2011 Black History Month: #24 Black Actor Performance
Forest Whitaker as "Burnham" in "Panic Room"
Apologies for missing the last couple of days boys and girls. Yours truly spent the weekend in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ... more to come on that in a couple of days. Moving onwards and upwards, here comes the latest installment in the 2011 Black History Month list.
You may want think back to my introductory post to locate the reason why Forest Whitaker is mentioned for this role as Burnham in Panic Room. At first glance the inclusion of this performance might not make much sense, but after reading the criteria I set forth, it certainly fits.
Forest Whitaker is an outstanding actor, has won an Academy Award for Best Actor, and is one of the best at his craft regardless of color. Having said that, I really haven't watched too many of his movies ... shame on me I know. So, when I put this list together I felt a need to include Whitaker and since I enjoyed Panic Room, here we are.
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When Panic Room's trailer was being shown I was pretty excited. It looked like a suspenseful thriller with a decent cast and had me convinced it was going to be a great movie. After leaving the movie theater I was a little disappointed. I was expecting a great film and was handed a decent one instead. My favorite scene of the entire movie might actually be the long shot inside the house because I always wondered how they could actually film that.
Burnham is the stereotypical criminal with a conscience. The plot of the film surrounds a group of guys breaking into a supposedly empty house to steal a large sum of money hidden in a safe room. The bad guys surprisingly find that the house is occupied, and the madness commences from there. Burnham is a security expert, who actually had a hand in designing the panic room where Jodie Foster and her daughter relocate. One things leads to another, but Burnham stays constant as the guy who doesn't want to hurt anyone, just wants to get the money and go. Burnham is supposed to be well-liked, and Whitaker does a solid job of keeping it that way throughout the film.
My good friend Devin Frank assured me if I had seen The Last King of Scotland, then Whitaker would have cracked the list for that Oscar-gaining performance, but alas, I did not see it before my self-imposed deadline. It should be noted that Whitaker's Panic Room portrayal of Burnham was nominated for a Black Reel Award for Best Supporting Actor. Whitaker and Denzel Washington both lost out that year (2003) to Dennis Haysbert. Go figure.
Memorable Quotes
"I spent the last 12 years of my life building rooms like this specifically to keep out people like us." - Burnham
"This is what I do; if some idiot with a sledgehammer could break in do you really think I'd still have a job?" - Burnham
"Hey I told you, I don't hurt people." - Burnham
Hint for #23: This actor played the same role not once, not twice, not even three times, but on four different occasions, along with the same white guy.
Until next time, "read it, roll it, hole it."
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