William Hurt Joins The Cast Of “Damages” On FX

By Tom Rose
Fancast.com

When Damages returns tonight on FX, there will be a new face in the crowd. Not only new to the series, but new to TV itself. William Hurt, known best for movie roles in films like “Body Heat,” “Broadcast News” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” (for which he won a Best Actor Oscar) with his first foray onto the platinum screen promises to add a potency matched only by another big screen, larger-than-life personality, Glenn Close, who shook up the TV world with an Emmy win for Outstanding Actress last year for her lead role on the show.

That’s quite a mouthful, but it doesn’t come close to the reams that can be written about the prospects for these two acting legends, who haven’t been seen on screen together since the quirky, and very memorable, The Big Chill reeled out way back in 1983.

The AP’s Frazier Moore over at The Huffington Post, lays out the dynamics of the new season and thumbnails the part Hurt will play (mysterious scientist Daniel Purcell, a man with a life-threatening dilemma) as he interviews the normally media shy thespian. We soon learn why Hurt is so reticent.

With quotes like “The most exquisite form of violence is mediocrity, because it’s the absolute absence of consideration, absence of sensitivity. Art is in constant combat with that” Hurt continues to mystify the average mind (like mine) with his intellectual approach to acting. But the proof is in the pudding.

Coming down to earth is a good sign for Hurt and for the rest of us as well. It means the television landscape is broadening, extending itself to include those rarefied talents previously reserved for either the live stage (the other successful arena for the actor) or the dense, suspenseful, funny and wildly intelligent movie scripts that have been too far and few between for audiences and William Hurt himself.

It should make for a crackling good show.

Don’t miss the season 2 premiere of Damages tonight on FX.

We’ll be watching on Fancast.