| 13 October 2009
Are you familiar with William Atherton? I’m sure you are. He’s extremely recognizable because he’s an actor that has been in a few really big movies. He’s never been the starring role by any means. He’s often so far down the IMDB cast lists that you’ll probably be distracted by some starlet that faded into obscurity before you even came across his name.
But he is in fact a well-known actor amongst his peers and has been in loads of On and Off Broadway plays. He’s more of your classical, Shakespearean actor than your run of the mill Paul Walker clone. Nowadays, he’s relegated to television spots here and there and living off the residual checks of the former blockbuster movies that he had secondary but important roles in.
What are those roles, you ask? Some of you may remember him as the sleazy Walter Peck in Ghostbusters as he tried to shut down the holding tank in order to protect the environment. The result was the near destruction of the universe at the hands of a Pat Benatar look-a-like dressed as Freddie Mercury, some dog-like beasts, and a 100-foot marshmallow killer. Still not ringing a bell?
How about him starring as Richard Thornburg in Die Hard and Die Hard 2: Die Harder? Richard Thornburg was the sleazy reporter hell bent on getting his fame and glory, even if it cost the safety and dignity of those involved in these terrorist attacks that only John McClane could foil, despite the fact that he was armed with a glock and whatever machine guns he could steal.
What about him Dr. Noah Faulkner in Bio-Dome? Dr. Faulkner was the genius, environmental scientist that sleazily performed his experiments while trying to prove how smart and superior he was. He eventually would go rogue in said Bio-Dome and eventually try to blow it up. Unfortunately, Stephen Baldwin and Pauly Shore were just too smart for him and stopped his treacherous plan.
If none of this rang a bell for you, you’re either under 15 years old or you forgot to look to the right of the text up above.
I was watching Ghostbusters with my girlfriend last night and when I saw him, I immediately became fascinated with retracing his career track. I looked on his IMDB page and clicked on his mini-biography page. The first line from this page describing him is “Veteran character actor often cast as sleazy villain or self-absorbed yuppie.”
When I saw this line, I immediately thought of the NBA version of William Atherton: Ricky Davis. Think about it; William Atherton’s typecast is the 1980s blockbuster movie version of Ricky Davis. Both have seen their fare share of success in their respective fields. Both are always playing the roles of chemistry killers in situations far bigger than themselves.
William Atherton tried to break up the Ghostbusters. Ricky Davis had to be shipped out of Cleveland before he broke up LeBron’s future.
William Atherton tried to get his fame and glory in Die Hard at the cost of breaking the rules of the law and common decency. Ricky Davis shot at his own basket in order to try and get his first career triple-double.
And now, when two young future stars in Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin are going to try to build the Clippers side of the Staples Center into something great, Ricky Davis will end up traveling through the underground tunnels, eating parrots that say they are God, and turning coconuts into explosive devices. This is Bio-Dome all over again! He’s following Faulkner’s crazy playbook!
Ricky Davis ruins everything he tries to become a part of. But he often does it in a fairly sleazy and entertaining way – much like the characters portrayed by the classic, veteran actor, William Atherton. In a way, he’s the self-absorbed yuppie version of an NBA player. Both only think of themselves and their own statistics/materialistic gains. They aren’t usually willing to sacrifice what benefits them for what is best for their environment and society.
And when the Clippers are a losing team once again this year, you’ll now know whom to blame. Just pop in your copy of Die Hard, wait for him to unfairly put the McClane/Gennaro children on TV, and think to yourself, “damn you, Ricky Davis. Why do you have to ruin everything?”
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