Saul Rubinek is especially good at professionals who seem less secure than their job titles suggest. We prefer his anxious writer in Unforgiven to his flamboyant producer in True Romance, though both films use him well.
Fi1m perspective
In Unforgiven (1992), Saul Rubinek plays W.W. Beauchamp, a pulp writer in a Western suspicious of the stories told about dangerous men. It is a good fit for an actor so often cast as an anxious professional: somebody with a job title, but not necessarily the confidence to match. The writer has a purpose in Clint Eastwood's examination of how violent men become heroes. We felt uneasy watching it: Eastwood makes killing difficult to cheer without entirely giving up his fondness for dangerous men.
Rubinek's early Canadian film work includes Ticket to Heaven (1981), with Wall Street (1987) among the American features that established him as a character actor. True Romance (1993) offers a more expansive use of him as Lee Donowitz, a flamboyant film producer. Tony Scott makes room for supporting players who keep interrupting the lovers. Donowitz lets Rubinek work with swagger instead of the familiar professional nerves. We enjoy that change of emphasis, though the film's cruelty sometimes feels smug.
His television work includes appearances in Frasier and the regular role of Artie Nielsen in Warehouse 13 (2009–2014). The latter gives him a sustained place in an ensemble, a different prospect from the feature-film supporting parts. The films continued with the Coen brothers' anthology The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), in which he plays the Frenchman in the segment ‘The Mortal Remains’. His recurring casting as writers, lawyers and rabbis tells us more about his appeal than any division between film and television.
Those jobs carry an expectation of authority, which gives Rubinek something useful to unsettle. The danger is that anxiety or flamboyance can become the whole character; a recognisable type can save a film from having to look any harder. We prefer the patience of Unforgiven, where the writer's presence matters to the film's treatment of violent men. Start there, then try True Romance for a less restrained evening.
Biography
Saul Rubinek is a Canadian actor, director, producer and playwright. Born Saul Hersh Rubinek on 2 July 1948 in Föhrenwald, a displaced-persons camp in Wolfratshausen, Germany, to Polish Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust, he emigrated to Canada as an infant.
He began his career in theatre, appearing with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and co-founding Theatre Passe Muraille and the Toronto Free Theatre (later part of the Canadian Stage Company). His film credits include W.W. Beauchamp in Unforgiven (1992) and Lee Donowitz in True Romance (1993). He has also appeared in Wall Street (1987), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018) and television series including Frasier and Warehouse 13.
Rubinek directed the feature Jerry and Tom (1998), nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. He is married to producer Elinor Reid.
