The striking crime thriller Animal Kingdom has been responsible for launching a range of Australian actors in Hollywood, from Jacki Weaver (who has since starred in Silver Linings Playbook, Stoker and Magic in the Moonlight) to Joel Edgerton (roles in Warrior, The Great Gatsby and Exodus: Gods and Kings followed).
But it’s been Ben Mendelsohn who’s had the greatest career boost, thanks to an uncomfortably creepy performance as unhinged criminal Pope. This week he takes on another strange character in Ryan Gosling’s ambitious directorial debut Lost River, and we’ve gone back through his career to find his greatest scenes.
Amy
Just to show that Mendelsohn hasn’t always played characters you’d be too scared to leave alone with your kids, he was left alone with one in this 1997 drama and actually proved to be rather helpful. He played the neighbour to a woman and her daughter, who has become mute and deaf after a family trauma. In this scene, he manages to get her to sing. Hollywood, allow him to not always be scary, please.
Animal Kingdom
In his previously mentioned breakout role, at least to international audiences, Mendelsohn was a picture of menace, quietly creating chaos wherever he went. While he delivers David Michôd’s sharp lines with relish, it’s this dialogue-free moment that had the greatest effect. He also manages to make Air Supply’s All Out of Love seem like the soundtrack to a horror movie.
Killing Them Softly
A more comic role followed in Andrew Dominik’s 2012 crime drama where he played a heroin-addicted, dog-stealing expat. This scene has him in a drug-addled haze as he reminisces and plots with friend Scoot McNairy, who he also starred with in last year’s tense submarine thriller Black Sea.
A Place Beyond the Pines
The origins of Mendelsohn’s role in Lost River can probably be traced back to Derek Cianfrance’s drama that had him share the screen with Gosling. The character was originally written as “a very malevolent ex-con, a dark, controlling, spidery puppetmaster”, according to Mendelsohn, but Cianfrance changed tack and made him more human. This highlight sees him explaining how to rob a bank.
Starred Up
He stayed within the criminal underbelly in 2014’s Starred Up, yet finally paid the price for his past and landed on the inside, with onscreen son Jack O’Connell. While many saw it as O’Connell’s chance to shine, Mendelsohn gave an equally impressive – and angry – performance.
And here, as an extra treat, is a glimpse of Ben Men in the flesh. Let us know your favourite moments of Mendelsohnia.
