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There are some actors who always, no matter the size of their role or the context of their performance, draw the eye. Andrew Scott, who has most recently appeared as the slippery, scheming protagonist in the Netflix series \u201cRipley,\u201d is one of them. He is enthralling to watch, his emotional notes meticulously constructed, with playful touches of chaos that always leave space for moments of discovery and surprise. <\/p>\n
Here are a few of Scott\u2019s favorite modes of performance, and how his popular roles reflect an actor excelling at his craft.<\/p>\n
In Scott\u2019s breakout role, in \u201cSherlock,\u201d he plays Moriarty, the criminal mastermind opposite Benedict Cumberbatch\u2019s contemporary Sherlock Holmes. From Scott\u2019s first appearance, in the Season 1 finale, he electrifies an already energetic show. <\/p>\n
Cumberbatch set the tone for \u201cSherlock\u201d with his brutal, fast-paced wit; deductions tumble out of his mouth with strict precision, and in an impersonal monotone. Scott\u2019s arrival, and his erratic singsong speaking, break this rhythm. There\u2019s a menacing playfulness to not only his rhetorical delivery but also to his facial expressions. It adds a new dimension to the show.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
In their initial confrontation scene<\/a>, Sherlock aims a gun at Moriarty, asking, \u201cWhat if I was to shoot you now?\u201d Moriarty responds with a cartoonish look of shock that starts at the top of his head and ripples down: his eyebrows popping up, his eyes widening, jaw dropping and neck drawing back. <\/p>\n The rapidity with which his expressions unfold emphasize Moriarty\u2019s dangerously fickle temperament; when he threatens Sherlock back, he speaks softly at first but then erupts midsentence, his face contorting horrendously as the timbre of his voice lowers to a grisly rasp. But just as quickly the moment is over: Moriarty returns to his lighthearted tone of villainy and excuses himself.<\/p>\n For as stylized a performance as Scott gives, it\u2019s always believable for the character, particularly in this world of grand crimes, intricate designs and eccentric genius. Sherlock is the perpetual steady force, playing his violin and wandering through his mind palace, while Moriarty is the agent of chaos who serves as his match.<\/p>\n The most prominent element of Scott\u2019s performance as the so-called hot priest<\/a> in \u201cFleabag\u201d is his coy smile. When he is introduced in Phoebe Waller-Bridge\u2019s delightful comedy-drama, at a family dinner, his smile is polite and disarming. <\/p>\n It\u2019s when he and Fleabag are out for a cigarette break, and he casually flings an expletive at her as she walks away, that a boyish grin spreads across his face. His eyebrows lift slightly in an expression suggesting that he is challenging her.<\/p>\n Part of his charm is a matter of contrast: He is a holy minister meant to provide spiritual guidance, but also a foul-mouthed heavy drinker who can barely hide his sexual desires. As he\u2019s finally about to give in and sleep with Fleabag, his mirthful smile fades, one corner of his mouth angled up in a look of satisfaction, but there\u2019s no joy behind the expression. His look is hard and resigned to the transgression, and there\u2019s just a shadow of his coy smile beneath.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n At the end of the series, the priest says that he is unsure whether the euphoria he is feeling is because of God or because of Fleabag, and Scott\u2019s performance clues us in to the answer. Scott\u2019s ebullient energy \u2014 that almost manic, kinetic charge he often imbues in his characters \u2014 comes through most vividly in the scenes when the priest is talking about God. Scott\u2019s priest, despite his love for Fleabag, realizes that she hasn\u2019t altered his faith. She has reinforced it.<\/p>\n Scott\u2019s charm is on display in a different way in the new Audible podcast adaptation of George Orwell\u2019s \u201c1984.\u201d His audio performance tricks the senses: You can, somehow, actually hear the smirk on his face as plays O\u2019Brien, an undercover cop posing as a revolutionary in a dystopian society. Scott leans into the lilt of his natural Irish accent, and his exaggerated shifts in pitch, along with the meticulous way he hangs each syllable on the air and marks the time with cryptic murmurs and pauses, creates a seductive mystery.<\/p>\n Scott\u2019s most recent big-screen role was in the 2023 film \u201cAll of Us Strangers<\/a>,\u201d where he shows how much melancholy he can instill in a performance through nuanced silences and stillness. He stars as Adam, a lonely gay screenwriter who encounters a stranger named Harry and then returns to his childhood home to find his deceased parents there, just as they were decades before. <\/p>\n Scott\u2019s performance is muted, his eyes constantly contemplative, his expression that of sadness that has hardened into a stony exterior. Even his sadness is restrained; in a scene in which he discusses his sexuality and childhood bullying with his father, he is composed and dismissive of the difficulties he has faced until his father begins to sob. Adam\u2019s face and upper body then likewise crumble.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Scott\u2019s most devastating performance may have been captured in a 2012 short film in which he performs the monologue \u201cSea Wall,<\/a>\u201d by Simon Stephens. <\/p>\n Scott plays a man recounting a personal story of love, faith and devastating loss, and realistically captures the ramblings, interruptions and deflections that people often employ in conversation. He uses the entire studio space behind him, wandering around, pacing, glancing out the windows, thus creating a full sense of setting around him. His mannerisms are precise and seem to intentionally create parallels in his storytelling; a large, grasping gesture can demonstrate both his young daughter reaching innocently upward and his attempt to summon a word from thin air.<\/p>\n In the hands of the wrong director and the wrong lead actor, Tom Ripley<\/a>, the sociopathic con man turned killer from Patricia Highsmith\u2019s popular book series, could easily be flattened to a common criminal. What makes Ripley more than just another bad guy in the latest mystery-thriller is his elusiveness; his Ripley is often psychologically opaque and unpredictable.<\/p>\nThe Charmer<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Wounded Man<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
The Rogue<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n