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by Jox on 21 Mar 2024, 09:53
Moltisanti wrote:The great M. Emmet Walsh has passed.
Film critic Roger Ebert created the “Stanton-Walsh Rule,” which held that no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad, though he admitted it wasn’t an infallible rule.
by Moltisanti on 22 Mar 2024, 06:48
by Jox on 22 Mar 2024, 10:56
by Jox on 29 Mar 2024, 12:17
The recent passing of actor M. Emmet Walsh brought to mind one of my favorite production memories. I was in the middle of producing the DVD Edition of SUNDOWN: THE VAMPIRE IN RETREAT back in 2008 and I had already gotten contributions from several of the cast & crew, including the late, great director Anthony Hickox.
I had reached out to M. Emmet Walsh's management about an interview and held out little hope that it would happen. He didn't do a lot of interviews anyway, and SUNDOWN wasn't exactly a high-profile entry from his career. And yet, that ended up being the main reason he came back to me with an enthusiastic "Yes" a few days later. He apparently had really enjoyed making SUNDOWN and was happy that someone was finally paying attention to it after all those years in obscurity.
And, to my extreme delight, Mr. Walsh was in Detroit at that time on a movie project and I would be able to conduct the interview myself, with the invaluable help of my longtime DP/Producer Graeme Potts, who trekked down from Toronto to film the proceedings.
So, on June 29th 2008 we set up in a suite over at the Townsend Hotel in Birmingham, Michigan and awaited Mr. Walsh's arrival. He showed up early and was ready-to-go. He was exactly as I imagined he would be...a comfy curmudgeon who delighted in taking the piss out of people, while at the same time never slicing too deep with his cutting asides. It was almost as if he knew that people expected him to be that way, so why not lean into it?
He gave a very open and entertaining interview about his time on SUNDOWN, and I couldn't help but ask about nearly a dozen of his other films during the set-up and teardown of the camera and lights. He was a lovably cranky raconteur and certainly held nothing back in his feelings about any given project from his career. And yet I never felt any true anger or resentment flowing from him, even when some of the negative experiences from his past would invariably come up. He seemed to relish dishing his truth out to me and Graeme, but there was always a shrug and "whattaya gonna do" attitude about it all. I think he understood how fortunate a ride he had been having in the business, overall, and didn't feel the need to grouse too spectacularly about the few potholes and assholes he'd come across from time to time.
Walsh was one of those actors from whom I've always taken great delight, no matter what the overall movie or show was about. He elevated every part he got and brought true craft to his work. He was a character actor, yes, but he could hold his own against any movie star and grab an audience's attention with seeming ease, though i doubt it was ever that simple. He could play the iciest of souls such as The Detective from BLOOD SIMPLE to the lovably irascible Harv from CRITTERS with an honest well-worn authenticity. I don't recall ever seeing a false note from him in anything, and I doubt I could find one if I tried to, now.
During our brief time together, Walsh learned that Graeme was from Canada and seemed to take great pleasure and ribbing him about his homeland at every opportunity, whether it was jabs about the food, sports, you name it. During a brief break, Graeme mentioned to me that he thought, at first, Walsh was really being an asshole to him, but he quickly realized the nature of the beast, and saw that it was all in good fun. Graeme, very quickly, began to give back as good as he was getting which brought a wicked smile to Walsh's face at various times throughout the couple of hours we had with him.
Just before we parted ways, Walsh came over to us and handed us each a two-dollar bill (signed by him) and a silver penny. Apparently, this was something he did for people he met, or worked with, that he took a shine to. I don't know if anyone else out there can confirm being on the receiving end of these gifts, but I thought it was a really sweet and eccentric gesture that felt perfectly connected to Walsh's character.
That would be my only encounter with Walsh, but considering how it went down, I feel that it was more than enough. I was lucky to get the time I had, and I came away a richer person for it.
Shortly after the SUNDOWN project was completed, I took a screenshot from the interview and framed it along with that two-dollar bill and silver penny. It remains on my office wall to this day.
RIP Mr. Walsh. Thank you for your time, talent, and taking those Canucks down a peg or two. They were gettin' a little tall in the saddle, I agree.
by Jox on 21 Apr 2024, 18:28
by Jox on 30 Oct 2024, 01:32
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