William Fichtner

I am starting this blog with a character actor who has recently entered into my consciousness. Well, like any good C.A. he's always been there, I am just now starting to take notice.

I remember going to see "The Dark Knight" on it's opening night, super excited because

OMGitwasthenewbatmanmovieandheathledgerwasplayingTheJokerandwewereallexcitedandhelooked
creepyandOMGthenewbatmanmovie! That evening, for many reasons, was one of the more fun experiences I had in the summer of 2008. My sister and I both wore our Batman shirts, she pre-bought us tickets, then forgot them at home so we spent a good chunk of time hanging out at Borders with a newspaper calling theaters in the area to see if the movie was not sold out anywhere...thank god for a dumpy hole-in-the-wall-our-employees-are-behind-glass-for-a-reason movie theater in Mounds View!

Anyway, within the first ten minutes of the film, William Fichtner made his all too brief appearance as a shot gun toting bank manager. I remember thinking, "if that dude is playing this small of a role in this movie, it's gotta be good!" I recognized him instantly, of course, even though then, his name escaped me.

Now, long story very, very short, I watched all four seasons of Prison Break in little over a month. William Fichtner joined the cast of the show in the second season, and his character, Alex Mahone, quickly became my favorite (well, aside from shady government agent Paul Kellerman, but that's another story).

Fichtner, as my friend Doty described him is, "one of those actors who are more talented than they are handsome" but at the end of my Prison Break viewing bonanza, I was finding him downright sexy. I was captivated by, what Fametracker describes as his "skeletal good looks". I thought, "well, maybe it's just the character I have become sympathetic towards" his character, Mahone, had been a drug addled FBI agent being blackmailed by a shadow government for reasons not relevant to this blog to kill our Prison Break heroes. Well, halfway through season 3 he becomes one of the good guys, avenging his murdered son and trying to repair the damage he brought upon his estranged wife, a, without a doubt, sympathetic character.

I looked into Fichtner outside of his character. Wikipedia tells me that he is older than my parents (whatev, he's a sexy old dude...) and loves hockey.

Aside from Wikipedia, I also explored his IMDB page, and the man has really been in everything. From "Blades of Glory" to "Go" (I freakin' love that movie) to voice-over work in the Grand Theft Auto video games, to big budget messes like "Pearl Harbor", "Contact" and "Armageddon" to soap operas and some guest starring roles on a bunch of TV shows, Fichtner gets around.

Recently, I learned to pronounce his name correctly thanks to our pal Ryan. I was pronouncing it "Fincher" like David Fincher, in fact, it is pronounced "Fic-ner." German, right? The Germans love to add letters where they don't really need them. See: Seifermann. Why the "e" before the "i"?

Now that I heart Fichtner like I do, I think a re-watching of "Go" is in order. Perhaps a encore of "The Dark Knight"? I don't think I can bring myself to ever see "Pearl Harbor" ever, ever again though.

*Oh, and the name of this blog comes from William Fichtner's "Hey! It's That Guy!" entry I should cite, "Fichtner has toiled honourably in face-recognition, what's-his-name-again? limbo, patiently serving his celebrity apprenticeship. Now, he stands poised to step into the relatively blinding spotlight that is minor celebrity."

Heh, they spell certain words with "u"s! Wacky Canucks.