[CarylB]

I think Meat's a very good actor. Since he moved back to LA and has had more and better roles in different films he's shown the depth and breadth of his skill in a variety of characters he's played. The Lizard was an over-the-top role, and the bible quoting Red in Black Dog .. but his role in Outside Ozona wasn't .. nor in Everything That Rises, or his imo best role to date, Fred in Focus, and there was nothing "over-the-top" in the heavy but restrained menace of Sheriff Dogget .. nor the psychopath in Blacktop, where he entered as an affable and easy-going trucker and one watched his character unravel.

To me each role is played to show the character he wants to bring to the screen .. from Wishcraft to Learning Curves .. Hole in One to Fight Club .. Crazy Love to Trapped .. and the storyteller in the Ballad of Lucy Whipple. And of course the passionate over-the-top on stage performer Meat Loaf, who bursts on stage to lift us to a different place :)

Imo Meat's "intensity" is what he applies to each and every role .. what we see on screen is the product of that, whether it is a quiet and thoughtful man, a larger than life villain, an unravelling psychopath, a menacing bigot abusing his power, or a guilty one who has to run with the crowd .. He has said he was asked to "overplay" the drug baron Lizard .. but to me he plays each role with thought and skill to bring a particular character alive, and in more recent years he's had quite a variety and has shown just how versatile he is. He has that ability that not all actors have to let you see what a character is thinking when it's at odds with what they are saying .. he's sound ..

Caryl