Christopher Plummer (1929-2021)
On a dull afternoon back in the first lockdown, I spent an hour or so putting together a list of actors or actresses that I’d love to work with, should the opportunity ever arise. After all, what’s a bored film fanatic to do when days and weeks start blending into one? At the very top of that list was Christopher Plummer, the undisputed bastion of class whose talent and creative ambition only developed with age. It came as a deeply saddening shock to the film community to learn that Plummer had passed. He leaves behind an acting legacy that is largely undisputed, not only by his contemporaries, but in the history of the craft as a whole.
It’s only fitting that the Canadian was inspired to act by Laurence Olivier’s Henry V, destined to follow in the footsteps of the Shakespearian greats. After stints on stage and the small screen, his biggest break was likely being cast in Robert Wise’s wartime drama The Sound of Music, arguably still his most iconic role to date. Over the next few decades, Plummer became the screen sensation we now know him to be, navigating his way through the careers of John Huston (The Man Who Would Be King), Spike Lee (Malcolm X, Inside Man), Terry Gilliam (12 Monkeys, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus), Terrence Malick (The New World), and countless others. Needless to say, the man had a keen eye for directorial talent to collaborate with, always standing out even in the smallest of roles.
What’s perhaps most impressive about Plummer’s career, though, is its longevity coupled with the consistent high quality of his performances. He continually challenged himself into his early nineties, and it’s his later roles that carry the gravitas and heartbreak I’ll remember him for. Who else could possibly join a film a month before its release, depict the main antagonist in nine shooting days, and earn an Academy nomination for their efforts? It sounds like Hollywood fantasy, but that’s exactly what Plummer achieved in Ridley Scott’s All the Money in the World.
My personal favourite of these roles has to be from Mike Mills’ gut-wrenching Beginners, with Plummer playing the aged father that comes out to his son after learning his life is nearing its end. It’s a performance that carries great magnitude in its quietest moments, a lifetime’s worth of cultivation and restraint that comes to fruition in calm, yet devastating, fashion.
In his penultimate film role, Plummer depicted a fictional literary legend Harlan Thrombey in Rian Johnson’s murder-mystery Knives Out. The film itself is a well-constructed, subversive take on a familiar genre, but Plummer’s performance is its beating heart. It seems strangely suitable that this should be one of the man’s final roles. Thrombey is an aged patriarch, renowned for his legendary career, surrounded by some of the best modern talent Hollywood has to offer. What could be a more fitting send-off than passing the torch down to the next generation in a triumphant manner? Thank you, Christopher, for everything you’ve given us, and everything you’ll continue to give.
