First and foremost, if you’ve not checked out any of my previous Six Degrees posts, i’d urge you to do so. The basic premise of the game has been explained before but to quickly sum up, I take two actors and try to link them through film and TV appearances. It’s basically Six Degrees Of Kevin Bacon, but without Kevin Bacon. Except for the times when it includes Kevin Bacon. Moving on…
Six Degrees finally returns and this edition is brought to you by…me! Usually I reach out to folk to inspire these brain dumps but this is solely fueled by my need to return to some form of creative outlet and my crippling insomnia.
I know there are some who’re less enamoured with Marvel these days, citing the glut of Disney+ shows and a general decline in quality for the superhero fatigue so many suffer with. Me? I’m all in on Marvel. I’ve loved everything they’ve put out there and I am figuratively foaming at the mouth for Avengers: Doomsday. In fact, my excitement for that movie is what fuelled this latest dredging of the depths of my brain to link Doom…to Doom.
Let’s begin with my first glimpse of one of Marvel’s all-time greatest antagonists on the silver screen, brilliantly portrayed by the sadly departed Julian McMahon.
In 2025, Julian McMahon was taken from us following a battle with cancer. First and foremost, fuck cancer.(1)
I had a lot of love for this actor’s work from his time on Charmed and when I heard that we were finally going to see the Fantastic Four in cinema, that Doom would stride on to the silver screen, I was ridiculously thrilled. The Fantastic Four have had an incredible run in the comics and Doom is party to some of my all timefavourite moments in comic book history. Have you seen him facing off with Dracula? On the moon? It gives me the happy brain tingles.
Ok, let’s just get it out there. The Fantastic Four movies from 2005 and 2007 were, let’s generously say, imperfect. They’re tons of fun, there’s lots I enjoy about them and I genuinely think Julian McMahon gave a sterling performance as Latveria’s all-powerful ruler but the movies weren’t quite all they could have been. Now, that said, I have said time and time again that there’s nothing wrong with watching something that’s just…fine. Enjoyable. An hour and a half of popcorn munching and a few yucks is fine by me, so i’m not judging them harshly, but I will freely admit that I wanted more for Marvel’s first family.
Nevertheless, Mr McMahon did a grand job alongside Chris Evans as Human Torch, who would go on to star as Captain Americ-not a chance. That would be way too easy. So, who’s the pick from Fantastic Four? Well, we need to look to the sequel and one of Marvel’s most awesome characters…The Silver Surfer.
You’ll recognise the voice immediately, the gravelly tones of Lawrence Fishburne are unmistakeable, but I want to talk about the guy who actually played the envoy of Galactus, the incredible Doug Jones.
This guy is in EVERYTHING but in several roles you don’t get to hear him speak, which is a sin because the man has serious acting chops. Ridiculously funny as Baron Afanas in What We Do In The Shadows, a heart wrenching turn as Amphibian Man in The Shape Of Water, terrifying in Pan’s Labyrinth, Doug Jones is a true Hollywood treasure and for my next link we’re going back to comic books and arguably one of his most iconic roles. Abe Sapien.
In Hellboy, Abe is voiced by David Hyde Pierce while Doug Jones suffers the countless hours in makeup to deliver a stunning physical performance as Hellboy’s aquatic brother-in-arms(2) but in Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Jones takes over the voice work as well and does an amazing job.
Now, there’s the obvious link to Ron Perlman‘s incredible work as Hellboy and then on through Blade II to Deadpool & Wolverine and…you get the bit. That would, however, mean missing an opportunity to make a link through my favourite film of all time.
Selma Blair does a fantastic job as Liz Sherman alongside Perlman and Jones (sounds like a detective agency) and also stars as the unfortunate victim of the sadistic games played by two duelling step-siblings in Cruel Intentions.
This is my favourite film of all time. Hands down. Based on the 18th century novel by Choderlos De Laclos, Les Liasons Dangereuse, this modern day retelling of the semi-incestuous sexual tension between the irredeemable Kathryn Merteuil and her equally wicked step-brother Sebastian absolutely entranced me when I first watched it. I rented it on VHS, watched it, rewound it, watched it again and went to school the next day to tell everyone I could find that they needed to watch it too.
I adore it. I love every twisted moment. I would be surprised if i’d seen it less than a hundred times. Sarah Michelle Gellar is brilliantly loathable as Kathryn and Ryan Phillipe is equally detestable as Sebastian, right up until he isn’t and then you love him and hate her more. It’s beautiful. It also stars one of my other favourite actresses of all time, Christine Baranski.
I have loved this woman in everything i’ve ever seen her in. Hilarious in Cybill, heartwarming in The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, an absolute bitch in Cruel Intentions, Baranski can do it all. I’ve even loved her in films that i’ve outright loathed. Which brings me to my next link.
I know a lot of people love it. I know the music it’s based on is good. I know this is probably going to attract some ire but…I absolutely detest Mamma Mia. Sorry folks, I can’t like everything!
It’s not just Mamma Mia, to be fair. I kind of hate jukebox musicals in general. You take the discography of a well known band or singer and then loosely throw a story around it to justify including those hit songs. Ok, sure. On stage, I can see that working and i’m willing to accept that Mamma Mia on Broadway is probably something i’d manage to enjoy at least a little, but when they come to film I just find it all cringeworthy.
That said, Baranski nailed Does Your Momma Know in that movie. I’ve watched Mamma Mia once and don’t particularly want to again but i’ve watched her scene on Youtube a bunch and it’s always a good time. That woman can do no wrong.
What I DON’T hate about Mamma Mia is the cast. There are some truly fantastic talents there. Meryl Streep, of course, Colin Firth, Pierce Brosnan and the man who’ll be my final leap forward to RDJ himself, Stellan Skarsgård.
He is one hell of an actor and I adored him in every single scene during his Marvel Cinematic Universe run as Professor Erik Selvig and boom…we’ve reached our beloved Tony Stark (it still hurts…), soon to be appearing in a cinema near you as the all-powerful Victor Von Doom! I cannot wait to see his portrayal of one of my all time favourite Marvel characters and am truly excited to see the direction they take with this movie. I’ll be in the cinema for that one, folks. Wonder if they’ll let me take my sofa in with me…
So there you have it. McMahon to Jones to Blair to Beranski to Skarsgaard to Downey. Made it in five.
(1) I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to shout out Mosh Against The Malignant. It’s an incredible mutual support group for those effected by cancer, who are members of alternative communities. Freaks and geeks, moshers and metalheads, all coming together to help each other. Started by some incredibly badass friends of mine, i’ve had the honour of helping them out a little. Go show them some love!
(2) You can’t tell me The Shape Of Water wasn’t born of countless “I wanna bone Abe” fan-fictions.
As always, thanks to IMDB for the actor and movie info linked in this article. Not that they know about it, but i’m sure they wouldn’t mind.
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