The death of William Hurt has meant goodbye to one of the great faces of adult cinema of the eighties, although his career has been full of great roles until the end. Without going any further, just a year ago we could see him play Thunderbolt Ross for the last time in ‘Black Widow’. As a sample of his multifaceted filmography, we compile seven great roles that are very different from each other (tender men, evil, controlling, cornered…) with which to honor him from home.
‘The Kiss of the Spider Woman’ (‘O Beijo da Mulher Aranha’)
Maybe his most brilliant role and without a doubt one of the most difficult to forget. Of course, that’s what the Hollywood Academy and the Cannes Film Festival thought, which in 1985 gave him the Oscar and the award for best actor respectively. In this US-Brazil co-production, Hurt plays a gay man incarcerated in a South American prison. There he befriends his cellmate, a political prisoner, while dreaming of becoming one of the female stars of classic cinema that he is so passionate about.
Available in Filmin.
‘A history of violence’ (‘A History of Violence’)
Proof that we are dealing with an interpreter who needed very little to attract attention. Hurt barely appears in the final minutes of this crime drama directed by David Cronenbergbut it impresses so much that it was enough to grant him his fourth and final Oscar nomination. A terrifying monologue and a Machiavellian smile are enough for him to build an imposing villain who disturbs Viggo Mortensen himself.
Available on Movistar Plus+.
‘Reunion’ (‘The Big Chill’)
It’s not easy to stand out in a cast that includes stars like Glenn Close and steal scenes like Kevin Klin or Jeff Goldblum. But Hurt, with his usual charisma, pulls it off. ‘Reencuentro’ narrates the reunion of a group of former university classmates after the death of a gang member. A very eighties choral dramaand not only because of the presence of a group of actors who were everything in this decade, but also because of its setting: the threat of the Cold War is very important in the story.
Available in Filmin.
‘Children of a Lesser God’
A film that is doubly topical. In addition to the sad death of Hurt, the come back from Marlee Matlin thanks to ‘CODA. The sounds of the silence’. Matlin became the first deaf actress and the youngest to win an Oscar. The interpretations of both are essential to show the raw passion of the problematic relationship between the employee of a school for the deaf and one of the teachers.
Available for rent on Rakuten TV.
‘Alice’
The peak of William Hurt’s career coincided with the heyday of Woody Allen, so their paths seemed destined to cross. It happened in 1990, although ‘Alice’ did not exactly end up being the most popular film of any of them. However, it is a charming comedy with touches of fantasy starring mia farrow in the skin of a housewife as well off as she is jaded. Hurt plays her husband, a gray man who belittles her and whom her wife leaves behind when she finds another love.
Available in Filmin.
‘Into the Wild’ (‘Into the Wild’)
Despite his talent, William Hurt knew that certain roles required a lower profile in which he would subservient to the main character’s story or motivations. In ‘Towards Wild Routes’ all the protagonism is for the idealistic adventurer played by Emile Hirsch. However, the interpretations of Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden giving life to their parents are essential to transmit an external vision: the fear and misunderstanding that arise when someone you love abandons your life to step into the unknown.
Available on Netflix.
‘Bad news’ (‘Too Big to Fail’)
Like many other great actors, Hurt was seen on television after succeeding in the movies. It was on the small screen that he starred one of his last great roles. In this TV movie originally broadcast on HBO, he plays Henry Paulson, none other than the Secretary of the Treasury of the US government when the 2008 crisis. Curtis Hanson, director of ‘L.A. Confidential’had the audacity to address the Wall Street crash and the White House’s handling of it in 2011, just three years after it happened.
Available on HBO MAX.