Applewhite Paley?

It might seem that I'm becoming critical of films in which I am distracted by actors who inappropriately remind me of people other than the character they are playing (see "Dark Water" post, Feb.10, 2005). However, Frank Langella, as William S. Paley in "Good Night, and Good Luck.", didn't remind me of anyone particularly as I was watching the movie.

The problem for me was that he just had the wrong look. After seeing him running around as Clare Quilty in the 1997 version of "Lolita", he'll always give me the creeps, but I don't hold it against him. Frank Langella just doesn't look anything like William S. Paley, especially with that extremely close-cropped haircut. Fortunately it didn't affect the movie negatively for me. Yet I kept thinking to myself, "He doesn't look like William S. Paley, but he does look like somebody. Hmm..."

This morning it struck me, Frank Langella looked like a dead ringer for Marshall Applewhite of the Heaven's Gate cult. Unlike William S. Paley, neither Frank Langella nor Marshall Applewhite strikes me as the type of guy who would be able to get Louise Brooks to be their girlfriend. Both of these guys are too erratic and lack the dynamic resolve of a telecommunications giant like Paley.