Re: Another actor sighting - \"The Shield\"
I got his name wrong - it is Gianin Loffler. And he doesn't seem to have done a
lot, which is really a shame. He's clearly a
good actor, but I suppose his looks are against him. Silly, really. Hollywood only seems to "outside the box" when there is some overwhelming reason to. If a plot point requires that a certain character be played by a black actor, or an asian, or someone with a handicap they'll go for a "matching" actor. (Although in the case of most handicaps they'll go with an established sighted, ambulatory or hearing actor if possible.) But they rarely seem to consider such actors for the myriad roles in every weekly show's season where the ethnic or other specifiics of a character
aren't important. The doctor who appears in one ER scene, the architect the detective consults for background information, the clerk at the store who recommends the present to the clueless lead in the romantic comedy can all be played by any actor of any race or gender, from a wheelchair or with a guide dog. It isn't malice, it is more laziness and comfort. A casting director who quickly needs to fill a dozen roles for his studio's TV series or movies will go with actors he's already familiar with who he knows will deliver and won't break the budget. It takes a concious effort to do something different or even be aware that you're in a rut - and the sausage making machinery makes it very hard
not to operate on auto-pilot. But it would be nice if more people made the effort and the Gianin Lofflers of the world got to play more than
obviously quirky characters and psychopaths, and instead got to play people more like
themselves - people who hold down jobs and pursue careers and pay mortgages, tell jokes and have lives like the rest of us. Why can't Loffler appear as a defense lawyer on an episode of
Law & Order where his appearance is never mentioned and he just busts Sam Watterson's stones for an hour?
Regards,
Joe
