So I remember an interview with Ricardo Montablan that he wasn't going to reprise Khan at first because when he practiced the role he thought he just sounded like a sci-fi version of his character, Mr. Rourke, on the show and the audience wouldn't take him seriously and would just laugh at him. Keep in mind Fantasy Island was one of the most popular shows at the time TWOK came out.
I was familiar with the show and his character from my youth but hadn't actually watched an episode in decades.
Well recently one of the 5,000 channels I seem to get started running episodes of Fantasy Island. And I can totally understand now why Montablan was so worried.
I knew the general character he played, but didn't realize the specifics of him. Of course he wore the pristine white suit and was immacuately quaffed, but I didn't fully remember his character's personality. He really was the polar opposite of Khan, he was always in control, spoke very calmly and evenly all the time. He never got really emotional whether it be a good or a bad reason and he was very logical and methodical in how he handled things. In fact his character was actually very similar to Spock in his actions and thoughts.
Yet now he has to play this obsessed Moby Dick quoting madman who has almost no control over his emotions and goes bezerk at times. Even in Space Seed he didn't act like this, he was much more like Mr. Rourke than what Khan became. Yeah I think if he'd been a weak actor he might have been unable to breakout of the role he was known for and convince people he was this totally different character and not Ricardo Montablan pretending to be a madman when we knew what he was really like as a character.
So he said he practiced a lot and of course he pulled it off brilliantly to where when people saw TWOK they were "Man Khan was a crazy badass" and not just "Well seeing Mr. Rourke act crazy was amusing."
I often roll my eyes at method actors or actors who have to really research and become their role as just self indulgent over importance on what they do, because it is just pretending to be someone else after all and many great actors can do it without having to "become" the person.
It is impressive though when you see a really good actor be able to pull off such diametrically opposite roles, and be able to do it when both characters are popular at the same time.
Well done Ricardo.
I was familiar with the show and his character from my youth but hadn't actually watched an episode in decades.
Well recently one of the 5,000 channels I seem to get started running episodes of Fantasy Island. And I can totally understand now why Montablan was so worried.
I knew the general character he played, but didn't realize the specifics of him. Of course he wore the pristine white suit and was immacuately quaffed, but I didn't fully remember his character's personality. He really was the polar opposite of Khan, he was always in control, spoke very calmly and evenly all the time. He never got really emotional whether it be a good or a bad reason and he was very logical and methodical in how he handled things. In fact his character was actually very similar to Spock in his actions and thoughts.
Yet now he has to play this obsessed Moby Dick quoting madman who has almost no control over his emotions and goes bezerk at times. Even in Space Seed he didn't act like this, he was much more like Mr. Rourke than what Khan became. Yeah I think if he'd been a weak actor he might have been unable to breakout of the role he was known for and convince people he was this totally different character and not Ricardo Montablan pretending to be a madman when we knew what he was really like as a character.
So he said he practiced a lot and of course he pulled it off brilliantly to where when people saw TWOK they were "Man Khan was a crazy badass" and not just "Well seeing Mr. Rourke act crazy was amusing."
I often roll my eyes at method actors or actors who have to really research and become their role as just self indulgent over importance on what they do, because it is just pretending to be someone else after all and many great actors can do it without having to "become" the person.
It is impressive though when you see a really good actor be able to pull off such diametrically opposite roles, and be able to do it when both characters are popular at the same time.
Well done Ricardo.
