In case you hadn’t noticed, Jack O’Connell is about to go mega-star massive. His next film appearance will be in Angelina Jolie’s second film as director, Unbroken. This is the true story of Louis Zamperini, an Olympic athlete turned military man and plane crash survivor who then survived years of torture as a prisoner of war. Zamperini is an incredible man with an unbelievable life story and Jolie has plucked the relatively unknown (at least in the US) O’Connell to bring Zamperini to life in a film that is sure to gobble Oscar nominations in 2015.
I’ve had my eye on Jack O’Connell for a while now, even if
his career to date had been filled with an alarming amount of tough guy thugs. I
can’t say I noticed him or paid any particular attention to him way back in one
of my favourite films This is England but he is there and the performance is
notable as O’Connell’s Pukey isn’t his usual brand of wideboy. O’Connell’s
character has a particularly terrifying encounter with Stephen Graham’s
menacing racist Combo when O’Connell dares to challenge his beliefs.
O’Connell had many roles in British TV from The Bill through
Waterloo Road, Wire in the Blood and Skins but it was the double whammy of Eden
Lake and Harry Brown that cemented his status as a go-to-geezer for low-budget
British filmmakers. In both these films, but particularly Eden Lake he got to
play terrifyingly horrible little bastards; becoming incredibly memorable as
the kind of hooded monster that the media was always banging on about as the
use of the word ‘chav’ became acceptable in the tabloid press. Banging heads
with Michael Fassbender and Michael Caine, Jack O’Connell managed to easily hold
his own with these older and more experienced acting greats.
Eden Lake clip
O’Connell was then given bigger parts in the likes of little
known films such as Tower Block
and The Liability. They may
be small films but O’Connell’s swaggering performances were bigger and better
than the films he was in. Playing the hoodlum was a speciality and O’Connell
could have easily been stuck by typecasting positioning him as a loudmouth
loutish lad for life but then he was delivered a couple of really interesting
roles to start flexing his acting muscles with.
Tower Block Trailer
The Liability Trailer
While a small but notable role in 300: Rise of an Empire
allowed him to show off a six pack and likely take a tidy paycheque, it was his
performances in the excellent Starred
Up and '71 that should really have seen him become a massive star in
2014. As young convict Eric Love in Starred
Up , O’Connell got to face off with Ben Mendelsohn as his jailbird
father but also show a fascinating vulnerability beneath the bravado. Similarly,
in '71 his usual swagger was replaced by a limp as O’Connell’s soldier spends
most of the film injured, scared and running for his life from the IRA in
Belfast.
Starred Up Trailer
I’d recommend any of these films, particularly just to watch
O’Connell at work. His rise to the top has been filled with great performances
but Unbroken looks set to be the one that really puts him on the international
map. 2014 has already been an exceptional year for the star but it will be
crowned by the true life story of horror and hope that Jolie has in bringing to big screens on Boxing Day. Don’t
be surprised if O’Connell is up for Best Actor in 2015 awards season. He’s
already earned it.
Unbroken Trailer
Still here? What is your favourite performance from Jack O'Connell?
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