in the film, was a standout among the ensemble. Playing a violent and mentally ill prisoner who indulges in racist verbal and physical assaults is no mean feat, and Rockwell immersed himself into the role to perfection.
Expectedly, a lot of research went into bringing this part physically and emotionally to life, and the Oscar winner revealed that he found inspiration in different places. One of the key references that was given to him was Michael Keaton’s portrayal of the strange bug-eating bio-exorcist Beetlejuice in Tim Burton’s cult 1988 film.
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In an interview with GQ, the Argylle actor also spoke about the other nuances of his character which included nailing the cultural aspects of the role. For this, the celebrity delved into the history of the Appalachians and learnt to speak the accent to perfection. All these pieces of research led to him becoming one with his character.
“[Wild Bill], aside from being a despicable person, was also very funny. He had a lot of funny dialogue. So, that was easy to do. And there was an Appalachian accent. My acting coach told me to watch clogging, which is kind of a hillbilly tap dancing. I watched ‘Beetlejuice’ for that [role], I
As far as the comparison with Beetlejuice goes, Rockwell and Keaton’s characters have a lot of similarities including yellowed teeth, a crude sense of humor, an affinity to swear at will, and the absolute lack of etiquette.
Sam Rockwell Proved That He Is The Perfect Co-Star For Henry Cavill
Versatility is Sam Rockwell’s middle name. The Jojo Rabbit actor has proved time and again that he can slip into any character seamlessly. In his most recent appearance, Rockwell starred in a nerdy avatar in Henry Cavill’s Argylle and ended up being the saving grace in an otherwise disappointing film.
Among the standout scenes in the movie, one of the sequences was an interesting action segment involving Cavill, Rockwell, and Bryce Dallas Howard on a moving train. The British actor’s titular protagonist who is actually a fictional hero in Howard’s character’s novel, is continuously seen by the author as her savior from spies in place of her actual protector played by the geeky Rockwell.
This required both Cavill and Rockwell to mimic each other’s moves to precision as each of these segments had to be shot in exactly the same manner and edited to create the scene. The DC alum and the Bad Guys star spent a lot of time and effort to mirror each other’s movements to perfection.
in an interview with Entertainment Weekly while promoting Argylle, Cavill revealed how he and Rockwell worked through these challenges and fed off each other’s strengths to produce a satisfying end product.
“Sam and I were watching each other and just trying to make sure that we had a similarity of movements. Certain movements worked better for him, so I would mimic those, and then different movements in other places worked better for me, so he would copy those. Fight scenes are tricky and complex, especially in a cramped space like that with lots of hard edges.”
Cavill was also grateful to be able to do an arduous fight scene with a competent co-star like Rockwell, instead of going through the rigors of the scene all alone.
The Green Mile can be rented on Apple TV.
