{"id":21940,"date":"2012-09-03T21:47:58","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T01:47:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/?p=21940"},"modified":"2012-09-03T21:47:58","modified_gmt":"2012-09-04T01:47:58","slug":"michael-clarke-duncan-54","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.filmbuffonline.com\/FBOLNewsreel\/wordpress\/2012\/09\/03\/michael-clarke-duncan-54\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Clarke Duncan, 54"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>When I first read The Green Mile <\/strong>in its original, monthly serialized form, I was struck by two thoughts. First, that it would make one hell of a movie. Second, that it would be unlikely to ever become one, because it would be nigh impossible to cast the character of John Coffey, the black 6′ 8″ hulking simpleton who was falsely accused of the rape an murder of two young white girls in the novel.<\/p>\n

Michael Clarke Duncan was three inches shorter than John Coffey, but other than that he was perfect for the role. He had been an actor for five years prior to landing the role, typically in small roles as bouncers (in\u00a0Married With Children, Bulworth <\/strong>and\u00a0A Night at the Roxbury<\/strong>) or guards of one sort or another (in\u00a0Back in Business, Living Single <\/strong>and The Players Club<\/strong>) in a number of films and TV shows. Arguably, his largest role prior to\u00a0The Green Mile\u00a0<\/strong>was as a member of Bruce Willis’ crew in\u00a0Armageddon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But his playing John Coffey was a thing that happens all too rarely in Hollywood–the absolutely ideal marriage of an actor and role. His physical appearance matched the fearsome and imposing figure Stephen King described in his novel, but \u00a0Duncan’s acting captured the nuanced characterization–the sweet innocence and simple nature–that King wrote into the character. It’s telling that in a film where awards season favorites such as Tom Hanks, David Morse, Patricia Clarkson, James Cromwell and Sam Rockwell gave bravura performances, Duncan was the only member of the cast to get a Oscar nomination (for Best Supporting Actor, which he lost to Michael Caine for Cider House Rules<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, while Hollywood has no shortage of roles that Duncan’s physical presence would be ideal for, few of these roles would play up to his acting talents. Regardless, he would fulfill his dream of becoming a working actor, typically in science-fiction and comic book genre films.<\/p>\n

He played Wilson Fisk, a.k.a. The Kingpin, in 2003’s\u00a0Daredevil<\/strong>, played Manute in 2005’s\u00a0Sin City<\/strong>, and voice the alien trainer\u00a0Kilowog<\/strong> in 2011’s\u00a0Green Lantern<\/strong>. In addition, he had pivotal roles in 2001’s\u00a0Planet of the Apes,\u00a0<\/strong>2002’s\u00a0The Scorpion\u00a0<\/strong>King<\/strong>, and 2009’s\u00a0Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Duncan would also appear in a number of comedies, notably 2000’s The Whole Nine Yards<\/strong>, 2006’s\u00a0Talladega Nights: The Legend of Ricky Bobby<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0School for Scoundrels<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>and 2009’s The Slammin’ Salmon<\/strong>. And his deep\u00a0baritone lent itself to voice overwork in animation\u00a0and numerous\u00a0video games.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oscar-nominated actor dies two-months after suffering a heart attack. <\/div>\n

[click for more]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[2789,5623,5620,5619,5626,2366,5630,172,5625,5621,5618,1146,1456,5624,938,682,3856,1485,1452,5629,1457,5622,5627,2274,5628,1222],"series":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-obituary-news","7":"tag-a-night-at-the-roxbury","8":"tag-armageddon","9":"tag-back-in-business","10":"tag-bulworth","11":"tag-cider-house-rules","12":"tag-daredevil","13":"tag-david-morse","14":"tag-green-lantern","15":"tag-james-cromwell","16":"tag-living-single","17":"tag-married-with-children","18":"tag-michael-caine","19":"tag-michael-clarke-duncan","20":"tag-patricia-clarkson","21":"tag-planet-of-the-apes","22":"tag-sam-rockwell","23":"tag-school-for-scoundrels","24":"tag-sin-city","25":"tag-street-fighter-the-legend-of-chun-li","26":"tag-talladega-nights-the-legend-of-ricky-bobby","27":"tag-the-green-mile","28":"tag-the-players-club","29":"tag-the-scorpion-king","30":"tag-the-slammin-salmon","31":"tag-the-whole-nine-yards","32":"tag-tom-hanks"},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t