David Thewlis makes quick thinking feel dangerous: a clever answer can become an act of bullying before we have finished laughing. We value him most with Mike Leigh, though his quieter supporting work gives us welcome relief.
Fi1m perspective
In Naked (1993), David Thewlis makes Johnny answer so quickly that the other person scarcely gets a turn. The pleasure is in hearing a mind work at speed; the discomfort comes from noticing who is being silenced. We laughed at his bullying and then felt ashamed, because Thewlis lets the joke and the humiliation arrive together. He never gives us a tidy interval in which to enjoy one and condemn the other. It is an absorbing performance of a man whose intelligence gives him more ways to be cruel.
Before Johnny, Leigh cast him as Nicola's lover in Life Is Sweet (1991), a family comedy whose kindness we find hard-earned. That film is the warmer recommendation, although our enthusiasm for it is not chiefly an endorsement of this small role. Naked was the breakthrough, and Leigh let him make a fast-talking man exhausting as well as compelling. Our reservation is with the film's treatment of women and the attention Johnny receives at others' expense. Thewlis keeps us watching even when Leigh's choices trouble us.
The subsequent career alternated between British and international supporting roles, with Knox Harrington in The Big Lebowski (1998) among the latter. Some early post-Naked parts were less satisfying, and a different genre does not by itself give an actor something worth doing. Yet treating Johnny as the standard for every appearance would reward only the most conspicuous performances. We do not need every character he plays to talk somebody into a corner.
Remus Lupin in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) offers the quieter authority that makes his supporting work valuable. In an effects-driven film, that is useful company, and a welcome change from Johnny's determination to have the last word. Start with Naked, but leave time afterwards to argue about Leigh's choices as well as Thewlis's acting.
Biography
David Thewlis is an English actor and filmmaker. Born David Wheeler on 20 March 1963 in Blackpool, he trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He began his career with small roles in television and film before appearing as Nicola's Lover in Mike Leigh's Life Is Sweet (1991).
Thewlis gained prominence for his leading role as Johnny in Leigh's Naked (1993), for which he received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. He has since appeared in a range of films, including The Big Lebowski (1998) and the Harry Potter series (2004–2011) as Remus Lupin. Other credits include Wonder Woman (2017) as Ares and television roles such as in Fargo (2017).
