Ian Holm was a leading Royal Shakespeare Company actor before a severe attack of stage fright during a 1976 performance kept him off the stage for fifteen years, redirecting him almost entirely into film.
Ash in Alien is the performance that endures, playing a company man whose calm never breaks even after the reveal, and the milk is the most disturbing thing in the film.
He was nominated for Chariots of Fire, played Bilbo across the Jackson films, and gave a genuinely moving late performance in The Sweet Hereafter.
The Fifth Element and Brazil show a comic register, and his voice work as the priest in The Fifth Element is a small masterclass in playing panic.
Arjay SmithThe Day After Tomorrow (2004) rates 5 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. Roland Emmerich froze the northern hemisphere in about a week, which is roughly ten thousand times faster than any climate model permits, and produced the most…
Bob HoskinsBrazil (1985) rates 9 out of 10 on the rewatch scale. A clerical error kills the wrong man and a whole film proceeds from a typo. The most internally consistent world in the genre, and Gilliam fought Universal for two…
Brian BlessedKenneth Branagh's 1989 directorial debut. Mud and blood Agincourt instead of Olivier's pageantry.
Alice KrigeHugh Hudson's 1981 British Olympic drama. Two 1924 runners, one Christian one Jewish.
Bridget MoynahanAndrew Niccol's 2005 Nicolas Cage international arms trade drama. Among the most accomplished commercial cinema examinations of the industry.
Donald PleasenceThe Nazis later burned it and strip. The Nazis later burned it and stripped Remarque of his German citizenship.
David WarnerTerry Gilliam's droll British time travel fantasy. Six dwarves with stolen map of holes in time.
Andy SerkisPeter Jackson's three films, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King, are the best fantasy adaptation ever made and among the best films ever made in the genre. The extended editions are the…
Harry Dean StantonExperiencing it blind, in a dark theater, with an audience that had no idea what was coming, that was specific and unrepeatable. The 8 reflects both what the film achieved and what watching it now is like, which are different…
Brion JamesThe Fifth Element is a perfect film. Not a perfect science fiction film, not a perfect action film, a perfect film, period.
Don McKellareXistenZ is Cronenberg doing what Cronenberg does: making the body the site of horror and the technology that interfaces with it the vector of corruption. The bio-ports, the organic game consoles connecting directly to the spine, the game-meat assembled from…
Professional ghostwriting for executives, founders, coaches, and authors who want to get the book done right. 113+ books authored. 54+ ghostwritten for clients.
Ready to discuss your book?
BOOK YOUR PRIVATE CONSULTATIONNo pitch. No pressure.
© 2026 Richard Lowe. The Writing King. All rights reserved.
