Chris Sarandon gives suave villains enough charm to make their menace count, but we value his quieter sympathy just as much. His speaking voice for Jack Skellington helps make the character's dissatisfaction feel familiar.
Fi1m perspective
Jack Skellington is bored, and his wish to do something different makes him easy to understand. In Henry Selick's The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), Chris Sarandon supplies his speaking voice while Danny Elfman sings. We felt a pang of recognition at Jack's dissatisfaction because his enthusiasm for a change grows out of such an ordinary frustration. It gives the adults something to recognise without requiring a separate set of jokes for them. Sarandon is worth listening to for that sympathy, as well as for the suave villains.
His breakthrough as Leon in Dog Day Afternoon (1975) showed how effective he could be with emotionally charged material played without fuss. The prominent horror and fantasy roles of the 1980s made more use of his sophistication. As Jerry Dandrige in Fright Night (1985), he keeps charm and menace in play together, so that the appeal is part of the threat. Prince Humperdinck in The Princess Bride (1987) belongs to that run of antagonists. Those parts can dominate the impression of his work, but the sensitivity was there before them.
Jack gives that sensitivity room again, in an unusually practical test of how well an actor can share a part. With Sarandon speaking and Elfman singing, the risk is that the dialogue sounds like a wait for another performer to take over. Instead, the change never makes Jack seem divided between them. Elfman's conviction in the songs is essential, and Sarandon deserves credit for making the spoken voice belong to the same dissatisfied character. Neither needs to make us notice the arrangement.
The story of The Nightmare Before Christmas is thin, and the sympathetic voice cannot do much about that. We recommend it for Selick's funny, macabre creatures and for the unexpected tenderness of the fantasy. Sarandon's contribution is easy to underestimate precisely because it fits so well with Elfman's. Start there, and give the passages between the songs as much attention as the songs themselves.
Biography
Chris Sarandon is an American actor born on 24 July 1942 in Beckley, West Virginia. He studied speech at West Virginia University and earned a master's degree in theatre from the Catholic University of America. He began his career in regional theatre and on Broadway before moving into film and television.
Sarandon is known for his performances in Dog Day Afternoon (1975), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, Fright Night (1985), The Princess Bride (1987) and Child's Play (1988). He provided the speaking voice of Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) and has reprised the role in related productions.
