On Jeffrey Wright

Why is it about Jeffrey Wright that makes him so captivating? I honestly haven't even seen him in that many films, but through these characters and the many changes he makes in his voice and his appearance, each of them carries somewhere deep in their voice the same lyrical murmur of Jeffrey Wright... and I can't look away. The dreamlike quality of that voice sounding like it comes from somewhere beyond the world made him perfect in Angels in America as the phantasmal travel agent Mr. Lies, navigating Harper on her drug-induced escape to Antarctica (through the refridgerator), sitting on a snowbank in a fabulous parka and playing awistful oboe. I hear it too in some of the smaller and less mystical roles, using a handful of lines to turn Felix Leiter into this larger than life American able to arrest a charging James Bond with nothing but a firm hand on his arm and that voice, a character that implies that his mind is somewhere else, located above the petty evils and trivialities of those around him, in Casino Royale with an engaged bemusement and in Quantum of Solace with a disgusted detachment, unmoved by either $5m or a hail of bullets. And really the most memorable supporting characters in QoS are him and Gemma Arterton, who have like eight lines between them. (I have a thing for redheads with funny names covered in oil.)

What has me realizing this about Jeffrey Wright is one particular performance in Mike Nichols' film adaptation of Angels in America. I saw the second part of that play (Perestroika) on stage at the Kennedy Center over a decade ago, and while that play is a lot to take in, it's also the kind of work that will burn into your brain with absolute vivid detail. The biggest change by far was not Justin Kirk's bringing a strength and prophetic fire I didn't remember to his portrayal of Prior, or Al Pacino's less sarcastic and more deranged Roy Cohn, it was Jeffrey Wright whenever he appeared as Belize, glittery gay nurse and completely, totally unrecognizable as Jeffrey Wright except in rare moments where in silence he adopts the familiar pose, face turned down and eyes looking up with a mix of sadness and patience, looking like he dropped about ten years, fifty pounds, and a huge helping of masculinity to create Belize. And it's so unbelievably good.

So in short, I defy anyone to watch Angels and even take their eyes off of Wright whenever Belize is speaking.