(no subject)
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I'm gradually working my way through some of the stuff Sean Bean has been in, and two things strike me most of all:
1. How incredibly different he looks nowadays from how he did in his 30s and 40s. It's difficult even to see it's the same man.
2. How incredibly different he can make himself look in different roles, even within the same role when the character is in disguise.
I've watched him as Neil Byrne in Extremely Dangerous a couple of times, and accustomed as I was only to Sharpe when I started watching it, I had difficulty at first seeing Sean in Neil. I gradually got used to Neil/Sean, but Neil is on the run and disguises himself constantly. Sometimes we see him at the mirror finishing off the look, and sometimes it appears that all he's doing is pushing a few bits of hair around to give himself a completely different look.
He does the same in Legends, too, transforming himself from Martin Odum into Lincoln Dittmann with apparently nothing more than messing his hair and letting his jaw hang a little slack with a silly grin.
But the one that amazes me the most so far - it's in Extremely Dangerous but I won't say when, as it's a bit of a spoiler - is a particular disguise where you see him full face, no particular disguise, no sunglasses etc, and it Just. Does. Not. Look. Like. Him. Seriously, I've paused the video so many times and just stared at his face and I'm like "I know this is Sean Bean playing Neil Byrne, but I CANNOT SEE IT."
I mean that absolutely literally - if I'd seen that picture with no other information I'd have had no clue who it was, I wouldn't even have said he looked a bit familiar, because he doesn't.
Anyway, what brought this post on was that I'm currently watching Sharpe's Company. (I should perhaps explain that although I've read all the books many times, I've never been that much of a viewer rather than reader, and it's only running out of library books during lockdown that's made me suddenly think about watching the tv movies for the first time.)
So I'm enjoying watching 1990s Sean, pausing the video occasionally to marvel at his beauty when suddenly, for the first time, I caught just a tiny glimpse of 2020 Sean looking out of the screen. Quite weird.
What's even more weird is that as I'm watching (on Youtube), there are previews of various other suggested videos down the right, including one of Sean being interviewed for a "making of Sharpe" feature, where he looks more like David Bowie than Sean Bean, and one of Sean from his Waterloo documentary where at first he looks unrecognisable but once you stare a bit it becomes more clear that it really is him.
Anyways, the man was totally beautiful when he made Sharpe, and though he hasn't aged as well as, say, George Clooney, he has the most fascinating face and - apparently - conscious control over every single muscle in it.
I'm gradually working my way through some of the stuff Sean Bean has been in, and two things strike me most of all:
1. How incredibly different he looks nowadays from how he did in his 30s and 40s. It's difficult even to see it's the same man.
2. How incredibly different he can make himself look in different roles, even within the same role when the character is in disguise.
I've watched him as Neil Byrne in Extremely Dangerous a couple of times, and accustomed as I was only to Sharpe when I started watching it, I had difficulty at first seeing Sean in Neil. I gradually got used to Neil/Sean, but Neil is on the run and disguises himself constantly. Sometimes we see him at the mirror finishing off the look, and sometimes it appears that all he's doing is pushing a few bits of hair around to give himself a completely different look.
He does the same in Legends, too, transforming himself from Martin Odum into Lincoln Dittmann with apparently nothing more than messing his hair and letting his jaw hang a little slack with a silly grin.
But the one that amazes me the most so far - it's in Extremely Dangerous but I won't say when, as it's a bit of a spoiler - is a particular disguise where you see him full face, no particular disguise, no sunglasses etc, and it Just. Does. Not. Look. Like. Him. Seriously, I've paused the video so many times and just stared at his face and I'm like "I know this is Sean Bean playing Neil Byrne, but I CANNOT SEE IT."
I mean that absolutely literally - if I'd seen that picture with no other information I'd have had no clue who it was, I wouldn't even have said he looked a bit familiar, because he doesn't.
Anyway, what brought this post on was that I'm currently watching Sharpe's Company. (I should perhaps explain that although I've read all the books many times, I've never been that much of a viewer rather than reader, and it's only running out of library books during lockdown that's made me suddenly think about watching the tv movies for the first time.)
So I'm enjoying watching 1990s Sean, pausing the video occasionally to marvel at his beauty when suddenly, for the first time, I caught just a tiny glimpse of 2020 Sean looking out of the screen. Quite weird.
What's even more weird is that as I'm watching (on Youtube), there are previews of various other suggested videos down the right, including one of Sean being interviewed for a "making of Sharpe" feature, where he looks more like David Bowie than Sean Bean, and one of Sean from his Waterloo documentary where at first he looks unrecognisable but once you stare a bit it becomes more clear that it really is him.
Anyways, the man was totally beautiful when he made Sharpe, and though he hasn't aged as well as, say, George Clooney, he has the most fascinating face and - apparently - conscious control over every single muscle in it.