Alex on CM: "The Big Wheel" - SPOILER thread

[mwj01]

One thing he's got going for him as far as risk-taking with various roles is his chameleon quality...he's barely recognizable from one role to another.

[wpgrace]

One thing he's got going for him as far as risk-taking with various roles is his chameleon quality...he's barely recognizable from one role to another.

Very true... and one of the really impressive aspects of his acting...

On the other hand, I wonder if that has presented a challenge in getting his career going... a casual viewer might enjoy the role, but not put the actor together with another role they may have seen him in... I remember reading a post from somebody, months ago, that she had loved Alex in The Shield but was quite into ML before she realized that Mick and Kevin were the same actor...

[bluedahlia3]

I wonder what he will look like with JLo? I bet handsome as all get out. Not hard in his case. I hope they let him keep his hair long. Maybe this will be the GQ Alex? *blue goes off to find a fan...just dreaming about the screencaps from that.*

[Jade]

One thing he's got going for him as far as risk-taking with various roles is his chameleon quality...he's barely recognizable from one role to another.

Very true... and one of the really impressive aspects of his acting...

On the other hand, I wonder if that has presented a challenge in getting his career going... a casual viewer might enjoy the role, but not put the actor together with another role they may have seen him in... I remember reading a post from somebody, months ago, that she had loved Alex in The Shield but was quite into ML before she realized that Mick and Kevin were the same actor...

yeah he can really change is appearance not just the way he moves but also physically which is great.

I wonder what he will look like with JLo? I bet handsome as all get out. Not hard in his case. I hope they let him keep his hair long. Maybe this will be the GQ Alex? *blue goes off to find a fan...just dreaming about the screencaps from that.*

his hair were short a month ago right ? so i don't think they'll be long in the movie, which i don't mind i prefer him with short hair.

[vampout]

Thanks Jade for the screen caps!!! They are GREAT.

[Overdamoon]

I agree he can't stand looking at himself in the mirror. Why? Perhaps he subconciously recognizes or believes he's a monster and that by looking in the mirror, he'll be able to see that. My thoughts when he actually did look at himself and made those faces was that he was trying to see if his "outside veneer" was hiding the monster within. Sort of checking to see if he could continue the charade of "being human" and not the psychotic killer he knows himself to be. I keep drawing comparisions to killers like Ted Bundy. To the outside world, Bundy looked normal, an average guy. He disguised himself well. And we know from interviews that he would constantly look into mirrors. His explanation was that he was making sure the monster was not visible to the general public.

I think I've scared myself again...

After Vincent killed the boy's mother, he looked at the boy's eyes and saw some kind of reflection, could be of him. This could be the first time he saw his own reflection as a monster and woke up... Thus triggered the line "you helped me see."

The writer never explained the reason for the scene where Vincent lifted the black cover from his bathroom mirror to look at his tongue because he should've been traumatized looking into the mirror.

[jmc]

nayp... you are so right... He took a risk playing a serial killer just before he steps into the romantic lead with JLo... and he knocked it out of the ball park... he made folks care about Vincent...

D@man he is GOOD, isn't he????

But he doesn't play totally depraved characters.
In the Invisible, Marcus didn't strike me as real hard core even at the end, mostly he seemed to be for show. He's on parole and supposed to be a bad a$$ yet he can't control his barely above jail bait age girlfriend. To get back at her, he anonymously calls the cops on her.
When I saw Feed, I was most disturbed by the policeman who was a violent sadistic sod. Michael was a very damaged person but I had a hard time getting my mind around what his crime really was(other than his mother). He was manipulative, profited from the web site, failed to call for medical help, aided a suicide, abused a corpse but compared to the cop? I wanted to scrub the memory of that movie out of my head - ugh. Should have stuck with ogling the screencaps.
Vincent's a damaged soul too. Did either of his parents take care of him or even give a thought to his well-being? Or were they too busy with their own drama? The show was written so we didn't see him stabbing anyone in a frenzy - given his issues with cleanliness that seems too messy for him anyway - or get much of an attachment for the victims. They were kept pretty two-dimensional and unreal, even the realtor. My sympathies were all for Vincent. My cousin's son has OCD, more severe when he was younger, and those scenes really had the right feel to them. Vincent's quiet death was perfectly in character, too. His breakthrough was that he got to tell the boy what he meant to him and actually reach out his hand to another person.
For Simon and Alex this was a tour de force. They should be nominated for emmies.

[wpgrace]

nayp... you are so right... He took a risk playing a serial killer just before he steps into the romantic lead with JLo... and he knocked it out of the ball park... he made folks care about Vincent...

D@man he is GOOD, isn't he????

But he doesn't play totally depraved characters.
In the Invisible, Marcus didn't strike me as real hard core even at the end, mostly he seemed to be for show. He's on parole and supposed to be a bad a$$ yet he can't control his barely above jail bait age girlfriend. To get back at her, he anonymously calls the cops on her.
When I saw Feed, I was most disturbed by the policeman who was a violent sadistic sod. Michael was a very damaged person but I had a hard time getting my mind around what his crime really was(other than his mother). He was manipulative, profited from the web site, failed to call for medical help, aided a suicide, abused a corpse but compared to the cop? I wanted to scrub the memory of that movie out of my head - ugh. Should have stuck with ogling the screencaps.
Vincent's a damaged soul too. Did either of his parents take care of him or even give a thought to his well-being? Or were they too busy with their own drama? The show was written so we didn't see him stabbing anyone in a frenzy - given his issues with cleanliness that seems too messy for him anyway - or get much of an attachment for the victims. They were kept pretty two-dimensional and unreal, even the realtor. My sympathies were all for Vincent. My cousin's son has OCD, more severe when he was younger, and those scenes really had the right feel to them. Vincent's quiet death was perfectly in character, too. His breakthrough was that he got to tell the boy what he meant to him and actually reach out his hand to another person.
For Simon and Alex this was a tour de force. They should be nominated for emmies.

