Without giving it too much thought, think of 5 movies you really loved growing up and still enjoy; one of those flicks that people of all ages can enjoy. Chances are you just thought of a movie in which Christopher Lloyd had a role. Yes Christopher Lloyd, aka Doctor Emmett Brown. You all remember him; he burst on the scene in the mid 80’s to dominate family movies for almost a decade, only to vanish off the face of the Earth. He found a unique niche entertaining the masses as a string of characters that were half endearing and half creepy. Starting with my personal favorite movie of all-time, Back to the Future in 1985, Lloyd went on a streak of home-run movies like Back to the Future II and III, Clue, Eight Men Out, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Suburban Commando, Addams Family and Addams Family Values, Angels in the Outfield, Camp Nowhere and Dennis the Menace. That’s a pretty serious list of movies I just rattled off right there, all of which Lloyd had a significant role in.
If you’ve seen one of those, you’ve probably seen them all. Sure you can question the quality of films like Suburban Commando and Camp Nowhere, but when I was 8 I wasn’t focused on character development or plot twists, I was too busy laughing at the weird looking old guy who made strange voices and played Doc Brown. And Christopher Lloyd always delivered. Whether it was physical humor or creepy old-guy behavior, no one did it better than Christopher Lloyd. But like all shooting-stars, Lloyd streaked across our sky only to be gone before we could thoroughly appreciate him. He simply burned too bright. That’s a Hall of Fame streak of movies right there, and I would be hard pressed to find an actor whose face and characters register with more people my age than Lloyd. Doc Brown and Uncle Fester are classic characters we all know; and the end scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit scared the shit out of every kid that watched it. It’s ok to admit it, I can.
So my question is, what the hell happened to you Christopher Lloyd? I’m pretty sure you were in every movie I saw from age 5-10, how did you just all of a sudden disappear from the film industry? Did you piss someone off? Did you take an extended leave of absence? Did an entire generation of young fans simply move on? You fall in that actors’ purgatory between one hit wonder and full blown star. You’re like a real life Alf; your stay at the top ended faster than it began. It’s just a little depressing that someone who played such a large part in my formative years is basically a non-factor nowadays. It would be like if Pearl Jam disappeared after Ten or if Don Mattingly was still playing minor league baseball somewhere, just trying to pay the bills. Seriously though, what the hell happened?
But I guess there are only so many crazy old professor type roles to be played, and as father time caught up with Chris, he started to lose his grasp on that typecast. According to his IMDB page, it looks like Lloyd has still had steady work as small guest parts in television shows and straight to video movies, including a large role on the Pamela Anderson show “Stacked” which lasted all of 20 episodes. That’s too bad; you would think Pamela Anderson’s tits and Christopher Lloyd’s character actor skills would be an unbeatable combo. But I guess cause it was on FOX, Pam had to keep her clothes on. And no one wants to see Pam JUST act.
It also looks like Lloyd has returned to the stage, doing some theatre work. Yeah, I suppose doing theatre is “getting back to your acting roots” and really emphasizes the art of being a thespian, but people only do theatre when they can’t get movie work anymore, regardless of how they try to defend it. There’s a reason movie stars own villas in St. Bart’s and Broadway actors wait tables in their spare time But despite his return to the stage, Lloyd managed to resurface in a Funny or Die web-video:
I’m honestly shocked that Lloyd even knows what the internet is, but I’m glad to see he can still captivate an audience playing an ambiguously creepy dude. But anyway, here’s to hoping you make a comeback Mr. Lloyd; character actors are sorely lacking nowadays. Maybe I watched too many movies as a kid, maybe I’m too obsessed with the Back to the Future trilogy, or maybe my parents didn’t hug me enough; I’m not sure where you fit into my subconscious Christopher Lloyd. All I know is that I miss you. We all do.
So my question is, what the hell happened to you Christopher Lloyd? I’m pretty sure you were in every movie I saw from age 5-10, how did you just all of a sudden disappear from the film industry? Did you piss someone off? Did you take an extended leave of absence? Did an entire generation of young fans simply move on? You fall in that actors’ purgatory between one hit wonder and full blown star. You’re like a real life Alf; your stay at the top ended faster than it began. It’s just a little depressing that someone who played such a large part in my formative years is basically a non-factor nowadays. It would be like if Pearl Jam disappeared after Ten or if Don Mattingly was still playing minor league baseball somewhere, just trying to pay the bills. Seriously though, what the hell happened?
But I guess there are only so many crazy old professor type roles to be played, and as father time caught up with Chris, he started to lose his grasp on that typecast. According to his IMDB page, it looks like Lloyd has still had steady work as small guest parts in television shows and straight to video movies, including a large role on the Pamela Anderson show “Stacked” which lasted all of 20 episodes. That’s too bad; you would think Pamela Anderson’s tits and Christopher Lloyd’s character actor skills would be an unbeatable combo. But I guess cause it was on FOX, Pam had to keep her clothes on. And no one wants to see Pam JUST act.
It also looks like Lloyd has returned to the stage, doing some theatre work. Yeah, I suppose doing theatre is “getting back to your acting roots” and really emphasizes the art of being a thespian, but people only do theatre when they can’t get movie work anymore, regardless of how they try to defend it. There’s a reason movie stars own villas in St. Bart’s and Broadway actors wait tables in their spare time But despite his return to the stage, Lloyd managed to resurface in a Funny or Die web-video:
I’m honestly shocked that Lloyd even knows what the internet is, but I’m glad to see he can still captivate an audience playing an ambiguously creepy dude. But anyway, here’s to hoping you make a comeback Mr. Lloyd; character actors are sorely lacking nowadays. Maybe I watched too many movies as a kid, maybe I’m too obsessed with the Back to the Future trilogy, or maybe my parents didn’t hug me enough; I’m not sure where you fit into my subconscious Christopher Lloyd. All I know is that I miss you. We all do.
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