I agree with you about Marcus... he was tame for a thief and a thug...

Michael is very complicated, but I agree that the cop was way more sadistic.. witness the END of the movie...

And yeah, you may be right... he does seem to be drawn to flawed, damaged, but redeemable characters... he seems to have rarely played an out and out hero (Mick had his dark side AND dark history) or even just a plain guy--OF excepted. Even Kevin Hiatt had his flaws...

And I TOTALLY agree about the Emmy... that would be SO cool!

[willing freshie]

But he doesn't play totally depraved characters.
.

Alex has said he will only play characters that have some redeeming quality.

[MickLifeCrisis]

I thought the covered mirrored was so he didn't accidentally show himself in the videos he made.

That too. But except for Alice, he killed in the victims' homes and offices, not in his own home.

The video he sent to the police had Vincent at home... it showed him cutting his sandwich, washing his hands, and showed the mirror covered up. I assumed it was so the police wouldn't see his face. So I didn't understand the lifting the cover to look at himself making all those strange faces. Susie's Ted Bundy theory about looking for the monster on the outside was interesting, though. I'm not sure I understand what some of you have said about that he would not want to look at his face. That confuses me.

[MickLifeCrisis]

And let me bounce this out there. Simon Mirren and Alex had worked on a script for a new series, that got turned down, right? And Alex had said it was about a guy finding redemption. Since that script didn't get anywhere, do you think this episode might have been drawn from that? From the ideas Simon and Alex had come up with, and hence Simon wrote The Big Wheel with Alex in mind?

[jmc]

And let me bounce this out there. Simon Mirren and Alex had worked on a script for a new series, that got turned down, right? And Alex had said it was about a guy finding redemption. Since that script didn't get anywhere, do you think this episode might have been drawn from that? From the ideas Simon and Alex had come up with, and hence Simon wrote The Big Wheel with Alex in mind?

Makes sense. Too bad their other ideas weren't accepted - they obviously work well together.

But he doesn't play totally depraved characters.
.

Alex has said he will only play characters that have some redeeming quality.

But I thought he was supposed to be the cop in Feed? That guy's going straight to the devil.

[mwj01]

I thought the covered mirrored was so he didn't accidentally show himself in the videos he made.

That too. But except for Alice, he killed in the victims' homes and offices, not in his own home.

The video he sent to the police had Vincent at home... it showed him cutting his sandwich, washing his hands, and showed the mirror covered up. I assumed it was so the police wouldn't see his face. So I didn't understand the lifting the cover to look at himself making all those strange faces. Susie's Ted Bundy theory about looking for the monster on the outside was interesting, though. I'm not sure I understand what some of you have said about that he would not want to look at his face. That confuses me.

Oh good point! I have to go back and look, but was it the bathroom mirror? It could have been because he did put his killing glasses on in there. I was thinking whatever was visible in the tape he sent to the police was in a 'controlled' area where he was only letting them see what he wanted, like the time on the clock, his double-turn with the sandwich plate, etc. - and he'd edited out the rest. Hmmm...

We'll get this all figured out!

[wpgrace]

I thought the covered mirrored was so he didn't accidentally show himself in the videos he made.

That too. But except for Alice, he killed in the victims' homes and offices, not in his own home.

The video he sent to the police had Vincent at home... it showed him cutting his sandwich, washing his hands, and showed the mirror covered up. I assumed it was so the police wouldn't see his face. So I didn't understand the lifting the cover to look at himself making all those strange faces. Susie's Ted Bundy theory about looking for the monster on the outside was interesting, though. I'm not sure I understand what some of you have said about that he would not want to look at his face. That confuses me.

Oh good point! I have to go back and look, but was it the bathroom mirror? It could have been because he did put his killing glasses on in there. I was thinking whatever was visible in the tape he sent to the poilce was in a more controlled area where he was only letting them see what he wanted, like the time on the clock, his double-turn with the sandwich plate, etc. - and he'd edited out the rest. Hmmm...

We'll get this all figured out!

After how many viewings, Sis ???

[VAsusieQ18]

And let me bounce this out there. Simon Mirren and Alex had worked on a script for a new series, that got turned down, right? And Alex had said it was about a guy finding redemption. Since that script didn't get anywhere, do you think this episode might have been drawn from that? From the ideas Simon and Alex had come up with, and hence Simon wrote The Big Wheel with Alex in mind?

Interesting thought, MLC. And it definitely could be that some of the ideas they had for a series ended up as an episode on Criminal Minds. And remember, Alex himself said that "Dexter" was one of his favorite shows on TV. Dexter is a serial killer as well, but one that is supposedly looking for redemption by helping the cops "do away" with other killers.